Alongside orientation terms, the rich system of spatio-directional particles in Norse is explored here in the context of identity and the settlement of Norse colonies. The use of these terms in Old Icelandic texts shows a high degree of conceptual and semantic continuity between the Norwegians in Norway and the settlers of Iceland and Greenland. In modern Icelandic, the use of certain Norse spatio-directional particles and terms of direction that were introduced from Norway has given way to the terminology of the peculiar Icelandic system of orientation.
Proceedings of LingO 2007
Book Chapter
Chapter title: Spatial References in Icelandic: The Issue of Identity
Published by: Faculty of Linguistics, Philology, and Phonetics, University of Oxford, Oxford, 2008