Old Norse, Modern English

Vikings were known to be violent, bearded and robust men and women coming from the
southern side of Scandinavia, what we call today Denmark, Sweden and Norway. They
were pirates that attacked and raided villages, taking slaves and riches back home to later
on trade with the rest of Europe. The word Viking comes from the Old Norse víking and
means ‘overseas expedition’, a vikingr was someone who went on said travels. In this short
essay, the topics to discuss are: the important and out-of-time role of the woman in this
society, the invasions and how they were carried out, and last but not least, the legacy of the
Old Norse language.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Nordic countries such as Norway, Denmark and
Sweden are some of the most advanced and prosperous of the world. Luckily, they
followed some of their ancestors’ best ideas and until today, they are thriving. Even in a
patriarchal society, Norse women were more than just assets or trophies like in most of the
other civilizations around the globe. They could own land, marry and divorce to their
liking, run business, etc. They rarely joined battles and were almost always exclusively in
charge of anything considered domestic. It was definitely not an equal society, Vikings had
their downsides too, but women were respected for running the house and not confined to
it. In Norse mythology, there are many legendary goddesses related to home management,
fertility, magic, religion and even war.

It’s maybe thanks to this advanced-for-that-time society that Viking invasions were so
successful. They had many kinds of boats for different purposes; the Drakkar, for example,
is a type of boat that was used mainly for raids and ransacks; there were also the Karvi and
Snekkja, the smallest types of these pirates’ longboats. With summer’s good weather and
strong winds, these slim and light ships were perfect to navigate near the coast and through
some rivers; this is the main reason why so many Viking settlements were on the littoral.
During the violent ransacks, other than slaves, they usually took gold, silver, jewelry, and
when invading Christian monasteries, the Bibles; these last ones were highly paid for in
Norway. Vikings were good merchants and made riches from everything they could get
their hands on as well as charging taxes on other towns and villages. After everything was
burnt, they sailed and got ready for another attack.

Not unlike other invasions on Earth, the Vikings spread their language all over Europe and
crossed the Atlantic to America; this can be easily identified in English words like: law,
husband, steak, etc.; even some days of the week are named after Norse deities, for
example: Thursday is Thor’s day, the god of thunder and lighting. On the central side of the
invasions, Old English, with its Anglo-Saxon roots, was slowly but surely transforming,
and not only some words, but the grammar and syntax were also altered; it is said that
modern Scandinavian language is more similar to Modern English than the language that
replaced de Celtics’. On that same note, Iceland, which was mostly inhabited, came to be
another of the pirates’ conquests around the 930 AD.; and because they didn’t have the
foreign influences that their eastern brothers did, it’s quite possible that modern Icelandic
language could be understood by old Vikings without much trouble.

From their unique-for-the-time society to the way they organized ransacks, it all
contributed to the quick and successful invasions and therefore, the modification of most
European languages. They were strong willed people and made sure that the continent
knew about it, the saying “behind a great man is a great woman” may be one of the most
accurate to represent this society. Nowadays, Norse culture is still alive on most parts of
Europe and can be seen in many words in the English language. Their legacy will surely
live on.

Bibliography

El Mapa de Sebas. (Dec 31, 2018). La ⚔️ERA VIKINGA⚔️(Los Vikingos) en 10 MINUTOS

[Video file] Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=E6Xu5X6r1VI&ab_channel=ElMapadeSebas

Jordan, J. E. (Oct 9, 2019). 139 Old Norse Words That Invaded The English Language.
Retrieved Sep 11, 2020 from https://www.babbel.com/en/magazine/139-norse-words

Longship. n.d. Retrieved Sep 11, 2020 from

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longship#Types_of_longships

Nikel, D. (Apr 26, 2020). Viking Women: What Women Really Did in the Viking Age.
Retrieved Sep 11, 2020 from https://www.lifeinnorway.net/viking-women/