The Vikings, who were also called Northmen or Norsemen, raided the coast of Europe and the British Isles from 790 to 1,000. Besides plundering, they established settlements in Britain and France. Many of their words are now part of our everyday vocabulary.
If one of our words starts with "sk", chances are it is of Old Norse origin.
Sky, which in Old Norse, means cloud, came into English in the Middle English (1100-1400) period, replacing the Old English or Anglo-saxon (600-1100) word sceo meaning cloud. In Middle English sky meant cloud first and the sky second, while cloud, derived from Old English clud meant rock, hill, and cloud in that order. It has been only since 1400 that sky meant sky and cloud cloud.
Skirt is Middle English from Old Norse skyrta meaning a shirt or kirtle, which was a tunic or coat worn especially by men in the Middles Ages. Shirt on the other hand is from Middle English shirte going back to Old English scyrte, which is kin to but not derived from the Old Norse skyrta.
Skeet or skeet shooting is a modification of Old Norse skjota meaning to shoot. Skeet is to shoot, the same as skirt is to shirt above. Shoot is derived from Middle English sheten, shoten, skuten, from Old English sceotan,which is kin to but not derived from Old Norse skjota.
As seen the "sk" sound in Old English became "sh" in middle English to give us the current words shirt and shoot. However in the scandinavian languages the "sk" sound did not change. It is not surprising then when we learn that shoe is sko in Danish, Norwegian and Swedish, and ship is skib in Danish, skip in Norwegian and skepp in Swedish.
Our word ship is derived from Middle English schip,ship, going back to Old English scip. It is kin to, or in dictionary phraseology, akin to Old Norse skip, but not derived from it.
This site is under condtruction. Words to follow will include, skill, ski, and score.
Old Norse Links
