Modern Gutnish


Modern Gutnish
Spoken in Gotland and Fårö,  Sweden
Language extinction by the 18th century (19th century at the latest)
Language family Indo-European
Language codes
ISO 639-1 None
ISO 639-2
ISO 639-3 –
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode.

Modern Gutnish is the old language of the island of Gotland in present day Sweden. It was both a spoken and written language until late medieval times. Today it exists as a spoken language, but is to some degree mixed with Swedish, Danish and German. It is an open issue whether modern Gutnish is to be considered an independent language or a Scandinavian dialect. It derives, however, from Old Gutnish, which is indisputably a separate branch of the Old Norse language family.

Knowledge of Gutnish is weak both among Gotlanders (Gutar) and other Swedes. It is spoken mainly in the south-east parts of the island and in some parts of Fårö. Gutnish exists in two variants, Laumal (mainland Gotland) and Faroymal on Fårö. The Faroymal is considered the more archaic of the two forms. Gutnish is not to be confused with Gotlandic, which is the local form of Swedish spoken by most Gotlanders today.

Some features of Gutnish include the preservation of Old Norse diphthongs like ai in for instance stain, Swedish: sten, English stone and oy in for example doy, Swedish dö, English die. There is also a triphthong that exists in no other Norse languages: iau as in skiaute/skiauta, Swedish skjuta, English shoot.

Contents

Comparison with other Germanic languages

English Dutch Norwegian (Bokmål) Norwegian (Nynorsk) Danish German Gutnish Icelandic Swedish Faroese
eye oog øye auge/auga øje Auge auge/auga auga öga eyga
hear horen høre høyre/høyra høre hören hoyre/hoyra heyra höra hoyra
sleep slapen sove sove/sova sove schlafen sive/siva sofa sova sova
evil kwaad ond vond ond Übel aumb(r) vondur ond óndur
ship schip skip skip skib Schiff skip skip skepp skip
sing zingen synge syngje/syngja synge singen singe/singa syngja sjunga syngja
high hoog høy høg høj hoch haug(r) hár hög høgur/háur
right rechts høyre høgre højre rechts hygar hægri höger høgra
boat boot båt båt båd Boot bat bátur båt bátur
over over over over/yver over über yvar yfir över yvir
shoot schieten skyte skyte/skyta / skjote/skjota skyde schiessen skiaute/skiauta skjóta skjuta skjóta

Example

Gutnish

KERLAIKINS SKAVLGARD
Ia gikk til kerlaikins skavlgard
U sag va ia aldri hade seit
A kýrko var der byggd
Der ia fýrr laikede pa de grøynu
U lukar til hissu kýrku var lukede
U ”Deu skalt inte”, ritet yvar duri
So ia vende mi til kerlaikins skavlgard
Sum so mange søyme blómar berde,
U ia sag hann fylldar me gravar
U gravstainar der blómar skulde vare
U prestar i svarte klédin, ganes seine rundar
U bindnes me napltynne, meine gledar u kéar
av William Blake (1757–1827)

English

THE GARDEN OF LOVE
I went to the Garden of Love,
And saw what I never had seen:
A Chapel was built in the midst,
Where I used to play on the green.
And the gates of this Chapel were shut,
And Thou shalt not. writ over the door;
So I turn'd to the Garden of Love,
That so many sweet flowers bore.
And I saw it was filled with graves,
And tomb-stones where flowers should be:
And Priests in black gowns, were walking their rounds,
And binding with briars, my joys & desires.
by William Blake (1757–1827)

See also

External links

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