Annotation
Old Norse is common ancestor of present-day Swedish, Icelandic, Norwegian, Danish, and other Nordic languages, and dialects. On the other hand, it is a language that was spoken in the Viking Age (800-1066) and earlier parts of the Scandinavian Middle Ages (1066-1397) by the Germanic inhabitants of the Scandinavian peninsula, the language spoken by the legendary viking Ragnar Loðbrók, Danish, Norwegian and English king and conqueror Cnut the Great or Icelandic politician, historian of literature and mythographer Snorri Sturluson. At the same time, it was the language used for composition of writing of a body of hundreds of sagas, dozens of historical writings, grammatical texts, lawbooks and poems about Old Norse kings, gods, and heroes, not mentioning thousands of Scandinavian runic inscriptions.
The course shall teach the participants basic grammar and vocabulary of Old Norse, and introduce them into Old Norse orthography, Scandinavian manuscript culture and their reception. Absolvent of the course should be able to read, translate and analyse easier Old Norse texts.
The course might be taught in English according to the decision of the guarantee.
