Old Norse orthography

The orthography of the Old Norse language was diverse, being written in both Runic and Latin alphabets, with many spelling conventions, variant letterforms, and unique letters and signs. In modern times, scholars established a standardized spelling for the language. When Old Norse names are used in texts in other languages, modifications to this spelling are often made. In particular, the names of Old Norse mythological characters often have several different spellings.

Latin alphabet orthography

The Old Norse alphabet consists of 32 letters derived from the Latin alphabet:

Majuscule Forms (also called uppercase or capital letters)

A

Á

B

D

Ð

E

É

F

G

H

I

Í

J

K

L

M

N

O

Ó

Œ/Ǿ

Ø

Ǫ/Ö

P

R

S

T

U

Ú

V

Y

Ý

Æ

Minuscule Forms (also called lowercase or small letters)

a

á

b

d

ð

e

é

f

g

h

i

í

j

k

l

m

n

o

ó

œ/ǿ

ø

ǫ/ö

p

r

s

t

u

ú

v

y

ý

æ

The following table gives various attested vowel spellings and their phonemes transcribed in IPA.

Phoneme	/i(ː)/	/i/U	/e(ː)/	/æ(ː)/	/æ/	/æː/	/y(ː)/	/ø(ː)/	/ø/	/øː/
General usage	i	i, e, æ	e, æ	æ	e, ę	K.A.	y	ø, ö, œ	K.A.
Standard normalization	i		e	K.A.	e	æ	y	K.A.	ø	œ
Phoneme	/u(ː)/	/u/U	/o(ː)/	/ɑ(ː)/	/ɑ/U	/ɒ/	/æi/	/ɒu/	/ɐy/	/Vː/
General usage	u	u, o	o	a	a, æ	ǫ, o, aE	ei, ęi, æi	au	ey, øy	V́, VV
Standard normalization	u		o	a		ǫ	ei	au	ey	V́

Legend:

• ^U: Unstressed
• ^E: Chiefly eastern
• (ː): Both long and short in general usage, short in standard normalized spelling.

Dialect-specific sounds:

• /ɒː/: Icelandic; a, aa, á, o, ó, ǫ́; Normalized: á
• /ə/: Danish; e, æ

When dialectal mergers such as OEN monophthongization took place, regional spelling often changed to reflect this. Sometimes, both phonemes' spellings would be used, but confused. The epenthetic vowel had different regional spellings. In East Norse it was commonly spelled as ‹e› or ‹a›, while in West Norse it was often spelled ‹u›, almost always so in Iceland.

Manuscript spelling

The original Icelandic manuscripts which are the source of our knowledge of Norse mythology did not employ a unified system of spelling. Thus the same name might be spelled several different ways even in the original manuscripts. Letters unique to the language existed, such as a modified version of the letter Wynn called Vend that was used briefly for the sounds /u/, /v/, and /w/. In particular, the length of vowels was only sporadically marked in many manuscripts and various umlauted vowels were often not distinguished from others. Another complication is that several shortcut forms for common words, syllables, and grammatical endings developed. One example is the use of the rune named maðr (man) for the word maðr. Another is the use of a special glyph for the various r-endings so common in Old Norse. These scribal abbreviations are categorized as follows:

• Suspension, truncation, or curtailment: Certain letters of the word are omitted, with the abbreviation indicated by a superscript stroke (esp. dropping a nasal), dot(s) beside the letter, or occasionally a colon. Examples: Ꝥ for þat (etc.), ū for um, hō for hón, þan̅ for þann; .kgr. for konungr, .s. for sonr.
• Contraction: The first and last letters are written, and the abbreviation is indicated by a dot or superscript stroke.
• Special signs or brevigraphs: Symbols replacing words or syllables. Examples: Tironian et (⁊) for ok, ᛘ for maðr, syllabic et (Ꝫꝫ) in mꝫ (með) for /eð/.
• Superscript letters: Regular letters contained in the word or letters specifically for abbreviation purposes. Often with syllabic content. Examples: sᵏ (sik), a zig-zag shaped symbol mainly for er and ir in u͛a (vera).

These abbreviation conventions and a majority of the signs are inherited from the Latin language itself, and were common to the Latin alphabet in other languages. However, other signs or conventions are specifically Norse, such as the er zig-zag.

Normalized spelling

With normalized spelling, the manuscript spelling is altered to adhere to be more strict and regular. These respellings are designed to be phonemically precise rather than representative of the manuscripts. The degree of normalization may vary, but in general the text is at the end reduced to limited deviation from a regularized system, perhaps at the expense of some dialectal character.

For various reasons 19th century scholars came up with a standardized normalization of Old Norse which remains in use. It is primarily based on the so-called First Grammatical Treatise. Vowel length is marked and umlauted vowels are unambiguously represented. The standardized spelling employs a few characters that are not available in the most common electronic character sets. Replacements are often used, particularly in electronic formats. The most consequential is the use of ö instead of o-with-tail (ogonek) ǫ.

Runic orthography and transcription

See also: Younger Futhark, Medieval runes, and Runic transliteration and transcription

The following table associates the vowels of the language to its orthography. Nasalization and length are not distinguished in the table when distinguished in neither orthography, nor is /æi/ distinguished from /æ/+/i/.

