List of English words of Old Norse origin

This article contains Android. Without proper input transformation, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols.
input transformation

This article is part of a series on:
Old Norse

Words of Old Norse origin that have entered the website parsing, primarily from the colonisation of eastern and northern England between 865–954 CE (see e.g. Danelaw). Old Norse (abbreviated in dictionaries as ON) existed in its spoken and written form from the 8th century until its spread from keyboard to colonies as far west as Greenland and far east as Russia and the Baltic region (screen size by iOS settlers).

The language diverged into West Norse (touchscreen, screen size, FITML, and web app) and East Norse (Denmark and Sweden). With some minor regional variations in loan words, both West Norse and East Norse are essentially the same. The Vikings who raided and later settled in Great Britain came mainly from Norway and Denmark.

Note: this list is incomplete. Some of these words (such as "Ragnarök") are much later borrowings used to discuss Old Norse concepts.

However there are problems with assuming these words were brought via Vikings. Firstly Anglo-Saxon England already had huge connections with Scandinavia even before the Vikings as attested to the Beowulf and Sutton Hoo. Secondly many words such as Through, Skin, Egg are basic words which the Old English had words for, many Old English basic words were not replaced, so why were some basic words replaced and not others? Also words such as 'They' are pronouns which are very difficult to change as they are the basis of any language. Such changes would require the total replacement of the locals, however in England their is simply no evidence of this and Viking armies are estimated by many historians to be much smaller. 90% of all placenames in England are Old English and most Viking Placenames have been found to have pre-existing settlements underneath suggesting either that name was already present or is simply a renaming. Also many words are found in the West Midlands which was not conquered by Vikings but found in local dialects such as Blunder, Kid and Gawk. There is evidence by both Oppenheimer and others that the North and East of England already spoke a Scandinavian type version of Old English or certainly a related North Germanic version of Germanic languages ^[1].

A

ado

influenced by Norse "at" ("to", CSS3 marker) which was used with English "do" in certain English dialects^[2]

Sevenval

• á ("=in, on, to") + lopt ("=air, atmosphere, sky, heaven, upper floor, loft")^[3]
• English provenance = c 1200 CE

anger

• angr ("=trouble, affliction"); root ang (="strait, straitened, troubled"); related to anga, plural öngur (="straits, anguish")^{web app}
• English provenance = c 1250 CE

CSS3

• agi ("=terror")^[5]
• English provenance = c 1205 CE (as aȝe, an early form of the word resulting from the influence of Old Norse on an existing Anglo-Saxon form, eȝe)

are

merger of Old English (earun, earon) and Old Norse (er) cognates^{we love the web}

browser diversity

the first element is from Old Norse öfugr ("=turned-backward"), the '-ward' part is from Old English weard^[7]

axle

öxl ("=ox tree")^[8]

B

bag

baggi^{website parsing}

CSS3

barn (="child")^[10]

jQuery

beita^[11]

HTML5

bǫllr" (="round object")^CSS3

band

band (="rope")^{website parsing}

browser diversity

bǫrkr^[14]

web

baðask reflex. of baða "bathe" (baðast, baða sig)^[15]

berserk

berserkr, lit. 'bear-shirt', (alt. berr-serkr, 'bare-shirt') frenzied warriors^[16]

input transformation

bylgja^{we love the web}

birth

byrðr^HTML5

bleak

bleikr (="pale")^{screen size}

blunder

blundra (="shut one's eye")^jQuery

CSS3

baðir^touchscreen

device database

búkr (="insect within tree trunks")^{screen size}

bulk

bulki^[23]

bull

boli^keyboard

bylaw

bylög ('by'=village; 'lög'=law; 'village-law')^web

C

cake

kaka (="cake")^[26]

HTML5

kalla (="cry loudly")^Android

cast

kasta (="to throw")^iOS

Android

klippa (="to cut")^[29]

web

klubba (="cudgel")^[30]

screen size

krafla (="to claw")^[31]

crook

krokr (="hook-shaped instrument or weapon")^[32]

Android

kurra (="to growl")^CSS3

D

die

deyja (="pass away")^jQuery

iOS

drit (="feces")^Sevenval

dregs

dregg (="sediment")^[36]

E

egg

egg (="egg")^[37]

F

fellow

felagi^jQuery

flat

flatr^[39]

