Old Icelandic 1 (MIS105F)

This course allows students to discover and learn Old Norse-Icelandic, the language of the Vikings and the settlers of Iceland, the language of Egill Skallagrímsson and Snorri Sturluson, and the rich Old Norse-Icelandic medieval literature including the Eddas and the Sagas. Old Norse, Old West Norse, or more specifically Old Icelandic, is the language most abundantly attested in the literary sources handed down to us from medieval Iceland in the 12th century onwards.

In this course, an overview of the structure of Old Icelandic, in particular the phonology and morphology, will be provided. Excerpts of original texts will be read, translated and parsed, including stories from Snorri Sturluson’s Edda (also known as the Prose Edda), the most extensive account of Norse mythology and legends that has survived from the middle ages. 

Prerequisites

The course assumes no prior acquaintance with Old Norse/(Old) Icelandic and begins by explaining the basics of the grammar. Students with some background in (Old) Icelandic are also welcome. 

Course aims

This course aims to provide the students with an understanding of the grammar of Old Icelandic and skills in reading, translating and parsing Old Icelandic texts suffi-cient to enable further study and reading of texts in Old Icelandic with the aid of a dic-tionary and other available resources. This course is designed as a preparation for the course MIS801F Old Icelandic 2 which offers extensive reading of Old Icelandic texts (prose and poetry) in normalized orthography, as well as in medieval orthography (in printed diplomatic editions based directly on medieval manuscripts).

Old Icelandic and Modern Icelandic

This course focuses on the language of the Old Norse-Icelandic medieval literature. The grammatical structure of Old Icelandic is, however, sufficiently close to that of Modern Icelandic to allow students of Old Icelandic to concurrently develop at least some comprehension of the modern language. Even if the aim of this course is not for participants to learn to speak (Old) Icelandic, the practice of reading out loud with Modern Icelandic pronunciation will further understanding of spoken Modern Icelandic.

Organization of the course

In this course, there are three meetings per week: Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. The course essentially consists of two components: 

(a) The study of the grammar of Old Icelandic, primarily the phonology and the morphology.

(b) The reading of texts in Old Icelandic (in normalized orthography): reading with Modern Icelandic pronunciation, translating and parsing.

In the beginning of the semester the study of the grammar will have priority, but gradually the focus will shift to the reading of texts. 

The grammar

In the first half of the semester, all the most important morphological patterns (of substantives, adjectives, pronouns, and verbs) will be covered along with the relevant phonological processes (umlaut, breaking, syncope, and consonant assimilation). Mastery of these basic morphological patterns is an essential for developing skills in the reading of texts in Old Icelandic. These morphological patterns will be reinforced through written exercises and regular in-class quizzes.

The texts

In the second half of the semester, the reading of texts will gradually take precedence over the grammar. Excerpts from Snorri Sturluson’s Edda will be read, translated and parsed. The Edda (also known as the Prose Edda or the Younger Edda), compiled by the chieftain, historian and poet Snorri Sturluson (1179–1241), is the most extensive account of Norse mythology and legends that has survived from the middle ages. In this course, we will read about the origin of Óðinn’s eight-legged horse Sleipnir and Þór’s journey to Útgarðr and his encounter with the mythical king Útgarða-Loki.

The texts are in normalized classical Old Icelandic orthography, reflecting the language of the early 13th century. For reading out loud, however, the Modern Icelandic pronunciation will be employed (rather than a reconstructed pronunciation), a practice that will facilitate understanding and speaking the modern language (recordings will be available on the course web site).

The reading and translating will start slowly (already in the first half of the semester), going word-by-word and making sure we understand the structure of each sentence and the form and role of each and every word. As the semester progresses, we will pick up speed.  

Course requirements

Mastering the grammar of Icelandic is a daunting task and requires hard work. At-tendance and class participation are essential for succeeding in this endeavor, even if not part of the grading. The final grade for the course will be based on:

• (i) Homework assignments: 10%
• (ii) In-class quizzes: 10%
• (iii) Midterm exam: 30%
• (iv) Comprehensive final exam: 50%

At the University of Iceland, grades are awarded in whole or half numbers on the scale 0–10. The passing grade is 5.0. It is necessary to pass the final exam to pass the course.

The graded work consists of the following components:

(i) Homework assignments
There will be written exercises to hand in. These mostly focus on inflectional patterns, filling in paradigms of substantives, adjectives, pronouns, and verbs.

(ii) In-class quizzes
The most prominent inflectional patterns in the language, presented on the handout “Old Icelandic Paradigms,” will be covered systematically. To facilitate mastery of the language it is necessary to memorize these patterns. As part of that effort, (practically) every class will start with a short quiz (five minutes) on selected paradigms follows. These will be announced in advance: We work on paradigms X, Y, and Z and then two of them will be on the quiz.

