Hvorfor lære norsk
Intermingling | Scandinavian languages | Norwegian
Learning Norwegian speeds up and enhances your learning of Old Norse, without the faintest doubt.
Just compare. We dive into the dream of the mad king Sigurð, in The Saga of Sigurd the Crusader, Eystein and Olaf.
If you are a native Norwegian speaker, or already a convert, you can perhaps divine the saga's meaning simply by reading the Old Norse. Nevertheless, you will be delighted to read more about Sigurd, and will certainly learn to examine your language in more detail: we are often unaware of the inner workings of our own language. If not, we hope to demonstrate sufficient proximity between Old Norse and modern Norwegian to convert you to the entertaining apprenticeship of a northern language whose music is incredibly charming.
King Sigurd becomes taciturn.
Draumr Sigurðar konungs Jórsalafara.
Þat er sagt, at Sigurðr konungr tók úgleði mikla, ok mátti lítt njóta tals hans, ok sat hann skömmum við drikkju.
Þat þótti ráðsmönnum þungt, ok vinum hans ok hirðinni, ok biðja Eystein konung leggja til nökkur ráð, at hann féngi vitat, hverju gegndi; féngu menn nú enga orskurði mála sinna, er hann sóttu at. Eysteinn konungr svarar svá: Vant er at rœða ok leita eptir við konung.
Get acquainted (you're not Norwegian) with the story.
The Dream of King Sigurd the Crusader.
It is said that King Sigurd fell into a great melancholy, and people could hardly engage him in conversation, and he sat but briefly at drink.
This weighed heavily on his counselors, friends, and retinue, and they asked King Eystein to devise some plan so that he might learn what was the matter; for men now received no decisions in their cases when they sought his counsel. King Eystein answered thus: It is difficult to speak with and inquire of the king.
Let's take a closer look at an Norwegian equivalent to the first sentence:
Þat er sagt, at Sigurðr konungr tók úgleði mikla, ok mátti lítt njóta tals hans, ok sat hann skömmum við drikkju.
First of all, an almost word-for-word translation, with loose syntax, but completely comprehensible to a native Norwegian.
Det er sagt, at Sigurd konge tok uglede mye, og kunne lite nyte tale hans, og satt han kort ved drikke.
We highlight below obvious similarities.
Þat er sagt, at Sigurðr konungr tók úgleði mikla, ok mátti lítt njóta tals hans, ok sat hann skömmum við drikkju.
Det er sagt, at Sigurd konge tok uglede mye, og kunne lite nyte tale hans, og satt han kort ved drikke.
Almost everything. Let's try to convey the feel of this approximation for the English-reader.
It is said, that Sigurd king took sadness (*un-gladness) much, and could little use talk his, and sat he briefly at drink.
Let's highlight some immediate similarities, this time from Old Norse to our broken English.
Þat er sagt, at Sigurðr konungr tók úgleði mikla, ok mátti lítt njóta tals hans, ok sat hann skömmum við drikkju.
It is said, that Sigurd king took sadness (*un-gladness) much, and could little use talk his, and sat he briefly at drink.
Some of the word-for-word English is very recognizable. But even in pieces that coincide rather well, English is clearly further from Old Norse than Norwegian is:
Þat er sagt - Det er sagt - It is said
at Sigurðr konungr tók - at Sigurd konge tok - that Sigurd king took
ok (mátti) lítt njóta tals hans - og (kunne) lite nyte tale hans - and could little use talk his
sat hann (skömmum) við drikkju - satt han kort ved drikke - sat he briefly at drink
Our Intermingling series, to which the present meditation belongs, is about comparative linguistics, and dreams in particular of clarifying the notion of distance between languages. As we said earlier
Galois dreams of alchemizing a precise, very mathematical notion of distance between languages. A machine which, given the universal corpora of any two languages, engineers their objective score of similarities, in all respects, according to a secret and exact formula.
Even if our great objective still requires a little work, we have no difficulty in observing the variations in proximity highlighted above.
Let's look ahead to smoother, more syntax-accurate translations in both languages. In a first version, we re-establish the Norwegian syntax, and in particular the word order that was previously broken.
Þat er sagt, at Sigurðr konungr tók úgleði mikla, ok mátti lítt njóta tals hans, ok sat hann skömmum við drikkju.
