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| Early Old Swedish | |
| 3>
A page of the Äldre Västgötalagen (Westrogothic law), a law code used in Västergötland, from the 1280s
The writing of the Westrogothic law marked the beginning of Early Old Swedish (klassisk fornsvenska or äldre fornsvenska; 1225–1375), which had developed from Old East Norse. It was the first Swedish language document written in the Latin alphabet, and its oldest fragments have been dated to around the year 1225.
Old Swedish was relatively stable during this period. The phonological and grammatical systems inherited from Old Norse were relatively well preserved and did not experience any major changes.
Most of the texts from the Early Old Swedish period were written in Latin, as it was the language of knowledge and the Church. However, Old Swedish was used as a literary language as well, and laws especially were written in it; of the 28 surviving manuscripts from this period, 24 contain law texts.[2] Much of the knowledge of Old Swedish comes from these law texts.[3] In addition to laws, some religious and poetic texts were also written in Old Swedish.
[edit] Tags:Latin,Old Norse,Swedish,Äldre Västgötalagen,Law Code,Västergötland,Westrogothic Law,Latin Alphabet,Church,ä,ö,Swedish Language, | |
| Loanwords | |
| 4>
The Catholic Church and its various monastic orders introduced many new Greek and Latin loanwords into Old Swedish. Latin especially had an influence on the written language.[4]
The Low German language also influenced Old Swedish due to the economic and political power of the Hanseatic League during the 13th and 14th centuries. Many German speakers immigrated to Swedish cities and worked in trade and administration. Accordingly, loanwords relating to warfare, trade, craftwork and bureaucracy entered the Swedish language directly from Low German, along with some grammatical suffixes and conjunctions. The prefixes be-, ge- and för- that can be found in the beginning of modern Swedish words came from the Low German be-, ge- and vor-. Some words were replaced with new ones: the native word for window, vindøgha, was replaced with fönster, eldhus (kitchen) was replaced with kök and gælda (to pay) with betala.[4] Many words related to seafaring were borrowed from Dutch.
The influence of Low German was so strong that the inflectional system of Old Swedish was largely broken down.[5]
[edit] Tags:Modern Swedish,Monastic Orders,Loanwords,Low German,Hanseatic League,æ,ø, | |
| Late Old Swedish | |
| 3>
In contrast to the stable Early Old Swedish, Late Old Swedish (yngre fornsvenska; 1375–1526) experienced many changes, including a simplification of the grammatical system and a vowel shift, so that in the 16th century the language resembled modern Swedish more than before. The printing of the New Testament in Swedish in 1526 marked the starting point for modern Swedish.
In this period Old Swedish had taken in a large amount of new vocabulary primarily from Latin, Low German and Dutch. When the country became part of the Kalmar Union in 1397, many Danish scribes brought Danicisms into the written language.
[edit] Tags:Danish,Vowel Shift,New Testament,Kalmar Union, | |
| Orthography | |
| 2>
Old Swedish used some letters that are no longer found in modern Swedish: ⟨æ⟩ and ⟨ø⟩ were used for modern ⟨ä⟩ and ⟨ö⟩ respectively, and ⟨þ⟩ could stand for both /ð/ (th as in the) and /θ/ (th as in thing). In the latter part of the 14th century ⟨þ⟩ was replaced with ⟨th⟩ and ⟨dh⟩.
The grapheme ⟨i⟩ could stand for both the phonemes /i/ and /j/ (e.g. siäl (soul), själ in modern Swedish). The graphemes ⟨u⟩, ⟨v⟩, and ⟨w⟩ were used interchangeably with the phonemes /v/ and /u/ (e.g. vtan (without), utan in modern Swedish), and ⟨w⟩ could also sometimes stand for the consonant-vowel combinations /vu/ and /uv/: dwa (duva or dove).
Certain abbreviations were used in writing, such as ⟨mꝫ⟩ for medh (modern med, with).[6] The letter combinations ⟨aa⟩ and ⟨oe⟩ were often written so that one of the letters stood above the other as a smaller letter, which led to the development of the modern letters ⟨å⟩, ⟨ä⟩, and ⟨ö⟩.
