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Old Norse - Old Icelandic: Concise Introduction is a modern "primer" for learning to read the Icelandic sagas in their original language. This straightforward, easy-to-use primer requires no previous language knowledge. It is designed for self-learning, in-class use, and distance learning. Starting with the first page, students read Old Norse passages from Icelandic sagas as well as episodes from Scandinavian myth and medieval sources. The language and thought of the Viking Age come alive in these critical, Old Norse reading segments. Old Norse - Old Icelandic is divided into 17 short lessons. Each lesson opens with a passage in Old Icelandic drawn from sagas or mythological sources. Lessons focus on the grammar and vocabulary necessary to master the reading(s). In this way, original texts determine the instruction, and students master grammatical elements as they are needed. To speed the learning, each lesson contains a short vocabulary of new words and phrases, as well as practice exercises, reinforcing the grammatical explanations. For a free Answer Key to the exercises, visit our website: oldnorse.org.
About the author
Jesse Byock is research professor of Old Norse and Medieval Scandinavian at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He specializes in the study of the Viking World, sagas, history, and archaeology and is a professor at the UCLA Cotsen Institute of Archaeology. He earned his Ph.D. from Harvard University after studying in France, Iceland, and Sweden. In Iceland, he directs the Mosfell Archaeological Project (MAP) and is a professor at the University of Iceland (Háskóli Íslands) in the Department of History and the Programs of Medieval Icelandic and Viking Studies. He is the author of Viking Age Iceland and books, articles, and saga translations.
