Scots Norse

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Scots Norse
Agharsc
Pronunciation[ˈəːɾsk]
Created byMelinoë
DateApril 3rd, 2026
Native toAghar
EthnicityNorse Scots
Native speakers(L1) 2,000 (2019)
(L2) < 50,000
Early forms
Standard form
Dialects
Official status
Official language in
Scotland
Scots Norse is classified as critically endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.

Scots Norse (Autonym: Agharsc /ˈəːɾsk/) is a West Nordic language spoken in the Hebrides most closely related to Norn, less so to Icelandic and Faroese, and quite distantly to Swedish, Norwegian, and Danish. It has extremely significant influence from mainly Scots and Irish Gaelic, and less so from the Germanic languages Scots and English. The Gaelic influence is most noticeable in the morphophonology of Scots Norse, both with the slender/broad distinction in consonants and the presence of initial consonant mutation.

Scots Norse has roughly eleven dialects that form the language's two dialect continuums, these being Western and Eastern Scots Norse respectively, these are further divided into specific dialects. All varieties of Scots Norse are written using the Latin script, employing Gaelic Type or Insular as the hand, this acts as a notable exception to the general notion that Gaelic Type and Insular only survive for ornamental or historical usages, as they are still the primary hand used for Scots Norse.

Uniting all of these dialects is the standard variety, called Agharsc h'u Zorcha, literally "Sorcha's Scots Norse". This form of the language is the most conservative of them all, being largely based on the 18th century description of Western Scots Norse by Sorcha of Uist. At times, the standard form has had certain shifts undone, such as the /ɛ/-/ɪ/ merger typical of Western dialects.

Classification

Scots Norse has long been a difficulty for linguists to classify, as it shows clear signs of being a mixed language, though the extent of this has been, and still is, heavily debated and questioned. As well as the general lack of speakers, it is hard to determine whether it stands as a creole or not, thus the general consensus among modern linguists to class it under Gaelo-Nordic till enough research has been done to reclassify it under a more appropriate position, potentially as a Scottish-Norse creole.

The difficulty in classifying Scots Norse comes largely down to the morphology and phonology, where it is closer to the modern Gaelic languages than the other Nordic languages, having lost most inflection while simultaneously gaining a simple system of preposition inflections from heavily reduced pronouns.

History

Pre-Modern

Scots Norse originates in the mid to late 13th century, around the time Suðreyjar was handed over to Scotland with the Treaty of Perth. Though the language would continue to be largely unchanged from the Old Norse of the 12th century, 1266AD is often used as a dividing date between Old Norse and the earliest forms of Scots Norse. While 1266 is a relatively arbitrary date, it serves its purpose as a convenient divide between two stages, as following the Treaty of Perth, the Hebrides would gain a much larger population of Gaelic and English speakers (At this point still Middle Irish and Middle English), and from roughly 1450AD onward, Scots Norse would be increasingly influenced by Scots Gaelic and, to a lesser extent, Scots and English.

Having been spoken throughout all of Suðreyjar, Scots Norse once had a dialect within the Isle of Man (Ma). Little is known about the Mannish dialect (Mazc), as it is very poorly recorded, the most extensive description being a short document from around 1500AD that contains a list of about 150 words, with a very poor description of the pronunciations. Though from this description we can gather that it still had the original dental fricatives that had been lost in other dialects (merging with t/d), we get this from the description "... these [th and dh] are like that of the Saxons' beloved þ."

Following the treaty of Perth, the usage of Norse began declining significantly, with evidence it was nearly extinct by 1550. A small revitalization occurred in the 18th century when several of the last native speakers (having had no more than 150 remaining speakers) were gathered together by Sorcha of Uist in order to compile two main documents, a dictionary and a grammar. This effort was mostly effective, leading to the first noticeable rise in speaker count since it began declining. By the 1880's, there would be upwards of 1,500 native speakers, a majority of them young.