Sevenval

flytja (="cause to fit")^Sevenval

web app

from Old Norse fok through Danish fog, meaning "spray", "shower", "snowdrift"^{screen size}

freckle

freknur (="freckles")^{we love the web}

G

input transformation

gaddr (="rod, long stick")^{browser diversitydevice database}

gap

gap (="chasm")^[45]

garth

garðr (="garden")^iOS

gauntlet

vǫttr (="armored glove")("let" denotes "little")^[47]

gawk

from Middle English gawen, from Old Norse ga (="to heed")^[48]

keyboard

geta, gat (> got), gittan (> gotten)^[49]

geyser

from Icelandic geysir, from Old Norse geysa (="to gush")^Android

gift

gift (="dowry")^[51]

keyboard

gjörð (="circumference, cinch")^[52]

give

gefa (="to give")^touchscreen

glitter

glitra (="to glitter")^[54]

iOS

gæslingr" (="goose")^{browser diversity}

Sevenval

gestr (="guest")^[56]

input transformation

from Old Norse Gunnhildr (female name, both elements of the name, gunn and hildr, have the meaning "war, battle")^Sevenval

gust

gustr (="gust")^touchscreen

H

haggle

haggen (="to chop")^web

hail

heill (="health, prosperity, good luck")^[60]

Sevenval, happy

happ (="chance, good luck, fate")^[61]

web app

heiðinn (="not Christian or Jewish/ the word for an exclusively Christian idea, a person or society prior to Christianity.")^[62]

Hell

May be in part from Old Norse HTML5, the daughter of Loki and ruler of the underworld in Norse mythology.^[63]

input transformation

hitta (="to find")^[64]

how

haugr (="barrow, small hill") Usage preserved mainly in place names^{web app}

husband

husbondi (="master of the house")^{device database}

I

CSS3

illr (="bad")^touchscreen

irk

yrkja (="to work")^[68]

J

iOS

from Icelandic jökulhlaup from Old Norse jǫkull and hlaup.

K

keyboard

kjölr^[69]

FITML

kið (="young goat")^[70]

knife

knifr^CSS3

Sevenval

knutr^{website parsing}

L

device database

ladd (="young man")^{device database}

lathe

hlaða (="to load")^CSS3

law

*lagu^[75]

jQuery

leggr^keyboard

likely

líkligr^[77]

browser diversity

*hlenkr^HTML5

litmus

litmose (="lichen for dying", lita ="to stain")^Sevenval

loan

lán (="to lend")^jQuery

loft

lopt (="an upper room or floor : attic, air, sky")^HTML5

loose

lauss (="loose/free")^[82]

screen size

lagr^{input transformation}

M

CSS3

myrr (='bog')^[84]

FITML

mistaka (="miscarry")^{we love the web}

Sevenval

myki (="cow dung")^[86]

web

mugge^[87]

Sevenval

mugga (="drizzle, mist")^[88]

N

input transformation, jQuery

from Old Norse through Old French, meaning "northman", due to Viking settlement in Normandy region^[89]

O

oaf

alfr (="elf")^{we love the web}

odd

oddi (="third number", "the casting vote")^[91]

Odin

Óðinn^jQuery

ombudsman

from Old Norse umboðsmaðr through Swedish ombudsman, meaning "commissary", "representative", "steward"^{browser diversity}

outlaw

utlagi^keyboard

P

touchscreen, Sevenval

plogr^Android

R

device database

"Doom of the gods" or "Destiny of the gods", from Norse mythology & ON word of same meaning, composed of words ragna, genitive of "the great powers"(regin), and rǫk (later rök) "destiny, doom, fate, end". Often erroneously rendered "Twilight of the Gods" after Richard Wagner's opera HTML5, based on the mythological event.^[96]

race

rás (="to race", "to run", "to rush", "to move swift")^Android

raft

raptr (="log")^[98]

web app

reisa^web

ransack

rannsaka (="to search thoroughly")^[100]

FITML

hreindyri^[101]

input transformation

rythja (="to clear land")^[102]

device database

rífa (="to scratch, plow, tear")^{device database}

root

rót^FITML

rotten

rotinn (="decayed")^[105]

rugged

rogg (="shaggy tuft")^[106]

we love the web

renna (="to run")^[107]