(iii) Midterm exam
A 90-minute written midterm exam will be held in Week 8. This will be a closed-book exam; no books, dictionaries, handouts, notebooks, etc. will be allowed. The exam will consist of three parts of equal weight:

• Part I: Declensions and conjugations. You will be asked to generate full paradigms of substantives, adjectives, pronouns, and verbs (including, of course, principal parts of verbs, five forms for each verb). This part will only cover material on the sheet “Old Icelandic Paradigms” that we have prepared for the in-class quizzes.
• Part II: Prepared translation. You will be asked to translate a passage (from Old Icelandic into English) that we have studied in class. The transla-tion should reveal your understanding of the structure of the Old Icelandic text. Make effort to reflect accurately present and preterite tense in the Old Icelandic, as well as singular and plural (and dual where applicable). Such an accurate translation will occasionally result in a somewhat odd English, in which case you might want to supply a more idiomatic English in parenthe-ses. This part of the exam will only include a prepared text, that is text that we have studied in class.
• Part III: Identification of grammatical forms in context. You will be asked for a linguistic analysis of selected (underlined) words in the Old Ice-landic text in Part II. The following information will be required:
  • (i) for nouns: nom. sing. (dictionary form) – gender – case – number; also indicate if the noun has a suffixed article
  • (ii) for adjectives: nom. sing. masc. (dictionary form) – gender – case – number — grade if other than positive; also indicate if the adjec- tive has a strong/indefinite or a weak/definite declension
  • (iii) for pronouns: nom. sing. masc. (dictionary form) – gender – case – number
  • (iv) for verbs: infinitive (dictionary form) – person – number – tense – mood – voice
  • (v) for preterite participles: infinitive (dictionary form) – gender – case – number
     

(iv) Comprehensive final exam
A three-hour comprehensive final exam will be held sometime during the exam period (in December) after classes end (time and location of the final exam will be posted on the university web site). The final exam will have the same structure as the midterm exam but with one additional component. The exam will thus consist of four parts of equal weight. This will be a closed-book exam; no books, dictionaries, handouts, notebooks, etc. will be allowed, — except for Part IV where you are allowed to use an (Old) Icelandic—English dictionary. The structure of the exam will be as follows:

• Part I: Declensions and conjugations. Same as for the midterm exam described above.
• Part II: Prepared translation. Same as for the midterm exam described above.
• Part III: Identification of grammatical forms in context. Same as for the midterm exam described above.
• Part IV: Sight translation. You will be asked to translate into English an Old Icelandic passage that you have (presumably) not seen before. Again, the translation should reveal your understanding of the structure of the Old Icelandic text. The text—which will appear in normalized orthography—will be a typical saga text. This part only will be done with the aid of an (Old) Icelandic–English Dictionary, e.g. Zoëga’s Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic. In addition, non-native speakers of English can bring a dictionary of English with translations into and from their native language (e.g., English–German, German—English).

These will be closed-book exams, except for the sight translation on the final exam, where the use of a dictionary is permitted. 

How to succeed in this course

• Attend all the classes and be active throughout the semester.
• Memorize the paradigms and the sound alternations. Some find it useful to write them out again and again (filling entire notebooks); others like chanting them. Pick a method that suits you.
• Memorize the core vocabulary in the texts. Some use flash cards (or vocabulary trainer software); others compile vocabulary lists. Again, pick a method that suits you.
• When translating, it is vitally important that you understand not only the meaning of each and every word, but also their form and role in the sentence.
• When translating, make your notes and analysis in a notebook and keep a clean copy of the Old Icelandic text. Practice reading out loud and translating the Old Icelandic text from a clean copy until you can read and translate the text without resorting to your notes. 
• Prepare for all quizzes and make sure you do not miss any of them (they count towards your grade).
• Work carefully on your written exercises and hand them all in (they count to-wards your grade).
• Write clearly and make sure to distinguish unambiguously “ǫ”, “ø”, “æ” (“ǽ”, “ę́”), “ǿ” (“œ”) and other “special” symbols. Also, be careful and consistent in writing the acute accent; remember that it is distinctive (“a” does not equal “á”, etc.).

Readings

Four items are required:

• Haraldur Bernharðsson. 2016. Icelandic. A historical linguistic companion. 5th draft. Handouts on phonology, morphology and related matters. [Available in Háskólaprent on Suðurgata.]
• Geir T. Zoëga. 1910. A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic. Clarendon, Oxford. [Reprinted several times; most recently in a paperback in 2004. Available in the university bookstore—Bóksala stúdenta in Háskólatorg.]
• Old Icelandic texts with normalized spelling will be provided (photocopies).
• Stefán Karlsson. 2004. The Icelandic Language. Viking Society for Northern Research, University College, London. [An overview of the development from Old Icelandic to Modern Icelandic; available in the university book­store.]

All handouts and homework assignments will be made available in pdf format on the Canvas course website. Recordings of some of the texts will also be available. You need to sign up for the course to access to the course web site.

