Comp. by: PS0005 Stage : ChapterID: 001 Date:27/8/11 Time:16:39:37 Filepath:// spiina1004z/Production_III/WILEY_BLACKWELL/3B2/Reprint/McTurk/appln/3B2/001.3d 1 Archaeology of Economy and Society OrriVe´steinsson ‘Old Norse’ defines the culture of Norway and Iceland during the Middle Ages. It is a somewhat illogical concept as it is largely synonymous with ‘Norse’ – there are no such things as ‘Middle Norse’ or ‘Recent Norse’ – and its temporal and geographical scope is far from clear. It definitely does not apply to anything post-medieval – after 1500 or so things that used to be ‘Norse’ become ‘Nordic’ or ‘Scandinavian’. Linguists use the term ‘Norse’ or ‘Old Norse’ to describe the common language of Scandinavian peoples (apart from the Sami) until the emergence of the separate languages of Swedish, Danish and Norwegian in the late Middle Ages. This common language – do ˛nsk tunga it was called by its speakers – is the manifestation of a common ethnicity – the speakers of ‘do ˛nsk tunga’ considered themselves to be ‘norrœnir menn’ – and the term ‘Norse’ is often used as a translation of norrœnn. As such it applies to all the Germanic peoples of Scandinavia and their colonies in the British Isles and the North Atlantic. In the context of the Viking Age we often find ‘Norse’ used as a description of anyone of Scandinavian origin, synonymous with ‘Vikings’, ‘Scandinavians’ and ‘Northmen’, whereas after the end of the Viking Age it is as a rule not used to describe Danes or Swedes, except in the most technical discussion of language or ethnicity. Literacy reached Scandinavia towards the end of the Viking Age in the eleventh century, and in the twelfth there emerged in Norway and to a greater extent in Iceland a tradition of writing in the vernacular, the language known in English as ‘Norse’. Texts in the vernacular were also written in Denmark and Sweden and the consideration of these clearly falls within the scope of Old Norse studies. But compared to the Icelandic- Norwegian output these texts are small in volume and minimal in their appeal to modern readers – law codes being the largest category of twelfth- and thirteenth- century vernacular texts from Denmark and Sweden. The vernacular literature of Norway and Iceland – the eddas, the skaldic poetry, all the different types of sagas, as well as laws, chronicles, annals and works of science and theology – is what most people think of when they hear talk of things Old Norse, and it is with this vernacular literary production of Norway and Iceland that this Companion mainly deals. McTurk / Companion to Old Norse Icelandic Literature 001 Final Proof page 7 27.8.2011 4:39pm COPYRIGHTED M ATERIAL