Modern

Modern Scots Norse is typically classed as critically endangered due to how few speakers it has, having no more than 2,500 native speakers as of 2020, and virtually all of them live in the Hebrides, making its usage extremely limited.

Since the early 1990's, Scots Norse has gained a small but dedicated community of linguists that are determined to further document it and make resources more readily available. As of 2018, an online course has been published that goes over Standard Scots Norse, and it has been continually updated since then, improving the quality and extent of the contents, having started out as a rather barebones description of the phonology, orthography, and rudimentary grammar.

Phonology

labial alveolar velar
broad slender broad slender broad slender
nasal m mʲ n ɲ
stop unvoiced p pʲ t tʲ k c
voiced b bʲ d dʲ g ɟ
fricative unvoiced f fʲ s ʃ x ç
voiced v vʲ z ʒ ɣ j
approximant ɾ, ɫ ɾʲ, ʎ j
front back
short long short long
High ɪ i ɤ u
Mid ɛ e ɔ o
Low ə ɑ

Prosody

Stress has shifted significantly since Old Norse, instead being placed on the first long vowel in a word, if none exist, then it's placed on the first short vowel.

Loan words typically keep their original stress, with vowels being made "long" as necessary to keep the stress patterning functional, such as in bambù /bəm.ˈbu/ and halò /xə.ˈɫo/.

Mutation

Scots Norse has developed a system of mutation incredibly similar to that of Irish. These mutations are no longer productive, and have thus been grammaticalized to a point where mutations can be the only distinction between a pair of words, eg. è bhèodh ("to not comfort") vs. è mèodh ("one bed"). Thus the mutations are incredibly important to understanding the relationship between words, as well as being important to distinguishing meaning.

Like the Goidelic languages which have influenced Scots Norse, there are two mutations: lenition (Scots Norse: miùechin /ˈmʲu.çəɲ/) and eclipsis (sfarthin /ˈsɸəɾ.çəɲ/). Originally these were a series of sandhi effects: lenition being caused by a consonant being intervocalic (or following /r, l/, as in "sfarth", older "sfarta"), and eclipsis caused by a consonant following a nasal (as in "lan", older "land"). Lenition also affects vowel initial words in the form of h-prothesis, though occasional a "lenited" vowel-initial word will take dh', which is borrowed from Gàidhlig.

Lenition

Lenition as an initial mutation originally stems from the historic allophonic lenition of an intervocalic consonant, both word internally and across word boundaries, i.e if a word ended in a vowel and the next word began with a consonant + a vowel, the consonant lenited. The vowels which originally caused lenition have almost entirely been lost, with the exception of adverbial -a, though the lenition remains as a grammaticalized feature.

Lenition also occurred following /l, r/, and occasionally nasals, though nasal lenition only occured when the consonants differed in place, eg. /mg/. Nasal lenition would often lead to the consonant becoming a stop again as eclipsis took over, thus that /mg/ would do /mg/ > /mɣ/ > /nɣ/ > /g/. Lenition would also occur from /CN/ and /CC/, again when differing in place, hence the development of "Agðir" to "Aghar" through /gð/ > /gd/ > /ɣð/ > /ɣ/, as well as the development of "Ǫgmundr" to "Anghun", though notice here how the "gm" does not become "g", instead becoming "ngh", thigh is through /gm/ > /ɣn/ > /ŋ/ > /ɣ/, as this /CN/ lenition took place prior to primary lenition.

Lenition turned voiced stops and nasals into fricatives, /s/ debuccalized to /h/, /f/ was elided, and /r/ may have been split between fortis and lenis, though this distinction is preserved nowhere. Lenited /t, d/ (/θ, ð/) have since merged with /x, ɣ/.

Word-internal lenition is common, but isn't grammaticalized, unlike word-final lenition which has been grammaticalized through certain inflected forms (eg. Gud, but Guedh in the dative).

