English words from Norwegian
5 English words with Norwegian in their history, whether borrowed directly or passed on through other languages.
cozy
The word is originally Scots, with the earliest form “colsie” (1709); in Britain it is usually spelled “cosy”. Its origin is uncertain: Collins, the Oxford dictionaries, Hoad and Chambers call it…
ski
It is borrowed from Norwegian ski, from Old Norse skíð (“snowshoe; stick of wood”), cognate with Old English scīd, stick of wood, the source of obsolete English shide, and German Scheit (“log”)…
skier
It is formed from English ski + -er: Etymonline and the Shorter Oxford derive it from the verb, the OED from the noun. Merriam-Webster explains the less common spelling “skiier” from “skii-” as in…
slalom
It is borrowed from Norwegian slalåm (“skiing race; literally, sloping track”), formed from Norwegian sla (“sloping”) + låm (“track”). The American Heritage Dictionary and Collins give the first…
tangle
1. The verb is inherited from Middle English tanglen, also tangilen, which the OED and Barnhart explain as a nasalized variant of tagilen (“to entangle, involve in difficulties”), the form in the…