[edit] Tags:þ,ð,θ,Grapheme,Phonemes,Consonant, | |
| Phonology | |
| 2>
The root syllable length in Old Swedish could be short (VC), long (V:C, VC:) or overlong (V:C:).[7] During the Late Old Swedish period the short root syllables (VC) were lengthened and the overlong root syllables (V:C:) were shortened, so modern Swedish only has the combinations V:C and VC:. Unlike in modern Swedish, a short vowel in Old Swedish did not entail a long consonant.
There were eight vowels in Early Old Swedish: /iː, yː, uː, oː, eː, aː, øː, ɛː/. A vowel shift (stora vokaldansen) occurred during the Late Old Swedish period, which had the following effects:
[aː] became [oː] (blā [blaː] → blå [bloː], blue)
[oː] became [uː] (bōk [boːk] → bok [buːk], book)
[uː] became [ʉː] (hūs [huːs] → hus [hʉːs], house)
The consonant sounds were largely the same as in modern Swedish, with the notable exceptions of /ð/ and /θ/, which do not exist in modern Swedish.
[edit] Tags:Vowels, | |
| Early Old Swedish | |
| 4>
The most defining difference between Old Swedish and modern Swedish was the more complex grammatical system of the former. In Old Swedish nouns, adjectives, pronouns and certain numerals were inflected in four cases (nominative, genitive, dative and accusative), whereas the case system has completely disappeared from modern Swedish. There were also three grammatical genders (masculine, feminine and neuter), while there are only two in modern Swedish. Those features of Old Swedish are still found in modern Icelandic and Faroese, the noun declensions are almost identical.
Noun declensions fell under two categories: weak and strong.[8] The weak masculine, feminine and neuter nouns had their own declensions and at least three groups of strong masculine nouns, three groups of strong feminine nouns and one group of strong neuter nouns can be identified. Below is an overview of the noun declension system:
The noun declension system[8]
Vowel stems (strong declension)
a-stems
a-stems
ja-stems
ia-stems
ō-stems
ō-stems
jō-stems
iō-stems
i-stems
u-stems
Consonant n-stems (weak declension)
n-stems
an-stems
ōn, ūn-stems
īn-stems
Consonant stems
monosyllabic stems
r-stems
nd-stems
Some noun paradigms of the words fisker (fish), sun (son), siang (bed), skip (ship), biti (bit) and vika (week):[9]
Masculine a-stems
Masculine u-stems
Feminine ō-stems
Neuter a-stems
Masculine an-stems
Feminine ōn-stems
Sg.Nom.
fisker
sun
siang
skip
biti
vika
Sg.Gen.
fisks
sunar
siangar
skips
bita
viku
Sg.Dat.
fiski
syni
siangu
skipi
bita
viku
Sg.Acc.
fisk
sun
siang
skip
bita
viku
Pl.Nom.
fiskar
synir
siangar
skip
bitar
vikur
Pl.Gen.
fiska
suna
sianga
skipa
bita
vikna
Pl.Dat.
fiskum
sunum
siangum
skipum
bitum
vikum
Pl.Acc.
fiska
syni
siangar
skip
bita
vikur
[edit] Tags:Ipa,Faroese,Icelandic,Nominative,Genitive,Dative,Accusative,Grammatical Genders,Declensions, | |
| Late Old Swedish | |
| 4>
By the year 1500 the number of cases in Old Swedish had been reduced from four (nominative, genitive, dative and accusative) to two (nominative and genitive). The dative case, however, lived on in a few dialects well into the 20th century.
Other major changes include the loss of a separate inflectional system for masculine and feminine nouns, pronouns and adjectives in the course of the 15th century, leaving only two genders in the Swedish language. The old dative forms of the personal pronouns became the object forms (honom, henne, dem; him, her, them) and -s became more common as the ending for the genitive singular.
[edit] Tags:Dialects,Object, | |
| Adjectives | |
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Adjectives and certain numerals were inflected according to the gender and case the noun they modified was in.[10] Below is a table of the inflection of weak adjectives.[11]
Masculine
Feminine
Neuter
Singular nominative
-i, -e
-a, -æ
-a, -æ
Singular oblique
-a, -æ
-u, -o
-a, -æ
Plural
-u, -o
-u, -o
-u, -o
[edit] Tags: | |
| Verbs | |
| 3>
Verbs in Old Swedish were conjugated according to person and number. There were four weak verb conjugations and six groups of strong verbs.[8] The difference between weak and strong verbs is in the way the past tense (preterite) is formed: strong verbs form it with a vowel shift in the root of the verb, while weak verbs form it with a dental suffix (þ, d or t).[12] During the Late Old Swedish period the verbal conjugation system was simplified, and verb agreement for person was lost.
