Hurmu Norse

Hurmu Norse

norðyna, hurmunorðyna
Pronunciation	/ˈnɔɾʏna/, /ˈhʉɾmʉˌnɔɾʏna/
Spoken natively in	Order of the Holy Lakes  Shireroth
Region	Lake District  Normandie  Elwynn
Ethnicity	Hurmudans
Number of speakers	c. 7,000,000
Language family	Tricontinental languages Prætaic–Arminic languages Norse languages Proto-Norse Hurmu–Norse languages Hurmu Norse
Writing system	Machiavellian
Dialects	sjoomaal ("West Lake District Norse") kaupangska (East Lake District Norse) farvelska ("Farewellish")
Official status
Official language in	Order of the Holy Lakes
Recognised minority language in	Elwynn

The Hurmu Norse language (norðyna /ˈnɔɾʏna/; hurmunorðyna, /ˈhʉɾmʉˌnɔɾʏna/) is a standard of Norse in the Lake District of the Order of the Holy Lakes and in northern Elwynn.

Orthography

Hurmu Norse uses the Machiavellian script and preserves many historical spellings inherited from Proto-Norse. The letter ð is retained for etymological reasons but is always silent; its phonetic presence serves only to indicate that the preceding vowel is shortened. Traditional consonant clusters such as hl, hr, and hv have been simplified to l, r, and v, respectively, bringing Hurmu Norse closer to related languages like Amalandic and Normark Norse. Between vowels, historical f is generally written as v to reflect its voiced pronunciation. A key feature of the orthography is the division of vowels into front (e, i, u, y, oy) and back (a, aa, o, oo) classes, which determine the form of many grammatical endings. Vowel spellings also reflect historical sound changes: for instance, Proto-Norse á and ǫ both became aa, while ó became oo, and diphthongs like au and ey merged into oy. Before front vowels, the consonants k, g, and sk are palatalized, a distinction relevant for both pronunciation and morphological alternations.

Native words generally avoid the letters c and q, while z occasionally appears to indicate a specific pronunciation, such as in amalenzkt (/ˈaːma.lenskt/ "Amalandic"; alongside the more conservative form amalendskt /ˈaːma.lendskt/), where z marks a merger in which the d is dropped. Hurmu Norse generally avoids diphthongs, preferring to simplify them (e.g., Proto-Norse ei > Hurmu Norse e), with oy as the only common surviving diphthong. Some diphthongs remain in dialectal speech and loanwords, however: for example, the city name Kaupang retains its original form rather than being rendered as *Koypang (in the Sjoomaal (western) dialect, pronounced as if au was written oy (e.g., /ˈcɕøy.paŋ/, /ˈɕøː.paŋ/ or other realizations), but pronounced /ˈkʰa͜ʊ.paŋ/ in the Kaupang (eastern) dialect).

Likewise, letters common in other Norse varieties – such as þ, ø, æ, ö, ä, å – may occasionally appear in dialect writing, loanwords, or personal names, though they are not considered standard. For representing sounds foreign to traditional Norse phonology, the letters š and ž are sometimes used: š for an sh-like sound (e.g., šaaher /ˈʃɒːhəɾ/ "shah", tšakare /ˈtʃɒːkaɾə/ "a Çakari man"), while ž represents its voiced counterpart. In everyday speech, however, ž is often pronounced as unvoiced, as in vardžiskt (/ˈvaɾːtʃɪskt/ "Varjan") or Ažaroya (/ˈaʃːaɾˌøya/ "Estarisa"). The digraph hh is used for /x/.

Phonology

Hurmu Norse (HN) preserves much of the sound system of Proto-Norse (PN), while developing a number of characteristic shifts that distinguish it from both its ancestor and its relatives. The phonology of Hurmu Norse is marked by systematic vowel changes, and above all by the role of the stressed stem vowel, which determines the quality of endings and inflectional development.

