List of English words of Old Norse origin

A

ado

influenced by Norse "at" ("to", infinitive marker) which was used with English "do" in certain English dialects

aloft

á ("=in, on, to") + lopt ("=air, atmosphere, sky, heaven, upper floor, loft")

English provenance = c 1200 AD

anger

angr ("=trouble, affliction"); root ang (="strait, straitened, troubled")

English provenance = c 1250 AD

awe

agi ("=terror")

English provenance = c 1205 AD (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

auk

A type of Arctic seabird.

awkward

the first element is from Old Norse ǫfugr ("=turned-backward"), the '-ward' part is from Old English weard

B

bag

baggi

bairn

barn (="child")

bait

beita

band

band (="rope")

bark

bǫrkr

bask

baðask reflex. of baða "bathe" (baðast, baða sig)

berserk

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

billow

bylgja

birth

byrðr

bleak

bleikr (="pale")

blunder

blundra (="shut one's eye")

both

baðir

bug

búkr (="insect within tree trunks")

bulk

bulki

bull

boli

bylaw

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

C

cake

kaka (="cake")

call

kalla (="cry loudly")

cast

kasta (="to throw")

clip

klippa (="to cut")

club

klubba (="cudgel")

crawl

krafla (="to claw")

creek

kriki ("corner, nook") through ME creke ("narrow inlet in a coastline") altered from kryk perhaps influenced by Anglo-Norman crique itself from a Scandinavian source via Norman-French

crook

krokr (="hook-shaped instrument or weapon")

cur

kurra (="to growl")

D

die

deyja (="pass away")

dirt

drit (="feces")

dregs

dregg (="sediment")

E

egg

egg (="egg")

eider

a type of duck.

equip

skipa (="organize, arrange, place in order") through Middle French équiper, from Old French esquiper "fit out a ship, load on board", itself from Norman-French esquipper, eschiper

F

fellow

félagi

flaneur

flana ("to wander aimlessly") + French suffix -eur through French flâneur, itself from Norman-French flaner, flanner

flat

flatr

flit

flytja (="cause to fit")

fog

from Old Norse fok through Danish fog, meaning "spray", "shower", "snowdrift"

freckle

freknur (="freckles")

G

gab

gabbnna (="to mock") through Northern England dialect or Scottish or Norman-French

gad

gaddr (="spike, nail")

gap

gap (="chasm")

gawk

from Middle English gawen, from Old Norse ga (="to heed")

get

geta, gat (got), gittan (gotten)

geyser

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

gift

gift (="dowry")

girth

gjörð (="circumference, cinch")

give

gefa (="to give")

glitter

glitra (="to glitter")

glove

lofi (="middle of the hand")

gosling

gæslingr" (="goose")

guest

gestr (="guest")

gun

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

gust

gustr (="gust")

H

haggle

haggen (="to chop")

hail

heill (="health, prosperity, good luck")

hap, happy

happ (="chance, good luck, fate")

haunt

heimta (="to bring back home") through Anglo-Norman haunter (="to reside", "to frequent"), (Old) French hanter from Norman hanter.

heathen

heiðinn (="not Christian or Jewish/ the word for an exclusively Christian idea, a person or society prior to Christianity."), more probably from Old English hǣðen, related to Old Saxon hēthin.

Hell

May be in part from Old Norse Hel, the daughter of Loki and ruler of the underworld in Norse mythology.

hit

hitta (="to find")

how (or howe)

haugr (="barrow, small hill") Usage preserved mainly in place names

husband

husbondi (="master of the house")

I

ill

illr (="bad")

irk

yrkja (="to work")

J

jökulhlaup

from Icelandic jökulhlaup from Old Norse jǫkull and hlaup.

jolly

from Old French jolif "gay, joyful, lascivious", French joli, itself from jól "mid-winter feast" + French suffix -if

K

keel

kjölr

kenning

a descriptive phrase used in Germanic poetry

kid

kið (="young goat")

kindle

kynda

knife

knífr

knot

knutr

L

lad

ladd (="young man (unlikely)")

lathe

hlaða (="to load")

law

*lagu

leather

*leðr, more probably from Old English leðer (only in comps.) related to Old Saxon leðar and to Old High German ledar.

