Some such as Schwink (2004) have analyzed diachronic developments in Germanic gender as a whole, while others like Steinmetz (1985, 2001) and Trosterud (2006) have looked at diachronic changes in grammatical gender in the North Germanic languages. Specifically within the history of Icelandic, Steinmetz and Trosterud both argue for a neuter-default gender system for Old Norse (and for Modern Icelandic). This report looks at loan words from the Old Norse period drawn from historical sources, such as the Heimskringla (History of the Kings of Norway) and Laxdœla Saga, and compares their gender assignment then with their gender in Modern Icelandic in order to see if any of their originally assigned genders changed in the modern language. That none of the loans analyzed in this report changed their gender assignment from neuter to masculine as in West Germanic supports Steinmetz' and Trosterud's notions of Icelandic having a neuter-default gender system. These findings also support Schwink's view (2004:99), when he writes that Icelandic's gender system remains relatively unchanged from that of Old Norse. / text

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This thesis demonstrates how animals and humans are interconnected in Old Norse literature. The two categories are both constructed and challenged in a variety of ways, depending on the textual genre and animal species. It thus reveals medieval Norse-Icelandic ideas, values, and beliefs about animals. The thesis is theoretical, comparative, and interdisciplinary, yet firmly rooted in a close reading of the sagas and analysis of their cultural-historical context. The first chapter explores relationships between people and domestic animals, namely horses and dogs, and to a lesser extent, cats and livestock. The second chapter evaluates the limitations to the human-animal relationship: prohibitions against bestiality and the consumption of certain animals as meat. The third chapter studies animals in dreams, which reflect human characters and share their fate and defining characteristics. The fourth chapter investigates human-animal transformations, whether physical, psychological, or both. The fifth chapter analyses human-animal communication, with a particular focus on human comprehension of the language of birds. The sixth chapter considers relations between animals and gods in Norse mythology; these parallel the connections between humans and animals in the sagas. The thesis determines how the human/animal dichotomy might have been thought about differently before and after the conversion to Christianity, with boundaries between animal and human becoming more clearly delineated; it examines how medieval Icelandic authors wrote about animals in experiential terms, but also drew upon conventional symbolism from continental Europe; and it proves how these literary representations of animals reflect an environmental ideology that was actively engaged with the imaginative, the supernatural, and the animal.

Inaug.--diss.--Tübingen. / "Eracheint gleichzeitig in der reihe Veröffentlichungen des Orientalischen seminars, heft 11." Lebenslauf. "Schrifttum": p. 147-151.

Inaug.-diss.--Erlangen. / "Literaturverzeichnis": p. [142]-144.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Pennsylvania, 1911.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Pennsylvania, 1911.

Proefschrift--Utrecht.

Proefschrift--Utrecht.

Thesis--Utrecht. / Imprint covered by label: Oxford, B.H. Blackwell ltd., 1929.