Norrœnt Mál - Old Norse!

Of all the old world languages I had crammed into my head, I realized that I was sticking pretty close to the Mediterranean. Ethnically, I am partly Swedish, so with that in mind, I decided to travel to the north and visit my roots. There, I found another gem of a language: Old Norse. The language of the vikings.

I. What is it?

Old Norse is a Germanic language; it is the predecessor to the modern Scandinavian languages: Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Icelandic and Faroese. As a Germanic language, it also shares roots with other modern Germanic languages, such as Dutch, English, German and Frisian. Before its standardization, Old Norse varied quite a bit both historically and geographically; the pronunciation and spelling of the language were just all over the place. It hadn't been normalized until the late 19th century. That said, modern Icelandic is a special case. Because of its relative isolation from the rest of Europe, the language has hardly changed in its descent from Old Norse. This means that, today, modern Icelanders can still read and understand the Old Norse from centuries ago! That's certainly not something that every culture can say about their historical linguistic heritage.

II. How does it work?

As an Indo-European language (indicating that it came from the same boat that Latin and Greek did), it also has a case system. However, syntaxically, the language works in a fashion much more similar to English. (Even more so to Swedish, for obvious reasons.) While the word order is also not as strict as English's, like most older languages, its sort of "default" word order is one that we, as modern English speakers, can recognize. There are three grammatical genders (masculine, feminine and neutral), meaning that adjectives will have to agree in number, gender and case with their antecedents, just like Latin and Greek.

III. Anything peculiar about it?

The article. If you have studied any modern Scandinavian language at all, you'll be instantly familiar with this concept.
Old Norse has a definite article (a word that corresponds to "the" in English), but the way it's used is very interesting. The article is hinn (masculine), hin (feminine), hitt (neutral). Sometimes, it can be used exactly as in English, but merely agreeing with the noun it's defining: Eiríkr hinn Rauði, literally "Eric the Red." However, the article may instead be suffixed to the end of the word, still agreeing with the noun. The h- and sometimes the first -i- will disappear from the stem: Eiríkr Rauðinn, literally "Eric Red-the."
Another peculiarity is a trait that is shared among most other Germanic languages. When words are compounded, they are most often affixed together with no spaces between, similar to the English word "zookeeper." Even compounds like "insurance company" and "Crime Scene Investigator" would all be affixed together with no spaces. This can lead to really huge nouns that can absolutely baffle the modern English speaker with ease. Some examples of this are:

Áhyggjuyfirbragðit, "the grave look" (á [in; upon] + hyggja [to think] + yfir [over] + bragð [phase] + hitt [the {neutral}]).

Þarlandshǫfðingarnir, "the natives of that land" (þar [there; that] + lands [land's] + hǫfuð [head] + ingi [used to describe people] + hinir [the {plural}].

IV. What do I like about it?

Old Norse has a very distinct pronunciation. Or rather, I should say, what we've been able to reconstruct of its pronunciation based on a series of educated guesses. I like the way it works and the way it sounds. Taken hand-in-hand with the culture of the viking world (which is not as rough-and-tumble as we are led to believe), it paints a pretty interesting picture. Perhaps they hide so many sounds so far in the back of their mouths because it's so cold out and they're trying to keep them warm. I also really enjoy that noun chaining quality. It's lots of fun to baffle people with them. Add one more good friend to my posse of old world languages!

V. Difficulty in learning it?

Norse is pretty difficult, but not for the reasons that Latin and Greek are, but because resources and transcripts are harder to come by; you won't have much to practice with.

• Things that make your life hard

1. The case system in Old Norse is not quite as consistent as it is in Latin and Greek. Extra memorization, unfortunately!
2. The pronunciation, even if based on modern Icelandic, is still pretty tricky.
3. If you decide to learn to read Nordic runes, that will be a totally new trial in and of itself. The runic script is not normalized, so one rune may indicate several pronunciations depending on region, dialect, etc.

• Things that make your life easy

1. Syntax is somewhat similar to English.
2. I'm sure you're used to this by now, but yes, English borrows lots of words from Old Norse as well. While Latin and Greek roots are usually compounds, technical or scientific words, Norse roots tend to be simpler and a little more "closer to the heart," euphemistically speaking. Some such words are: syngja - to sing; vindr - wind; lítill - little; faðir, moðir, broðir, systir - father, mother, brother, sister. 

VI. Sample text

Er efalauss at yðr ǫllum villtaðsk sýn at yðar fullvillt eruð. Þótt yðr ǫskrusjárinn um nemi, hvárt nam yðr eða ekki? Ekki er til efs at fyrir þat var einskis ørvænt. Viljaðar þeira freista, ok vita hvat at hafi?

"It is certain that you are all so bewildered that you're completely lost. Though the roaring sea overtakes you, did it touch you or not? It cannot be doubted that anything might be expected from that. Are you willing to try, and know what there is to be had?"

