In the ninth and tenth centuries the Vikings invaded Britain from Scandinavia and settled in large numbers. Their language, which we call Old Norse, was at least partly comprehensible to the English, who did not hesitate to take over hundreds of words from it: skirt, window, scrub, sky, give, hit, kick, scatter, scrape, skill, scowl, score, fellow, want, skin, knife, law, happy, ugly, wrong and even the pronouns they and them.
I recall that, the first time I met a Geordie speaker, it was some days before I could understand a single word he was saying. - Larry Trask
I recall that, the first time I met a Geordie speaker, it was some days before I could understand a single word he was saying.
- Larry Trask
Not long time ago there was a striking example of the extent to which English has diverged: a television company put out a programme filmed in the En… - Larry Trask
Not long time ago there was a striking example of the extent to which English has diverged: a television company put out a programme filmed in the En…
In the ninth and tenth centuries the Vikings invaded Britain from Scandinavia and settled in large numbers. Their language, which we call Old Norse, … - Larry Trask
In the ninth and tenth centuries the Vikings invaded Britain from Scandinavia and settled in large numbers. Their language, which we call Old Norse, …
The grammar of a language is simply the way it combines smaller elements (such as words) into larger elements (such as sentences). - Larry Trask
The grammar of a language is simply the way it combines smaller elements (such as words) into larger elements (such as sentences).
The likelihood is that any English-speaking skier has more words for different types of snow than any inhabitant of Alaska or Greenland. - Larry Trask
The likelihood is that any English-speaking skier has more words for different types of snow than any inhabitant of Alaska or Greenland.
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