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Glite Dictionary
Old Norse

Old Norse

1 9.9
A language once spoken by Vikings in Scandinavia and Iceland
  • noun
  • /oʊld nɔrs/
translation icon : nórdico antiguo
  • "Sky," on the other hand, comes into English from the Old Norse word "sky," which meant "cloud."
  • Old Norse (Jochens)
  • Women in Old Norse

Examples

  • I always feel like they're speaking Old Norse.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • According to Old Norse sagas, they had a fortified base on the Baltic coast at Yamsburg.

  • The ancient texts were written in Old Norse, revealing insights into Viking culture.

  • Scholars study Old Norse to better understand the history and literature of Scandinavia.

  • Many modern Icelanders can still read texts in Old Norse due to their language's roots.

Synonyms

Old Norse language
vsOld Norse
9.9

A language spoken in Scandinavia and Iceland from about 700 to 1350

is the shorter name that omits the explicit word for a language

Surface Forms

Old Norse singular
Old Norses plural

Morphology

old + Norse

The meaning 'an earlier/historical form of the Norse language' is directly derivable from combining 'old' (earlier/historical stage) with 'Norse' (the northern Germanic language), so a B1 learner who knows both words will understand this refers to the historical language. This compounding pattern (e.g. 'Old English', 'Old French') is cross-linguistically common, making the phrase immediately transparent.

Etymology

The name Old Norse comes from the words Old and Norse and simply means the 'old' speech of people from the 'north'. It was the language of the Vikings and the writers of sagas and runes, so today Old Norse refers to that extinct language.