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 Shorchas, 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: miùichin /ˈmʲu.çəɲ/) and eclipsis (sfartin /ˈsɸəɾ.təɲ/). Originally these were a series of sandhi effects: lenition being caused by a consonant being intervocalic, 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 occasionally a "lenited" vowel-initial word will take dh', a borrowing 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 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 alm > n'alm.

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.

Native masculine nouns
veolp ("puppy") a ("fragrance") alm ("elm tree")
indefinite indefinite indefinite
singular plural singular plural singular plural
direct veolp velpar a angar alm almar
genitive velps veolph az angh alz almh
dative velph velphu aengh anghu aelmh almhu
definite definite definite
singular plural singular plural singular plural
direct hi beolp hìnhar velpar hi n'a hìnhar angar hi n'alm hìnhar almar
genitive hiz velps 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 alm 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.

Gaelic masculine nouns
día ("god") loch ("loch") [Term?] ("")
indefinite indefinite indefinite
singular plural singular plural singular plural
direct día díathan 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 act much like nouns, to the point the two are often used as each other (eg. "sèl" being used as the noun "happiness"). Also like nouns, adjectives dropped the definite (weak) forms, which greatly simplified the adjective declensions.

Regular adjective (sèl)
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

The personal pronouns have largely simplified from Old Norse, with case essentially lost in them. The modern plural forms seem to descend from the old dual (as in Icelandic and Faroese), thus only a singular/plural distinction is made. The reflexive pronoun has largely been lost, only preserved in the form of -sc, which is used to form the reflexive voice.

The suffix forms are largely only used colloquially on verbs for person and number marking (eg. "I speak" is "mèlirg" in colloquial Scots Norse). These suffixes are far more common in Eastern Scots Norse than Western.

Personal pronouns
plain emphatic possessive
plain suffix plain suffix
sg. 1st mic -g mìnhich -ich mì E
2nd tic -ch tìda L -ta L tì E
3rd m ha E -a E haza E -(z)a E haz
f hành L -anh L henha E -(nh)a E henhar
pl. 1st och -ach ochuith -uith ochar
2nd uech -uech uechith -tith uechar
3rd tèr -ti tèrthir -thir tèor

L Triggers lenition   E Triggers eclipsis

Numerals

1 è
2 tfè, tfèr
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 (class 3)
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

E: Triggers eclipsis

Inflection of til (class 1)
plain emphatic
singular 1st tilmì E tilmìnhic
2nd tiltì E tiltìda
3rd m tilaz tilaza E
f tilenh tilenha E
plural 1st tilach tilachúith
2nd tilich tilichith
3rd tiltèor tiltèorthi

E: Triggers eclipsis

Inflection of anh (class 3)
plain emphatic
singular 1st anhnì E anhnìnhic
2nd anhdì E anhdìda
3rd m anhghaz anhghaza E
f anhghenh anhghenha E
plural 1st anhnhach anhnhachúith
2nd anhnhich anhnhichith
3rd anhdèor anhdèorthi

E: 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, originally 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
present past future conditional
infinitive tàl(aich) tàladh tàlast tàladhast
participle tàlin tàla tàlanist tàlast
positive negative
personal impersonal personal impersonal
ind. pres. tàlir tàltir è thàlir è thàltir
past tàladhir tàltadhir è thàladhir è thàltadhir
fut. tàlist tàltist è thàlist è thàltist
cond. tàladhist tàltadhist è thàladhist è thàltadhist
cont. pres. tàlirúi tàltirúi è thàlirúi è thàltirúi
past tàladhirúi tàltadhirúi è thàladhirúi è thàltadhirúi
fut. tàlistúi tàltistúi è thàlistúi è thàltistúi
cond. tàladhistúi tàltadhistúi è thàladhistúi è thàltadhistúi
perf. pres. tàlirúa tàltirúa è thàlirúa è thàltirúa
past tàladhirúa tàltadhirúa è thàladhirúa è thàltadhirúa
fut. tàlistúa tàltistúa è thàlistúa è thàltistúa
cond. tàladhistúa tàltadhistúa è thàladhistúa è thàltadhistúa
imp. tàl tàlt è thàl è thàlt
Conjugation of mèl
present past future conditional
infinitive mèl(ich) mèladh mèlast mèladhast
participle mèlin mèla mèlanist mèlast
positive negative
personal impersonal personal impersonal
ind. pres. mèlir mèltir è mhèlir è mhèltir
past mèladhir mèltadhir è mhèladhir è mhèltadhir
fut. mèlist mèltist è mhèlist è mhèltist
cond. mèladhist mèltadhist è mhèladhist è mhèltadhist
cont. pres. mèlirúi mèltirúi è mhèlirúi è mhèltirúi
past mèladhirúi mèltadhirúi è mhèladhirúi è mhèltadhirúi
fut. mèlistúi mèltistúi è mhèlistúi è mhèltistúi
cond. mèladhistúi mèltadhistúi è mhèladhistúi è mhèltadhistúi
perf. pres. mèlirúa mèltirúa è mhèlirúa è mhèltirúa
past mèladhirúa mèltadhirúa è mhèladhirúa è mhèltadhirúa
fut. mèlistúa mèltistúa è mhèlistúa è mhèltistúa
cond. mèladhistúa mèltadhistúa è mhèladhistúa è mhèltadhistúa
imp. mèl mèlt è mhèl è mhèlt
Conjugation of àgh
present past future conditional
infinitive àgh(aich) àghadh àghast àghadhast
participle àghin àgha àghanist àghast
positive negative
personal impersonal personal impersonal
ind. pres. àghir àghtir è h'àghir è h'àghtir
past àghadhir àghtadhir è h'àghadhir è h'àghtadhir
fut. àghist àghtist è h'àghist è h'àghtist
cond. àghadhist àghtadhist è h'àghadhist è h'àghtadhist
cont. pres. àghirúi àghtirúi è h'àghirúi è h'àghtirúi
past àghadhirúi àghtadhirúi è h'àghadhirúi è h'àghtadhirúi
fut. àghistúi àghtistúi è h'àghistúi è h'àghtistúi
cond. àghadhistúi àghtadhistúi è h'àghadhistúi è h'àghtadhistúi
perf. pres. àghirúa àghtirúa è h'àghirúa è h'àghtirúa
past àghadhirúa àghtadhirúa è h'àghadhirúa è h'àghtadhirúa
fut. àghistúa àghtistúa è h'àghistúa è h'àghtistúa
cond. àghadhistúa àghtadhistúa è h'àghadhistúa è h'àghtadhistúa
imp. àgh àght è h'àgh è h'àght

