This book offers the first account of Old Norse syntax for almost a hundred years and the first ever in a non-Scandinavian language. The language of the Vikings and of the Old Icelandic sagas is the best documented medieval Germanic language and the author is able to present a comprehensive analysis of its syntax and overviews of its phonology and morphology. He supports his analyses with examples taken from Norwegian and Icelandic manuscript editions. Professor Faarlund's approach is descriptive, in a generative framework with a minimum of technical detail. He includes a complete bibliography of Old Norse syntax. The book is intended for advanced students and scholars of historical linguistics, Germanic and Scandinavian languages, Norse philology, and all others with a serious interest in Nordic languages, civilizations, and history.

The last comprehensive presentation of Old Norse syntax existing to date...published in Dano-Norwegian in 1906. Faarlund's contribution is therefore a welcome edition being the first comprehensive treatment of Old Norse syntax in a century and being the very first edition of such a volume in English. ... The discreet introduction of theoretical nuances (e.g. referential phrases) and the wealth of empirical data make this text of great interest not only for historical linguistics but also for those involved in more theoretical research. ...a tremendous success. * Linguist List 16.3576 *

Jan Terje Faarlund is a professor of Scandinavian linguistics at the University of Oslo. He has earlier held the same position at the University of Trondheim, and he has been a professor of linguistics and Norwegian studies at the University of Chicago, where he is still affiliated as a research associate in the Department of Linguistics. His research interests and publications are mainly in the fields of Scandinavian languages, historical syntax, syntactic theory, typology, and Meso-American languages. Professor Faarlund has been a visiting professor at universities in Britain, Germany, Italy, Spain, Eastern Europe, Russia, and the US.