Eclipsis

Eclipsis arises from a historic cluster of /NC/, including across word boundaries. These clusters would eventually coalesce, with the nasal largely being lost. Eclipsis turned voiced stops into nasals, voiceless stops and voiced fricatives into voiced stops, and voiceless fricatives into voiced. With the loss of the original nasal, eclipsis was grammaticalized, as in hi, coming from older hinn. Eclipsis also affects vowel-initial words, in a very similar way to h-prothesis, as in almh > n'almh.

Orthography

(updated to "bh")

Morphology

Most parts of speech are split among three "types" or "classes" based on the mutation they cause in the following word, these are called "radical", "lenite", and "eclipse", and they generally don't affect the word itself. Verbs form the primary exception, as they very consistently follow a single pattern, with the dictionary form (the infinitive) always being a lenite.

Nominals

Nouns

Scots Norse nouns decline for three cases (direct, genitive, and dative), two genders (masculine and feminine), and two numbers (singular and plural). The direct comes the merging of the nominative and the accusative, the two having fell together due to sound changes. The definite forms distinctive of the Nordic languages have been dropped in favor of the standalone article hi.

The following set of tables will display a few examples of the native masculine pattern.

velph ("puppy") a ("fragrance") almh ("elm tree")
indefinite indefinite indefinite
singular plural singular plural singular plural
direct velph velphar a anghar almh almhar
genitive velphs veolph az angh alz almh
dative velph velphu aengh anghu aelmh almhu
definite definite definite
singular plural singular plural singular plural
direct hi belph hìnhar velphar hi n'a hìnhar anghar hi n'almh hìnhar almhar
genitive hiz velphs hionh vheolph hiz az hionh h'angh hiz alz hionh h'almh
dative hình belph hìnhu belphu hình n'aengh hìnhu n'anghu hình n'aelmh hìnhu n'almhu

While both a and almh appear irregular, they are not so, as the forms are entirely expected. a comes from older ang, the nasal being lost in the direct singular, but preserved in other forms. The genitive singular taking -z is from eclipsis of the normal -s due to the roots' nasal.

The definite forms typically include a vocative, formed with the particle a plus the direct form. These are excluded here as it is not a "true" case.

Nouns from Scottish and Irish tend to instead take -an for the direct plural, after the regular plural in Scottish.

diá ("god") loch ("loch") [Term?] ("")
indefinite indefinite indefinite
singular plural singular plural singular plural
direct diá diáthan loch lochan
genitive diás diá lochs loch
dative diá diáthu loech lochu
definite definite definite
singular plural singular plural singular plural
direct hi niá hìnhar diáthan hi loch hìnhar lochan hi hìnhar
genitive hiz diás hionh dhiá hiz lochs hionh loch hiz hionh
dative hình niá hìnhu niáthu hình loech hìnhu lochu hình hìnhu

Other than the -an plural, all nouns follow roughly the same pattern, with some variation between depending on the environment. This makes Scots Norse stunningly regular, to a point largely unseen for a Germanic language, especially one that preserves so much of the declension system.

Adjectives

Adjectives, like nouns, have dropped the definiteness distinction (the strong/weak distinction here), thus what remains is positive, comparative, and superlative, with their respective declensions.

Declension of sèol
positive masculine feminine plural
nominative sèol L sèl sèlar
genitive sèlsh sèlar sèol L
dative sèol E sèl L sèlu E
comparative masculine feminine plural
nom./gen. sèlar sèlir sèlir
dative sèlar sèlir sèluru E
superlative masculine feminine plural
nominative sèlast L sèlust sèlastar
genitive sèlasts sèlastar sèlast L
dative sèlust E sèlist L sèlustu E

L Triggers lenition   E Triggers eclipsis

Pronouns

Scots Norse personal pronouns
plain emphatic possessive
sg. 1st mic mìnhich mì E
2nd tic tìda L tì E
3rd m ha E haza E haz
f hành L henha E henhar
pl. 1st och ochuith ochar
2nd uech uechith uechar
3rd tèr tèrthir tèor

