Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Old Norse influence on English

Vikings invaded Great Britain between 800 and 1100 AD.
They did not impose their language on the people, but they incorporated some parts of their language into the english. The words incorporated were for everyday use. Some of these words were:
Kniv = Knife
Vindue = Window
Plogr = Plough
Hus = House
Egg = Egg
Fader = Father
Moder = Mother


Probably the most significant contribution were the names of towns. The Vikings added -by (means town or village) at the end of names to created the names of villages were they first settled. -thorpe (same meaning) was added to the villages were they later settled. 
Some of these names are:
- Selby, Whitby
- Scunthorpe
Not only did they influence the name of places but also last names. They did this by adding -son (which means son) at the end of the father's name. (Later they started adding "dottir" (which means daughter) to the father's name)
- Svensson, Gustafsson, Karlsson...

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