Studying an Old Norwegian manuscript:
Strengleikar in Uppsala DG 4–7 fol. (ca. 1270)
Seminar at University of Verona, 1-11 October 2018
Prof. Odd Einar Haugen (University of Bergen) is giving a seminar on the Old Norwegian manuscript Uppsala DG 4-7 (ca. 1270), containing among other texts Strengleikar, the Old Norwegian translation of the lais by Marie de France. The course requires some knowledge of the older Germanic languages, but not any indepth knowledge of Old Norse.
Registration
If you are interested in attending the course or you have any questions, contact us at: proposals.filologiadigitale@ateneo.univr.it
Materials
Materials for the course can be downloaded here
Tasks for wednesday 3/10/2018 can be accessed here
Course schedule
Monday 1st October, 10.10-11.50: The manuscript Uppsala DG 4-7 fol.
Wednesday 3rd October, 11.50-13.30. A bird’s eye view of Old Norse grammar
Thursday 4th October, 17.20-19.00. Reading Old Norwegian
Monday 8th October, 10.10-11.50. The story of the nightingale: Laustiks ljóð
Wednesday 10th October, 11.50-13.30. The fatal lovers: Tveggja elskanda ljóð
Thursday 11th October, 17.20-19.00. Encoding and annotating a text in Strengleikar
The course will be given in Aula Daneloni, Polo Zanotto, 3rd floor.
Suggested reading
For a general background on Germanic philology, see Saibene and Buzzoni (2006), and for a particular introduction to the Medieval Nordic languages, see the general introduction in Haugen et al. (2018).
A good and diachronic grammar of Old Norse (i.e. Old Icelandic and Old Norwegian) is Scovazzi (1991). There are many recent grammars in this basically Neogrammarian tradition, e.g. Nedoma (2010). A more synchronic perspective of Old Norse grammar is offered by Haugen (2015). A discursive, step-by-step introduction is the one by van Nahl (2014).
Nedoma (2010: 150–156) has a brief summary of Old Norwegian (in contrast with Old Icelandic). The most recent language history of Norwegian, including the medieval stage, will be published during the autumn of 2018, but unfortunately not in time for the course. Vol. 4 of this history, Tidslinjer (ed. by Nesse), offers a chronological overview of Norwegian from the Proto-Nordic period to the present day. Berg (2014) provides a good discussion of the normalised orthography developed for Old Norse, Icelandic as well as Norwegian, while Haugen (under publication in 2019) deals with East as well as West Nordic philology.
A good overview of the manuscript Uppsala DG 4–7 fol from a general perspective has been given by Eriksen and Johansson (2012). This is a chapter in the book Francia et Germania, which has several other chapters on Strengleikar worth looking into. The introduction to the facsimile edition by Tveitane (1972) deals with the codicology as well as the paleography of the manuscript.
The best edition of Strengleikar, which fills the major part of the manuscript, is the one by Tveitane and Cook (1979), in which Tveitane is responsible for the Old Norwegian text and Cook for the translation into English. Laustiks ljóð, one of the lais in Strengleikar, is also included (with a parallel translation into Italian) in Haugen et al. (2018).
For a morphologically annotated version of Strengleikar, see the Medieval Nordic Text Archive (http://clarino.uib.no/menota/catalogue) and for a syntactically annotated version, see the INESS portal (http://clarino.uib.no/iness/page). A discussion of the procedures for the morphological and syntactic annotation is offered by Haugen and Øverland (2014).
- * Berg, Ivar. 2014. “Om normalisert norrønt.” Arkiv för nordisk filologi 129: 21–54. Free download: https://brage.bibsys.no/xmlui/bitstream/handle/11250/2392677/Berg-normnorront.pdf?sequence=3&isAllowed=y
- * Eriksen, Stefka Georgieva, and Johansson, Karl G. 2012. “Francia et Germania – Translations and the Europeanisastion of Old Norse Narratives.” In Francia et Germania: Studies in Strengleikar and Þiðreks saga af Bern, ed. by Karl G. Johansson and Rune Flaten. Bibliotheca Nordica, vol. 5. Oslo: Novus. Free download: https://www.academia.edu/4175174/Francia_et_Germania_Translations_and_the_Europeanisation_of_Old_Norse_Narratives_with_Karl_G._Johansson_
- * Haugen, Odd Einar and Øverland, Fartein Th. 2014. Guidelines for Morphological and Syntactic Annotation of Old Norwegian Texts. Bergen Language and Linguistic Studies, vol. 4:2. – Free download: http://dx.doi.org/10.15845/bells.v4i2
- Haugen, Odd Einar. 2015. Norröne Grammatik im Überblick: Altisländisch und Altnorwegisch. 2nd ed. Hamburg: Buske. Free download from the author’s website: https://folk.uib.no/hnooh/Grammatik/NorrGrammatikHaugen-2015-09-01.pdf
- Haugen, Odd Einar, with Massimiliano Bampi, Marina Buzzoni, Andrea Meregalli and Luca Panieri. 2018. Le lingue nordiche nel medioevo. Vol. 1: Testi. Oslo: Novus. – Open Access publication at http://omp.novus.no/index.php/novus/catalog/book/2
- * Haugen, Odd Einar. Under publication in 2019. “Normalisering av vest- og østnordiske middelaldertekster.” Under publication in Selskab for østnordisk filologi, vol. 3.
- Nahl, Astrid van. 2014. Einführung in das Altisländische: Ein Lehr- und Lesebuch. 2nd. ed. Hamburg: Buske.
- Nedoma, Robert. 2010. Kleine Grammatik des Altisländischen. 3rd ed. Heidelberg: Winter.
- Nesse, Agnete, ed. Tidslinjer. Vol. 4 of Norsk språkhistorie, gen. eds. Helge Sandøy and Agnete Nesse. Oslo: Novus.
- Saibene, Maria Grazia, and Buzzoni, Marina. 2006. Manuale di linguistica germanica. Milano: Cisalpino.
- Scovazzi, Marco. 1991. Grammatica dell’antico nordico. 3rd ed. Milano: Mursia.
- * Tveitane, Mattias, ed. 1972. Elis saga, Strengleikar and other texts. Corpus codicum Norvegicorum medii aevi. Quarto series, vol. 4. Oslo: Selskapet til utgivelse av gamle norske håndskrifter.
- * Tveitane, Mattias and Cook, Robert, eds. 1979. Strengleikar: An Old Norse translation of twenty-one Old French lais. Norrøne tekster, vol. 3. Oslo: Norsk Historisk Kjeldeskrift-Institutt.
Entries with an asterisk will be made available to the students on a website for the course.
