Greenlandic Norse

Manuscript evidence

A document written at Garðar in Greenland in 1409 is preserved in an Icelandic transcription from 1625. The transcription was attested by bishop Oddur Einarsson and is considered reliable. The document is a marriage certificate issued by two priests based in Greenland, attesting the banns of marriage for two Icelanders who had been blown off course to Greenland, Þorsteinn Ólafsson and Sigríður Björnsdóttir. The language of the document is clearly not Icelandic and cannot without reservation be classified as Norwegian. It may have been produced by Norwegian-educated clergy who had been influenced by Greenlandic. The document contains orthographic traits which are consistent with the runic linguistic evidence. This includes the prepositional form þil for the older til which demonstrates the merger of initial 'þ' and 't'.

It is possible that some other texts preserved in Icelandic manuscripts might be of Greenlandic origins. In particular, the poem Atlamál is referred to as Greenlandic (Atlamál in grœnlenzku) in the Codex Regius. Many scholars have understood the reference to mean that the poem was composed by a Greenlander and various elements of the poem's text have been taken to support Greenlandic provenance. Ursula Dronke commented that "There is a rawness about the language ... that could reflect the conditions of an isolated society distant from the courts of kings and such refinements of manners and speech as were associated with them."

Finnur Jónsson argued that not only was Atlamál composed in Greenland, some other preserved Eddic poems were as well. He adduced various stylistic arguments in favor of Greenlandic provenance for Helgakviða Hundingsbana I, Oddrúnargrátr, Guðrúnarhvöt, Sigurðarkviða in skamma and, more speculatively, Helreið Brynhildar. One linguistic trait which Finnur regarded as specifically Greenlandic was initial 'hn' in the word Hniflungr, found in Atlamál, Helgakviða Hundingsbana I and Guðrúnarhvöt. The word is otherwise preserved as Niflungr in Icelandic sources. Modern scholarship is doubtful of using Atlamál as a source on the Greenlandic language since its Greenlandic origin is not certain, it is difficult to date, and the preserved text reflects Icelandic scribal conventions.

Contact with Kalaallisut

Greenlandic Norse is believed to have been in language contact with Kalaallisut, the language of the Kalaallit, and to have left loanwords in that language. In particular, the Greenlandic word Kalaaleq (older Karaaleq), meaning Greenlander, is believed to be derived from the word Skrælingr, the Norse term for the people they encountered in North America. In the Greenlandic dictionary of 1750, Hans Egede states that Karálek is what the "old Christians" called the Greenlanders and that they use the word only with foreigners and not when speaking among themselves. Other words which may be of Norse origin include Kuuna (female given name, probably from Old Norse kona "woman", "wife"), sava ("sheep", Old Norse sauðr), nisa ("porpoise", Old Norse hnísa), puuluki ("pig", Old Norse purka "sow"), musaq ("carrot", Old Norse mura) and kuaneq ("angelica", Old Norse hvönn, plural hvannir).

The available evidence does not establish the presence of language attrition; the Norse language most likely disappeared with the ethnic group that spoke it.