Links:

Transcript of the Völuspá (Norse myth of the creation of the world)
Text transliteration of the Völuspá

Ἀρχαῖα Ἑλληνικὴ Γλῶσσα - Archaîa Hellēnikḕ Glôssa - Ancient Greek!

Once I had gotten Latin and its extremes under my belt, I suddenly realized that I could learn a huge number of languages that I previously thought impossible. Along with that, I also realized that I was fascinated with the ancient world. That said, the next language I decided to undertake was the language of the Greeks. Particularly, the Greek spoken in the classical period.

I. What is it?

Greek is part of its own independent branch of a larger umbrella classification of languages called the Indo-European languages. So, in other words, Greek is classified as a Greek (or "Hellenistic") language. Sounds silly, huh? The language is that unique. Spoken by, you guessed it! The Greeks. For over three thousand years, no less. Greek has the record for the longest recorded history compared to any of the other Indo-European languages.

II. How does it work?

Greek shares some similarities with Latin in its grammar and syntax. It has a case system, as Latin does, but fewer cases; only four instead of six. That makes Hellenistic Greek a fusional language, as Latin is. Like Latin, Greek has a large number of verb inflections, though it has a few more than those that exist in Latin. One of the striking differences is the fact that Greek has its own alphabet, which became the basis for several other alphabets in Europe, such as the Latin alphabet, which is the one you're reading at this very moment. It also has definite articles, a feature that Latin lacks, and one may use the article in Greek for very specific expressions which have very precise nuances that don't exactly exist in English. Very interesting, indeed!

III. Anything peculiar about it?

One less obvious difference between Latin and Greek is that Greek has a particularly tricky tense called the aorist. The aorist tense essentially describes an action as an undivided whole, without relation to its parts. This tense, when it descended into Latin, was absorbed by the Latin perfect tense and therefore does not exist in the language. This tense usually implies a past action, but does not directly assert a past tense; it can be used to indicate present or future actions as well. Confused? Here's a quick example:
Ἦλθον, εἶδον, ἐνίκησα.
(Êlthon, eîdon, eníkēsa.)
"I came, I saw, I conquered."
These three actions are described as single states that have no reference to time and are completely undivided in their completion. If you're still confused, it's alright; you need not to learn this aspect in its entirety; I only aim to illustrate it as a peculiarity.

IV. What do I like about it?

Greek has a very pretty alphabet. One of the most endearing aesthetic factors of the language is the way it looks when written. Another thing I like about Hellenistic Greek is its extensive set of diacritical marks. These marks were instated in the classical period simply for the purpose of making Greek easier to learn for foreigners. Lastly, like Latin, there is that certain air about the language, that certain obscure charm that really draws me in. This language and Latin are like my two best friends. They're more similar than they are different and they're both wonderful languages.

V. Difficulty in learning it?

Also like Latin, this language is considered one of the hardest to learn. Again, like Latin, while it is quite difficult, it is far from impossible.

• Things that make your life hard

1. The alphabet. You will have to learn to read a totally new set of characters, but it's not as difficult as having to learn a syllabic script such as hiragana or katakana.
2. The case system. Though it isn't as extensive as Latin's.
3. The extra verb conjugations and stem and vowel augmentations in said verb conjugations.

• Things that make your life easy

1. Patterns exist in Greek similarly to the way they exist in Latin.
2. Also like Latin, many words are borrowed from Greek. Knowing them can help you learn the Greek words (and may even help you better understand the English derivatives, too). Words that end in -sis are usually of Greek origin: Genesis (from γένεσις [génesis], "birth; beginning; origin" < γίγνεσθαι [gígnesthai] "to become"); stasis (from στάσις [stásis] "standing" < ἱστάναι [histánai] "to stand"); thesis (θέσις [thésis] "placement" < τιθέναι [tithénai] "to place"), etc. 

VI. Sample text

Ἐν τῇ γνώμῃ καὶ ἐνθυμωμένῳ, ἐννοῇς ἣν πλάνην ἐγγράφου σὺ μνήμοσι δέλτοις φρενῶν. Ἁπλῶς πᾶν ᾕρησα γράφειν. Κοτὲ διὰ τὰ πάντα χρώματα ἐπιθυμῶ λέγειν.

(En têᵢ gnṓmēᵢ kaì enthymōménōᵢ, ennoêᵢs hḕn plánēn eñgraphou sỳ mnḗmosi déltois phrenôn. Haplôs pân hḗᵢrēsa gráphein. Kotè dià pánta chrṓmata epithymô légein.)

"In thinking and reflecting, you must consider which wanderings you should write on the tablets of your mind. I simply chose to write everything. Someday, I set my heart on speaking in all the colors of the world."

Links:

Classics Reader: Herodotus in Greek and English
Dedication Ptolemy VI