Firgive vus sinna vora sin vee Firgive

A Scottish form of Norse called "Norn" long existed, especially in the Islands. The last native speaker died in the 19th century, but it survives in many place names. It was replaced by Scots, not Gaelic nor English. A form of the Lord's Prayer in the tongue survives, and you can read it at the link: at least some of the words will be decipherable to you.

What is the Norn language?

Originally known as Norrœna, Norn is an extinct North Germanic language that was a variant of Old Norse. It was mostly spoken in the Northern Isles of Scotland in Orkney and the Shetland islands but was also found in the Scottish mainland in Caithness.

Vikings who came from West Norway first started building settlements on Scotland’s archipelagos around 850 AD and this is seen as the startpoint of the Norn language evolving from Old Norse. Scottish place names with Old Norse motifs can be found scattered throughout the entire country but the “amount of place names with a Norn element” in regions like Shetland reflect how such regions were heavily colonised by Norsemen.

"Norrœna" also happens to be the name of a society that was founded by the kings of Sweden and Norway for the purpose of “resurrecting, reproducing, collecting and collating or indexing every thing that pertained to the early history of the Anglo Saxon, Celtic, Teutonic, and Scandinavian races—to furnish the people of Northern Europe with their own vital history.” The wide-ranging interest is well-captured by this Norrœna Library edition of their collection that we inherited from my wife's mother's family, who had it in Alaska in the middle of the 20th century.


My set is 15 volumes, but there were sets with a 16th on early American history.

Saxo Grammaticus wrote on early Denmark; the Volsung (Völsunga ) Saga was discovered in Iceland but is clearly related to the Medieval High German Nibelungenlied; the Heimskringla is a history of Norse (chiefly Norweigan) kings.

Again, Iceland, Iceland, two general collections of folklore widely sourced, and Sir Thomas Malory of England drawing on French sources.

It is lushly illustrated; here is a plate from the Völsunga Saga.

It's actually quite difficult to tease apart the history of the "Anglo Saxon, Celtic, Teutonic, and Scandinavian races," especially in the British Isles. The Normans who conquered and ruled (and intermarried with) both Anglo-Saxons and Celts were originally Scandinavian before they came to France; the Celtic-French collaboration we call the Arthurian cycle was later adopted by the Normans as their especial favorite mythology because it provided ancient warrant for a kingdom both in the British Isles and the French-speaking continent. 

All of this heroic Northwestern European literature was fodder for the Norrœna Society, as it is for we ourselves. 

3 comments:

  1. It seems like that collection would be a treasure. What do you think of it?

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  2. To the kind of person who appreciates it, such a man as I am myself, it is a treasure.

    It’s a collection of 19th century translations and art. We’ve improved upon our ability to translate these languages in the century since; and our artistic ideals have also changed (not always ‘improved’). It is a great source of insight into what the later 19th century thinkers believed to be true about these manuscripts and the relationship between these cultures (which they conceive of as different races).

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  3. Anonymous5:06 PM

    Well, the British lumped the Zulu, Rajputs, and a few others as "Martial Races" based on culture. Not genetic, no, but in some ways it was a better way to categorize people. In others ... very confusing.

    That collection sounds wonderful. Had I but room enough and time, and room is the greater obstacle.

    LittleRed1

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