[edit] Tags:Weak Verb,Strong Verbs,Past Tense,Preterite, | |
| Strong verbs | |
| 4>
The verbs in the table below are bīta (bite), biūþa (offer), værþa (become), stiæla (steal), mæta (measure) and fara (go).[12]
Strong verbs
I group
II group
III group
IV group
V group
VI group
Infinitive
bīta
biūþa
værþa; varþa
stiæla; stæla
mæta; miæta
fara
Past participle
bītin
buþin
vurþin; urþin
stulin; stolin
mætin; miætin
farin
Present participle
bītande
biūþande
værþande
stiælande
mætande
farande
Indicative present
iak/jæk
bīter
biūþer
værþer
stiæler
mæter
farer
þū
bīter
biūþer
værþer
stiæler
mæter
farer
han/hōn/þæt
bīter
biūþer
værþer
stiæler
mæter
farer
vī(r)
bītom
biūþom
værþom
stiælom
mætom
farom
ī(r)
bītin
biūþin
værþin
stiælin
mætin
farin
þē(r)/þā(r)/þē
bīta
biūþa
værþa
stiæla
mæta
fara
Indicative preterite
iak/jæk
bēt
bøþ
varþ
stal
mat
fōr
þū
bētt
bøþt
varþt
stalt
mast
fōrt
han/hōn/þæt
bēt
bøþ
varþ
stal
mat
fōr
vī(r)
bitum
buþum
vurþom; urþom
stālom
mātom
fōrom
ī(r)
bitin
buþin
vurþin; urþin
stālin
mātin
fōrin
þē(r)/þā(r)/þē
bitu
buþu
vurþo; urþo
stālo
māto
fōro
Conjunctive present
iak/jæk
bīte
biūþe
værþe
stiæle
mæte
fare
þū
bīte
biūþe
værþe
stiæle
mæte
fare
han/hōn/þæt
bīte
biūþe
værþe
stiæle
mæte
fare
vī(r)
bītom
biūþom
værþom
stiælom
mætom
farom
ī(r)
bītin
biūþin
værþin
stiælin
mætin
farin
þē(r)/þā(r)/þē
bītin
biūþin
værþin
stiælin
mætin
farin
Conjunctive preterite
iak/jæk
biti
buþi
vurþe; urþe
stāle
māte
fōre
þū
biti
buþi
vurþe; urþe
stāle
māte
fōre
han/hōn/þæt
biti
buþi
vurþe; urþe
stāle
māte
fōre
vī(r)
bitum
buþum
vurþom; urþom
stālom
mātom
fōrom
ī(r)
bitin
buþin
vurþin; urþin
stālin
mātin
fōrin
þē(r)/þā(r)/þē
bitin; biti
buþin; buþi
vurþin; urþin
stālin
mātin
fōrin
Imperative
þū
bīte
biūþe
værþ
stiæle
mæte
fare
vī(r)
bītom
biūþom
værþom
stiælom
mætom
farom
ī(r)
bītin
biūþin
værþin
stiælin
mætin
farin
[edit] Tags: | |
| Weak verbs | |
| 4>
Weak verbs are grouped into four classes:[8]
First conjugation: verbs ending in -a(r), -ā(r) in the present tense. Most verbs belong to this class.
Second conjugation: verbs ending in -e(r), -æ(r) in the present tense.
Third conjugation: verbs ending in -i(r), -ø(r) in the present tense.
Fourth conjugation: these verbs have a more or less irregular conjugation. About twenty verbs belong to this class.
Inside the conjugation classes the weak verbs are also categorised into further three classes:[8]
I: those ending in -þe in the preterite
II: those ending in -de in the preterite
III: those ending in -te in the preterite
[edit] Tags: | |
| Syntax | |
| 3>
Word order was less restricted in Old Swedish than modern Swedish due to complex verbal morphology. Both referential and nonreferential subjects could be left out as verbal structures already conveyed the necessary information, in much the same way as in languages such as Spanish and Latin.
