Norn

Also known as Norn language, nrn

extinct Germanic language spoken in the Northern Isles of Scotland

AI overview

Norn was a Germanic language that people spoke in the Northern Isles of Scotland until it died out centuries ago. It matters to linguists and historians because studying it helps us understand how languages change and how different cultures influenced each other in medieval northern Europe.

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number of speakers, writers, or signers: 0
exact match: data.linguistik.de/bll/bll-ontology#bll-133075656

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Article

Norn is an extinct North Germanic language that was spoken in the Northern Isles (Orkney and Shetland) off the north coast of mainland Scotland and in Caithness in the far north of the Scottish mainland. After Orkney and Shetland were pledged to Scotland by Norway in 1468–69, it was gradually replaced by Scots. Norn is thought to have become extinct around 1850, after the death of Walter Sutherland, the language's last known speaker, though there are claims the language persisted as late as 1932.

History