The following are highly recommended:

• Barnes, Michael, and Anthony Faulkes. 2004–2005. A New Introduction to Old Norse 1–3. Viking Society for Northern Research, University College, London. [A very useful three-volume set containing 1. Grammar, 2. Reader, and 3. Glossary. Usually available in the university book store, but can also be downloaded free from the Viking Society website.]
• Byock, Jesse L. 2013. Viking Language 1. Jules William Press. See: http://www. vikingnorse.com  [Brand new!]
• Gordon, E.V. 1957. An Introduction to Old Norse. Second edition revised by A.R. Taylor. Oxford University Press. [Texts, notes, grammar, and a glossary in a single volume; very useful. Reprinted several times, but still somewhat expensive. It might be a good idea to get a used copy (on Amazon.com or elsewhere).]

The following are recommended for reference, but unfortunately some are out of print:

• Iversen, Ragnvald. 1972. Norrøn grammatikk. 7. utgave revidert ved E.F. Halvorsen. Aschehoug, Oslo. [—In Norwegian; concise and clear.]
• Noreen, Adolf. 1923. Altnordische Grammatik I. Altisländische und altnorwegische Grammatik (Laut- und Flexionslehre) unter Berücksichtigung des Ur­nordischen. Sammlung kurzer Grammatiken germanischer Dialekte 4. Verlag von Max Nie­meyer, Halle (Saale). [—Still by far the best reference grammar of Old Icelandic; reprinted in 1970, but currently out of print.]

Dictionaries will be necessary. These are all available in Landsbókasafn-Háskóla­bóka­safn (National and University Libraries) in Þjóðarbókhlaða [call numbers in the ref­er­ence section on the 2nd floor in brackets]:

•  Cleasby, Richard og Gudbrand Vigfusson. 1874. An Icelandic–English Dictionary. Clarendon, Ox­ford. [Reprinted 1957; also available in an online version.] [Reference section 413.21 Cle]
• Fritzner, Johan. 1889–96. Ordbog over Det gamle norske sprog I–III. [2nd ed. 1954.] Oslo: Tryggve Juul Møller forlag. + 1972. IV. Rettelser og tillegg ved Finn Hødne­bø. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget. [Reference section 413.396 Fri; also available online.]
• Ordbog over det norrøne prosasprog/A Dictionary of Old Norse Prose 1–3 [a–em] + Registre/Indices. 1989–2004. Den arnamagnæanske kommission, København. [The most recent dictionary; three volumes are out. Glosses in Danish and English.] [Reference section 413 Ord]

Electronic resources

• Beygingarlýsing íslensks nútímamáls — A Database of Modern Icelandic Inflection, The Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies: http://bin.arnastofnun.is/ — A very useful data base of morphological paradigms in contemporary Icelandic. It can also be of great help when working with Old Icelandic, but it should be used with caution as some of the inflections have changed.
• Ordbog over det norrøne prosasprog — A Dictionary of Old Norse Prose, University of Copenhagen: http://onp.ku.dk/ — Provides online access to the three volumes already in print (a–em) as well as unpublished dictionary materials.
• Cleasby, Richard og Gudbrand Vigfusson. 1874. An Icelandic–English Dictionary. Electronic versions are available:
  • The Germanic Lexicon Project — http://lexicon.ff.cuni.cz/ — scans and OCR read version: http://lexicon.ff.cuni.cz/texts/oi_cleasbyvigfusson_about.html
• Geir T. Zoëga. 1910. A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic. Electronic versions are available:
  • The Germanic Lexicon Project — http://lexicon.ff.cuni.cz/ — scans and OCR read version: http://lexicon.ff.cuni.cz/texts/oi_zoega_about.html
• Fritzner, Johan. 1889–96. Ordbog over Det gamle norske sprog I–III. Electronic version:
  • Eining for digital dokumentasjon, Oslo University: http://www.edd.uio.no/perl/search/search.cgi?appid=86&tabid=1275

MA-thesis in Medieval Icelandic Studies (MIS431L)

MA-thesis in Medieval Icelandic Studies

The Old Norse-Icelandic Literary Corpus – Overview and Main Questions (MIS701F)

The Old Norse-Icelandic literary corpus is one of the largest text corpora of medieval European literature. Exploring its origins, history and genres is among the tasks of this ten-credit course: The Poetic Edda, Snorri Sturluson’s Edda, Skaldic poetry, important saga genres such as Kings’ Sagas, Sagas of Icelanders, Legendary Sagas and Bishops’ Sagas as well as encyclopedic literature will be discussed in class and read in excerpts.

International scholars have been interested in different genres of the corpus for over two centuries. To give an example: Translations of the “Eddas” were already published in the 17^th century. Students will be introduced to this rich history of scholarship and will be made familiar with both more “classical” theories and recent approaches. Finally, students will be introduced to post medieval and modern reception of Old Norse text genres.

