Editing Old Norse orthography (section)

== Latin alphabet orthography ==

The following table gives various attested spellings of sounds and their [[International Phonetic Alphabet|IPA]] transcription. In general usage, an orthographic distinction of phones or phonemes is not necessarily held by every writer. For example, an author may only distinguish some vowels by length, and orthographic devices could be mixed and matched. Where the table lists a long-or-short phoneme {{IPA|/(ː)/}}, a specifically short {{IPA|//}} or long {{IPA|/ː/}} phoneme represents additional spellings not covered by length marking rules. Likewise, a phonetic entry only lists spellings not used by the equivalent phoneme(s). N/A is used when no specific spelling is used, e.g. where all long vowel spellings are found using the rules for deriving long vowel spellings from the short vowel, or no general spelling is used, e.g. when short and long vowels are always spelled differently.

{| class="wikitable"
! colspan=11 | Latin orthography of Old Norse vowels
|- style="background:#f2f2f2"
! Phoneme
| {{IPA|/i(ː)/}} || {{IPA|/i/}}<sup>U</sup> || {{IPA|/e(ː)/}}
| {{IPA|/æ(ː)/}} || {{IPA|/æ/}} || {{IPA|/æː/}}
| {{IPA|/y(ː)/}} || {{IPA|/ø(ː)/}} || {{IPA|/ø/}} || {{IPA|/øː/}}
|-
! General usage
| i || i, e, æ || e, æ
| æ, ę || e || {{N/A}}
| y || ø, ö, œ || colspan="2" {{N/A}}
|-
! Standard normalization
| colspan="2" | i || e
| {{N/A}} || ę || æ
| y || {{N/A}} || ø || œ
|- style="background:#f2f2f2"
! Phoneme
| {{IPA|/u(ː)/}} || {{IPA|/u/}}<sup>U</sup> || {{IPA|/o(ː)/}}
| {{IPA|/ɑ(ː)/}} || {{IPA|/ɑ/}}<sup>U</sup> || {{IPA|/ɒ/}}
| {{IPA|/æi/}} || {{IPA|/ɒu/}} || {{IPA|/øy/}}
| {{IPA|/Vː/}}
|-
! General usage
| u || u, o || o
| a || a, æ || ǫ, o, a<sup>E</sup>
| ei, ęi, æi || au || ey, øy
| V, V́, VV
|-
! Standard normalization
| colspan="2" | u || o
| colspan="2" | a || ǫ
| ei || au || ey
| V́
|-
! colspan=11 | Latin orthography of Old Norse consonants
|- style="background:#f2f2f2"
! Phone(me)
| {{IPA|/p(ː)/}} || {{IPA|/b(ː)/}} || {{IPA|/m(ː)/}} || {{IPA|/f/}} || {{IPA|[v]}} || {{IPA|/θ/}} || {{IPA|[ð]}} || {{IPA|/t(ː)/}} || {{IPA|/d(ː)/}} || {{IPA|/n(ː)/}}
|-
! General usage
| p || b || m || f || ff, u,<sup>?</sup> ffu || þ, th || ð, dh, d || t || d || n
|-
! Standard normalization
| p || b || m || f || f || [[þ]] || [[ð]] || t || d || n
|- style="background:#f2f2f2"
! Phone(me)
| {{IPA|/l(ː)/}} || {{IPA|/lː/}} || {{IPA|/s(ː)/}} || {{IPA|/r(ː)/}}
| {{IPA|/ɽ(ː)/}} || {{IPA|/j/}} || {{IPA|/w/}} || {{IPA|/k(ː)/}} || {{IPA|/ɡ(ː)/}} || {{IPA|[ɣ]}}
|-
! General usage
| l || [[wikt:ꝇ|ꝇ]] || s || r
| r || i, j || u, v, [[ƿ]], [[vend (letter)|ꝩ]]
| k, c || g || gh
|-
! Standard normalization
| l || {{N/A}} || s || colspan=2 | r
| j || v || k || g || g
|- style="background:#f2f2f2"
! Phone(me)
| {{IPA|/h/}} || colspan=2 | {{IPA|/hw, hr, hl, hn/}}
| {{IPA|[ts]}} || colspan=2 | {{IPA|[t, d, ð, n]+[s]}} || {{IPA|[ks]}} || {{IPA|[ɡs]}} || {{IPA|[kw]}}
| {{IPA|/Cː/}}
|-
! General usage
| h || colspan=2 | h(S)
| colspan=3 | z || x || gx<ref>[http://lexicon.ff.cuni.cz/tmp/oi_gordon_taylor_corpus.html Gordon and Taylor Old Norse readings] - ''{{lang|non|konungx}}'' for normalized ''{{lang|non|konungs}}''</ref><sup>E</sup> || qu, qv, kv
| CC, <small>C</small>
|-
! Standard normalization
| h || colspan=2 | h(S)
| z || colspan=2 {{N/A}} || x || {{N/A}} || {{N/A}}
| CC
|}

'''Legend:'''
* <sup>U</sup>: Unstressed
* <sup>E</sup>: Chiefly eastern
* {{IPA|(ː)}}: [[Length (phonetics)|Long or short]]. See {{IPA|/Vː/ and /Cː/}} columns for [[Vowel length|length]] and [[gemination]] marking.
* <sup>?</sup>: {{citation needed |date=November 2009 }}

