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Old Norwegian is a classical North Germanic language that was used from approximately 1150 to 1350. It is part of the Old Norse language, which also includes Old Icelandic and is sometimes used interchangeably with Old Icelandic due to the greater literary value of Icelandic records from this period.1

Old Norse grammar was remarkably stable for 200 years. It featured a relatively free word order, with nouns, pronouns, and adjectives inflected for four cases, and verbs for tense, mood, person, and number. Stress was placed on the first syllable of a word. Old Norse is the parent language of modern Icelandic, Faroese, and Norwegian.1

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