Old Norse: the language of the Vikings. They raided and traded all the way from Canada to Turkey, but what did they sound like? A little bit more like us than you probably thought. A lot of English words were borrowed directly from the Vikings, and others come from Proto-Germanic, but in terms of vocabulary, Old Norse and Modern English have some surprising similarities.

1. The word bane has come to be fairly archaic in English, used mainly in frozen expressions like “the bane of my existence.” But it has a long history; it’s related to the Old Norse word bana, which means “to kill.” It can also be used as a noun, which means “death”—a bit closer to the modern English meaning of the word.

2. I’m sure you’ve egged somebody on before, but why in the world does that phrase make sense? And what does it have to do with eggs? It actually comes from the Old Norse word eggja, which means “to incite.” It was just a coincidence that the words sounded alike, but now most people assume the phrase is related to the word “egg.”

3. People have been trying to eke out a living since the beginning. The word is related to Old Norse auka, which means “to increase.” But this word goes even further back: it comes from Proto-Indo-European, so it’s related to the Latin word “augeo” from which we get augment, and it’s also related to the word “wax,” as in a waxing—or growing—moon. Who knew eke, wax, and augment were all from the same place?

4. Ever wondered why holding fast has nothing to do with speed? Well, in Old Norse, the word fast meant “firm” or “firmly.” It makes sense, because holding firmly feels much more reasonable than holding quickly.

5. You’ve probably heard of both husbands and husbandry, and if you’re like me, you wondered what they have to do with each other. They come from a combination of two Old Norse words: hús, which means “house,” and bóndi, which means “farmer” or “resident.” So originally, húsbóndi meant the farmer of the house. The term usually referred to the “man of the house,” which would usually be the husband. But the older, more generic sense survives today, which is why animal husbandry doesn’t involve marriage.

6. You may have spent time searching for a kindred spirit, but have you ever wondered where that word came from? It’s related to “kin,” which means family. It comes from Old Norse kyn, which means “type” or “family.” Also akin to kindred is “kind” (as in mankind).

Fun fact: in “Sixteen Going on Seventeen” Liesl doesn’t say “things beyond my kin”—the word she uses is “ken,” which means “knowledge” and comes from German.

7. The word meager is a good old Germanic word. It’s related to the Old Norse word magr, which means “thin.” Almost the same word is used in German, Dutch, and the Scandinavian languages; more distantly related are Latin “macer” and Old French “maigre.” So when the Normans took over England in 1066, there was at least one thing they could agree on.

8. Some of you probably know that one of the lines in the Apostles’ Creed can be translated “He shall come to judge the quick and the dead.” That doesn’t mean He’ll only judge sprinters; quick in this sense means “living,” and comes from Old Norse kvikr, meaning “alive.”

9. I like to write, but I think it would be even cooler to rísta, which is the Old Norse word from which writing originated. While writing today is usually with a pencil, pen, or keyboard, “rísta” meant to carve runes. We don’t use runes anymore, but runes were so important to early English speakers that the meaning of rísta broadened to all kinds of writing.

10. I hope you found this article worth reading. Worth is related to the Old Norse word verð, which means “price.” Lucky for you, you didn’t have to pay anything but time to find that out. Unless you’re reading this on your phone and you’re over your data limit, that is.

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Sources: Viking Language 1 by Jesse Byock; my Old Norse class; Wiktionary