Pronunciation Key

Of the many languages that appear in this book, I am fluent only in English and conversant German. Speakers of the ancient and modern Scandinavian languages will no doubt find fault with this key. It is not meant to impart fluency, only to help the reader muddle through.

å	Danish, Norwegian, and Old Norse: long o, as in “lone.” Swedish: “awe” as a British person rather than an American Midwesterner might pronounce it
ä	Swedish, German: long a as in “eight”
ö	Swedish: “er.” German: a little like the “eu” in the French word bleu
ü	German: like the French “eu” but with shades of the English expression of disgust, “Ew!”
y	German, Danish, Norwegian, and Old Norse: like the German “ü”
j	“y” as in “yellow”
þ	soft “th” as in “thistle”
ð	hard “th” as in “the”