[gothic-l] Re: (H)eruli in Iceland

[einarbirg]

--- In gothic-l at y..., "fericzobor" <fericzobor at y...> wrote:
> --- In gothic-l at y..., Sahin Ahmet <ahmetsahinn at y...> wrote:
> >
> >  which continental language is icelandic  closest? old norwegian?
> old swedish? or gothic?
>
> Since Icelandic belongs to the Western Scandinavic subgroup,
together
> with Norwegian (Old Norwegian and Landsmal/Nynorsk) and Faroese,
the
> closest continental language to Icelandic is Old Norwegian. They
> share some phonetic innovations not found in Eastern Scandinavic
> (Danish, Swedish, Gutnish).
>
> Francisc

#### It is obvious for a Icelander that Faroese is more like the
Icelandic language than any other language.
Very likely Iceland and the Faroe islands was settled by the same
people. That is Scandinavian and Celts from the British Isles(mainly)
According to legends the Faroe islands had a first settler. His name
is Celtic!
The supposed to be stronger similarities to Norwegian than to Danish
and Swedish are possible to explain with the close cultural and
political contacts between Iceland and Norway from the 11th to the 14
century.
Iceland was in the influence sphere of Norway for a long time.
And partly ruled from Norway in the end of the period.

Then we have to take into account when comparing old languages that
we need literature to compare. And here scholars mix freely together
Icelandic and Norwegian literature.
It seems to be a reason to belief that making books was a industry in
Iceland in the period when Norwegian influences was strongest.
And the main country of export was Norway.
And Icelandic scribes were employed in Norway.
So what is old Norwegian literature and what is Icelandic!

Anyway having close cultural and political contacs does not make
people genetically related.
That is one of the conclusions genetic reaserch have to offer.


Icelandic is much more "pure" now than 1-200 years ago. Because the
Danish language was infiltering the Icelandic language. Because of
the close cultural and political contacts.
Very likely it was the same in the period Iceland was closely
connected to Norway.

I know nothing about phonetics but place names in Iceland obviously
have a widespread origin from over most of the Scandinavian area.
Against all the evidence against the Norwegian origin of the
Icelanders(including genetic results) some phonetic innovations can
not be taken as proving anything about the origin of the settlers
coming to Iceland 1100-1200 years ago.


Bless,bless Einar.




------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~-->
Free $5 Love Reading
Risk Free!
http://us.click.yahoo.com/Pp91HA/PfREAA/Ey.GAA/wWMplB/TM
---------------------------------------------------------------------~->

You are a member of the Gothic-L list.  To unsubscribe, send a blank email to <gothic-l-unsubscribe at egroups.com>.

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/