Students are encouraged to both study the required readings (see below) carefully before beginning of term and to actively contribute to class.

Required readings (in English translation for non-native speakers of Icelandic)

• Íslendingabók
• Snorri Sturluson: Edda. Prologue and Gylfaginning.
• The Poetic Edda
• Hrafnkels saga
• Njáls saga

Useful introductions

• Carl Phelpstead 2020: An Introduction to the Sagas of Icelanders (New Perspectives on Medieval Literature: Authors and Traditions. Gainesville.
• Jan A. van Nahl & Astrid van Nahl 2019: Skandinavistische Mediävistik: Einführung in die altwestnordische Sprach- und Literaturgeschichte.
• Ármann Jakobsson & Sverrir Jakobsson (eds.) 2017: The Routledge Research Companion to the Medieval Icelandic Sagas. Oxon/New York.
• Rory McTurk (ed.) 2005: A Companion to Old Norse-Icelandic Literature and Culture. Malden MA et al.

The Medieval North (SAG716M)

Historical and historiographical survey of major topics in the history of the medieval North, with special emphasis on Iceland and Norway from the Viking Age into the fourteenth century. Topics include: power, kingship and state; law and feud; kinship, gender and social ties; religious and mental outlook(s); conversion, Christianity and church; economic conditions. Prior knowledge of the “factual” narrative is helpful but not necessary. Reading ability in German and/or the modern Scandinavian languages is also helpful but, again, not necessary (all mandatory readings are in English). Students produce a paper and lead discussion; no final exam.

Literature and Psychoanalysis. From Medieval Romance and Saga to the Modern Novel (MIS701M)

The basic concepts of psychoanalytic criticism will be presented and discussed in the course as well as the major schools of thought within psychoanalysis. The practice of psychoanalytic criticism will be illustrated in the analysis of narrative texts from the European Middle Ages, mainly French and Old Norse-Icelandic, as well as more modern texts, mainly 20th century novels. The historicity of each text and the relative pertinence of the psychoanalytic approach will be under special scrutiny. Students give a presentation and write an essay (5 to 10 thousand words). The course open to graduate students and senior undergraduates. The course is taught in English. Student presentations shall be in English but the essays can be written in English, Icelandic, French and the Scandinavian languages.

The Viking Age (MIS704M)

During the Viking Age, Northmen streamed out of Scandinavia, travelling far and wide across and around Europe, and to Constantinople and the Caspian Sea in the east. A vast amount of diverse source material, written and archaeological, bears witness to the Scandinavian expansion and conveys a multitude of roles in which they engaged, e.g. terrifying raiders, peaceful traders, or mercenaries.

The objective of this course is to examine the geographical expansion of vikings, and their interrelations with different cultures, and how this comes across in the source material. At the end of the course students are expected to have a thorough overview of the main events of the period, and a good idea on the relevant geographies and cultures, as well as a grasp on comparing different viking communities in different regions.

Seminar: Literary Emotionality and the ‘History of Emotions’ (ABF724F)

This methodological seminar focuses on the recent and rapidly expanding field of the history of emotion while seeking to apply emotion theory to literature. It traces the development of the ‘history of emotion’ across the multiple different fields, including psychology, neurology and history, followed by an in-depth critical work on emotion theory and its applicability to literature. It tackles questions such as what are literary emotions? Where are they located? How can they be defined and what is the relationship between historical and literary emotionality?

The seminar will expand widely across the theoretical background of emotion studies, presenting and discussing its major terminologies and theories. We will then shift to close reading of selected texts for the sake of reinforcing the methodological approach as a skill set to deepen the students’ understanding of the critical parameters and their application. Ultimately, we will seek to encourage and foster the independent critical work of the students on their own chosen texts, utilising the skill sets that they have acquired throughout the seminar to expand on texts of their own choice.

The seminar will run in the first half of term. The final set of classes will be held at the end of term where students will present their research projects (for those taking the associated 5 credit research project) or a potential research project or paper (for those interesting in attending solely the seminar). Readings will include both theoretical texts and literary works. The seminar will take place in English.

Seminar project: Literary Emotionality and the ‘History of Emotions’ (ABF725F)

This research project is directly associated with the methodological seminar on emotions. The associated seminar will run in the first half of term, followed by a research break in the second half of term where students will work on their own projects utilising the methodological approach or the theory of emotions in history or literature to analyse a work or several works of their own choice. This gives students the opportunity to do in-depth work on a text or set of texts that they may be interested in for their thesis, for instance.
It is not a requirement to attend the seminar for participation in the research project and so students familiar with (or interested in) emotion studies may take the research project independently.
Evaluation criteria is based on a single research paper due at the end of term. The topic selection is due after mid-term. Papers can be written in either English or Icelandic.

