Version 1.0 — Last updated: 7 September 2026
These are real, attested Old Norse phrases drawn from primary sources — mainly the Hávamál, a poem in the Poetic Edda — rather than sentences built word-by-word from our dictionary. We’ve kept this list intentionally short for now: constructing new, grammatically correct Old Norse sentences (for things like “hello, how are you”) is beyond what our word-level tools can verify, and we’d rather publish a few phrases we can stand behind than a long list we can’t. See our Methodology for more on that distinction.
Skál — “Cheers”
A traditional drinking toast. This word has survived essentially unchanged into modern Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish (skål), where it’s still used the same way today.
Heill ok sæll — “Hale and happy”
A traditional formulaic greeting, roughly equivalent to wishing someone good health and good fortune. This exact formula (and variants like heil ok sæl for a woman) appears repeatedly across Old Norse sagas and eddic poetry as a greeting or a blessing on parting.
Gáttir allar, áðr gangi fram, um skoðask skyli — “Look around all doorways before stepping through”
The opening line of the Hávamál (“Sayings of the High One”), a collection of proverbs and wisdom attributed to Óðinn in the Poetic Edda. It’s a piece of practical caution — check your surroundings before you commit to entering a space — that opens one of the best-known works of Old Norse literature.
Deyr fé, deyja frændr, deyr sjálfr it sama; en orðstírr deyr aldregi, hveim er sér góðan getr — “Cattle die, kinsmen die, you yourself will die the same way; but reputation never dies, for the one who earns a good one”
One of the most quoted stanzas of the Hávamál (numbered 76–77 in most modern editions), on the idea that wealth and even people are impermanent, but a good reputation outlives you. This is the single most widely cited line of Old Norse poetry in modern popular culture, and for good reason — it’s a complete, self-contained thought in just two lines.
Sourcing, pronunciation, and runes
These phrases come from the Poetic Edda as transmitted in the Codex Regius manuscript — see our Sources & Corpora page for edition details. For how to pronounce the words above, see our Pronunciation Guide. To see any of these phrases rendered in runes, try our Rune Translator or Younger Futhark Translator — note that a modern letter-by-letter rune conversion is not the same as how a historical inscription would actually have been spelled, which followed its own conventions.
More phrases coming
We plan to grow this list carefully, sourced from real texts rather than generated word-by-word, and logged on our Changelog as we add to it. Have a source suggestion, or spotted an issue with one of these? Use our Corrections Policy.