Stationen der frühen nordgermanischen Sprachgeschichte

Abstract

The article presents a new periodization of the language of the older runic inscriptions (until 750 AD) by dividing the whole period into four subperiods instead of two (i.e. in contrast to Krause’s dichotomy of Frühurnordisch and Späturnordisch). The study focuses on the earliest layers of runic inscriptions in older fuþark, namely the pre-classical and classical group prior to 400/450 AD. The new runic finds from Svingerud in Norway reinforce the notion of an archaic, pre-classical runic layer, starting already c. 1/50 AD. In order to distinguish a pre-classical Nordic period, the nominative singular masculine of the weak n-stems is viewed as a decisive criterion, in particular the masculine nouns in -o. In addition, the article presents a valid diagnostic criterion to distinguish between ‘post-classical’ and ‘transitional’ inscriptions, viz. the phoneme-grapheme-correspondences of the starlike rune . The result of this approach is a quadripartite division of the older-fuþark inscriptions that bridges that span between late North-West Germanic and early Old Norse.