L Triggers lenition   E Triggers eclipsis

Scots Norse suffixed pronouns
plain emphatic
sg. 1st -g -ich
2nd -ch -ta L
3rd m -a E -(z)a E
f -anh L -(nh)a E
pl. 1st -ach -uith
2nd -uech -tith
3rd -ti -thir

L Triggers lenition   E Triggers eclipsis

Numerals

1 è
2 tfè(r)
3 trì
4 fiòer
5 fi
6 siach
7 siò
8 àth
9 niù
10 tiù
11 èliovh
12 tòlvh

Prepositions

Scots Norse has a very, very simple system of inflected prepositions, only inflecting for person and number.

A large amount of speakers simply don't use inflected prepositions.

Inflection of i
plain emphatic
singular 1st inì E inìnhic
2nd idì E idìda
3rd m ighaz ighaza E
f ighenh ighenha E
plural 1st inhach inhachúith
2nd inhich inhichith
3rd idèor idèorthi

ᶰ: triggers eclipsis


Inflection of til
plain emphatic
singular 1st tilmhì E tilmhìnhic
2nd tilthì E tilthìda
3rd m tilaz tilaza E
f tilenh tilenha E
plural 1st tilach tilachúith
2nd tilich tilichith
3rd tilthèor tilthèorthi

ᶰ: triggers eclipsis

Verbs

Many significant changes have happened to the verb system since Old Norse, notably both the mood and voice distinctions have been lost. The active indicative has descended into the present and past tense, while the active subjunctive was lost entirely. The mediopassive became the future and imperative (the mood distinction in the mediopassive largely having already collapsed in Old Norse). The reciprocal, original formed through the mediopassive, has entirely been replaced by hinhar. The original imperative is seemingly preserved as the impersonal form (hence the "-sc-"), later having the endings appended to it after they became generally leveled to a single regular pattern.

Verbs have reduced to such a limited number of forms that analogy and sound changes have leveled them all down to essentially one pattern (excluding a few irregular verbs), which seemingly descends from Old Norse's weak class 2 pattern.


Conjugation of tàl (regular)
present past future
infinitive tàl tàladh tàlast
participle tàlan tàla tàlanist
positive negative
personal impersonal personal impersonal
plain present tàlir tàlscir è thàlir è thàlscir
past tàladhir tàlscadhir è thàladhir è thàlscadhir
future tàlist tàlscist è thàlist è thàlscist
imperative tàladhist tàlscadhist è thàladhist è thàlscadhist
continuative present i dàlir u i dàlscir u è h'i dàlir u è h'i dàlscir u
past i dàladhir u i dàlscadhir u è h'i dàladhir u è h'i dàlscadhir u
