Some more words

  Elf and Troll

"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.

 

Cake

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.

 

Freckle

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...

 

Husband

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.

 

Knife

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.

Some words from the Vikings

The Vikings didn't only bring tools, trade and violence to Britain over 1,000 years ago - they also brought language and The Local has collected the ten most common English words with "Swedish" roots. Sourse: Thelocal.se

Ugly

When the Vikings felt like insulting one another, there’s a fair chance they would use the word uggligr… stemming from the word ugga – to fear. If a Viking wasn’t fearsome enough, an ugly one would have been enough to make you choke on your mead. Pictured is what may be considered to be an ugly duckling.

Window

Literally translated, a window is a wind-eye according to Old Norse. It stems from vindauga, where vind means wind and auga is eye.

Thursday

Thursday is the weekly event mentioned in the story - did you guess it? The word Thursday stems from Thor's Day, who was the Norse god of Thunder. This one dates way back to the 12th century, from Old Norse thōrsdagr.

Viking

If there was ever a word we could guarantee came from the Vikings it would have to be the word Viking. The word comes from the Old norse: vīkingr - with one theory suggesting it stems from the phrasal verb fara í víking "to go on an expedition"

Swedish surnames

Swedish Names

The patronymic naming system was used up to the end of the 19th century.  90 and 95% of the population used the patronymic naming system. Every child was eighter the son of or the daughter of the father. If the father’s name was Anders Eriksson, his son’s name might be Lars Andersson. Anders son = son of Anders. The daughter might that way be named Kersti Andersdotter, Anders dotter= Daughter of Anders. When she was married, she did not adopt her husband’s name, but kept her patronymic.

Surnames or family names were used by the nobility, the clergy. The nobility had special noble name often used with a prefix as af, von or de. Less than 1% of the population was nobility.
Many of the clergy took names with Greek or Latin endings such as "ander" or "ius" often in combination with the place the origin. Examples of names used by the clergy are Fallander and Morelius.

Soldiers and some townspeople adopted family names often from the nature. A military name could for example be associated with the place where the person served.These names usually would consist of two parts of nature such as Dalberg. Dal = valley and berg =mountain.
If the soldiers didn´t get a nature name they were  also very often given names that represented a personal quality like Rapp= quick, or Nöjd = satisfied  When leaving the military service, some soldiers did keep their military name while some returned to using their patronymic name.
When the emigrant moved to a new country, he or she often changed their name. If they emigrated to English speaking countries, the name was often Anglicized. Married women would adopt their husband’s surname. Examples of name changes are:

1. 1. Andersson Anderson (The double s becomes one s.)
2. 2. Bengtsson Benson, Bentson
3. 3. Johansson Johnson
4. 4. Sjöberg Seaberg or Seeberg

It is very important to understand that the name and spelling of a name for one individual can differ in the various records. It is important to compare birth dates and other family information to verify that you are tracing the correct person.

Source: Genline

 

The Swedish language

The swedish language have 29 letters and 3 of them are the Å Ä and Ö. If you want to listen to the alphabet try this link: http://sverigesradio.se/sida/artikel.aspx?programid=2054&artikel=2165159

When you learn the alphabet start with some phrases
Here comes a link to BBC where you can learn som useful frases: http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/other/quickfix/swedish.shtml