LANGUAGE VARIATION AND CHANGE IN ANCIENT AND MEDIEVAL EUROPE: Old & Middle English - Old High German - Old Norse - Old Romance - Ancient Greek

Thórhallur Eythórsson

(University of Iceland)

This course surveys the development of Old Norse from the earliest North Germanic fragmentary sources to the peak of the literary production in medieval Iceland. Particular attention is given to the linguistic and cultural backgrounds of Old Norse and its position among its earliest Germanic relatives: Gothic, Old English, Old Saxon, and Old High German. The topics covered include variation and change within Old Norse; the runic inscriptions; Germanic alliterative poetry; and Icelandic Sagas. The main emphasis, however, is on the grammar of the Old Norse language from a historical and a comparative perspective: phonology, morphology and syntax.

            By completion of course students should have gained

-knowledge of the most important aspects of Old Norse

-an understanding of key issues in Germanic historical linguistics

-familiarity with the relationship and development of the North Germanic languages

ECLASS: free.openeclass.org/courses/ENG228