Lecture 2 - Language

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Wilfrid Laurier University *

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Linguistics

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Oct 30, 2023

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Lecture 2: Language - Early roots o Indo-European  But not these language types  Uralic (Not Indo-European)  Basque (Not-Indo-European)  Turkic (Not-Indo-European) o Evolution of languages  Accent  Dialect  Language - Indo-Europeans o Located somewhere from the black sea, as the population increased they migrated elsewhere  Very little proof of this migration except linguistics. Archaeology is helpful but patchy o Migration  Hittites  Greeks  Italics  Celts  Pre-Germanic  Proto-Germanic o (English is a Germanic language, even though many of the words come from French (latin) roots) (Use is the only top 50 most used words in english that is not Germanic) o Assimilation and adoption  When two groups who speak different languages encounter one another, it is presumed that they will be adopted by the dominant group - Germanic Language o Proto Germanic  North Germanic (Scandanavia)  Old Norse o Different dialects spoken by the Vikings  Evolved to modern Scandinavian languages  West Germanic  Old English  Old High German  East Germanic (Prussia)  Gothic  Language dies out

- Runes o Alphabetic o Older (or elder) Futhark  24 runes o Younger Futhark  16 runes  Old Norse o Anglo-Saxon Futhark  28 runes  Old English  Anglo-Saxons basically used Old Futhark and added new letters o He said he doesn’t do Futhark? So potentially less time studying - Inscriptions o Seax of Beagnoth o Runestones o Bergen o Can be found on any sort of items  On a comb  On weapons such as a blade  On little sticks  Some of these inscriptions they denote property, some have little fun messages like “Geeta says go home” o Rune stones  Sometimes they’re chrtistian, sometimes they’re not  Usually some kind of commemoration. Regardless of whether it was Christian text was often written in these circles  Runic inscription exists at the same time as the latin alphabet for awhile before dying.  Final blow to runic writing was the printing press o Mixing traditions Google furthur  Burseryd, Sweden, 13 th century  Bridekirk, England, 12 th century  Killaloe, Ireland, 11 th century  Ogham  Andreas, Isle of Man, 10 th /11 th century  Displays a mix of belief system  Odin and Satan  Gosforth Cross, England, 10 th century - Literature o Almost exclusively written with the latin script o Skaldic poems

 Oldest examples date back to the 8 th and 9 th century  (Usually) praises the deeds of great men  Seems that they were meant to be sung  Easier to remember words to a song than a speech  Most literature that would have been written would have been poetic - Sagas  Characteristics of a saga  Long  Written in prose  Focuses on people  Often verifiable historical truths, with exaggerations of course. Seems to be a way of oral story telling  Characteristics of what a saga isn’t  Character’s aren’t the gods  Not written in song  Examples of Sagas  Bishop Sagas o Focus on Clerics (Christians) and celebrates them  King Sagas o Focus on Norweigan figures (usually kings). Often contain extracts of scalded verse  These verses are older poems. These may have been poems people appreciated. But also gave the stories more historical legitimacy  Hero sagas o Saga of the Colsungs (Volsunga) o Lots of supernatural elements o Draw on Germanic folklore o Hero is a man, and stays within the real of human accomplishments, but right on the edge (think batman or Beowulf)  Chivalric sagas o Old norse retellings of old French stories o Even when they create their own obvious British and French influences  Icelander sagas o How they left Iceland, came to Norway, why the family is great  Contemporary sagas o Talk about contemporary issues, stuff from the living memory  Thattr (plural thattir)  Like sagas but shorter  Whereas Sagas will have multiple plot threads, Thattr will focus on only one - Style

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o A lot of use of Kennings  Base noun  characterizing noun  Carries a metaphorical meaning. A complicated way of communicating something simple  Also found in Germanic writing: Beowulf o Beowulf may be a Kenning itself (Be) Bee (Wulf) hunter (Bee Hunter)  Bear o Inflections  Modifications to the end of a word to change its meaning - Influence? o Adaptation  Vikings (Old Norse) vs. Normans (old French)  Adopted the language of those they lived amongst and changed their languages (Except Icelandic that was just a natural mutatiuon)  When English was connected to French, that was the year we developed middle english o Days of the week - Personal Names o Patronymics (Identifies the father)  Erik the Red  Leif Eriksson (Son of Erik)  Freydis Eriksdottir (Erik’s daughter) o Matronymics  Rare but does happen  Estrid Sveinsdottir  Svein II Estridsson o Nicknames (Which had the be earned)  Eystein Foul-Fart, Aud the Deep-Minded  Sigrid the Haughty, Erik the Victorious, Svein Forkbeard o [Saint] Olaf II (Haraldsson/the Stout)  Harald Grenske, Gurod Bjornsson