People have been bashing each other with heavy things since time immemorial, but not until the Danes started bringing this weapon down on English heads did this blunt weapon receive its fittingly blunt name. A berserkr was a Viking warrior who would enter battle in a crazed frenzy, wearing nothing for armor but an animal skin.Ĭlub – klubba. Just look at a Viking the rangr way, and he might þrysta (thrust) a knifr into your skulle.īerserk/berserker – berserkr, lit. They didn’t just bring death and destruction to England in the Middle Ages, they brought really cool words for death and destruction. If the Vikings are famous for one thing, it’s their obsession with war. ![]() The similarity of these names points to the common ancestry of the various Germanic tribes in prehistoric northern Europe – centuries before their descendants clashed on England’s shores. “Tuesday”, “Wednesday” and “Friday” are sometimes also attributed to the Norse gods Tyr, Odin and Freya, respectively but the days are actually named for the Anglo-Saxon equivalents of these gods, Tiw, Wodan and Friga. The most obvious Viking influence on modern English is the word Thursday (Þorsdagr), which you can probably guess means “Thor’s day”. Viking Words in English Language Names of Days Þeirra (their) language evolved into the modern-day Scandinavian languages, but þeir (they) also gave English the gift of hundreds of words. Traust me, þó (though) it may seem oddi at first, we er still very líkligr to use the same words as the Vikings did in our everyday speech. However, the more successful and longer-lasting Norman conquest in 1066 marked the end of the Viking era and virtually erased Danish influence in all aspects of English culture but one: its effect on the development of the English language. England even had Danish kings from 1018 to 1042. The earliest Viking activity in England did consist of coastal raids in the early ninth century, but by the 870s the Danes had traded sword for plow and were settled across most of Northern England in an area governed by treaties known as the Danelaw. In the popular imagination, the Vikings were essentially pirates from the fjords of Denmark and Norway who descended on medieval England like a bloodthirsty frat party they raped, pillaged, murdered, razed villages and then sailed back across the North Sea with the loot.īut the truth is far more nuanced. The Old Norse noun víking meant an overseas expedition, and a vikingr was a man who went on one of these expeditions. But this history of English’s development leaves out a very important piece of the linguistic puzzle – Old Norse: the language of the Vikings. Today, nearly thirty percent of English words come from French.Īs a result, modern English is commonly thought of as a West Germanic language with lots of French and, thanks to the church, Latin influence. ![]() For example, the Anglo-Saxons already had words for “sheep” and “cows”, but the Norman aristocracy – who usually only saw these animals on the plate – introduced mouton (mutton) and boeuf (beef). French was the language of the nobility for the next 300 years – plenty of time for lots of French words to trickle down to the merchant andĬlasses. ![]() The short answer is that the English language changed forever after the Norman invasion brought a new ruling class of French speakers to the British Isles in 1066. So how did English change so drastically? But then why can’t we modern-day English speakers understand Old English? In terms of vocabulary, grammar and syntax, Old English resembles its cousins Dutch and German more than it does modern English. They were not the first inhabitants, as any Welsh or Gaelic speaker will tell you, but their language did form the basis for the Angle-ish we speak today. Old English, also known as Anglo-Saxon, was a language spoken by the Angles and the Saxons – the first Germanic tribes to settle the British Isles. When I say “Old English” what comes to mind? The ornate, hard-to-read script? Reading Beowulf in your high school English class? The kinds of figurative compound nouns – or kennings – like “swan of blood” and “slaughter-dew” that have sustained heavy metal lyrics for decades?
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