Consonants

Most consonants in Hurmu Norse are preserved from their Proto-Norse equivalents, though a number of clusters have simplified: hl-, hr- and hv- became l-, r- and v-, aligning Hurmu Norse more with Amalandic, Army Crandish, Normark Norse than with Storish. The grapheme ð is retained in orthography for etymological reasons but is always silent, but has the effect of shortening the vowel preceding closest to it. Proto-Norse's intervocalic f generally voices to v. A distinctive development is palatalization: k, g, sk are softened before e, i, y, oy, and j.

The consonantal system of Hurmu Norse is largely conservative, preserving much of the Proto-Norse inventory while introducing several distinctive features. The native consonant phonemes are: /p, t, k, b, d, g, m, n, ŋ, l, r, s, f, v, h, j/

• /ŋ/ occurs as a distinct velar nasal, both word-medially and word-finally, as in anka /ˈaŋːka/ "duck" and springa /ˈsprɪŋː.a/ "to run".

Gemination

All consonants except h and j may appear geminated (pronounced doubly).

• Rule: Gemination occurs after a short vowel, signaling consonant length, and only after a stressed syllable.
• Exception: When a consonant follows a silent ð, gemination does not occur, as ð itself shortens the preceding vowel.

Examples:

• pippi /ˈpʰɪpːɪ/ "purported deity" – first p- aspirated, second -pp- long and unaspirated.
• jaarð /ˈjɒɾ/ "earth" – no gemination of r because of the silent ð

Voiceless Stops and Aspiration

The voiceless stops /p, t, k/ are aspirated [pʰ, tʰ, kʰ] when they occur (1) word-initially, (2) in a stressed syllable, and (3) not part of a cluster. For example, pippi /ˈpʰɪpːɪ/ (aspiration of the initial /p/, not the second) to which /ˈsprɪŋː.a/ (no aspiration of /p/ due to being clustered).

Palatalization

The consonants k, g, sk are palatalized before front vowels (e, i, y, oy) in stressed syllables, and always by the inclusion of j.

This produces a contrast between "hard" and "soft" consonant pronunciations, similar to historical developments in Proto- Norse.

Underlying	Palatalized	Example	IPA
k + i	[c] or [kʲ] or [(c)ɕ]	kista "chest"	/ˈcɪsːta/
g + e	[ɟ] or [gʲ] or [(ɟ)ʝ]	geva "to give"	/ˈɟeːva/
sk + y	[sc] or [skʲ] or [(s)ɕ]	skyr "curd"	/scyːr/
sk + i	[sc] or [skʲ] or [(s)ɕ]	skip "ship"	/sciːp/

The exact realization of the palatalization is flexible, both between and within dialects, and even among individual speakers.

The combination sj, as in sjoo ("lake", "sea"), is similarly realized differently by different speakers, for example: /sʲuː/, /sɕuː/ or /ɕuː/.

Vowels

In general terms, the Hurmu Norse vowels are systematically derived from Proto-Norse ones (exceptions exist of course, especially in non-stressed positions).

PN vowel	HN vowel	IPA	Notes / Examples
a	a	a, aː	Short and long preserved. PN dagr → HN dager (day)
á	aa	ɒː	Distinct long open back vowel. PN ár → HN aar (year)
ǫ	aa	ɒː	Merger with PN á. PN jǫrð → HN jaarð (earth)
o	o	o, oː	Preserved.
ó	oo	uː	Distinct long high back vowel. PN sól → HN sool (sun)
au	oy	œy, øy (œ, ø)	Merger into diphthong. PN auga → HN oygja (eye)
e	e	ɛ (ə), ɛː	Preserved. PN hestr → HN hestir (horse)
ei	e	ɛ (ə), eː	Simplified. PN steinn → HN sten
i, í	i	ɪ, iː	Preserved.
y, ý	y	ʏ, yː	Preserved.
u, ú	u	ʉ (ɤ, ɨ), ʉː	Preserved
ø, œ, ø̄	y	ʏ, yː	Merged with y. PN dœma → HN dyma (to judge, deem)
ey	oy	œy, øy (œ, ø)	Becomes diphthong. PN ey → HN oy (island)

The vowels of Hurmu Norse are for orthographical reasons (not necessarily always phonetic reasons) classed into front vowels and back vowels.