leg

leggr

likely

líkligr

link

*hlenkr

litmus

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

loan

lán (="to lend")

loft

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

loose

lauss (="loose/free")

low

lagr

M

mire

myrr (='bog')

mistake

mistaka (="miscarry")

muck

myki (="cow dung")

mug

mugge

muggy

mugga (="drizzle, mist")

N

Norman, Normandy

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

O

Oalaf

alfr (="elf")

odd

oddi (="third number", "the casting vote")

Odin

Óðinn

ombudsman

from Old Norse umboðsmaðr through Swedish ombudsman, meaning "commissary", "representative", "steward"

outlaw

utlagi

P

plough, plow

plogr

R

Ragnarök

term from Norse mythology, English usage recorded since 1770; composed of words ragna, genitive of "the great powers" (regin), and rǫk "destiny, doom, fate, end".

race

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

raft

raptr (="log")

raise

reisa

ransack

rannsaka (="to search the house")

regret

gráta ("to weep, groan") + French prefix re- through Old French regreter, itself from Old Norman-French regrater, regreter, influenced by Old English grætan

reindeer

hreindyri

rive

rífa (="to scratch, plow, tear")

root

rót

rotten

rotinn (="decayed")

rugged

rogg (="shaggy tuft")

S

saga

saga (="story, tale")

sale

sala

same

same, samr (="same")

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"

scant

skamt & skammr (="short, lacking")

scare

skirra (="to frighten)

scarf

skarfr (="fastening joint") ("scarf" and "scarves" have possibly been reintroduced to modern Swedish in their English forms as slang, but Swedes almost always use the compound "neck-cloth" (hals-duk).

scathe

skaða (="to hurt, injure")

score

skor (="notch"; "twenty")

scrape

skrapa (="to scrape, erase")

scrap

skrap (="scraps, trifles") from skrapa

seat

sæti (="seat, position")

seem

sœma (="to conform")

shake

skaka (="to shake")

skate

skata (="fish")

skid

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

skill

skil (="distinction")

skin

skinn (="animal hide")

skip

skopa (="to skip, run)

skirt

skyrta (="shirt")

skull

skulle (="head")

sky

ský (="cloud")

slant

sletta, slenta (="to throw carelessly")

slaughter

*slahtr (="butchering")

slaver

slafra (="slaver")

sledge

sleggja (="sledgehammer")

sleight

slœgð

sleuth

sloð (="trail")

sly

sloegr (="cunning, crafty, sly")

snare

snara (="noose, snare")

snub

snubba (="to curse")

sprint

spretta (="to jump up")

stagger

stakra (="to push")

stain

steina (="to paint")

stammer

stemma (="to hinder, damn up")

steak

steik, steikja (="to fry")

sway

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

sick

"syk" (= diseasing,ill)

T

take

taka

tarn

tjǫrn, tjarn

teem

tœma (="to empty")

their

þeirra

they

þeir

though

from Old English þēah, and in part from Old Norse þó (="though")

thrall

þræll

Thursday

Þorsdagr (="Thor's day")

thrift

þrift (="prosperity")

thrust

þrysta (="to thrust, force")

thwart

þvert (="across")

tidings

tíðindi (="news of events")

tight

þéttr (="watertight, close in texture, solid")

till

til (="to, until")

toom

tóm (="vacant time, leisure")

troll

troll (="giant, friend, demon"; further etymology is disputed)

trust

traust (="help, confidence")

U

ugly

uggligr (="Dreadfull, repulsive")

until

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

V

Vanadium

from Old Norse Vanadis, another name for Freja

viking

vikingr (="one who came from the fjords")

W

wand

vondr (="rod")

want

vanta (="to lack")

weak

veikr (="weak, pliant")

whirl

hvirfla (="to go around")

whisk

viska (="to plait")

wicket

vík (="bay") + French suffix -et through Anglo-Norman wicket, itself from Old Norman-French wiket, Norman-French viquet > French guichet

wight

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

wile

vél (="trick, craft, fraud")

windlass

window

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

wing

vængr (="a wing")

wrong

rangr (="crooked, wry, wrong")

Y

Yggdrasil

Yggdrasill