Jump to content

Reconstruction talk:Old Norse/sinkva

Page contents not supported in other languages.
Add topic
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Latest comment: 2 years ago by Mårtensås

Shouldn't this entry be *sinkva - adhering to normal Old Norse orthography ? Leasnam (talk) 22:23, 7 January 2022 (UTC)Reply

This is not "normal Old Norse", which is actually just Norwegian-Icelandic. It is "Old East Norse" (better termed "Old East Nordic"), which certainly retained /w/ for a long time after it turned into /v/ in Old Norse. Even today certain dialects in the East Norse group retain /w/. ᛙᛆᚱᛐᛁᚿᛌᛆᛌProto-NorsingAsk me anything 14:28, 8 January 2022 (UTC)Reply
But Old Norse, even West Old Norse v was pronounced as /w/. v is the orthographic representation of /w/, right (?) Leasnam (talk) 14:43, 8 January 2022 (UTC)Reply
Yes, in normalized Old Icelandic. In normalized Runic Swedish and Danish (which are East Norse), w is used. I think the big problem here however is that "Old Norse" on Wiktionary is very Icelandic-centered. Thus 1200s Old Icelandic terms are listed as ancestral to 1100s Old Danish manuscript forms, even though they really are at an equal level. Imagine if we had Vedic Sanskrit as the ancestor of Avestan! You see how ridiculous it becomes... ᛙᛆᚱᛐᛁᚿᛌᛆᛌProto-NorsingAsk me anything 15:14, 8 January 2022 (UTC)Reply