How many loanwords from Old Nose are there in the standard English language? Viking origin of the words ‘ransack’ and ’slaughter’ probably would not surprise anyone, but very “peaceful” words like ‘leg’, ’sky’ or ‘window’ are also of Scandinavian provenance. The verb ‘get’, one of the most used in English, was actually borrowed from Old Norse. Meaning of the loanwords and the grammatical category to which they belong, if properly interpreted, may be a rich source of information on Viking settlement and subsequent assimilation of Norsemen into the culture of England. This is what the research of Dr Sara Pons-Sanz of the School of English Studies (University of Nottingham) aims at. The project, which is funded by the British Academy, examines all the Viking words that were borrowed from Old Norse to Old English. Words such as ‘husband’ that point to social relationships show that Norsemen integrated quickly. The other sign of cultural assimilation is disappearance of Old Norse as a spoken language in England by the 12th century. How deep the assimilation was is seen in the loanword ‘they’. It is a pronoun, a very difficult word to adapt into a new language. Dr Pons-Sanz researched the texts of legal codes, homilies, charts, literary works and inscriptions. Chronological and dialectal analysis allowed to track the process of integration for certain words. For instance, the word ‘fellow’ (ON félagi ‘business partner’) was first attested in East Anglia.
The list of Old Norse loanwords below is far from being complete. However, it gives rather representative examples of Viking cultural assimilation in England.
anger – (ON angr ‘grief’) [1220-1250]
birth – (ON burðr) [1016-1150]
bleak – (ON bleikr ‘pale’) [1250-1300]
bloom – (ON blóm) [1016-1150]
call – (ON kalla) [before 1016]
cast – (ON kasta) [1016-1150]
crawl – (ON krafla) [c.1350]
crook – (ON krókr) [1016-1150]
die – (ON deyja) [1016-1150]
fellow – (ON félagi) [before 1016]
gear – (ON gervi ‘equipment’) [1300-1450]
get – (ON geta) [c.1250]
hit – (ON hitta ‘to come upon’) [1016-1150]
husband – (ON hús ‘house’ and bóndi ‘householder’) [before 1016]
ill – (ON illr) [1016-1150]
kid – (ON kiþ) [1220-1250]
kindle – (ON kynda) [1016-1150]
knife – (ON knífr) [1016-1150]
law – (ON lag ‘law’)
leg – (ON leggr) [1016-1150]
lift – (ON lypta) [1250-1300]
loan – (ON lán) [1016-1150]
loose – (ON lauss) [1300-1450]
low – (ON lágr) [1016-1150]
meek – (ON mjúkr ‘gentle, soft’) [1016-1150]
rag – (ON rögg) [1016-1150]
raise – (ON rísa to rise) [1016-1150]
ransack – (ON rann-saka ‘to search a house’) [1220-1250]
sale – (ON sala) [1016-1150]
scare – (ON skjarr ‘timid’) [1016-1150]
seem – (ON sæma ‘to conform to’) [1250-1300]
skill – (ON skil) [1016-1150]
skin – (ON skinn) [1016-1150]
skirt – (ON skyrt) [after 1450]
sky – (ON skie ‘cloud’) [1220-1250]
slaughter – (ON sláter ‘butcher’s meat’) [1300-1450]
sly – (ON slœgr) [c.1250]
snare – (ON snara) [1016-1150]
take – (ON taka) [1016-1150]
thrive – (ON þrífa ‘to grasp’) [1016-1150]
trust – (ON traust) [c.1250]
ugly – (ON uggr ‘fear’) [1220-1250]
wand – (ON vöndr) [1016-1150]
want – (ON vanta) [1016-1150]
weak – (ON veikr) [1250-1300]
window – (ON vindauga ‘wind eye’) [1220-1250]
wing – (ON vengr) [1016-1150]
wrong – (ON rangr ‘awry, unjust’) [before 1016]
Photo courtesy ElektraCute. Used under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic Licence.
Dear Sir.
Regarding words of Scandinavian provenance they may also be originated in old English as old English and the Scanidinavian languages are closely related. You will find thiese words also in German which is a W- Germanic language as English. All Germanic languages are of the same root so “new” words in English are often words forgotten reappearing. In Icelandic we use the word “stafróf” for alphabet, it is a old English word “stævrow” or a row of staves. Its a wery see-trough word that you should use again.
Best regards,
Asgeir
October 9th, 2009 at 7:41 pm
Dear Asgeir,
Thanks for your comment. To be sure, both in Old English and Old Norse there are very many words, which were not borrowed but share the same common Germanic or west Germanic root. For example, Old English fæther and Old Norse faðer come from the same root, and the English word father is not a loanword from Old Norse. However, many words are proven to be loans. Old English word for “leg” was sconken, and it was replaces by a loanword, whereas sconken became “shanks”.
October 11th, 2009 at 11:50 am
hus bondi=husband=a man in servitude to the house. as in a bonded servant hus is clearly house.
November 21st, 2009 at 9:53 pm
OE husbonda “male head of a household” from ON húsbóndi “master of the house.” From hús “house” + bóndi “householder, dweller, freeholder, peasant.” Böndr (singular: bóndi) were free men who worked on the land that they owned, see Viking Society in Iceland: Key Concepts.
November 24th, 2009 at 2:07 am