Old English words from Old Norse
5 Old English words with Old Norse in their history, whether borrowed directly or passed on through other languages.
husbonda
It is borrowed from Old Norse húsbóndi (“master of the house”), or an English formation from Old English hūs + bōnda made on the model of the Norse compound; Durkin leaves both possibilities open…
lagu
1. The word for the sea is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *lagu (“water, sea”), from Proto-Germanic *laguz. It is a u-stem noun shared with North Germanic and Old Saxon: Old Norse lǫgr (“sea…
sala
Holthausen takes it borrowed from Old Norse sala (“sale”), and Etymonline reports the OED's view that it probably comes from a Scandinavian source of this kind. Orel and Köbler instead list the Old…
tacan
It is a late loan, borrowed from Old Norse taka (“to take”). Durkin counts it among the few Norse loans of real importance recorded in Old English itself: it appears in two manuscripts of the…
wrang
1. The word for a ship's hold is probably borrowed from Old Norse vrǫng (“rib in a ship”), in the Old Norwegian form with initial v-. Durkin lists it, with the variant wranga, among the Norse words…