MA-thesis in Medieval Icelandic Studies (MIS431L)

MA-thesis in Medieval Icelandic Studies

Old Icelandic 2 (MIS801F)

This advanced-level course aims at developing reading skills in Old Icelandic by reading a variety of texts, both prose and poetry. Texts will be read in both normalized classical Old Icelandic orthography, reflecting the language of the early 13th century, as well as in medieval orthography from different periods (in printed diplomatic editions based directly on medieval manuscripts). Students will thus become familiar with the characteristics of different types of text editions and develop skills in reading different types of orthography.

Prerequisites
MIS105F Old Icelandic 1 or equivalent. Please consult the instructor.

Methods of instruction

Class time will be used primarily for reading out loud and translating prepared texts, as well as discussing individual forms and phrases. It is important to understand the structure of each sentence and the form and role of each and every word.

For reading out loud we will use Modern Icelandic pronunciation (rather than a reconstructed pronunciation), a practice that will facilitate understanding and speaking the modern language.

In class, students should strive to translate orally the assigned Old Icelandic passage from a clean copy of the original. Students are requested not to read from a written English translation in class, but rather use a word list as an aid for translating.

The principal aim of this class is to read a wide variety of Old Icelandic texts and read as much as possible. See the reading schedule below for a detailed listing of texts assigned for this course. Unfortunately, there may not be sufficient time to translate every assignment in full in class. Small parts of the assigned texts will there-fore only be treated in class by discussing the most difficult passages.

Most of the Old Icelandic texts read in this course are available in English translation (and some in several other languages). Translations can be used as aids, and it can be instructive to see how different translators deal with a difficult or ambiguous passage.

Course requirements

1. Class preparation and attendance

As indicated above, we will strive to read as much Old Icelandic as possible in this course. This is a very demanding task that requires hard work. As there will not be time to translate every assignment in full in class, it is very important to prepare well for class in order to be able to bring up passages that need clarification. Class participation and attendance are, of course, essential for successfully completing the course. 

2. In-class quizzes

It is important to review the morphology and consolidate it by practicing some of the less common patterns. In this course, we will not discuss the morphology systematically in class (as that has already been covered in MIS105F Old Icelandic 1), but in-class quizzes will serve as a vehicle for reviewing and reinforcing the morphology.

3. Homework assignments

In addition to reading assignments, there will be homework assignments, including:

(1) Identification of grammatical forms in context: The linguistic analysis of selected (underlined) words in an Old Icelandic text.

(2) Applying “Classical Old Icelandic Normalized Orthography” to a text in medieval orthography.

 4. Exams

There will be two written exams in this course: a mid-term exam (40 minutes) and a comprehensive final exam (3 hours) (time and location of the final exam will be posted on the university web site). The structure of the final exam will be as follows:

Part I: Declensions and conjugations: 15%. You will be asked to generate full paradigms of substantives, adjectives, pronouns, participles, and verbs (including, of course, principal parts of verbs, five forms for each verb). This part of the exam will be based on the morphology prepared for the in-class quizzes

Part II: Prepared translation: 30%. You will be asked to translate a passage that we have studied in class from Old Icelandic into English. The translation should reveal your understanding of the structure of the Old Icelandic text. 

Part III: Identification of grammatical forms in context: 15%. You will be asked for a linguistic analysis of selected (underlined) words in the Old Icelandic text translated in Part II.

Part IV: Editorial work: 10%. You will be asked to apply “Classical Old Icelandic Normalized Orthography” (the Íslenzk fornrit style) to a non-normalized text from Part II.

Part V: Discussion of linguistic and orthographic features:  10%. You will be asked to discuss selected forms in the Old Icelandic text in Part II from the point of Icelandic linguistic history.

Part VI: Sight translation: 20%. You will be asked to translate into English an Old Icelandic passage that we have not studied in class. Again the translation should reveal your understanding of the structure of the Old Icelandic text. This part only will be done with the aid of an (Old) Icelandic–English Dictionary, e.g. Geir Zoëga’s Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic. Non-native speakers of English can bring a dictionary of English with translations into and from their native language (e.g., English–German, German—English). This means that you will have to hand in Parts I–V before you bring out the dictionary and start working on Part VI. You will get a separate sheet for writing out the sight translation.

The mid-term exam will only contain Parts I–III, weighing 25% + 50% + 25%, respectively. These will be closed-book exams, except for the sight translation in the final exam that can be done with the aid of a dictionary. Note that the final exam will be a comprehensive exam including all the material covered in the course. 

Evaluation

The final grade for the course will be based on:

• (i) homework assignments: 10%
• (ii) in-class quizzes: 10%
• (iii) mid-term exam: 30%
• (iv) comprehensive final exam: 50% 

At the University of Iceland, grades are awarded in whole or half numbers on the scale 0–10. The passing grade is 5.0. It is necessary to pass the final exam to pass the course.