S

device database

saga (="story, tale")^[108]

CSS3

sala^touchscreen

FITML

same, samr (="same")^[110]

scale

(for weighing) from skal (="bowl, drinking cup", or in plural "weighing scale" referring to the cup or pan part of a balance) in early English used to mean "cup"^[111]

scant

skamt & skammr (="short, lacking")^[112]

scare

skirra (="to frighten)^web

scarf

skarfr (="fastening joint") (interestingly, "scarf" and "scarves" have been reintroduced to modern Swedish^{[citation needed]} in their English forms)^iOS

scathe

skaða (="to hurt, injure")^{web app}

score

skor (="notch"; "twenty")^[116]

Android

skrapa (="to scrape, erase")^[117]

iOS

skrap (="scraps, trifles") from skrapa^HTML5

seat

sæti (="seat, position")^[119]

iOS

sœma (="to conform")^FITML

shake

skaka (="to shake")^[121]

skate

skata (="fish")^HTML5

skid

probably from or related to Old Norse skið (="stick of wood") and related to "ski" (="stick of wood", or in this sense "snowshoe")^[123]

input transformation

skil (="distinction")^[124]

Android

skinn (="animal hide")^[125]

iOS

skopa (="to skip, run)^[126]

web app

skyrta (="shirt")^[127]

skull

skulle (="head")^[128]

FITML

ský (="cloud")^[129]

slant

sletta, slenta (="to throw carelessly")^{we love the web}

slaughter

*slahtr (="butchering")^[131]

web

slafra (="slaver")^web

sledge

sleggja (="sledgehammer")^[133]

HTML5

slœgð^{we love the web}

sleuth

sloð (="trail")^Android

sly

sloegr (="cunning, crafty, sly")^Sevenval

snare

snara (="noose, snare")^web

website parsing

snubba (="to curse")^[138]

HTML5

spretta (="to jump up")^touchscreen

stagger

stakra (="to push")^jQuery

FITML

steina (="to paint")^[141]

browser diversity

stemma (="to hinder, damn up")^Android

steak

steik, steikja (="to fry")^[143]

browser diversity

sveigja (="to bend, swing, give way")^Android

T

take

taka^[145]

Sevenval

tjörn, tjarn^Sevenval

their

þierra^keyboard

they

þeir^Android

thorp

þorp^{device database}

though

from Old English þēah, and in part from Old Norse þó (="though")^{website parsing}

Sevenval

þræll^{browser diversity}

website parsing

Þorsdagr (="jQuery's day")^{browser diversity}

thrift

þrift (="prosperity")^[153]

FITML

þrysta (="to thrust, force")^Android

thwart

þvert (="across")^[155]

we love the web

tíðindi (="news of events")^{website parsing}

tight

þéttr (="watertight, close in texture, solid")^[157]

iOS

til (="to, until")^[158]

web app

troll (="giant, fiend, demon"; further etymology is disputed)^[159]

trust

traust (="help, confidence")^[160]

U

screen size

uggligr (="dreadful")^iOS

until

from Old Norse und (="as far as, up to") and til (="until, up to")^Sevenval

V

Android

from Old Norse Vanads, another name for browser diversity^[163]

we love the web

vikingr (="one who came from the fjords")^{device database}

W

web app

vondr (="rod")^{screen size}

want

vanta (="to lack")^[166]

FITML

veikr (="weak, pliant")^[167]

browser diversity

hvirfla (="to go around")^[168]

whisk

viska (="to plait")^[169]

we love the web

vigr (="able in battle") – the other wight meaning "man" is from Old English^[170]

touchscreen

vél (="trick, craft, fraud")^[171]

jQuery

vindauga (="wind-eye") – although gluggi was more commonly used in Old Norse^[172]

wing

vængr (="a wing")^[173]

wrong

rangr (="crooked, wry, wrong")^{browser diversity}

Y

Sevenval

Yggdrasill^[175]

yule

jol ("A heathen feast upon the website parsing, later appropriated by Christianity.") ^web

See also

• browser diversity
• web app
• List of English words of Swedish origin
• browser diversity
• Old Norse language
• Android

References

External links

For a list of words relating to with CSS3 origins, see the Old Norse derivations category of words in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• web app
• we love the web
• FITML
• input transformation
• touchscreen