Wikipedia
Old Norse was a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during about the 9th to 13th centuries.
The Proto-Norse language developed into Old Norse by the 8th century, and Old Norse began to develop into the modern North Germanic languages in the mid- to late 14th century, ending the language phase known as Old Norse. These dates, however, are not absolute, since written Old Norse is found well into the 15th century.
Old Norse was divided into three dialects: Old West Norse, Old East Norse and Old Gutnish. Old West and East Norse formed a dialect continuum, with no clear geographical boundary between them. For example, Old East Norse traits were found in eastern Norway, although Old Norwegian is classified as Old West Norse, and Old West Norse traits were found in western Sweden. Most speakers spoke Old East Norse in what is present day Denmark and Sweden. Old Gutnish, the more obscure dialectal branch, is sometimes included in the Old East Norse dialect due to geographical associations. It developed its own unique features and shared in changes to both other branches.
The 12th-century Icelandic Gray Goose Laws state that Swedes, Norwegians, Icelanders and Danes spoke the same language, dǫnsk tunga ("Danish tongue"; speakers of Old East Norse would have said dansk tunga). Another term used, used especially commonly with reference to West Norse, was norrœnt mál ("Nordic speech"). Today Old Norse has developed into the modern North Germanic languages Icelandic, Faroese, Norwegian, Danish and Swedish, of which Norwegian, Danish and Swedish retain considerable mutual intelligibility.
In some instances the term Old Norse refers specifically to Old West Norse.
Usage examples of "old norse".
The word which designated fate (ward in Low German, wyrd in Anglo-Saxon, urdr in Old Norse) was little by little transformed into a proper name, which was that of a kind of goddess who was both just and inexorable.
There was nothing in the old Norse myths that stated the Valkyries had to be beautiful-it was simply a myth that had grown up around a myth.
In the old Norse myths, Loki was a trickster god, and the series of brutal summer snowstorms that had been blanketing the region for the past few weeks seemed to indicate that he was in high form.
Surely the complexities of Old Norse would distract her from her own problems.
When we came to Normandy, Hrolf instilled the old Norse laws, especially those relating to the respect for a man's property.
Those who know something about the Old Norse side of the 'Nibelung' traditions (mainly referred to since the name-forms used are Norse) will think this a farrago of nonsense.
They were ships of the old Norse type, double-ended with high curved stems and sternposts, mostly decorated with dragons' heads and tails.
Jimmy did, but had enough sense to keep it mostly to himself, grumbling constantly in a growl of Old Norse.
It all seemed too easy and familiar: he was already well acquainted with many of the texts he would have to read, and he even knew a certain amount of Old Norse, which he was going to do as a special subject (under the Icelandic expert W.
Everything else in the old Norse myths seemed to have some solid basis here, but I had heard nothing of the traitor Aesir.
Bugge stared at him without comprehension, and the Irishman repeated the statement in Old Norse.
In the old Norse framework, the entire pantheon of gods, giants and dead had been “.