Sagas and Places (MIS814F)

One of the distinctive features of Old Norse-Icelandic medieval literature is how connected the narratives are to distinct places. This is especially true of Sagas about early Icelanders (Íslendingasögur) and Kings’ sagas (konungasögur). In many cases, it is possible to visit the scenes where many key events of the saga take place. In the last decades there has been a “spatial turn” in Old Norse-Icelandic studies due to theoretical developments in the humanities and the social sciences during the second half of the twentieth century, but also aided by new perceptions of space made possible by geolocalisation and digital maps. Several scholars have engaged with the sagas from this perspective, f.ex. Emily Lethbridge and Eleanor Barraclough. In this course, the theoretical literature associated with the spatial turn will be explores, the sagas will be studied from this point of view and places where key events of the sagas happen will be visited. Even though the course is taught in the Spring semester, students are encouraged to participate in trips organized by the Viking and Medieval Norse Studies and Medieval Icelandic Studies MA programmes.

Medieval Icelandic Manuscripts (MIS204F)

This course provides an overview of Icelandic manuscript culture. Students will get practical training in reading Icelandic manuscripts from different periods, from the earliest extant Icelandic vellums dating to the twelfth and thirteenth centuries down to the paper manuscripts of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The origins of the Icelandic script will be discussed as well as its development over time, and students will get practical training in reading different types of script from different periods. The orthography of medieval manuscripts differs considerably from the modern orthography. It includes a system of abbreviations that is partly inherited from a much earlier Latin tradition. Students will get practical training in interpreting these abbreviations. The Icelandic language has also changed over time, and different manifestations of these language changes appear when reading and examining Icelandic texts from different periods. A selection of these changes will be discussed. Changes in script, orthography, and language provide valuable indications of the date of the manuscript, and students will get practical training in dating medieval Icelandic manuscripts based on script, orthography, and language.
Various aspects of medieval book production will be discussed, including the making of parchment and ink, and book binding. Scribes and scribal schools will be discussed as well as probable centres of book production in medieval Iceland. The works of some prolific scribes in the fourteenth century will be examined. What did they write? How did they write? Did they change their practice over a long scribal career? The texts contained by the manuscripts will also be examined and the basics of textual criticism introduced. Njáls saga, for instance, has survived in over sixty manuscripts with considerable textual variation. Which manuscript should then constitute the basis for a printed edition of Njáls saga? Different types of printed editions will be discussed, and students try their hand at editing a medieval text. The electronic editing of pre-modern texts will be introduced, and students will get practical training in mark-up with XML according to the guidelines of the Medieval Nordic Text Archive (MENOTA) and the Medieval Unicode Font Initiative (MUFI).

The course is taught through a combination of lectures and workshops with considerable student engagement. Many of the lectures will be pre-recorded allowing more time in the classroom for discussion and student contributions.

The course is run in cooperation with the Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies which has the custody of the largest single collection of Icelandic medieval manuscripts. Students will visit the institute to learn about its collections and facilities and to examine manuscripts.

History of the Icelandic Language (MIS803F)

This course presents an overview of the history of Icelandic language from its earliest attestation to the present. Topics covered include the nature of language change, the sources of evidence for the history of the Icelandic language, the prehistory of Icelandic, selected phonological changes, morphological changes and syntactic changes, the First Grammatical Treatise, Norwegian influence in the 13th and 14th centuries, the language of the Reformation Era, dialectal variation; nationalism, language, and identity, the standardization of Icelandic in the 19th and 20th centuries, tradition, legislation and controversy on personal names and family names, the Icelandic Language Council and some current issues in Icelandic language policy.

The course is taught through a combination of lectures and workshops. A fair amount of time will be spent examining texts from different periods in their original orthography, identifying and analyzing indications of language change and developing skills in dating texts based on orthographic and linguistic evidence.

— Syllabus for download [pdf] —

Course synopsis

Week 1

• (1) Language change: some basic concepts

How do we acquire language? Who makes the rules? The creative aspect of human language. How does language change? Attitudes toward language change and The Golden Age Principle. The spread of language change. Protolanguages and language families.

• (2) The prehistory: Proto-Indo-European, Proto-Germanic, and Proto-Norse

A peek into the distant past and the road down to Icelandic: The Germanic Consonant Shift, Grimm’s Law, Verner’s Law, and a glimpse of Gothic. Some linguistic characteristics of the Germanic languages and North Germanic in particular.

Week 2

• (3) Old Icelandic: the sources of evidence

How can we know something about a language spoken centuries ago? Texts: Runes and the Latin alphabet. Medieval orthography vs. modern orthography. Whose language is reflected in the medieval manuscripts? The limitations of medieval texts as sources of linguistic evidence. How do we access medieval texts? Which editions should we use for linguistic research?

