The Barns Were Laiking near the Beck : A Study of Old Norse Origins in Colloquial English

• Main Author: Gustafsson, Ida
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: Högskolan i Halmstad, Sektionen för humaniora (HUM) 2013
• Subjects: Language History; Colloquial English; Old Norse; Old English; Philology; Vikings; General Language Studies and Linguistics; Jämförande språkvetenskap och allmän lingvistik
• Online Access: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hh:diva-21329

This is a small quantitative study with focus on colloquial English words with an Old Norse origin. The essay aims to study the history of the Viking invasion and its impact on the English language and to answer the question to what extent Old Norse has influenced modern English vocabulary. Also, the quantitative study aims to answer how well elderly British people are familiar with colloquial English words with Old Norse origins and their denotative meaning and also whether there is a difference in knowledge depending on where in Britain one lives. A quantitative questionnaire was designed to research elderly British people’s knowledge of fifteen different colloquial words with Old Norse origins and to see whether the respondents recognized the words and if they knew the words. This questionnaire was then sent to managers working for AgeUK. The managers in their turn distributed the questionnaire to elderly people in their municipality. The results indicate that the elderly people living in parts of Britain that were part of the Danelaw have a better understanding of the words researched. The research has also shown that different spellings of the words exist and that the denotative meaning of the words might differ depending on from where in Britain one originates.