North Germanic languages

Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 58. Chapters: Swedish language, Old Norse, Danish language, Norwegian language, Faroese language, Norn language, Bokmål, Nynorsk, Icelandic language, Old Swedish, Bornholmsk dialect, Proto-Norse language, Elfdalian language, Jutlandic dialect, Jamtlandic dialects, Saga, Modern Gutnish, Old Gutnish, Ergi, Gøtudanskt accent, Greenlandic Norse, An Introduction to Old Norse, Svorsk, Rodi language, Dalecarlian alphabet, Dalecarlian dialects, Orsamål dialect. Excerpt: Old Norse is a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300. Proto-Norse developed into Old Norse by the 8th century, and Old Norse began to develop into the modern North Germanic languages in the mid- to late 14th century, ending the language phase known as Old Norse. These dates, however, are not absolute, since written Old Norse is found well into the 15th century. Old Norse was divided into three dialects: Old East Norse, Old West Norse, and Old Gutnish. Old West and East Norse formed a dialect continuum, with no clear geographical boundary between them. Old East Norse traits were found in eastern Norway, and Old West Norse traits were found in western Sweden. The most speakers spoke Old East Norse in what are present-day Denmark and Sweden. Old Gutnish, the more obscure dialectal branch, is sometimes included in the Old East Norse dialect due to geographical associations. It shared developments with both Old West Norse and Old East Norse, and acquired features unique to it. The 12th century Icelandic Gray Goose Laws state that Swedes, Norwegians, Icelanders and Danes spoke the same language, donsk tunga. Speakers of Old East Norse would have said dansk tunga ("Danish tongue") or norrønt mál ("Nordic speech"). Today Old Norse has developed into the modern North Germanic languages (Icelandic, Faroese, Norwegian, Danish and Swedish), but mutual intelligibility has not fully disappeared. In some instances the term Old Norse refers specifically to Old West Norse. The approximate extent of Old Norse and related languages in the early 10th century: Old Icelandic was essentially identical to Old Norwegian, and together they formed the Old West Norse dialect of Old Norse and were also spoken in settlements in Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man, and Norwegian settlements in Normandy. The Old East Norse dialect was spoken in Denmark, Sweden, settlements in Russia