Phoneme	/i(ː)/	/eː/	/i/U, /e/	/æ(ː)/	/ɑ(ː)/	/ɒ(ː)/	/ɑ̃(ː)/	/y(ː)/	/ø(ː)/	/u(ː)/	/u/U	/o(ː)/	/ɒu/, /ɐy/
Younger Futhark, 8th-12th c.	ᛁ			ᛆ/ᛅ, ᚬ/ᚭ	ᛆ/ᛅ	ᛆ/ᛅ, ᛅᚢ/ᛆᚢ	ᚬ/ᚭ	ᚢ				ᚢ, ᚬ/ᚭ	ᛅᚢ/ᛆᚢ
Medieval Runes, 11th-14th c.	ᛁ	ᛂ	ᛅ		ᛆ			ᚤ, ᛦ	ᚯ	ᚢ	ᚮ		ᛆᚢ

• ^U: Unstressed

Transcription of Danish and Swedish runestones

When transcribing Old Norse texts from Danish and Swedish runestones, many scholars, but not all, use an orthography that is adapted to represent Old East Norse, the dialect of Old Norse in Denmark and Sweden. The main differences are the diphthong æi instead of ei as in stæinn ("stone") and i instead of the glide j as in giald ("payment"). In this standard, the u-umlauted a represented by ǫ is not usually considered, but rendered as the underlying a, as in the name AnundR. Another difference is the representation of the phoneme R, instead of simply r as in West Norse, where the R phoneme merged with r earlier. However, even if they render the transcription according to the local pronunciation, the Rundata project presents personal names according to the previously mentioned standardized spelling in English translations. Here follows an example from the Orkesta Runestone (U 344):

Standardized spelling:

• En Ulfr hefir á Englandi þrjú gjald tekit. Þat var fyrsta þat's Tosti ga[l]t. Þá [galt] Þorketill. Þá galt Knútr.

The rendering of Old East Norse:

• En UlfR hafiR a Ænglandi þry giald takit. Þet vas fyrsta þet's Tosti ga[l]t. Þa [galt] Þorkætill. Þa galt Knutr.

But when translating into English, the standardized spelling is used:

• But Ulfr has taken three payments in England. That was the first that Tosti paid. Then Þorketill paid. Then Knútr paid.

Modernized Icelandic spelling

In many modern Icelandic publications of Old Norse works, the modern Icelandic spelling is used. Since it is based on the same basic system the difference is not great. One notable difference is probably the insertion of u before r in many names. Thus the Old Norse name Baldr comes out as Baldur in modern Icelandic. Other differences include vowel-shifts, whereby Old Norse ǫ became Icelandic ö, and Old Norse œ became Icelandic æ.

Anglicized spelling

For the convenience of English writers and readers the Old Norse characters not used in English are commonly replaced with English ones. This can lead to ambiguity and confusion. Here is a sample conversion table:

• á → a
• é → e
• í → i
• ú → u
• ó → o
• ö → o
• ø → o
• œ → o, oe
• æ → ae
• þ → th
• ð → th, d, dh

Another common convention in English is to drop consonant nominative endings:

• Egill → Egil
• Yggdrasill → Yggdrasil
• Gunnarr → Gunnar
• Sveinn → Svein
• Freyr → Frey
• Hildr → Hild

When a name ends with r which is not an ending it is often changed to er or (Modern Icelandic) ur to facilitate pronunciation.

• Baldr → Balder, Baldur

One more convention is to use i instead of j.

• Njáll → Nial
• Freyja → Freyia

Sometimes the j is simply dropped.

• Freyja → Freya

Sometimes the ending i is spelled e (supported by manuscript spelling and mainland Scandinavian custom).

• Loki → Loke
• Bragi → Brage

Other quirks sometimes seen include adding a to the names of goddesses.

• Frigg → Frigga
• Iðunn → Iduna

Obviously the various permutations allow for many possible spellings for a given name.

Some authors, for example, replace þ with th and ð with th, dh or d but keep the accents; others may not replace ǫ with ö but prefer o.

Thus, in addition to the various versions below, the name of Hǫðr could come out as:

• Hoðr, Hödhr, Hödr, Höd, Höð, Hoð

List of names

A list of some commonly encountered Old Norse names with variant spellings.

Gods:

• Ása-Þórr, Asa-Thor*
• Bragi, Brage
• Baldr, Balder, Baldur**
• Hǫðr, Hoth,* Hod,* Hothr,* Hodr, Hoder, Hodhr*
• Freyr, Frey*
• Forseti, Forsete
• Heimdallr, Heimdalr, Heimdall,* Heimdal*
• Hœnir, Honir, Hoenir*
• Óðinn, Odin, Odhin,* Othin,* Odinn
• Ǫku-Þórr, Oku-Thor*
• Þórr, Thor,* Thorr*
• Týr, Tyr, Ty*
• Vili, Vilji, Vile
• Vé, Ve

Goddesses:

• Frigg, Frigga
• Freyja, Freya
• Hlín, Hlin
• Iðunn, Idun,* Idunn, Iduna

Giants:

• Ægir, Aegir*
• Býleistr, Byleist
• Loki, Loke

Giantesses:

• Hel, Hela
• Gerðr, Gerd, Gerth,* Gerthr*
• Rindr, Rind

Animals:

• Freki, Freke
• Geri, Gere
• Huginn, Hugin*
• Jǫrmungandr, Jormungand, Iormungand
• Miðgarðsormr, Midgardsorm
• Muninn, Munin*
• Ratatoskr, Ratatusk, Ratatosk

Places:

• Ásgarðr, Asgard*
• Miðgarðr, Midgard*
• Niflheimr, Niflheim
• Útgarðr, Utgard*

Other:

• Æsir, Aesir*
• Hávamál, Havamal
• Ragnarǫk, Ragnarok
• Vǫluspá, Völuspá, Voluspa
• Yggdrasill, Yggdrasil*

** Modernized Icelandic, * Anglicized

See also

• First Grammatical Treatise
• Old Norse alphabet
• Runic transliteration and transcription
• Rök Stone
• Temple at Uppsala
• Tollund Man

External links

• Medieval Nordic Text Archive, which contains Old Norse texts in manuscript and standard orthographies.