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
present past future conditional
infinitive bì(thich) bìthadh bìthast bìthadhast
participle bìthin bìtha bìthanist bìthast
positive negative
personal impersonal personal impersonal
ind. pres. bìthir bìtir imìthir imìtir
past bìthadhir bìtadhir imìthadhir imìtadhir
fut. bìthist bìtist imìthist imìtist
cond. bìthadhist bìtadhist imìthadhist imìtadhist
cont. pres. bìthirúi bìtirúi imìthirúi imìtirúi
past bìthadhirúi bìtadhirúi imìthadhirúi imìtadhirúi
fut. bìthistúi bìtistúi imìthistúi imìtistúi
cond. bìthadhistúi bìtadhistúi imìthadhistúi imìtadhistúi
perf. pres. bìthirúa bìtirúa imìthirúa imìtirúa
past bìthadhirúa bìtadhirúa imìthadhirúa imìtadhirúa
fut. bìthistúa bìtistúa imìthistúa imìtistúa
cond. bìthadhistúa bìtadhistúa imìthadhistúa imìtadhistúa
imp. bì bìt imì imìt
Conjugation of vèr
present past future conditional
infinitive vèr(ich) vèradh vèrast vèradhast
participle vèrin vèra vèranist vèrast
positive negative
personal impersonal personal impersonal
ind. pres. vèrir vèrtir ibèrir ibèrtir
past vèradhir vèrtadhir ibèradhir ibèrtadhir
fut. vèrist vèrtist ibèrist ibèrtist
cond. vèradhist vèrtadhist ibèradhist ibèrtadhist
cont. pres. vèrirúi vèrtirúi ibèrirúi ibèrtirúi
past vèradhirúi vèrtadhirúi ibèradhirúi ibèrtadhirúi
fut. vèristúi vèrtistúi ibèristúi ibèrtistúi
cond. vèradhistúi vèrtadhistúi ibèradhistúi ibèrtadhistúi
perf. pres. vèrirúa vèrtirúa ibèrirúa ibèrtirúa
past vèradhirúa vèrtadhirúa ibèradhirúa ibèrtadhirúa
fut. vèristúa vèrtistúa ibèristúa ibèrtistúa
cond. vèradhistúa vèrtadhistúa ibèradhistúa ibèrtadhistúa
imp. vèr vèrt ibèr ibèrt

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

An example:

(1)

èthir

eat.PRES

mic

1sg

hi

the

màth.

food.DIR

èthir mic hi màth.

eat.PRES 1sg the food.DIR

I eat the food.

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 many other things, such as "under" in "under construction" ("i miùeghi", literally "in building").

Adjectives and genitives, much like in Gàidhlig, come after the noun, eg. "blòemh ròdh" for "red flower" and "blòemh mì" for "my flower".

(2)

⟨i⟩ mlòmhir ⟨u⟩

⟨CONT⟩bloom.PRES

blòm

flower.DIR

ròdh

red.DIR

mì

1sg.POSS

{⟨i⟩ mlòmhir ⟨u⟩} blòm ròdh mì

⟨CONT⟩bloom.PRES flower.DIR red.DIR 1sg.POSS

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:

(3)

vàrt

Q

mèlir

speak.PRES

tic

2sg

vidmì?

with.1sg

vàrt mèlir tic vidmì?

Q speak.PRES 2sg with.1sg

Will you speak with me?