future i dàlist u i dàlscist u è h'i dàlist u è h'i dàlscist u
imperative i dàladhist u i dàlscadhist u è h'i dàladhist u è h'i dàlscadhist u
perfect present as tàlir u as tàlscir u è h'as tàlir u è h'as tàlscir u
past as tàladhir u as tàlscadhir u è h'as tàladhir u è h'as tàlscadhir u
future as tàlist u as tàlscist u è h'as tàlist u è h'as tàlscist u
imperative as tàladhist u as tàlscadhist u è h'as tàladhist u è h'as tàlscadhist u
Conjugation of mèl (regular)
present past future
infinitive mèl mèladh mèlast
participle mèlan mèla mèlanist
positive negative
personal impersonal personal impersonal
plain present mèlir mèlscir è mhèlir è mhèlscir
past mèladhir mèlscadhir è mhèladhir è mhèlscadhir
future mèlist mèlscist è mhèlist è mhèlscist
imperative mèladhist mèlscadhist è mhèladhist è mhèlscadhist
continuative present i mèlir u i mèlscir u è h'i mèlir u è h'i mèlscir u
past i mèladhir u i mèlscadhir u è h'i mèladhir u è h'i mèlscadhir u
future i mèlist u i mèlscist u è h'i mèlist u è h'i mèlscist u
imperative i mèladhist u i mèlscadhist u è h'i mèladhist u è h'i mèlscadhist u
perfect present as mèlir u as mèlscir u è h'as mèlir u è h'as mèlscir u
past as mèladhir u as mèlscadhir u è h'as mèladhir u è h'as mèlscadhir u
future as mèlist u as mèlscist u è h'as mèlist u è h'as mèlscist u
imperative as mèladhist u as mèlscadhist u è h'as mèladhist u è h'as mèlscadhist u
Conjugation of àgh (regular)
present past future
infinitive àgh àghadh àghast
participle àghan àgha àghanist
positive negative
personal impersonal personal impersonal
plain present àghir àghscir è h'àghir è h'àghscir
past àghadhir àghscadhir è h'àghadhir è h'àghscadhir
future àghist àghscist è h'àghist è h'àghscist
imperative àghadhist àghscadhist è h'àghadhist è h'àghscadhist
continuative present i n'àghir u i n'àghscir u è h'i n'àghir u è h'i n'àghscir u
past i n'àghadhir u i n'àghscadhir u è h'i n'àghadhir u è h'i n'àghscadhir u
future i n'àghist u i n'àghscist u è h'i n'àghist u è h'i n'àghscist u
imperative i n'àghadhist u i n'àghscadhist u è h'i n'àghadhist u è h'i n'àghscadhist u
perfect present as àghir u as àghscir u è h'as àghir u è h'as àghscir u
past as àghadhir u as àghscadhir u è h'as àghadhir u è h'as àghscadhir u
future as àghist u as àghscist u è h'as àghist u è h'as àghscist u
imperative as àghadhist u as àghscadhist u è h'as àghadhist u è h'as àghscadhist u

