To get an update on oldnorse 'prehistory', I recommend a book by one
of the most multilingual Norwegians, Håkon Melberg. The book is 'Origin
of the Scandinavian Nations and Languages:
http://wgate.bibsys.no/gate1/SHOW?objd=921271042
Instead of trying to give a summary of "Origin of the Scandinavian Nations
and Languages" it is simpler, and perhaps as informative, to give the Table
of Contents. My earlier postings to this list (oldnorsenet) (after Dec. 17, 97, sort
by Author, not by Thread) also give an indication of the contents.
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PART ONE
1 Danish Tongue p9-88
- List of Old North Germanic Language-names p89-141
- Printed text excerpted (or used for checking excerpts) p141-146
2 Relationship between Names of Languages and Names of Peoples p147-221
3 Testing the First Empirical Proof p223-276
4 Danes as a Tribal Name overlapping the National Name p277-302
5 Norway's Name and a Principle of Ethnic Nomenclature p303-447
PART TWO
6 Personal Names and the Title of King p455-500
7 National Origin of the Normandy Vikings and of England's Norman Kings;
Testing the Nomenclative Evidence as a Whole p501-552
8 Traditions of Prehistoric Danish Conquests of the Scandinavian Peninsula
p553-606
9 The Prehistoric Danish Conquests of the Scandinavian Peninsula p607-762
10 The Language p763-840
11 Summing up (written as an Index Raisonne) p841-924
Appendix: Note on the Original Ending of the Royal Names Frodi, Helgi and Ali and the Nominative Singular of the "North Germanic" Masculine n-stems in general p925-939
Epilogue, including Notes on Spelling, Technical Terms, and the Syllabic
Division of Words p941-946
Figures and Maps.(13)
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I hope this gives an impression of the Contents. The book is available at major university libraries in Europe and a few in USA.
The author
About the book
Kronikk av Arne Torp
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