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TheDanish language developed during theMiddle Ages out ofOld East Norse, the common predecessor of Danish andSwedish. It was a late form of commonOld Norse. The Danish philologist Johannes Brøndum-Nielsen divided the history of Danish into "Old Danish" from 800 AD to 1525 and "Modern Danish" from 1525 and onwards. He subdivided Old Danish into "Runic Danish" (800–1100), Early Middle Danish (1100–1350) and Late Middle Danish (1350–1525).[1]
Old East Norse is in Sweden calledRunic Swedish and in DenmarkRunic Danish, but until the 12th century, the dialect was the same in the two countries. The dialects are calledrunic because the main body of text appears in therunic alphabet. UnlikeProto-Norse, which was written with theElder Futhark alphabet, Old Norse was written with theYounger Futhark alphabet, which only had 16 letters. Due to the limited number of runes, some runes were used for a range ofphonemes, such as the rune for thevowelu which was also used for the vowelso,ø andy, and the rune fori which was also used fore.
A change that separated Old East Norse (Runic Swedish/Danish) from Old West Norse was the change of thediphthongæi (Old West Norseei) to themonophthonge, as instæin tosten. This is reflected in runic inscriptions where the older readstain and the laterstin. There was also a change ofau as indauðr intoø as indøðr. This change is shown in runic inscriptions as a change fromtauþr intotuþr. Moreover, theøy (Old West Norseey) diphthong changed intoø as well, as in the Old Norse word for "island".
Fangær man saar i hor seng mæth annæns mansz kunæ. oc kumær han burt liuænd....
"If one catches someone in the whore-bed with another man's wife and he comes away alive..."
takær bondæ annær man mæth sin kunæ oc kumar swa at han dræpær anti mannen....
"If a peasant takes another man with his wife and does it happen that he does not kill the man..."
hittær man annær man i siangu mæþ aþulkunu sinni ok dræpær bondæn horkarkl i sængu mæþ hænnæ....
"If one finds another man in bed with one's wedded wife and if the peasant kills the whore-churl in bed with her..."
From 1100 and onwards, the dialect of Denmark began to diverge from that of Sweden. The innovations spread unevenly from Denmark which created a series of minor dialectal boundaries,isoglosses, ranging fromZealand toSvealand.In the medieval period Danish emerged as a separate language from Swedish. The main written language was Latin, and the few Danish language texts preserved from this period are written in the Latin alphabet, although the runic alphabet seems to have lingered in popular usage in some areas. The main text types written in this period are laws, which were formulated in the vernacular language to be accessible also to those who were not Latinate. TheJutlandic Law andScanian Law were written in vernacular Danish in the early 13th century. Beginning in 1350, Danish began to be used as a language of administration and new types of literature began to be written in the language, such as royal letters and testaments. The orthography in this period was not standardized nor was the spoken language, and the regional laws demonstrate the dialectal differences between the regions in which they were written.[3] Throughout this period, Danish was in contact withLow German, and many Low German loan words were introduced.[4]
Starting in the 12th century,voicelessstops become voiced when between vowels or at the end of a word, and in the 13th century these becomefricatives.[5]
| Danish | Swedish | Danish | Swedish |
|---|---|---|---|
| gabe | gapa | skib | skepp |
| gade | gata | fod | fot |
| lege | leka | bog | bok |
When following a short syllable and preceded by/j/, consonants (except fricatives) were lengthened.[6] This must have happened before lenition since voiceless stops stay as such (e.g.setja →sætte). This is a very similar process to theWest Germanic gemination in neighboring languages.
| Danish | Old Norse | Danish | Old Norse |
|---|---|---|---|
| sætte | setja | skønne | skynja |
Starting in the 13th century, vowels are lengthened before certain consonant clusters, most commonly beforerd but sometimes alsond,ld.[7] This lengthening was often later reverted in modern Danish, but not before longarounded toå (oro, as inholde).
| Danish | Old Norse | Danish | Old Norse |
|---|---|---|---|
| skår | skarð | holde | halda |
With theProtestant Reformation in 1536, Danish also became the language of religion, which sparked a new interest in using Danish as a literary language. It is also in this period that Danish begins to take on the linguistic traits that differentiate it from Swedish and Norwegian, such as thestød and the voicing of many stop consonants.
The first printed book in Danish dates from 1495, "Rimkrøniken" (the Rhyming Chronicle), a history book told in rhymed verses.[8] The first complete translation of theBible in Danish, the Bible of Christian III, some parts translated byChristiern Pedersen, was published in 1550. Pedersen's orthographic choices set the de facto standard for subsequent writing in Danish.[9]
The first translation of the Bible in Danish was published in 1550.
Some notable authors of works in Danish areexistentialphilosopherSøren Kierkegaard, prolificfairy tale authorHans Christian Andersen, and playwrightsHenrik Ibsen[10] andLudvig Holberg. Three 20th-century Danish authors have becomeNobel Prize laureates inLiterature:Karl Adolph Gjellerup andHenrik Pontoppidan (joint recipients in 1917) andJohannes Vilhelm Jensen (awarded 1944).
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