i-negatives

This is a very small class of verbs that take i- to form the negative, this prefix causing eclipsis in the root, thus a verb like bì will have a negative imì, as seen below.

Conjugation of bì (regular, i-negative)
present past future
infinitive bì bìadh bìast
participle bìan bìa bìanist
singular plural impersonal
1st 2nd 3rd 1st 2nd 3rd
pos. pres. bì'ir mic bì'ir tic bì'ir ha bì'ir och bì'ir uech bì'ir tèr bìscir
past bì'adhir mic bì'adhir tic bì'adhir ha bì'adhir och bì'adhir uech bì'adhir tèr bìscadhir
fut. bì'ist mic bì'ist tic bì'ist ha bì'ist och bì'ist uech bì'ist tèr bìscist
imp. bì'adhist mic bì'adhist tic bì'adhist ha bì'adhist och bì'adhist uech bì'adhist tèr bìscadhist
neg. pres. imì'ir mic imì'ir tic imì'ir ha imì'ir och imì'ir uech imì'ir tèr imìscir
past imì'adhir mic imì'adhir tic imì'adhir ha imì'adhir och imì'adhir uech imì'adhir tèr imìscadhir
fut. imì'ist mic imì'ist tic imì'ist ha imì'ist och imì'ist uech imì'ist tèr imìscist
imp. imì'adhist mic imì'adhist tic imì'adhist ha imì'adhist och imì'adhist uech imì'adhist tèr imìscadhist
cont. pres. i mì'ir u mic i mì'ir u dic i mì'ir u gha i mì'ir u n'och i mì'ir u n'uech i mì'ir u dèr i mìscir u
past i mì'adhir u mic i mì'adhir u dic i mì'adhir u gha i mì'adhir u n'och i mì'adhir u n'uech i mì'adhir u dèr i mìscadhir u
fut. i mì'ist u mic i mì'ist u dic i mì'ist u gha i mì'ist u n'och i mì'ist u n'uech i mì'ist u dèr i mìscist u
imp. i mì'adhist u mic i mì'adhist u dic i mì'adhist u gha i mì'adhist u n'och i mì'adhist u n'uech i mì'adhist u dèr i mìscadhist u
neg.
cont. 		pres. i n'imì'ir u mic i n'imì'ir u dic i n'imì'ir u gha i n'imì'ir u n'och i n'imì'ir u n'uech i n'imì'ir u dèr i n'imìscir u
past i n'imì'adhir u mic i n'imì'adhir u dic i n'imì'adhir u gha i n'imì'adhir u n'och i n'imì'adhir u n'uech i n'imì'adhir u dèr i n'imìscadhir u
fut. i n'imì'ist u mic i n'imì'ist u dic i n'imì'ist u gha i n'imì'ist u n'och i n'imì'ist u n'uech i n'imì'ist u dèr i n'imìscist u
imp. i n'imì'adhist u mic i n'imì'adhist u dic i n'imì'adhist u gha i n'imì'adhist u n'och i n'imì'adhist u n'uech i n'imì'adhist u dèr i n'imìscadhist u
perf. pres. as bì'ir u mic as bì'ir u dic as bì'ir u gha as bì'ir u n'och as bì'ir u n'uech as bì'ir u dèr as bìscir u
past as bì'adhir u mic as bì'adhir u dic as bì'adhir u gha as bì'adhir u n'och as bì'adhir u n'uech as bì'adhir u dèr as bìscadhir u
fut. as bì'ist u mic as bì'ist u dic as bì'ist u gha as bì'ist u n'och as bì'ist u n'uech as bì'ist u dèr as bìscist u
imp. as bì'adhist u mic as bì'adhist u dic as bì'adhist u gha as bì'adhist u n'och as bì'adhist u n'uech as bì'adhist u dèr as bìscadhist u
neg.
perf. 		pres. as imì'ir u mic as imì'ir u dic as imì'ir u gha as imì'ir u n'och as imì'ir u n'uech as imì'ir u dèr as imìscir u
past as imì'adhir u mic as imì'adhir u dic as imì'adhir u gha as imì'adhir u n'och as imì'adhir u n'uech as imì'adhir u dèr as imìscadhir u
fut. as imì'ist u mic as imì'ist u dic as imì'ist u gha as imì'ist u n'och as imì'ist u n'uech as imì'ist u dèr as imìscist u
imp. as imì'adhist u mic as imì'adhist u dic as imì'adhist u gha as imì'adhist u n'och as imì'adhist u n'uech as imì'adhist u dèr as imìscadhist u

Suppletive verbs

There are very few known suppletive verbs in Scots Norse, the main one being the copula vèr, and even it has been leveled by many speakers.

