Medieval History
By Trine Nickelsen
Contrary to popular belief, the British did not 'borrow' words and concepts from the Norwegian and Danish Vikings and their descendants. What we call English is actually a form of Scandinavian.
"Have you considered how easy it is for us Norwegians to learn English?" asks Jan Terje Faarlund, professor of linguistics at the University of Oslo. "Obviously there are many English words that resemble ours. But there is something more: its fundamental structure is strikingly similar to Norwegian. We avoid many of the usual mistakes because the grammar is more or less the same.
Faarlund and his colleague Joseph Emmonds, visiting professor from Palacký University in the Czech Republic, now believe they can prove that English is in reality a Scandinavian language, in other words it belongs to the Northern Germanic language group, just like Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, Icelandic and Faroese. This is totally new and breaks with what other language researchers and the rest of the world believe, namely that English descends directly from Old English. Old English, or Anglo-Saxon, is a West Germanic language, which the Angles and Saxons brought with them from Northern Germany and Southern Jylland when they settled in the British Isles in the fifth century.
"Modern English is a direct descendant of the language of Scandinavians who settled in the British Isles in the course of many centuries, before the French-speaking Normans conquered the country in 1066," says Faarlund. He points out that Old English and Modern English are two very different languages. Why?
"We believe it is because Old English quite simply died out while Scandinavian survived, albeit strongly influenced of course by Old English," he says.
Click here to read this article from the University of Oslo
See also The History of English in Ten Minutes
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Medieval History
English is a Scandinavian language
Contrary to popular belief, the British did not 'borrow' words and concepts from the Norwegian and Danish Vikings and their descendants. What we call English is actually a form of Scandinavian.
"Have you considered how easy it is for us Norwegians to learn English?" asks Jan Terje Faarlund, professor of linguistics at the University of Oslo. "Obviously there are many English words that resemble ours. But there is something more: its fundamental structure is strikingly similar to Norwegian. We avoid many of the usual mistakes because the grammar is more or less the same.
Faarlund and his colleague Joseph Emmonds, visiting professor from Palacký University in the Czech Republic, now believe they can prove that English is in reality a Scandinavian language, in other words it belongs to the Northern Germanic language group, just like Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, Icelandic and Faroese. This is totally new and breaks with what other language researchers and the rest of the world believe, namely that English descends directly from Old English. Old English, or Anglo-Saxon, is a West Germanic language, which the Angles and Saxons brought with them from Northern Germany and Southern Jylland when they settled in the British Isles in the fifth century.
"Modern English is a direct descendant of the language of Scandinavians who settled in the British Isles in the course of many centuries, before the French-speaking Normans conquered the country in 1066," says Faarlund. He points out that Old English and Modern English are two very different languages. Why?
"We believe it is because Old English quite simply died out while Scandinavian survived, albeit strongly influenced of course by Old English," he says.
Click here to read this article from the University of Oslo
See also The History of English in Ten Minutes
- Thoughts On Mel Gibson's Vikings
Matthias Ammon writes: News emerged recently that Mel Gibson will turn to 'the Vikings' for his next directing venture, following Braveheart, The Passion of the Christ and Apocalypto. Details of the project are scarce as yet, though it has been...
- Arthur Of The North
?Arthur of the North? is the First International Conference organised by The Nordic Branch of the International Arthurian Society (IAS). It is dedicated to the Arthurian narratives in any of the medieval Scandinavian languages (Old Norse, Old Swedish,...
- Perceptions Of Place: English Place-name Study And Regional Variety
Perceptions of Place: English place-name study and regional variety An international conference to be held in association with the English Place-Name Society at the Institute for Name-Studies, University of Nottingham Wednesday 23 ¬¬? Sunday 27 June...
- Old And Middle English Language And Literature Section Of The M/mla
Call for Papers: Old and Middle English Language and Literature section of the M/MLA (November 12-15, 2009, St. Louis, MO) "Language Matters in Old and Middle English Texts" Papers dealing with any aspect of language in medieval English texts are invited;...
- More Mla Cfp
Please also note this call from the Division on Language Change: The MLA Division on Language Change invites papers for three sessions at the Modern Language Association convention in San Francisco, December 27-30, 2008. We invite papers that deal with...