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Outline Vikings

This document outlines a paper on the Vikings' influence on English. It provides collected data on the Viking expansion from 750-1050 CE, terms like "fair foreigners" and "dark foreigners", the origin of the term "Vikings", information on Old Norse and its evidence and borrowings in modern English. It notes that Old Norse, the language of the Vikings, was similar to Old English and that over 400 words in modern English can be traced back to Old Norse borrowings, showing the lasting linguistic impact of the Viking invasions and settlements in Britain.

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Iva Arnaut
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145 views2 pages

Outline Vikings

This document outlines a paper on the Vikings' influence on English. It provides collected data on the Viking expansion from 750-1050 CE, terms like "fair foreigners" and "dark foreigners", the origin of the term "Vikings", information on Old Norse and its evidence and borrowings in modern English. It notes that Old Norse, the language of the Vikings, was similar to Old English and that over 400 words in modern English can be traced back to Old Norse borrowings, showing the lasting linguistic impact of the Viking invasions and settlements in Britain.

Uploaded by

Iva Arnaut
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Outline of the paper:

The Vikings influence on English




Collected data:
the Viking expansion (c. 750-1050)
fair foreigners and dark foreigners
the term Vikings
Old Norse
Old Norse evidence in English
Old Norse in Modern English
Norn
morphological borrowings
personal & place names
examples


References:
https://www.uni-due.de/SHE/SHE_Vocabulary_Scandinavian.htm#morph
https://www.uni-due.de/LI/Old_Norse.htm#intro
http://skemman.is/en/stream/get/1946/17234/40268/1/Old_Norse_Influence_in_Modern_English.pdf
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/trail/conquest/after_viking/legacy_vikings_01.shtml
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/trail/conquest/after_viking/legacy_vikings_03.shtml
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/04/28/1087148/-Origins-of-English-The-Norse-Influence



Rough summary:

Vikings invaded Britain in the late eighth century. The invasion lasted for around three hundred
years. They spoke Old Norse, which was very similar to the Old English of the Anglo-Saxons. Both
languages are from the same Germanic family of languages. The myth is that an Anglo-Saxon could
understand a Viking when the two met. Their expansion had a significant influence on English language.
The best known words that come from Old Norse are those which begin with sk-, such as 'sky' and 'skin'.
Because the words that survive from Old Norse are often quite close to Old English but replace the
native words, the relationship between the two people must have been close. The term Vikings derives
either from Frisian wic settlement or Old Norse vik bay. The early Viking raids were carried out by
Norwegians. In the ninth century the Danes joined in. In Ireland these two groups are distinguished as
fair foreigners and dark foreigners.
Old Norse is the term used for the common language used throughout the Scandinavian
peninsula and on Denmark in the last few centuries of the first millennium AD, i.e. at the time of the
Viking invasions of Britain and Ireland. Modern Icelandic is the closest language to Old Norse of all Nordic
languages today. Norn is a form of the Norse language which survived until a few centuries ago in the
north of Scotland.
Studies have revealed that about 400 words in English are incontestably Scandinavian in origin
and are still in daily use in standard, literary English. It is easy to conclude that the impact of the Viking
invasions remains present even today.


KEY WORDS:
Viking expansion
Old Norse

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