Old Gutnian
Old Gutnisch was the North Germanic language that was spoken on the Baltic Sea island of Gotland ( Sweden ) from AD 900 to the 17th century. It is the high and late medieval precursor of today's Gotlandic . The Old Gutnish is passed down mainly through the Gutasaga (a legendary story of the Gotland residents) and the Gutalag (the law of the Gotlanders). The main difference between the Old Gutnish and the Old Swedish are the diphthongs preserved in the former , where the mainland East Nordic had younger monophthongs , for example Old Gutnian auga, bain versus old Swedish ȫga, bēn ("eye, leg").
Linguistic characteristics
- The Old Norse diphthongs remain as in Old West Norse, but in contrast to Old East Norse. Hence it is said:
| Old Gutnian | Swedish | German |
|---|---|---|
| stain [stain] | sten [steːn] | stone |
| gait [gait] | get [geːt] | Goat |
| auga [ɑʊɣa] | öga [ø: gɐ] | eye |
| draumbr [drɑʊmbɾ] | dröm [drøːm] | dream |
| droyma [drɔyma] | drömma [drømːɐ] | dream |
| hoyra [hɔyɾa] | hear [høːɾɐ] | Listen |
- Old Gutnian is more conservative in the area of diphthongs than the languages derived from Old West Norse and has preserved the Ur-Norse ai , which was elevated to ei in Old Norse and Icelandic . In most of the dialects of the East Nordic languages Swedish and Danish, it evolved into monophthong ē . Old Gutnian oy corresponds to Old Icelandic ey and Old Norwegian öy, which has been monophthongized to ȫ in most East Nordic dialects .
- Long before consonants ai and au are monophthonged to a , for example baiþas (demand) over baddus (they demanded), dur (dead) over datt (dead [neuter]).
- The Old Norse diphthong iū , derived from Germanic * ēo , developed into the triphthong iau: fliauga (Swedish: flyga, German: to fly).
- Urnordisches and remains out front r retained and is not as often in Swedish as a result of a-umlaut to o reduced: gutar (Swedish: goter / gotlänningar, German: Goths, Gotlanders) Gutland (Swedish and German: Gotland) gutnisk (Swedish : gotisk / gotländsk, german: gotisch, gotlandisch), sun (swedish: son, german: son), skut (swedish: skott, german: shot), fulc (swedish: folk, german: people), but like swedish ormar ( Snakes).
- The i-umlaut occurs more frequently than in the other East Nordic languages, such as slegr (Swedish: slag, German: Schlag), segþi (Swedish: sade, German: said).
- Old Gutnisch knows ʀ-umlaut (ʀ <Germanic * z ), for example in oyra (Swedish: öra, German: Ohr; <germ. * Auzam- ), ȳr (Swedish: ur, German: aus).
- Both the west-Nordic labialization from urnordian i to y before ggw, ngw, nkw and its east-Nordic refraction to iu (so-called w-refraction) are missing: singa (Swedish: sjunga, old Danish: siunga, Norwegian: synge), sinka (Swedish: sjunka, old Danish: siunka, Norwegian: søkke).
- Old Gutnian tends to have closed vowels, where Old Swedish has open ones , such as ē, menn, segia, hīt, fȳþa ( Old Swedish: ǣ, mænn, sæghia, hēt, fǿþa, German: always, men, say, was called, nourish).
- Scion vowel only becomes noticeable late, so it is still called maþr, where old Swedish has been showing maþer for a long time ( New Swedish after the plural balanced man, German: man).
- When the long Old Norse ā from 1200 in large parts of Scandinavia evaporates to [ɔ] ː, [oː], it remains on Gotland as [ɑː], for example ār (Swedish: år [oːr], German: year).
- v before r disappears as in Old West Norse, for example in reka (Swedish: vräka, Norwegian: reke, German: etymological = revenge, semantic = drive away, discard, pour).
Family relationships
As a result of Gotland's island location, Old Gutnish shows considerable differences both in general to Old Norse and especially to Old Swedish dialects, so that it is viewed as a separate branch of Old Norse. In the 17th century, the Old Gut Niche passed into today's Gotland dialects , which have since been counted among the Swedish dialects.
The word root gut- is identical to the roots got- and göt- (cf. Götaland ). It has often been pointed out that the language has some similarities with Gothic . These similarities prompted the linguists Elias Wessén and Dietrich Hofmann to propose a historical coupling. It is, however, "only" to jointly preserved features such as the Germanic diphthongs, whereas Old Gutnish one hand in his forest and on the other hand, in the field of innovations clearly with the North Germanic and particularly go together Ostnordischen. It must therefore be emphasized that Altgutnisch is a northern and not an eastern Germanic language. For details, see the article Gotlandic .
