Manuscripts (Patreon)
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Last week I posted a video inwhich I shared some tips and tricks for reading Old Norse in actualmanuscripts. Historical handwriting (paleography) is an under-studied aspect oflearning Old Norse, but if you're serious about the language, it's veryrewarding to be able to read it not just in the original language but on theoriginal page.
By the way, if you ever want tolook at the original manuscript of the Poetic Edda, you can find excellentscans of it at this link: http://www.am.hi.is:8087/ where dozens of medievalNorse manuscripts are scanned. Scroll down to the bottom and find themanuscript named "GKS 2365 4to: Eddukvæði" and click "Skoða."
Then you will see a menu onyour right that will allow you to look at each page. The pages are divided into7 groups, and each page has a "recto" and a "verso" side. Goto the second group of pages, and you will find the first poem of the PoeticEdda, Vǫluspá, starting on page 001recto.
I'm attaching to this post a scan of my replica ofthe phrase from Grímnismál that I used in the video. The numbers above thewords stand for the following common phenomena that we find when reading OldNorse in manuscripts:
1. Capital letters used toindicate a doubled letter (e.g. "Huginn" spelled "hugiN").
2. The tironian nota, whichlooks somewhat like a number seven, stands for "and" (or"ok" in Old Norse).
3. I is used for both I and J,and U and V are used interchangeably.
4. The tittle (which can varyin shape from a nine-like loop to a lightning bolt, but generally pointsdiagonally to the upper right) stands for an "er" or "ir"that has been left out following the letter it is written above (so"huian" with the tittle above the "u" means"hverjan").
5. The letter R may be writtenas R-rotunda, which is like half of a capital R written as if it were growingoff of the preceding letter.