I don't have a specific number, but the Norse influence IS substantial. A word as common as "sky", for instance, is Norse. Town names ending in "ham" shew the Norse influence (if you'll notice, they predominate in origin in the North of England, the area that was controlled by the "Danes"). Another curiosity came to mind just the other day, when I was reading an internet article that stated that modern English has 161 strong verbs, and that all are of Old English ("Anglo-Saxon" if you prefer) origin. The author had either forgotten, or never knew, that "take, took, taken" is from over from Norse, and replaced in common usage "nim, nam, nomen" (a verb still found in most dictionaries, but seldom used by anyone these days, and in at least one dictionary has been reduced to a weak verb "nim, nimmed, nimmed" -- I wonder whether nim was included amongst the 161 [since they weren't specified]).

Erek Gass

--- "William Calhoun" <kubrick36@...> wrote:
I agree. English is for the most part West Germanic and we do have a ton of
words from Old French but English also has a surprising number of Norse
words as well. I would just like to know that number.
-William

>From: "xigung" <xigung@...>
>Reply-To: norse_course@yahoogroups.com
>To: norse_course@yahoogroups.com
>Subject: [norse_course] Re: Old Norse in English
>Date: Tue, 13 Jan 2004 17:26:46 -0000
>
>--- In norse_course@yahoogroups.com, "William Calhoun"
><kubrick36@...> wrote:
> >
> > Sorry if my original question was a bit ambiguous. I meant: How
>much of
> > common English is rooted in Old Norse. It would be a bit foolish to
>search
> > all scientific names which are conventionally composed of Latin or
>Greek
> > parts. Rather, in everyday English, the Old Norse word is often the
> > preferred word in speech: we say 'die' rather than 'expire,' 'raise'
>rather
> > than 'elevate,' and 'narwhal' rather than 'Monodon monoceros.'
>Thank you
> > very much for your help. I always appreciate your input.
> > -William Calhoun
>
>
>
>I recall word counts in Jan de Vries' dictionary,
>that ought to give a good idea of approximate
>percentages. (though the counts may go the wrong
>way, I am not sure right now)
>To 'raise' from Old norse? Perhaps. But it is also
>a more general Germanic word. For example OHG risan,
>or Gothic ur-reisan.
>Also 'finger' was mentioned. But finger is also in
>all the West-Germanic dialects that I know of.
>(English being one of them) Also in Gothic figgrs.
>'Knife' might make a case more clear cut, since
>German has 'Messer' here. But Webster's list
>'knif' also as Middle Low German, and does not
>mention it as being from Norse. (OE cnif)
>Personally, I only know very few clear cut examples.
>One seems to be 'to cast'.
>
>My impression is that English is mostly West Germanic
>with a lot of French loans.
>
>Xigung
>
>
>
>
>
>
> > _________________________________________________________________
> > Find out everything you need to know about Las Vegas here for that
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