Many words with k sound before e and I, numerous words with sk sound are to be assigned to Scandinavian origin. Pronoun same and pronominal forms with initial th – they, their, them.

The borrowing of pronouns is the one case in which English has adopted pronouns from another language. The borrowing of pronouns proves most clearly the close interrelation of the Anglo-Saxon and Danish elements in early English.

A number of Scandinavian law-terms entered old English, but after the Norman conquest when the conquerors took the courts of justice into their own hands, they disappeared (except such as law, by-law, thrall and crave).

The same is true of Scandinavian words relating to naval warfare.

Old English words dead and death had the corresponding verbs steorfan and sweltan. It comes quite natural that the Scandinavian deya was more easily associated with the noun and adjective than were the old verbs and it was soon adopted in the form deyen (ME to die). The Old English sweltan grew out of use completely, while steorfan has come to mean starve.

There are words in the English vocabulary that exist side by side for a long time, sometimes for centuries, two slightly different forms for the same word, one the original English form and the other Scandinavian. In some cases both forms survive in standard speech, though they have developed slightly different meaning: whole – hale, rear – raise, from – fro, shirt – skirt, shot – scot, shirk – screak, true – trig (faithful, neat, tidy).

The Scandinavian element in Modern English amounts to 650 root – words. Old Norse was the language of the conquerors who were on the same level of social and cultural development and who merged rather easily with the local population. Scandinavian loan words denote objects and actions of the most commonplace description and do not represent any new set of ideas hitherto unknown to the people adopting them.

26French Borrowings in me.

It stands to reason that the Norman conquest and the subsequent history of the country left deep traces in the English language, mainly in the form of borrowings in words connected with such spheres of social and political activity where French-speaking Normans had occupied for a long time all places of importance.

For example:

Government and legislative

Government, noble, baron, prince, duke, court, justice, judge, crime, prison, etc.

Military life

Army, battle, peace, banner, victory, general, colonel, lieutenant, major …

Religion

Religion, sermon, prey, saint

City crafts

Painter, tailor, carpenter

Words of everyday life

Air, place, river, large, age, boil, branch, brush, catch, chain,

Relationship

Aunt, uncle, cousin

The place of the French borrowings within the English language was different:

1. A word may be borrowed from the French language to denote notions unknown to the English up to the time: government, parliament, general etc.

2. The English synonym is ousted by the French borrowing.

3. Both the words are preserved, but they area stylistically different.

4. Sometimes the English language borrowed many words with the same word-building affix. The meaning of the affix in this case became clear to the English-speaking people. It entered the system of word-building means of the English language, and they began to add it to English words thus forming word-hybrids. For instance, the suffix –ment entered the language within such words as ‘government’, ‘parliament’ but later here appeared such English-French hybrids as fulfillment, amazement. The suffix –ance/-ence which was an element of such borrowed words as ‘innocence’, ‘ignorance’, ‘repentance’ now also forms word-hybrids such as hindrance.

5. One of the consequences of the borrowings from French was the appearance of ethymological doublets.

• from the Common Indo-European

• from the Common Germanic

• from Latin

6. Due to the great number of French borrowings there appeared in the English language such families of words, which though similar in their root meaning, are different in origin

7. There are calques on the French phrase.