1A	2A	3B	4B	5B	6B	7B	8B	8B	8B	1B	2B	3A	4A	5A	6A	7A	8A
	Old Norse (Old Icelandic) Periodic Table
		Younger Furthark runes [dictionary]
															S BRENNI-STEINN
							Fe JÁRN			Cu KOPARR
										Ag SILFR			Sn TIN
										Au GULL	Hg EYR-SILFR		Pb BLÝ

S

BRENNI-STEINN

BRENNU-STEINN

BRENNA-STEINN

Hg

EYR-SILFR

KVIK-SILFR

KVIKA-SILFR

Younger Furthark runes - Elder Furthark runes Ag Au Cu Fe Hg Pb Sn

Old Norse, Old Nordic,^[1] or Old Scandinavian is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlements and chronologically coincides with the Viking Age, the Christianization of Scandinavia and the consolidation of Scandinavian kingdoms from about the 8th to the 15th centuries.^[2]

The Proto-Norse language developed into Old Norse by the 8th century, and Old Norse began to develop into the modern North Germanic languages in the mid-to-late 14th century, ending the language phase known as Old Norse. These dates, however, are not absolute, since written Old Norse is found well into the 15th century.^{[3][better source needed]}

Old Norse was divided into three dialects: Old West Norse or Old West Nordic (often referred to as Old Norse^[4]), Old East Norse or Old East Nordic, and Old Gutnish. Old West Norse and Old East Norse formed a dialect continuum, with no clear geographical boundary between them. For example, Old East Norse traits were found in eastern Norway, although Old Norwegian is classified as Old West Norse, and Old West Norse traits were found in western Sweden. Most speakers spoke Old East Norse in what is present-day Denmark and Sweden. Old Gutnish is sometimes included in the Old East Norse dialect due to geographical associations. It developed its own unique features and shared in changes to both other branches.^[5]

The 12th-century Icelandic Gray Goose Laws state that Swedes, Norwegians, Icelanders, and Danes spoke the same language, dǫnsk tunga ("Danish tongue"; speakers of Old East Norse would have said dansk tunga). Another term was norrœnt mál ("northern speech"). Today Old Norse has developed into the modern North Germanic languages Icelandic, Faroese, Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, and other North Germanic varieties of which Norwegian, Danish and Swedish retain considerable mutual intelligibility while Icelandic remains the closest to Old Norse.^[6]

The approximate extent of Old Norse and related languages in the early 10th century:  Old West Norse dialect  Old East Norse dialect  Old Gutnish dialect  Old English  Crimean Gothic  Other Germanic languages with which Old Norse still retained some mutual intelligibility

Old Icelandic was very close to Old Norwegian, and together they formed Old West Norse, which was also spoken in Norse settlements in Greenland, the Faroes, Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man, northwest England, and in Normandy.^[7] Old East Norse was spoken in Denmark, Sweden, Kievan Rus',^[8] eastern England, and Danish settlements in Normandy. The Old Gutnish dialect was spoken in Gotland and in various settlements in the East.

In the 11th century, Old Norse was the most widely spoken European language, ranging from Vinland in the West to the Volga River in the East. In Kievan Rus', it survived the longest in Veliky Novgorod, probably lasting into the 13th century there.^[8] The age of the Swedish-speaking population of Finland is strongly contested, but Swedish settlement had spread the language into the region by the time of the Second Swedish Crusade in the 13th century at the latest.^{[citation needed]}

Approximate geographical distribution of Old Norse and related languages at the beginning of the 10th century. In red, the dialect of Western Scandinavian (or Old Norse itself), in orange, the dialect of Eastern Scandinavian, in pink, Old Gutnish, in yellow, Old English, and in green, the other Germanic languages with which Old Norse retained a certain intercomprehension. In blue, the Gothic dialect of Crimea.