"Elf" (alfr) and
"troll" are two more Norse words. Besides the Vikings, Scandinavia is
famed for its folklore and mythology – especially in Norway. You may be
thinking there's nothing so fearsome about the troll pictured above, but get
your teeth into some Norse lit and you may quickly change your mind.
Next time you blow out the
candles on your birthday cake, take the time to consider that if it wasn't for
Norse, it wouldn't be a "cake" and therefore wouldn't be a birthday
at all.
What was a young Viking child
if he wasn’t a freckly one? "Freckle" joins the club of Old Norse
words, this one stemming from freknōttr. You may have noticed that many of
these words feature the letter K - makes you hope the Vikings took full advantage
when it came to Viking Scrabble...
According to Old Norse,
husband means "householder" from hūsbōndi, where hūs is house + bōndi
means holder. Not sure what the modern, gender-aware Swedes would have to say
about this, but their predecessors were adamant that it was the man and the man
only who held the house.
Yes, the Scandinavians coined this word too. The knife
was an important part of Viking culture, and was often buried together with its
owner. Knives were used for hunting and combat. The modern Swedish word is
kniv.
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