Essay On Scandinavian Influence On English

The Scandinavian Influence on English

Of the effects of different languages on English, the Scandinavian influence deserves a particular mention. This is particularly noticeable because of the close resemblance between the English tongue and the Scandinavian, and the intimate relation between the two peoples in the past. Infact, the Danes, unlike the later conquerors, Normans, belonged to the Teutonic (Germanic) race. Their languages originally belonged to the Teutonic group of languages, and were very close to English. There was a good deal of common culture, social manners and customs, religious practices of the two peoples—the English and the Danes. As a result, their intimacy was quite deep. Infact, the relation between the English and the Danes

The pronoun ‘same’ is Scandinavian, although the adverbial form of the word is English. ‘Both’, though not a pronoun primarily, has pronominal uses, and is of the Scandinavian origin. Secondly; A surprising number of common verbs from the Scandinavian language abounds in English, as ‘bait’, ‘bask’, ‘call’, ‘die’, ‘get’, ‘rid’ etc. The present plural form ‘are’ owes its existence to the Scandinavian influence. Thirdly; The rule about the use of ‘will’ and ‘shall’ is formed mainly under the Scandinavian influence. Fourthly; The adverbs ‘aloft’, ‘aye (ever)’, ‘hence’, ‘thence’, ‘whence’ are all derived from the Scandinavian language. Fifthly; The prepositions ‘to’ and ‘fro’ used together in the phrase ‘to and fro’ are from the Scandinavian. Sixthly; Relative clauses without any pronoun were very rare in Old English. But in Middle English, due to the Scandinavian influence, the use of relative clauses, without any pronoun was very common, such