Pronunciations, Abbreviations, Etc.

The parenthetical abbreviation, ON = Old Norse

                                                   OE = Old English

                                                   pIE = proto-Indo-European

                                                      L = Latin (used only once, when quoting a                                                                            phrase)

There is a particular character called an eth (ð) that appears in many Old Norse and Old English words that makes the voiced “th” sound (as in “this”). Because I have not, until very recently, found this character or been able to apply it to this project, I have almost always used a “dh” combination in words to signify ð. There are a few circumstances where ð should appear at the end of words, where I simply make it a “d”. My apologies for this error, eventually I hope to correct the posts.

There are several circumstances where I do not to include proper emphases over letters (like failing to make “u” into “ú”), this does effect how a word may be properly pronounced. Again, my apologies and I hope to remedy this down the road. For now, let it be known that

• Asatru is pronouced OW-sah-troo
• blot is pronounced bloat
• all Norse words containing the letter “j” are pronounced “y” (as in “yes”)
• all Old English “sc” clusters are pronounced “sh”

Some Old Norse words end in a final r. At one time, this was properly pronounced as a sort of guttaral “r/z” combination, but has become more and more difficult for contemporary people to pronounce, has become generally obsolete, and often has become a “silent r”.