Conjugation of vèr (suppletive)
present past future
infinitive vèr vèradh vèrast
participle vèrin vèra vèranist
singular plural impersonal
1st 2nd 3rd 1st 2nd 3rd
pos. pres. er mic er tic er ha er och er uech er tèr vèrscir
past var mic var tic var ha var och var uech var tèr vèrscadhir
fut. vèrist mic vèrist tic vèrist ha vèrist och vèrist uech vèrist tèr vèrscist
imp. vèradhist mic vèradhist tic vèradhist ha vèradhist och vèradhist uech vèradhist tèr vèrscadhist
neg. pres. è h'er mic è h'er tic è h'er ha è h'er och è h'er uech è h'er tèr è vhèrscir
past è vhar mic è vhar tic è vhar ha è vhar och è vhar uech è vhar tèr è vhèrscadhir
fut. è vhèrist mic è vhèrist tic è vhèrist ha è vhèrist och è vhèrist uech è vhèrist tèr è vhèrscist
imp. è vhèradhist mic è vhèradhist tic è vhèradhist ha è vhèradhist och è vhèradhist uech è vhèradhist tèr è vhèrscadhist
cont. pres. i n'er u mic i n'er u dic i n'er u gha i n'er u n'och i n'er u n'uech i n'er u dèr i bèrscir u
past i bar u mic i bar u dic i bar u gha i bar u n'och i bar u n'uech i bar u dèr i bèrscadhir u
fut. i bèrist u mic i bèrist u dic i bèrist u gha i bèrist u n'och i bèrist u n'uech i bèrist u dèr i bèrscist u
imp. i bèradhist u mic i bèradhist u dic i bèradhist u gha i bèradhist u n'och i bèradhist u n'uech i bèradhist u dèr i bèrscadhist u
neg.
cont. 		pres. è h'i n'er u mic è h'i n'er u dic è h'i n'er u gha è h'i n'er u n'och è h'i n'er u n'uech è h'i n'er u dèr è h'i bèrscir u
past è h'i bar u mic è h'i bar u dic è h'i bar u gha è h'i bar u n'och è h'i bar u n'uech è h'i bar u dèr è h'i bèrscadhir u
fut. è h'i bèrist u mic è h'i bèrist u dic è h'i bèrist u gha è h'i bèrist u n'och è h'i bèrist u n'uech è h'i bèrist u dèr è h'i bèrscist u
imp. è h'i bèradhist u mic è h'i bèradhist u dic è h'i bèradhist u gha è h'i bèradhist u n'och è h'i bèradhist u n'uech è h'i bèradhist u dèr è h'i bèrscadhist u
perf. pres. as er u mic as er u dic as er u gha as er u n'och as er u n'uech as er u dèr as vèrscir u
past as var u mic as var u dic as var u gha as var u n'och as var u n'uech as var u dèr as vèrscadhir u
fut. as vèrist u mic as vèrist u dic as vèrist u gha as vèrist u n'och as vèrist u n'uech as vèrist u dèr as vèrscist u
imp. as vèradhist u mic as vèradhist u dic as vèradhist u gha as vèradhist u n'och as vèradhist u n'uech as vèradhist u dèr as vèrscadhist u
neg.
perf. 		pres. è h'as er u mic è h'as er u dic è h'as er u gha è h'as er u n'och è h'as er u n'uech è h'as er u dèr è h'as vèrscir u
past è h'as var u mic è h'as var u dic è h'as var u gha è h'as var u n'och è h'as var u n'uech è h'as var u dèr è h'as vèrscadhir u
fut. è h'as vèrist u mic è h'as vèrist u dic è h'as vèrist u gha è h'as vèrist u n'och è h'as vèrist u n'uech è h'as vèrist u dèr è h'as vèrscist u
imp. è h'as vèradhist u mic è h'as vèradhist u dic è h'as vèradhist u gha è h'as vèradhist u n'och è h'as vèradhist u n'uech è h'as vèradhist u dèr è h'as vèrscadhist u

"er" and "var" are the more prevalent forms, but the regularized forms "vèrir" and "vèradhir" are also rather common.

Syntax

Word order

Scots Norse word order is incredibly strict, relying more on particles than word order for changing the sentence type. The typical order is:

  1. Preverbal particle
  2. Verb
  3. Postverbal particle(s)
  4. Subject
  5. Preposition(s) (usually)
  6. Direct object or predicate adjective
  7. Indirect object

Prepositions are placed largely as in English, but the usage can often differ, eg. "i" ("in") goes before the direct object, but is also used for "under" as in "i miùeghi" ("under construction", literally "in building").

An example:

(1)

er

COP.PRES

Agharsc

Scots_Norse.DIR

Vheostnariòzc

West_Norse.DIR

hionh

the.PL.GEN

hAghu.

Hebrides.PL.GEN

er Agharsc Vheostnariòzc hionh hAghu.

COP.PRES Scots_Norse.DIR West_Norse.DIR the.PL.GEN Hebrides.PL.GEN

Scots Norse is a West Nordic language spoken in the Hebrides

Questions and answers

Scots Norse lacks a true equivalent to "no", the closest thing being "è(gh)" ("not"), which can often be used on it's own when a form of "be" + "not" suffices for an answer, as in:

(2)

vàrth

Q

mèlir

speak.PRES

tic

2sg

vid

with

mic?