• (4) The sounds of language: phonemes, allophones

On the production of speech sounds (phonetics) and how they make up a system (phonology). Umlaut, syncope, phonemic split, minimal pairs, complementary distribution, and the emergence of the Old Icelandic vowel system.

Week 3

• (5) Word formation: ablaut, derivation, suffixes

Taking the words apart: What are they made of? Morphemes, roots, and suffixes, derivation and compounding. Root structure, ablaut, and umlaut. Word formation and inflection. What is the longest word in Icelandic?Vaðlaheiðarvegavinnuverkfærageymsluskúrsútidyralyklakippuhringur?

• (6) The First Grammatical Treatise and the earliest attested Icelandic

Examining a treatise by an anonymous Icelandic author from the middle of the 12th century on Icelandic speech sounds and orthography. The Latin alphabet was a relatively new medium, and the main topic is: How to write 12th-century Icelandic with the Latin alphabet? How to find a suitable orthographic representation for a large vowel system?

Week 4

• (7) Classical Old Icelandic: the phonology around the year 1200

How do we think Icelandic sounded around 1200? What is the orthographic evidence? Examining texts in the orthography from around 1200 will give us some idea. The vowel system was large, it seems. Did Old Icelandic (really) have nasal vowels? Can we reproduce this pronunciation? We will try in class.

• (8) The emergence of the Modern Icelandic vowel system

The development of the vowel system from Old Icelandic to Modern Icelandic. Phonemic merger and a crumbling vowel system? Diphthongization. The Quantity Shift? “Skewed speech” in modern times. How does this show in the texts? How does it sound? A whistle-stop tour of the history of the Icelandic vowel system from 1200 to 2000.

Week 5

• (9) Other phonological changes

From at to að, ok to og, maðr to maður, and other matters. What happened in Eyjafjallajökull? How do we interpret the orthographic evidence? Does the spelling reflect the pronunciation? What are inverse spellings?

• (10) Other phonological changes

Changes in pronunciation: From lengi to leingi and langur and lángur, the Westfjords dialect, and other things similar. Breaking news: The modern lengthening of n — úr skónum or úr skónnum?

Week 6

• (11) Taking stock: the manuscripts, the phonological changes, and the orthographic evidence

Workshop: examining texts from different periods and dating manuscripts based on linguistic and orthographic evidence.

• (12) Analogy and the mechanics of morphological change

How do inflectional patterns change? On paradigmatic levelling and analogical extension. Sturtevant’s Paradox and the never-ending tug-of-war between phonological changes and analogical changes.

— S T U D Y   W E E K —

Week 7

• (13) Morphology: changes in the inflection of substantives

Changes in the inflection of the hirðir type of substantives; ermr and other feminines with nom. sing. -r; randar, randir, rendr and other feminines with multiple plurals.

• (14) Morphology: changes in the inflection of adjectives

Adjectives with stem-final -j- and -v-: from fölvan to fölan. Adjectives with a disyllabic stem: from göfgan to göfugan. Adjectives with stem-final -l-, -n-, and -s-: from sælli to sællri and back to sælli. Changes in the weak/definite inflection of adjectives: með hægra fæti or hægri fæti?

Week 8

• (15) Morphology: changes in the inflection of pronouns

The loss of the pronominal dual: vit tvau and við öll. The possessive pronouns okkar, ykkarr, and yðvarr and the end of an inflection: from okkru barni to okkar barni. The long and winding road from nekkverr, nakkvat to nokkur, nokkuð and the many forms of engi. Changes in the demonstrative sjá/þessi: the trilogy sjá saga, þessi saga, and þessur saga.

• (16) Morphology: changes in the verb conjugation

On strong verbs becoming weak (and weak verbs becoming strong): barg to bjargaði, halp to hjálpaði. Changes in the endings of the indicative and subjunctive: ek em to ek er, ek vil and ég vill; ef ek bæra or bæri. The development of the middle voice: from ek kǫllumk to ég kallast. Preterite participles: bariðr and taliðr vs. barinn and talinn.

Week 9

• (17) Word order: syntax and syntactic changes

Verb-Second order (V2), Narrative Inversion, and declining variation in the verb phrase (VP). Inflected and uninflected preterite participle with hafa.

• (18) Word order: syntax and syntactic changes

Oblique subjects and “diseases” known as “Dative Sickness” and “Nominative Sickness.”

Week 10

• (19) Language contact: Icelandic and other languages

Lexical borrowing: Why do languages borrow words from one another? Norwegian influence on Icelandic. Reformation Era language and Low German influence. Danish influence on Icelandic. Basque-Icelandic glossaries. Icelandic in North America.

• (20) Dialectal variation

Speaking Northern and speaking Southern; the Westfjords variety and the Eastern speech.

Week 11

• (21) Nationalism, language, and identity

Debate in the 18th century: Is the Icelandic language a national treasure to be preserved intact for future generations or a barrier to social development that needs to be removed by adopting Danish? Linguistic purism and neologisms. Is it possible to reverse language change? Medieval linguistic ideals and the emergence of a linguistic standard.