'''The low/low-mid vowels may be indicated differently:'''
* {{IPA|/æ/}} = {{IPA|/ɛ/}}
* {{IPA|/ɒ/}} = {{IPA|/ɔ/}}
* {{IPA|/ɑ/}} = {{IPA|/a/}}

'''Dialect-specific sounds:'''
* {{IPA|/ɒː/}}: [[Old Norse#Old Icelandic|Icelandic]]; a, aa, á, o, ó,<ref>Cleasby-Vigfússon: [http://www.northvegr.org/vigfusson/418.php Málsnjallr-Máttigr] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100116135253/http://www.northvegr.org/vigfusson/418.php |date=2010-01-16 }}; Mánuðr, alternated with mónoðr</ref> ǫ́; Normalized: á
* {{IPA|/ə/}}: [[Old Norse#Old Danish|Danish]]; e, æ

When dialectal mergers such as OEN monophthongization took place, regional spelling often changed to reflect this. Sometimes, both phonemes' spellings would be used, but confused.

The epenthetic vowel had different regional spellings. In East Norse it was commonly spelled as {{angbr|e}} or {{angbr|a}}, while in West Norse it was often spelled {{angbr|u}}, just like in Iceland.

=== Manuscript spelling ===
The original [[Icelandic manuscripts]], which are the main source of knowledge of [[Norse mythology]], did not employ a unified system of spelling. During the Viking Age, many dialects of Old Norse were spoken.  While they appear to have been mutually intelligible, the slight variances resulted in various spellings.<ref name=":03">{{Cite book|title=A History of the Vikings|last=Jones|first=Gwyn|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1968|location=Oxford|pages=71}}</ref> Thus the same name might be spelled several different ways even in the original manuscripts. Letters unique to the language existed, such as a modified version of the letter [[Wynn]] called [[Vend (letter)|Vend]] that was used briefly for the sounds {{IPA|/u/}}, {{IPA|/v/}}, and {{IPA|/w/}}. In particular, the length of [[vowel]]s was only sporadically marked in many manuscripts and various [[Germanic umlaut|umlaut]]ed vowels were often not distinguished from others. Another complication is that several [[Scribal abbreviation|shortcut forms]] for common words, syllables, and grammatical endings developed. One example is the use of the [[rune]] named ''{{lang|non|[[man (word)|maðr]]}}'' (man) for the word ''{{lang|non|maðr}}''. Another is the use of a special [[glyph]] for the various r-endings so common in Old Norse. These scribal abbreviations are categorized as follows:<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20090905003024/http://www.staff.hum.ku.dk/mjd/abbreviations.html Abbreviations in Old Norse-Icelandic manuscripts]</ref>

* Suspension, truncation, or curtailment: Certain letters of the word are omitted, with the abbreviation indicated by a superscript stroke (esp. dropping a nasal), dot(s) beside the letter, or occasionally a colon. Examples: [[Ꝥ]] for þat (etc.), ū for um, hō for hón, þan̅ for þann; .kgr. for konungr, .s. for sonr.
* Contraction: The first and last letters are written, and the abbreviation is indicated by a dot or superscript stroke.
* Special signs or [[brevigraph]]s: Symbols replacing words or syllables. Examples: [[Tironian et]] (⁊) for ''{{lang|non|ok}}'', [[ᛘ]] for ''{{lang|non|maðr}}'', syllabic et (Ꝫꝫ) in ''{{lang|non|mꝫ (með)}}'' for {{IPA|/eð/}}.
* Superscript letters: Regular letters contained in the word or letters specifically for abbreviation purposes. Often with syllabic content. Examples: {{lang|non|sᵏ}} (''{{lang|non|sik}}''), a zig-zag shaped symbol mainly for ''{{lang|non|er}}'' and ''{{lang|non|ir}}'' in ''{{lang|non|u͛a (vera)}}''.

These abbreviation conventions and a majority of the signs are inherited from the [[Latin language]] itself, and were common to the [[Latin alphabet]] in other languages. However, other signs or conventions are specifically Norse, such as the ''{{lang|non|er}}'' zig-zag.

=== Normalized spelling ===
"Normalized spelling" can be used to refer to normalization in general or the standard normalization in particular. With normalized spelling, the manuscript spelling is altered to adhere to be more strict and regular. These respellings are designed to be [[phoneme|phonemically]] precise rather than representative of the manuscripts. The degree of normalization may vary, but in general the text is at the end reduced to limited deviation from a regularized system, perhaps at the expense of some dialectal character.

For various reasons 19th century scholars came up with a '''standardized normalization''' of Old Norse which remains in use. It is primarily based on the so-called [[First Grammatical Treatise]]. [[Vowel length]] is marked and umlauted vowels are unambiguously represented. The standardized spelling employs a few characters that were not available in early electronic [[character set]]s, so replacements were often used. The most consequential was the use of [[ö]] instead of [[ogonek#E caudata and o caudata|ǫ]]; the latter being present in Unicode v1.0<ref>{{cite web |title=Unicode 1.0 block-by-block code charts |url=https://www.unicode.org/versions/Unicode1.0.0/CodeCharts2.pdf#page=17 |access-date=1 August 2023}}</ref> (1991) as U+01EA.