Thus, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle tells us that a ‘great heathen army’ took control of East Anglia in 865 and York in 866, and forayed into Mercia in 867. (2) From the middle of the ninth century the Scandinavians started to spend their winters on English soil, turning their attention to conquest and settlement rather than mere pillage. (1) From the end of the eighth century to the middle of the ninth century, the Scandinavian marauders were interested mainly in hit-and-run attacks (a ‘summer holiday’ activity, as it were). Instead, the impact of Viking activities in England can to be divided into three phases: Yet, it would be too simplistic to see the activities of the Scandinavians as being simply led by a seasonal interest in plunder. Very soon, though, the Anglo-Saxons became well-acquainted with these newcomers and their practices. The terms that we are interested in are those that were borrowed as a result of linguistic contacts between speakers of Old English, the language spoken by the Anglo-Saxons, and Old Norse, the language spoken by the Scandinavians during the Viking Age.Īccording to The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, one of the most important historical documents that we have for Anglo-Saxon (and early Anglo-Norman) England, the first set of Scandinavian marauders came to British shores in 787, when they took the inhabitants of Dorset by surprise because they ‘did not know what they were’. When we look at the influence of Old Norse on English we need to leave aside Scandinavian terms that have been borrowed after the medieval period, such as Viking, berserk, fjord or ski. Norse Terms in English: A short Introduction
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