The back vowels are a, aa, o, and oo. The other vowels (e, i, u, y, oy) are considered front.

Vocabulary

• Toponymy
• Mythology

Grammar

Word order is similar to Istvanistani, with some licence for reverse word order for emphasis. There are three grammatical genders, traditionally called masculine (m), feminine (f), and neuter (n).

Nouns

Masculine

Weak

Weak masculine nouns are declined whether the stressed syllable is front or back vowel. As before, masculine nouns end in nominative either with -e, -i, -er, -ir, or -r.

We will begin with a table for a front-vowelled weak masculine noun, taking hestir ("horse") as an example. In this word, hest- is the stem from which we will decline the noun, and -ir is the front-vowelled weak masculine nominative suffix for this word.

Case	Singular Indef.	Singular Def.	Plural Indef.	Plural Def.
Nom.	hest-ir	hest-in	hest-ar	hest-arnir
Acc.	hest	hest-in	hest-a	hest-ana
Dat.	hest-i	hest-inum	hest-um	hest-inum
Gen.	hest-s	hest-ins	hest-a	hest-anna

Compare the front-vowelled weak masculine noun with the back-vowelled weak masculine noun, using alver ("elf") as an example:

Case	Singular Indef.	Singular Def.	Plural Indef.	Plural Def.
Nom.	alv-er	alv-en	alv-ar	alv-arner
Acc.	alv	alv-en	alv-a	alv-ana
Dat.	alv-e	alv-enom	alv-om	alv-enom
Gen.	alv-s	alv-ens	alv-a	alv-anna

Note therefore that where the front-vowelled weak masculine noun uses -i- and -u- in its suffixes, the back-vowelled weak masculine noun changes these to -e- and -o-.

We will now move on to weak masculine nouns ending with -i and -e in the nominative, starting with vingi (wing; front-vowelled weak masculine noun) and boge ("bow"; back-vowelled weak masculine noun)

Case	Singular Indef.	Singular Def.	Plural Indef.	Plural Def.
Nom.	ving-i	ving-in	ving-jar	ving-jarnir
Acc.	ving-ja	ving-jan	ving-ja	ving-jana
Dat.		ving-janum	ving-jum	ving-junum
Gen.		ving-jans	ving-ja	ving-janna

And now for boge ("bow")

Case	Singular Indef.	Singular Def.	Plural Indef.	Plural Def.
Nom.	bog-e	bog-en	bog-ar	bog-arner
Acc.	bog-a	bog-an	bog-a	bog-ana
Dat.		bog-anom	bog-om	bog-onom
Gen.		bog-ans	bog-a	bog-anna

Strong

A bit more complicated with ablaut/umlaut shit i can't be bothered right now... only remember that:

Singular	Plural	Example
-a-	-e-	faðr ("father") → feðr ("fathers")
-aa-	-aa-	vaander ("wand") → vaander ("wands")
-jaa-	-e--	bjaarn ("bear") → bernar ("bears")
-o-	-y-	son ("son") → synir ("sons")
-oo-		brooðr ("brother") → bryðr ("brothers")
-u-		hus ("house") → hys ("houses")

Pronouns

Personal pronouns

Person	Number	Nom	Acc	Dat	Gen	Comment
1st	Sing.	ek	mik, mi	mer	min
	Dual	við	okker		vaar	Traditionally dual case, but more often used as inclusive marker ("you (sing.) and I; but also "you (pl) and I"
	Plur.	ver	oss
2nd	Sing.	tu	tik, ti	ter	tin
	Dual	tið	yker		ykkar
	Plur.	ter	yðr		yðvar
3rd	Masc.	hann	han	honom	hans
	Fem.	hon	henna	henni	hennar
	Neut.	tað	tað	tvi	tess
	Masc. Pl.	tir	tem		tera
	Fem. Pl.	taar
	Neut. Pl.	toy
	Refl.	–	sik, si	ser	sin

Verbs

Verbs are conjugated by person and tense. There are two tenses (present and past), and there is also a perfective aspect. While there is no continuous aspect, there is a gerund that works similarly. Future is indicated by the present tense or through auxiliary verbs.