Root Language: Old Norse

Old Norse — the language of the Vikings — contributed over 2,000 words to English, most of them among the most common and basic in the language. Words like sky, egg, window, husband, knife, take, give, call, want, ugly, awkward, and happy all come from Old Norse. Unlike Latin and Greek, which entered English through scholarship and religion, Norse words entered through everyday contact between Viking settlers and the Anglo-Saxon population of northern England.