In nominal phrases the genitive attribute could stand both before and after the word it modified, i.e. one could say his house or house his. The same was true for pronouns and adjectives (that house or house that; green pasture or pasture green). During the Late Old Swedish period the usage of the genitive attribute became increasingly more restricted, and it always came to be placed before the word it modified, so in modern Swedish one can only say hans hus (his house), not hus hans. Although, this too has lived on in some dialects, like in Västgötska, where the use of "mor din" (mother yours) has been common.[13]
[edit] Tags:Morphology, | |
| Personal pronouns | |
| 3>
Below is a table of the Old Swedish personal pronouns:[8][14]
Singular
Plural
1st person
2nd person
3rd person masc./fem./neut.
1st person
2nd person
3rd person masc./fem./neut.
Nominative
iak, jæk
þu
han / hon / þæt
vi(r)
i(r)
þe, þer / þa, þar / þe, þøn
Genitive
min
þin
hans / hænna(r) / þæs
var, vara
iþer, iþra
þera / þera / þera
Dative
mæ(r)
þæ(r)
hanum / hænni / þy
os
iþer
þem / þem / þem
Accusative
mik
þik
han / hana / þæt
os
iþer
þa / þa, þar / þe, þøn
[edit] Tags: | |
| Numerals | |
| 3>
The Old Swedish cardinal numbers are as follows.[8] Numbers from one to four decline in the nominative, genitive, dative and accusative cases and in all three genders (masculine, feminine and neuter); here the nominative forms are given. Numbers above four are indeclinable.[8]
Old Swedish
Modern Swedish
Old Swedish
Modern Swedish
1
ēn, ēn, ēt
en, ett
11
ællivu
elva
2
twē(r), twār, tū
två
12
tolf
tolv
3
þrī(r), þrēa(r), þrȳ
tre
13
þrættān
tretton
4
fiūri(r), fiūra(r), fiughur
fyra
14
fiughurtān
fjorton
5
fǣm
fem
15
fǣm(p)tan
femton
6
sæx
sex
16
sæxtān
sexton
7
siū
sju
17
siūtān
sjutton
8
ātta
åtta
18
atertān
arton (arcaic aderton)
9
nīo
nio
19
nītān
nitton
10
tīo
tio
20
tiughu
tjugo
The higher numbers are as follows. The numbers 21–29, 31–39, and so on are formed in the following way: ēn (twēr, þrīr, etc.) ok tiughu, ēn ok þrǣtighi, etc.[8]
Old Swedish
Modern Swedish
Old Swedish
Modern Swedish
30
þrǣtighi
trettio
70
siūtighi
sjuttio
31
ēn ok þrǣtighi
trettioett
80
āttatighi
åttio
40
fiūratighi
fyrtio
90
nīotighi
nittio
50
fǣmtighi
femtio
100
hundraþ
hundra
60
s(i)æxtighi
sextio
1000
þūsand
tusen
[edit] Tags: | |
| Västgötalagen | |
| 3>
This is an extract from the Westrogothic law (Västgötalagen), which is the oldest continuous text written in the Swedish language, and was compiled during the early 13th century. The text marks the beginning of Old Swedish.
Dræpær maþar svænskan man eller smalenskæn, innan konongsrikis man, eigh væstgøskan, bøte firi atta ørtogher ok þrettan markær ok ænga ætar bot. [...] Dræpar maþær danskan man allæ noræn man, bøte niv markum. Dræpær maþær vtlænskan man, eigh ma frid flyia or landi sinu oc j æth hans. Dræpær maþær vtlænskæn prest, bøte sva mykit firi sum hærlænskan man. Præstær skal i bondalaghum væræ. Varþær suþærman dræpin ællær ænskær maþær, ta skal bøta firi marchum fiurum þem sakinæ søkir, ok tvar marchar konongi.
Translation:
If someone slays a Swede or a Smålander, a man from the kingdom, but not a West Geat, he will pay eight örtugar and thirteen marks, but no wergild. [...] If someone slays a Dane or a Norwegian, he will pay nine marks. If someone slays a foreigner, he shall not be banished and have to flee to his clan. If someone slays a foreign priest, he will pay as much as for a fellow countryman. A priest counts as a freeman. If a Southerner is slain or an Englishman, he shall pay four marks to the plaintiff and two marks to the king.'