1sg

vàrth mèlir tic vid mic?

Q speak.PRES 2sg with 1sg

Will you speak with me?

 (2.1)

ègh

NEG

ègh

NEG

I won't

Following this usage of "ègh", "ghià" (Old Norse "já") is often used as an affirmative, as in:

(3)

vàrth

Q

èthist

eat.FUT

tic

2sg

màenh-mhàths

dinner

vid

with

mic?

1sg

vàrth èthist tic màenh-mhàths vid mic?

Q eat.FUT 2sg dinner with 1sg

Will you eat dinner with me?

 (3.1)

ghià!

AFF

ghià!

AFF

I will!

As has likely been noticed by now, questions consistently contain "vàrth" at the beginning, this is a general question particle, akin to Gàidhlig "an".

"To be"

Existential bì

Likely under the influence of Irish, the verb "bìodh" (Old Norse "bíða") shifted to an existential copula, expressing existence, location, and condition, rather than an impersonal one, while an odd development, the extreme influence of the Gaelic languages does well explain it, in this sense it's most often spelt "bì", with the various endings being appended with an apostrophe, as in "bì'ir" or "bì'adhist", in these forms it is often pronounced /bj-/, thus /bjəjʃt/ for "bì'adhist".

(4)

bì'ir

EXIST.PRES

Gud

God.DIR

bì'ir Gud

EXIST.PRES God.DIR

God exists

(5)

bì'ir

EXIST.PRES

hìnhar

the.PL.DIR

eplar

apple.PL.DIR

o

on

ghình

the.DAT

moerdh

table.DAT

bì'ir hìnhar eplar o ghình moerdh

EXIST.PRES the.PL.DIR apple.PL.DIR on the.DAT table.DAT

God exists

bì has developed in such a way where a noun phrase cannot directly act as the predicate, instead needing to be preceded by u, as in:

(6)

bì'ir

EXIST.PRES

Sorcha

Sorcha.DIR

ughenh

about her

màllèrin

linguist.DIR

bì'ir Sorcha ughenh màllèrin

EXIST.PRES Sorcha.DIR {about her} linguist.DIR

God exists

Copulative vèr

The verb vèr acts as the so-called "equative 'to be'", eg. the verb "to be" as used to mean "X = Y", as in:

(6)

er

COP.PRES

mic

1sg

sèl

happy

er mic sèl

COP.PRES 1sg happy

I am happy


"vèr" in the present tense can often be dropped when paired with an emphatic pronoun (eg. pronoun + -si), compare er mic hi dèter. vs. micsi hi dèter., both meaning "I am the teacher."

When saying "this/that is", "tèsh" and "ta" are used, with the verb dropped in the present tense. (5a) tèsh mic u dèter "This (is) my teacher" (5b) ta hi dèter "That's the teacher"

"in them" can also be used with an adjective to intensify it. '

(7)

er

COP.PRES

ha

3sg.M

zèl

happy

h'igha

in him

er ha zèl h'igha

COP.PRES 3sg.M happy {in him}

He is happy

(8)

er

COP.PRES

ho

3sg.F

brìa

beautiful

h'igha

in her

er ho brìa h'igha

COP.PRES 3sg.F beautiful {in her}

She is beautiful

Texts

UDHR Article 1

Original (English)

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Old Norse (modern translation)

Allir menn eru bornir frjálsir ok jafnir at virðingu ok réttum. Þeir eru allir viti gœddir ok samvizku, ok skulu gøra hvárr til annars bróðurliga.

Scots Norse

er me n'al bhòri vrials 's ghiab, vhèrin vhirdhi 's rèth h'attì. vèrin giòedh 's sabasc h'attì, 's scùl ghiòer hinhar til bròdhligh.

"all men are born free and equal, having dignity and rights. they have reason and conscience, and should act to eachother as a brotherhood"

Lexical comparison

See also

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