• (22) The 19th and the 20th centuries: the standardization of Icelandic

Establishing an orthographic standard: “ð” the comeback kid and the different fates of “y” and “z”; “langur” and “lángur” revisited.

Week 12

• (23) Personal names and place names

Personal names, patronymics, matronymics, and family names: Tradition, legislation, and controversy. The most popular personal names. Names from the Norse mythology: Freyr, Freyja, Iðunn, Njörður, Óðinn, Sif. Names from the saga literature: Hrappur and Mörður, the decline of Hallgerður and the rise of Bergþóra. Place names, local markedness and the morphological development. Personal names vs. natural features and landforms. The papar place names and the Dímons: What do they tell us?

• (24) Modern Icelandic language policy

The Icelandic Language Council and its role. The 2009 Language Policy. The challenges faced by a small language community in times of globalization. Digital language contact between Icelandic and English. Why doesn’t Siri speak Icelandic? “Inclusive language” and feminist language reform. The gender-neutral pronoun hán.

Prerequisites

Some skills in Icelandic are necessary to fully benefit from the course. MIS105F Old Icelandic 1 or equivalent study of Old Icelandic is sufficient or some skills in Modern Icelandic (consult the instructor).

Course requirements and evaluation

The final grade for the course will be based on:

• (1) Homework assignments: 25% .
• (2) Linguistic analysis of a text: 25% .
• (3) Research project: 25%.
• (4) Text of the week: student-led discussion: 15%.
• (5) Class participation: 10%.

See the syllabus for further information on these tasks.

At the University of Iceland, grades are awarded in whole or half numbers on the scale 0–10. The passing grade is 5.0.

Viking Age Archaeology (FOR102F)

Overview of the history of the Viking age and history of Viking research. Emphasis is placed on the archaeological evidence, the sites and the objects, and discussing how archaeological data has contributed to our understanding of this period. Particular attention is given to economic patterns, issues of ethnicity and state formation.

The Sagas of Icelanders (MIS704F)

Íslendingasögur, also known as Sagas of Icelanders, Family Sagas, or Sagas of Early Icelanders are a genre of Icelandic saga literature and by far the most renowned one. The approximately 40 prose narratives are based on historical events that took place from the Settlement period of Iceland (870–930) throughout the so-called Saga Age (930–1030). Focusing on genealogical and family history, they reflect the struggle and conflict that arose within the society of the early generations of Icelanders. Íslendingasögur were recorded anonymously in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.

This five-credit course will work extensively with the most popular genre of Old Norse literature, the so-called Íslendingasögur (“Sagas of Early Icelanders”). We will get to know (and read) the most important sagas, discuss the history of saga scholarship and learn about the most recent scholarly trends.

Medieval Archaeology (FOR812F)

During the last decades, medieval archaeology has experienced significant growth as a discipline concerned with material culture. Initially, the use of material culture was marginalized to the role of confirming or refuting historical knowledge about this period but today it is understood as having equal historical importance to the archived material. The course is thus intended to improve student’s understanding of Medieval Europe during the period 800–1600 AD through the study of material culture. It deals with general themes in medieval archaeology, such as identity, social status, rural and urban landscapes, religion, life and death, rather than the historical development of the Middle Ages in chronological order. The aim is to give students insight into the different fields of theory and method of medieval archaeology through both material and documentary evidences in accordance with the current state of research. A special emphasis will be put on medieval Iceland, as a part of European culture and society, but even on how medieval archaeologists gather their sources, analyse them and reach conclusions of historical importance.

Master’s thesis workshop (MIS604F)

The main requirements and techniques of thesis writing will be presented to students. Their progress in the writing of their final theses will be monitored and they will receive support in the writing process.

Old Nordic Religion and Belief (ÞJÓ203F)

An examination will be made of the religious beliefs and practices of people in Scandinavia from the earliest of times until the conversion, material ranging from burial practices to rock carvings, to the written evidence given in the works of Tacitus, Adam of Bremen and Saxo Grammaticus, as well as in early Icelandic works like the Eddic poems and the Kings' sagas. Alongside this discussion of the development and key features of Old Norse religion, some attention will be paid to the concepts of seid and shamanism, especially in connection to their role in early religions. Finally, an examination will be made of the conversion of Scandinavia and how Christian concepts and practices both fitted and contrasted with the previously dominant Old Norse worldview.

Teaching format

• The teaching takes place in the form of lectures and discussion on the material of the lectures.

New Critical Approaches (MIS201F)

A week-long intensive seminar in medieval studies held annually in mid May (usually sometime during the period May 10–30, taught by visiting faculty and covers a different subject every year.

MA-thesis in Medieval Icelandic Studies (MIS431L)

MA-thesis in Medieval Icelandic Studies