[edit] Tags:Norwegian, | |
| The Life of Saint Eric | |
| 3>
This text about Eric IX (ca. 1120–1160) can be found in the Codex Bureanus, a collection of Old Swedish manuscripts from the mid-14th century.[15]
Hǣr viliom wī medh Gudz nādhom sighia medh faam ordhom aff thø̄m hælgha Gudz martire Sancto Ērīco, som fordum war konungher ī Swērīke. Bādhe aff ǣt ok ædle han war swā fast aff konunga slækt som aff androm Swērīkis høfdingiom. Sidhan rīkit var v̄tan forman, ok han var kiǣr allom lanzins høfdingiom ok allom almōganom, thā valdo thē han til konungh medh allom almōghans gōdhwilia, ok sattis hedherlīca ā konungx stool vidh Upsala.
Translation:
Here we want to say with God's grace a few words about that holy God's martyr Saint Eric, who was earlier the King of Sweden. In both heritage and nobility he was fastly of royal extraction as other Swedish leaders. Since the realm was without a leader and he was beloved by all of the land's nobility and all of the common people, the commoners chose him as King with all of their good will, and sat him reverentially on the King's throne at Uppsala.
[edit] Tags: | |
| Bibliography | |
| 2>
Kirro, Arto; Himanen, Ritva. Textkurs i fornsvenska. Universitetet 1988.
Wessén, Elias. Fornsvenska texter: med förklaringar och ordlista. Läromedelsförlagen, Svenska bokförlagen 1969.
Bergman, Gösta.Kortfattad svensk språkhistoria. Prisma 1980.
Noreen, Adolf. Altschwedische Grammatik. 1904.
[edit] Tags: | |
| References | |
| 2>
^ Fortescue, Michael D. Historical linguistics 2003: selected papers from the 16th International Conference on Historical Linguistics, Copenhagen, 11–15 August 2003. John Benjamins Publishing Company 2005. p. 258. Accessed through Google Books.
^ Bandle, Oskar; Elmevik, Lennart; Widmark, Gun. The Nordic languages: An International Handbook of the History of the North Germanic Languages. Volume 1. Walter de Gruyter 2002. Accessed through Google Books.
^ Klassisk- och yngre fornsvenska. Svenska språkhistoria. Retrieved 2009-28-10.
^ a b Grünbaun, Katharina. Svenska språket. Svenska institutet.
^ Hird, Gladys; Huss, Göran; Hartman, Göran. Swedish: an elementary grammar reader. Cambridge University Press 1980. p. 1. Accessed through Google Books.
^ Beukema, Frits H.; van der Wurff, Wim. Imperative clauses in generative grammar: studies in honour of Frits Beukema. John Benjamins Publishing Company 2007. p. 195, note 14. Accessed through Google Books.
^ Dahl, Östen; Koptjevskaja-Tamm, Maria. The Circum-Baltic languages: typology and contact. John Benjamins Publishing Company 2001. Accessed through Google Books.
^ a b c d e f g h i Noreen, Adolf: Altschwedische Grammatik, mit Einschluss des Altgutnischen. 1904. Retrieved 2009-28-10.
^ Faarlund, Jan Terje. Grammatical relations in change. John Benjamins Publishing Company 2001. p. 249. Accessed through Google Books.
^ Pettersson, Gertrud. Svenska språket under sjuhundra år. Lund 2005.
^ Wischer, Hilse; Diewald, Gabriele. New reflections on grammaticalization. John Benjamins Publishing Company 2002. p. 52. Accessed through Google Books.
^ a b Germanic languages: conjugate Old Swedish verbs. Verbix.com. Retrieved 2009-28-10.
^ In Västgötska, "molin" can also be used instead of "mor din". Västgötska words and expressions (Swedish)
^ Roelcke, Thorsten. Variationstypologie: ein sprachtypologisches Handbuch der europäischen Sprachen in Geschichte und Gegenwart. Walter de Gruyter 2003. p. 195. Accessed through Google Books.
^ Gordon and Taylor Old Norse readings. Lexicon.ff.cuni.cz. Retrieved 2009-28-10.
[edit] Tags:Germanic,North Germanic, | |
| External links | |
| 2>
Altschwedische Grammatik by Adolf Noreen at the Germanic Lexicon Project
Old Swedish verb conjugator
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