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In the1570s the Danish humanist Anders Sørensen Vedel (1542-1616) studied
Old Norse and left behind extensive notes on the subject, to which he
referred as Gothic, identifying the language with that of the famous ancient
people. His main source was a medieval manuscript of the Norwegian
kings’ sagas, Eirspennill, but he also excerpted Norwegian Renaissance
works. His aim certainly was to understand the historical sources, but also
to collect material for a description of the language, underlining linguistic
affinity between Danish and Gothic. Besides, he used some of the words in
his writings because of their archaising effect. On his portrait he had some
words from Eirspennill painted in runes that were generally thought to be
Gothic letters.
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