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Old GutnishOld Gutnish was the dialect of Old Norse that was spoken on the island of Gotland. It shows such differences from the Old East Norse dialects Old Swedish and Old Danish that it is considered to be a separate branch. According to Nationalencyklopedin, it is often remarked that there are similarities with the Gothic language but so far no comprehensive study has been conducted. The Old Norse diphthong au (e.g. auga> aug "eye") remained like in Old West Norse, while it evolved into the monophthong in Old East Norse (ga). Likewise the diphthong ai in stain (stone) remained while it in Old East Norse became e (sten). Whereas Old West Norse had the ey diphthong Old Gutnish had oy. Most of the corpus of Old Gutnish is found in the Gutasaga from the 14th century. Example: - issi ieluar hafi ann sun sum hit hafi. En hafa cuna hit huita stierna aun tu bygu fyrsti agutlandi fyrstu nat sum aun saman suafu a droymdi hennj draumbr. So sum rir ormar warin slungnir saman j barmj hennar Oc ytti hennj sum air scriin yr barmi hennar. inna draum segi han firi hasa bonda sinum hann ria dravm inna so. Alt ir baugum bundit bo land al itta wara oc faum ria syni aiga. aim gaf hann namn allum o fydum. guti al gutland aigha graipr al annar haita Oc gunfiaun rii. air sciptu sian gutlandi i ria riiunga. So at graipr ann elzti laut norasta riiung oc guti mial riiung En gunfiaun ann yngsti laut sunnarsta. sian af issum rim aucais fulc j gutlandi som mikit um langan tima at land elptj aim ai alla fya a lutau air bort af landi huert riia iau so at alt sculdu air aiga oc mi sir bort hafa sum air vfan iorar attu.
Translation: - This Thielvar had a son called Hafthi. And Hafthi's wife was called Whitestar. Those two were the first to settle on Gotland. The first night they slept together she dreamt that three snakes were coiled in her lap. And it seemed to her that they slid out of her lap. She told her dream to her husband Hafthi. He interpreted it thus: "All is bound with bangles, it will be inhabited, this land, and we shall have three sons." While still unborn, he gave them all names: "Guti will own Gotland, Graip will be the second, and Gunfiaun third." These then divided Gotland into three parts, so that Graip the eldest got the northern third, Guti the middle third, and Gunfjaun the youngest had the south. Then, over a long time, the people descended from these three multiplied so much that the land couldn't support them all. Then they draw lots, and every third person was picked to leave, and they could keep everything they owned and take it with them, except for their land.
Sources *Nationalencyklopedin
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