Posted on 05/06/2009 6:04:34 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
Terms such as 'law', 'ugly', 'want' and 'take' are all loanwords from Old Norse, brought to these shores by the Vikings, whose attacks on England started in AD 793. In the centuries following it wasn't just warfare and trade that the invaders gave England. Their settlement and subsequent assimilation into the country's culture brought along the introduction of something much more permanent than the silk, spices and furs that weighed down their longboats -- words... The loanwords which appear in English -- such as 'husband' -- suggest that the invaders quickly integrated with their new culture. The English language soon adopted day-to-day terms, suggesting that the cultures lived side-by-side and were soon on intimate terms. This is in marked contrast to French loanwords. Though there are many more of these terms present in the standard English language -- around 1,000 Scandinavian to more than 10,000 French -- they tend to refer to high culture, law, government and hunting... Old Norse had probably completely died out in England by the 12th century, indicating total cultural assimilation by the Scandinavian invaders. Another clear indicator of this is the type of loanwords seen in English. The majority of loanwords tend to nouns, words and adjectives, open-ended categories which are easily adapted into a language. But one of the most commonly-seen loanwords in English today is 'they' -- a pronoun with its origins in Old Norse. Pronouns are a closed category, far more difficult to adapt into a new language, which again indicates a closeness between the two languages and cultures not present in previous or subsequent invading forces.
(Excerpt) Read more at sciencedaily.com ...
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Whoops! — “Just adding to the catalog, not sending a general distribution.” Grabbed the wrong text!
“Thing”
“That Thing” is norse for Republic. First republic in the Americas - Thingveller, Iceland. The Valley of that thing.
Ironically, it is the valley of the birth of the American Continent.
Interesting stuff. I usually list etymology as one of my interests. I wish the article had included more words... Could read stuff like this for hours.
On a side note. JRR Tolkien apparently was very conscientious about using words that weren’t French loan words. He would always use a proper English word when at all possible. He was really upset about the ‘frenchification’ of the English language. He would have approved, I think, of the Nordic influence on the language though.
I don't know why they need to speak in terms of "suggest." We actually have historical writings covering the period, we don't need to completely guess. Modern historians so despise the "great man" view of history that they seem unwilling to even acknowledge the relevance of anything but larger "historical processes," and they hate the written historical sources because they often wrote primarily from a religious and moral perspective.
In fact, it was thanks to Alfred the Great that Old Norse assimilated into English in Britain and not vice versa.
Is there any list of Pictish words that made it into the language? Or Celtic?
Whiskey is definitely Celtic ;)
“Galore”, as in “prizes galore” (or maybe even “loanwords galore”) which means “to repletion” comes from Scots Gaelic, and (it sez here) is the only adjective in English that properly precedes the noun. :’)
The Norse were an.interesting people. In every country that they invaded and colonized, they adapted, for there own, the culture of the conquered and did so to such a degree that they ended up more native then the natives themselves.
whiskey 1715, from Gaelic uisge beatha "whisky," lit. "water of life," from O.Ir. uisce "water" + bethu "life." The Gaelic is probably a loan-translation of M.L. aqua vitae, which had been applied to intoxicating drinks since early 14c. (cf. Fr. eau de vie "brandy"). Other early spellings in Eng. include usquebea (1706) and iskie bae (1583). Distinction between Scotch whisky and Irish and American whiskey is a 19c. innovation. Whisky sour is recorded from 1889.
From here.
I have the excellent Teaching Company lecture series, “The History of the English Language” offered by Prof. Seth Lerer of Stanford University. This makes it clear that English is a mongrelized language, perhaps the most extensive in current use and our linguistic inheritance from the Norse has been great.
"Banshee" is one of very few, perhaps even the only one, that is known to have persisted from ancient times. "Avon", the name of the river in Stratford, made it as a proper noun only, from "afon" the common Celtic/Welsh noun for any river.
Most or all of the others are later loan words, either directly from medieval or modern Welsh, Cornish, Scots Gaelic or Irish Gaelic, or indirectly from proto-Celtic/Gaullic via Norman French or vulgar Latin.
-ccm
Let’s not forget that “Uff Da” is Norwegian for “oy vey”.
“Interesting stuff. I usually list etymology as one of my interests. I wish the article had included more words... Could read stuff like this for hours.”
I agree, I think the English language is so interesting. It is such a rich language and it’s a history lesson just studying the words.
Exactly. Words have nuance. Sometimes this nuance is not understood or realised by a user overtly- it is latent. Hidden underneath the evolutionary journey of the word. Often the nuance is historical and no longer has any actual relevancy in our contemporary world yet it remains, below the surface of the word.
I truly enjoy reading authors who have 'mined' their words for their fullest impact in this way. Joseph Conrad is a good example. English was his third language- not his native tongue- and French was his second. As a result, the meaning and etymological content of the language he wielded as an author was fascinating to him and one can go back and read his work again and again and find new significance in passages that add greater depth and complexity to his characters and stories.
People think I'm a bit nuts sometimes when I tell them the dictionary is perhaps my favorite book. I can spend hours digging in the Oxford's. Completely fascinating.
Yes, the nuance (Fr. < nuer, to shade) is so important in words.
And, yes, certain authors are gifted with the ability to add more meaning to their passages with their choices of words.
You're not nuts...you are smart and intellectually curious. I agree that Oxford's is a great read!
>>He was really upset about the ‘frenchification’ of the English language.
Isn’t “frenchification” an example of frenchification? :) He might not like the use, but sometimes ‘true’ English just doesn’t convey the meaning. Not sure what single word could convey the same meaning in this case.
One of my pet peeves: when Frenchified words are used when an English word works just as well. One example that gnaws at my brain stem each time I hear or read it is ‘utilized’. Reporters seem to love this—”the police utilized tear gas canisters to quell the increasingly violent peace protesters.”
‘Used’ says the same thing, costs you less ink to print, and is a proper English word. So why not utilize ... uh use it?
Great article. I love this type of analysis of language origins. If ya find more, feel free to share!
I love the 'mongrelized' nature of the English language. It's why you can say darn near anything in English. If we don't hae a word for something and someone else does, we're not to proud to steal it!
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