Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Old English and Old Norse


Below are two columns of words from Old English (on the left) and Old Norse (on the right).  The rows have a pair of similar words, one taken from Old English, one from Old Norse.  The Norse and English words are included along with a simple definition.  Many of the Old English words have cognates to Old Norse words, and vice versa; they are both very closely related languages.  The origins of some of these words can be traced to Middle English, Old English, Old Norse, Old Frisian, etc... they all have pretty close associations with each other.


Old English                                            Old Norse
craft ---    cræft       "strength, skill"       skill ---    skil       "distinction, difference"
wish ---   wȳscan    "joy"                      want ---  vanta    "to lack"
rear ---     rǣran      "to raise"                raise ---   reisa    "to rise, to rear"
sick ---     sēoc                                       ill ---       illr        "ill, bad"
watch --- wæccan   "to be awake"        wake ---  vaka     "to rouse from sleeping"
he ---                                                 they ---    their     "they" replacing Old English 




Source: http://farm1.static.flickr.com/121/294811716_a4db39244e.jpg



Sources:
http://dictionary.reference.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Norse#Relationship_to_English

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