 (3.1)

ègh

NEG

ègh

NEG

I won't

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

(4)

vàrt

Q

èthist

eat.FUT

tic

2sg

màenh-màls

dinner.DIR

vidmìnhic?

with.1sg.EMP

vàrt èthist tic màenh-màls vidmìnhic?

Q eat.FUT 2sg dinner.DIR with.1sg.EMP

Will you eat dinner with me?

 (4.1)

ghià!

AFF

ghià!

AFF

I will!

As has likely been noticed by now, questions consistently contain "vàrt" 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".

(5)

bì'ir

EXIST.PRES

Gud

God.DIR

bì'ir Gud

EXIST.PRES God.DIR

God exists

(6)

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

the apples are on the table

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:


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:

(8)

vèrir

COP.PRES

mic

1sg

sèl

happy

vèrir mic sèl

COP.PRES 1sg happy

I am happy


"vèr" in the present tense can often be dropped when paired with an emphatic pronoun, compare vèrir mic hi dèter. vs. mìnhich 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 thèter mì "This (is) my teacher"
(5b) ta hi dèter "That's the teacher"

"in him/her" can also be used with an adjective to intensify it.

(9)

vèrir

COP.PRES

ha

3sg.M

zèol

happy

h'ighaz

in.3sg.M

vèrir ha zèol h'ighaz

COP.PRES 3sg.M happy in.3sg.M

He is happy

(10)

vèrir

COP.PRES

hành

3sg.F

bhrìa

beautiful

h'ighenh

in.3sg.F

vèrir hành bhrìa h'ighenh

COP.PRES 3sg.F beautiful in.3sg.F

She is beautiful

Evidentiality

Evidentiality in Scots Norse is entirely analytical, though based on the verb. There are three main classes of evidentials; the factual, the direct, and the indirect. The factual is distinguished from the direct by moreso conveying what is known to be correct than what is witnessed to be correct, eg. "humans need oxygen" vs "the injured dog has healed (and I saw it)", the former being factual while the latter is direct.

The factual is typically formed through a verbs' indicative, but it can also take the long infinitive of "bì" ("bìthich"; "to exist") for emphasis, such as:

(11)

crevhir

require.PRES

me

human.DIR.PL

màth

food.DIR

crevhir me màth

require.PRES human.DIR.PL food.DIR

humans require food

(12)

crevhir

require.PRES

bìthich

EXIST.INF

me

human.DIR.PL

màth

food.DIR

crevhir bìthich me màth

require.PRES EXIST.INF human.DIR.PL food.DIR

humans require food (and I know it)

The direct is typically formed with the past infinitive of "sià" ("siàthadh"; "perceived"), thus:

(13)

⟨as⟩ lèocnscir ⟨u⟩

⟨PERF⟩heal.PRES.IMPRS

siàthadh

see.PAST.INF

hi

the.DIR

gù

dog.DIR

{⟨as⟩ lèocnscir ⟨u⟩} siàthadh hi gù

⟨PERF⟩heal.PRES.IMPRS see.PAST.INF the.DIR dog.DIR

the dog has healed (and I saw it)

The indirect tends to be formed with the past infinitive of "seogh" ("seoghadh"; "told"):

(14)

fàradhir

fare.PAST

seoghadh

tell.PAST.INF

tèr

3pl

circh

church.DAT

fàradhir seoghadh tèr circh

fare.PAST tell.PAST.INF 3pl church.DAT

they went to church (so I was told)

To better show all three classes, the sentence "he went home" will be used to show each.

(15a)

fàradhir

fare.PAST

(bìthich)

(EXIST.INF)

ha

3sg.m

hèmh

home.DAT

fàradhir (bìthich) ha hèmh

fare.PAST (EXIST.INF) 3sg.m home.DAT

he went home

(15b)

fàradhir

fare.PAST

siàthadh

perceive.PAST.INF

ha

3sg.m

hèmh

home.DAT

fàradhir siàthadh ha hèmh

fare.PAST perceive.PAST.INF 3sg.m home.DAT

(I saw that) he went home

(15b)

fàradhir

fare.PAST

seoghadh

tell.PAST.INF

ha

3sg.m

hèmh

home.DAT

fàradhir seoghadh ha hèmh

fare.PAST tell.PAST.INF 3sg.m home.DAT

(I was told that) he went home

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

vèrir 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"

The Cold Winter is Near

Scots Norse English
vèrir hi bèth cald faisg, fàr cathadh hèr.   The cold winter is near, a blizzard will come.
fhiàr hùs varm mhì, n'a vhìonh. Come in my warm house, o' friend.
velkùmha! fàr hèr, siuingh 's dans, èth 's drech! Welcome! Come here, sing and dance, eat and drink!
vèrir tesh ètlin mhì. That is my plan.
bìthir vat, 's al, 's miòlc go niù frà hi giù unì! We have water, beer, and fresh milk from the cow.
ò, 's sùp varm! Oh, and warm soup!

Vocabulary

Phrasebook

Numerals

Colors

Time

Lexical comparison

Leipzig-Jakarta

See also

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