Language example
- Old Gutnian
Þissi þieluar hafþi ann sun sum hit hafþi. En hafþa cuna hit huita stierna þaun tu bygþu fyrsti agutlandi fyrstu nat sum þaun saman suafu þa droymdi hennj draumbr. So sum þrir ormar warin slungnir saman j barmj hennar Oc þytti hennj sum þair scriþin yr barmi hennar. þinna draum segþi han firi hasþa bonda sinum hann riaþ dravm þinna so. Alt ir baugum bundit bo land al þitta warþa oc faum þria syni aiga. þaim gaf hann namn allum o fydum. guti al gutland aigha graipr al annar haita Oc gunfiaun þriþi. þair sciptu siþan gutlandi i þria þriþiunga. So at graipr þann elzti according to norþasta þriþiung oc guti miþal þriþiung En gunfiaun þann yngsti according to sunnarsta. siþan af þissum þrim aucaþis fulc j gutlandi so mikit um langan tima at land elptj þaim ai alla fyþa þa lutaþu þair bort af landi huert þriþia þiauþ so at alt sculdu þair attar aiga oc mifa sir i bort hort.
- Old West Norse
Þissi Þjelvar hafdi ann sun sum hít Hafði. En Hafða kuna means Hvítastjerna. Þaun tú byggðu fyrsti á Gutlandi. Fyrstu nátt sum þaun saman sváfu þá droymdi henni draumr; só sum þrír ormar varin slungnir saman í barmi hennar, ok þýtti henni sum þair skriðin ýr barmi hennar. Þinna draum segði han firi Hafða bónda sínum. Hann raið draum þinna só: "Alt ir baugum bundit, bóland al þitta varða uk fáum þría syni aiga." Þaim gaf hann namn, allum ófýddum; Guti, al Gutland aiga; Graipr, al annar haita; ok Gunnfjaun þriði. Þair skiptu síðan Gutlandi í þría þriðjunga, só at Graipr þann eldsti according to norðasta þriðjung, ok Guti miðal þriðjung, en Gunnfjaun þann yngsti according to sunnarsta. Síðan, af þissum þrim aukaðis fulk í Gutlandi sum mikit um langan tíma at land elpti þaim ai alla fýða. Þá lutaðu þair bort af landi hvert þriðja þjauð só at alt skuldu þair aiga ok mið sír bort hafa sum þair ufan jorðar áttu.
- New Icelandic
Son hann Þjálfi átti sem hét Hafði. Og kona Hafða hét Hvítastjarna. þau tvö byggðu fyrst manna á Gotlandi. Fyrstu nótt sem þau þar saman sváfu þá dreymdi hana draum; sá hún þrjá orma vafðir saman í barmi hennar, og þótti henni sem þeir skriða niður barm hennar. Þennan draum sagði hún Hafða bónda sínum. Hann réð draum þann svo: "Allt er baugum bundið og verður allt land þitt búið og munum við þrjá syni eiga." Þeim gaf hann nöfn ófæddum, Goti sem Gotland á að eiga; Greipur sem annar hét; og Gunnfjón sá þriðji. Þeir skiptu síðan Gotlandi í þrjá þriðjunga, þá fékk Greipur sá elsti norður þriðjunginn, og Goti miðju þriðjunginn, en Gunnfjón sá yngsti fékk suður þriðjunginn. Seinna, af þessum þremur jókst eftir langan tíma svo fólk í Gotlandi það mikið að landið gat ekki öllum veitt fæði. Þá létu þeir fara burt af landi þriðja hvern þegn, og allt máttu þau eiga og með sér burt hafa sem ofanjarðar áttu.
- German translation
This Thielvar had a son named Hafthi. And Hafthi's wife was named Hvítastjarna (white star). These two were the first settlers on Gotland. When they stayed on the island for the first night, she dreamed a dream that there were three snakes in her lap and she thought they were slipping out of her lap. She shared this dream with her husband Hafthi. He interpreted the dream like this: "Everything is tied to arm rings and your whole country will be inhabited and we will have three sons." He gave the unborn the names, Goti, who was to own Gotland, and Graip (ur) he called the second and Gunnfjón the third. They divided Gotland into three parts. Graip (ur) was the oldest to get the northern part, Goti the middle and Gunnfjón as the youngest got the southern part. After a certain time, their descendants became so numerous that the country could not feed them all. Therefore every third inhabitant had to leave the island. They were allowed to take everything they owned, but not the land they owned.
literature
- Oskar Bandle : The structure of the North Germanic. Basel / Stuttgart 1973 (reprint of the first edition with an introduction by Kurt Braunmüller 2011).
- Christine Peel: Guta Saga. The History of the Gotlanders. Viking Society for Northern Research Text Series. Vol. XII. Viking Society for Northern Research, University College of London, 1999.
- William B. Lockwood : Overview of the Indo-European languages. Günter Narr Verlag, Tübingen 1979.
- Friedrich Ranke , Dietrich Hofmann : Old Norse elementary book. Introduction, grammar, texts and dictionary. 4th edition, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1979 (Göschen Collection 2214).
- Swedish National Cyclopedie ( ISBN 91-7024-619-X ).
- Elias Wessén : Nordiska folkstammar och folknamn. En översikt. In: Fornvännen. 1969.
- Rune Palm: Vikingarnas språk. 750-1100. Norsteds, Stockholm 2004.
Web links
- home.swipnet.se (Swedish, English)
- gutamal.org (Swedish)
- Podcast feed of the program Gutamål (Swedish)