Magnum opus

This must be the most expensive book on sale here. If you have $ 2,800, you can get *your* very own copy of Jakob Jakobsen's classical “An etymological dictionary of the Norn language in Shetland” in a 1985 reprint edition. Or rather the second of two volumes! The original English version was published in 1928-32, while the Danish version is even older.

Norn is an extinct Scandinavian language, once spoken on the Shetland Islands, the Orkney Islands, the Hebrides and Caithness. Until the mid-15th century, the Shetlands and Orkneys were Norwegian territories. The population was descended from “Vikings” who settled there about six centuries earlier. Norn died out at some point during the 18th or 19th centuries. The language strikes me as similar to Icelandic and Faroese. Unsurprisingly, Jakob Jakobsen was from the Faroe Islands. I never heard of him before discovering this product page, but apparently Jakobsen was a kind of “national awakener” on his native islands. When not promoting the Faroese language and culture, he studied the Shetland dialect of Norn and eventually published this magnum opus on the subject.

Today, a small group of enthusiasts have launched a project called Nynorn or New Norn, but it's entirely web-based and even the creators admit that it's of theoretical interest only. Perhaps a crossover with Reconstructionist Asatru might be more interesting?