Old Gutnish
Categories: Swedish dialects | Gotland
Old Gutnish was the dialect of Old Norse that was spoken on the island of Gotland. It shows sufficient differences from the Old East Norse dialects Old Swedish and Old Danish that it is considered to be a separate branch.
The root Gut is identical to Goth, and it is often remarked that the language has similarities with the Gothic language, the most well-known example being that Gothic and Gutnish called both adult and young sheep lamb. These similarities have led scholars such as Elias Wessén and Dietrich Hofmann to suggest that it is most closely related to Gothic.
The Old Norse diphthong au (e.g. auga> augä "eye") remained in Old West Norse, while in Old East Norse it evolved into the monophthong ø (øga). Likewise the diphthong ai in stain (stone) remained in Old West Norse while in Old East Norse it became e (sten). Whereas Old West Norse had the ey diphthong (and Old East Norse the monophthong ø) Old Gutnish had oy.
| Old West Norse | Old Gutnish | Old East Norse |
|
auga (eye)
|
augä
|
øgha
|
Most of the corpus of Old Gutnish is found in the Gutasaga from the 13th century.
Example:
- þissi þieluar hafþi ann sun sum hit hafþi. En hafþa cuna hit huita stierna þaun tu bygþu fyrsti agutlandi fyrstu nat sum þaun saman suafu þa droymdi hennj draumbr. So sum þrir ormar warin slungnir saman j barmj hennar Oc þytti hennj sum þair scriþin yr barmi hennar. þinna draum segþi han firi hasþa bonda sinum hann riaþ dravm þinna so. Alt ir baugum bundit bo land al þitta warþa oc faum þria syni aiga. þaim gaf hann namn allum o fydum. guti al gutland aigha graipr al annar haita Oc gunfiaun þriþi. þair sciptu siþan gutlandi i þria þriþiunga. So at graipr þann elzti laut norþasta þriþiung oc guti miþal þriþiung En gunfiaun þann yngsti laut sunnarsta. siþan af þissum þrim aucaþis fulc j gutlandi som mikit um langan tima at land elptj þaim ai alla fyþa þa lutaþu þair bort af landi huert þriþia þiauþ so at alt sculdu þair aiga oc miþ sir bort hafa sum þair vfan iorþar attu.
Translation:
- This Thielvar had a son called Hafthi. And Hafthi's wife was called Whitestar. Those two were the first to settle on Gotland. When they slept on the island for the first night, she dreamed that three snakes lay in her lap. She told this to Hafthi. He interpreted her dream and said: everything is bound with bangles, this island will be inhabited, and you will bear three sons. Although, they were not yet born, he named them Guti, who would own the island, Graip and Gunfiaun. The sons divided the island into three regions, and Graip who was the eldest took the north, Guti the middle and Gunfjaun, who was the youngest took the southern third. After a long time, their descendants became so numerous that the island could not support all of them. They drew lots and every third islander had to leave. They could keep everything they owned but the land.
Sources
ca:Antic gútnic de:Gutamål eo:Gotlanda lingvo es:Antiguo gútnico fr:Gutnisk nn:Gutamål sv:Gutamål