Re: New to the list
| From: | Patrick Dunn <tb0pwd1@...> |
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| Date: | Saturday, June 17, 2000, 4:00 |
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*grins* I once told Dr. Deskis, my Old English prof, that Old Norse was
the ugliest language I ever saw. She said, "well, if you didn't read it
with a midwestern accent, it wouldn't be so ugly!" She was right. :)
Still, clusters like skzk still give me pause.
On Sat, 17 Jun 2000, Oskar Gudlaugsson wrote:
> Padraic Brown wrote:
>
> (I wrote):
> Always flattering to see people exhibit interest in Icelandic. I'm
> > >pretty objective as a linguist, but I'd still say that my own native
> > >language has many interesting characteristics, mainly lexical.
> >
> >One of the most interesting languages I've ever studied! We read
> >parts of Njals Saga and Thattr Audhunar in Old Icelandic. Though,
> >I can't honestly say I remember how to say much more than "Yes,
> >sir, I'd like to do that" and "No,sir, I don't want to do that".
>
> Funny thing is, not a single "yes" appears in any of the ancient texts (the
> Sagas). Only one "no" appears. In older language those words were
> non-existent or just developing. All yes/no questions were answered with
> something like "that is so", "I know", "he's here", etc (as in many many
> languages). Additionally, "sir" ("herra") is not common in Icelandic, even
> the old language. Honorifics are present but very rarely used. An honorific
> 2.p. pronoun also exists (taken from the old plural; the old dual became the
> plural), but is used about as much as "thou" in modern English. You could
> say Icelandic is a very informal language. Foreign learners often complain
> that they even find it _rude_, due to excessive use of imperatives, and the
> absence of an honorific pronoun.
>
> >I suppose if I could remember "Where's the bong?" and "Where's
> >the pub?", I'd be all right.
>
> Hehe. Don't think you'd learn that from the Sagas. Though we shouldn't
> conclude that the Sagas are too formal; they often have a surprising amount
> of colloquiality and warm lightness to them.
>
> Kvedjur,
> Oskar
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