Det er sagt at kong Sigurd tok stor uglede, og kunne litt nyte talen hans, og (han) satt kort ved drikken.
Although not quite modern, we have both correctness in Norwegian, and closeness to Old Norse. (Among the awkwardnesses, tok stor uglede, literally took big enjoyment, and kunne litt nyte talen hans, literally, could (just) a little use his speech (or talk).)
We can propose a more literary and elegant translation,
Þat er sagt, at Sigurðr konungr tók úgleði mikla, ok mátti lítt njóta tals hans, ok sat hann skömmum við drikkju.
Det sies at kong Sigurd ble grepet av stor tungsinn, og man kunne knapt føre en samtale med ham, og han satt kort tid ved drikkebordet.
This is the fluid English translation we were proposing.
Þat er sagt, at Sigurðr konungr tók úgleði mikla, ok mátti lítt njóta tals hans, ok sat hann skömmum við drikkju.
It is said that King Sigurd fell into a great melancholy, and people could hardly engage him in conversation, and he sat but briefly at drink.
Here again, even the most legible pieces of Old Norse into English have a more immediate Norwegian equivalent.
Þat er sagt, at Sigurðr konungr - Det sies at kong Sigurd - It is said that King Sigurd
ok sat hann - og han satt - and he sat
við drikkju - ved drikkebordet - at drink
Let's take a look at the rest of King Sigurð's story.
Þat þótti ráðsmönnum þungt, ok vinum hans ok hirðinni, ok biðja Eystein konung leggja til nökkur ráð, at hann féngi vitat, hverju gegndi; féngu menn nú enga orskurði mála sinna, er hann sóttu at. Eysteinn konungr svarar svá: Vant er at rœða ok leita eptir við konung.
Here again is a suggestion for a word-for-word translation, with questionable syntax, but very readable. We highlight clear similarities.
Þat þótti ráðsmönnum þungt, ok vinum hans ok hirðinni, ok biðja Eystein konung leggja til nökkur ráð, at hann féngi vitat, hverju gegndi; féngu menn nú enga orskurði mála sinna, er hann sóttu at. Eysteinn konungr svarar svá: Vant er at rœða ok leita eptir við konung.
Dette syntes rådsmennene tungt, og vennene hans og hirden, og ba kong Eystein legge til noen råd, at han fikk vite hva det gjaldt; fikk menn nå ingen avgjørelser av sakene (målene) sine, som han søkte etter. Kong Eystein svarer så: Vanskelig er det å tale og leter etter ved kongen.
A word about mála, for example. This is the genitive plural of the substantive mál, meaning language, word, but in this case matter, affair, or perhaps even more precisely, cause, in a legal context. In Norwegian Bokmål, there are two etymologies for mål. The descendant of mál admits language as the main meaning (as in bokmål), but the meaning cause persists, notably in the compound nouns giftermål (marriage), klagemål (complaint), spørsmål (question, inquiry), søksmål (lawsuit), veddemål (wager). The Norwegian speaker, by constantly delving into the depths of his language, can easily intuit the meaning of Old Norse mála sinna.
Finally, we can offer two fluid, modern translations, and perusing them will convince the reader of this historical truth: Norwegian is much closer to Old Norse than English.
Dette tynget rådsmennene, vennene hans og hirden, og de ba kong Eystein komme med noen råd, slik at han kunne finne ut hva som feilte; for nå fikk folk ingen avgjørelser i sakene sine når de oppsøkte ham. Kong Eystein svarer slik: Det er vanskelig å snakke med og utspørre kongen.
This weighed heavily on his counselors, friends, and retinue, and they asked King Eystein to devise some plan so that he might learn what was the matter; for men now received no decisions in their cases when they sought his counsel. King Eystein answered thus: It is difficult to speak with and inquire of the king.
The answer to the initial question, Hvorfor lære norsk, i.e. why learn Norwegian, takes shape: It's much simpler to understand Old Norse if you know good Norwegian.
References
The Saga of Sigurd the Crusader, Eystein and Olaf. In Heimskringla III. In B. Aðalbjarnarson (Ed.). (1941-51). Íslenzk fornrit (Vol. 28). Hið íslenzka fornritafélag.