Old Norse Philology

Old Norse philology is the study of Norse culture and literature, by means of the Old Norse language.

Old Norse was the language spoken and written in Medieval and Viking Scandinavia, as well as the Norse colonies (what is often referred to as the Viking diaspora). Old Norse is the grandfather of the Scandinavian languages, as well as modern Icelandic and Faeroese. It is commonly divided into West and East Norse. West Norse encompasses Norway, Iceland, the Faeroe Islands and the Hebrides, while Denmark, Sweden and Gotland belonged to the East Norse language area.

As such, Old Norse philology provides an excellent portal to understanding the society and worldview of Viking and Medieval Scandinavia.

Old Norse is derived from Proto-Norse, which is the language of the oldest runic inscriptions. This in turn developed from a northern dialect of Proto-Germanic. 

Proto-Norse:
Ni wait ek whataʀ  - "I do not know what"

Old Norse:
Nǫkkut - "Something"

Norwegian (Nynorsk):
Noko - "Something"

Norwegian (Bokmål):
Noe - "Something"
 

Still curious? Read my in-depth article here.