Collected data: the Viking expansion (c. 750-1050) fair foreigners and dark foreigners the term Vikings Old Norse Old Norse evidence in English Old Norse in Modern English Norn morphological borrowings personal & place names examples
Vikings invaded Britain in the late eighth century. The invasion lasted for around three hundred years. They spoke Old Norse, which was very similar to the Old English of the Anglo-Saxons. Both languages are from the same Germanic family of languages. The myth is that an Anglo-Saxon could understand a Viking when the two met. Their expansion had a significant influence on English language. The best known words that come from Old Norse are those which begin with sk-, such as 'sky' and 'skin'. Because the words that survive from Old Norse are often quite close to Old English but replace the native words, the relationship between the two people must have been close. The term Vikings derives either from Frisian wic settlement or Old Norse vik bay. The early Viking raids were carried out by Norwegians. In the ninth century the Danes joined in. In Ireland these two groups are distinguished as fair foreigners and dark foreigners. Old Norse is the term used for the common language used throughout the Scandinavian peninsula and on Denmark in the last few centuries of the first millennium AD, i.e. at the time of the Viking invasions of Britain and Ireland. Modern Icelandic is the closest language to Old Norse of all Nordic languages today. Norn is a form of the Norse language which survived until a few centuries ago in the north of Scotland. Studies have revealed that about 400 words in English are incontestably Scandinavian in origin and are still in daily use in standard, literary English. It is easy to conclude that the impact of the Viking invasions remains present even today.
Ragnar Lothbrok and a History of the Vikings: Viking Warriors including Rollo, Norsemen, Norse Mythology, Quests in America, England, France, Scotland, Ireland and Russia [3rd Edition]