Danish Loanwords in North Frisian

Version 1.0; Updated: 26.03.2023; Author: Edward Smith

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Abbreviations used: cont. = continental North Frisian; dial. = dialectal; Fer. = Fering; Jut. = Jutlandic; MLG = Middle Low German; OD = Old Danish; ON = Old Norse

Opening Remarks/Historical Background

According to Sjölin (1998, p.71) the North Frisian-Jutlandic language contact dates back to the 1000s AD, and for some time among the population on the North Frisian moraine regions where the languages interfaced functional diglossia must have been the norm. From this period, and from later times, a substantial number of words from medieval Jutlandic entered the North Frisian dialects. In later times, some words from Standard Danish have also been loaned. But it is mainly with the earlier loans from what was Jutlandic that this article is concerned.

This East Norse lexical element has been noted by language researchers since the beginnings of serious North Frisian language research in the 1800s. Most North Frisian words resemble those of German or Dutch, but a sizeable minority are clearly East Norse via Danish. Indeed, loans from the neighbouring Jutlandic to the north are numerous enough that they have even contributed to making North Frisian incomprehensible to speakers of West Frisian. Words of East Norse origin are, in fact, common in all North Frisian dialects except Heligolandic. North Frisian really distinguishes itself from East and West Frisian in this regard, and this point is made over and again in the literature I read for this article. As Århammar notes (2001, p.314):

“Die Eigenart des Nordfriesischen im Vergleich mit dem Ost- und Westfriesischen ist weitestgehend das Ergebnis des nordfriesisch-dänischen Sprachkontakts.”

In a seminal earlier article (1966), the same author even compares this Scandinavian element to the Scandinavian element in English in terms of significance, and notes, too, that this element not only differentiates North Frisian from other varieties of Frisian but from other, continental Germanic languages as well:

“Zur Eigenart des Nordfriesischen gegenüber den anderen kontinentalgermanischen Sprachen trägt in erster Linie das nordische oder dänische Element bei, das sich in ähnlicher Stärke sonst nur im Englischen findet.” (p.302)

He goes on to point out that there is hardly another dialect group within Germanic that combines in such a small space such a complex – and for the etymologist, word geographer and loanword researcher – such a fruitful vocabulary as North Frisian (p.302).

Sjölin (1969, p.43) makes a similar point. Århammar points out that unlike in English, the Danish element has remained active into modern times and is “langtfra udtømmende udforsket” (1992, p.46). Its influence is felt especially in the areas of vocabulary and phraseology. Owing to this distinctive Nordic lexical element Wilts (2001) makes the following observation:

“Wohl auf Grund der räumlichen Nähe des Nordfriesischen zum skandinavischen Sprachraum sind es neben den deutschen vor allem skandinavische Germanisten, die sich für das Nordfriesische interessieren.” (p.22)

Prominent (and prolific) Frisian scholars Nils Århammar and Bo Sjölin, both Swedes, are clear examples of this. Wilts (2001) also notes the Nordic element helps differentiate North Frisian from its Standard German neighbour to the south:

“Ein besonderes Interesse der nordfriesischen Lexikologie gilt der Lehnwortforschung. Von Bedeutung sind vor allem die Entlehnungen aus dem Nordischen, da sie dem Nordfriesischen gegenüber dem Deutschen ein unverwechselbares eigenes Gepräge geben.” (p.26)

This observation is pertinent when one considers the now huge influence that Standard German is exerting on North Frisian and indeed has been doing for some time.

This small article is not the place to enter into a wide-ranging discussion of prehistoric North Frisian history. However, Århammar (1992) usefully summarises the situation regarding the early settlement of what became the North Frisian-settled regions during the Middle Ages. He describes how North Frisian owes its existence to two primary waves of Frisian immigration from the south to the Schleswig west coast. The first occurred already in the 7–8th centuries and affected mainly Sylt, Föhr-Amrum, Heligoland, as well as the more elevated parts of the Ejdersted peninsula, plus presumably some parts of the continent. The second, later wave in the 10th century colonised further parts of the continent and the Halligen. Sjölin (1969, p.43) notes that the oldest layer of the Danish loanwords is presumably explained by the assimilation of the Jutish population by the incoming Frisian settlers. All loanwords irrespective of their antiquity have undergone early Frisian sound changes. Sadly, owing to the complete lack of medieval texts in North Frisian, it is not possible to precisely date any of them. As no Middle Ages texts in North Frisian exist and any extensive corpus of words only exists since the 18th and 19th centuries, Århammar (1966, p.303) reckons a significant number of Danish loans must have been lost down the ages.

Although researchers seem to have at the present time only a fairly sketchy idea of the prehistoric settlement of North Friesland, Århammar (1992, p.47) is able to make the following remarks about the dual waves of early settlement:

“Den dybtgående spaltning i ø- og fastlandsnordfrisisk…gør det imidlertid sandsynligt, at den tidlige marksbosættelse enten er gået til grunde, da havet atter steg, eller at de første invandrere er oppgået i og sprogligt er blevet assimilert af den stærke anden invandringsbølge i 1000-tallet.”

In general, North Frisian and Jutlandic to the north appear to have peacefully co-existed for centuries. Historically seen, the Frisian-Danish language contact has occurred roughly as follows until more modern times (after Walker, 1997, p.1782):

1) The settlement of the moraine islands led to an assimilation of the Jutes who had migrated there not long before;

2) After the settlement of the continent, the Frisian language area was into the 20th century bordered by Jutlandic dialects;

3) In the Middle Ages, Danish was to an extent the language of administration and cultured life in North Friesland, until this function was replaced by Middle Low German (however, note that although Danish was the lingua franca and administrative language of the entire region during the early Middle Ages, as Sjölin (1987, p.36) remarks: “Zu keiner Zeit hat das Dänische eine Bedrohung des Friesischen dargestellt.”)

More on the Linguistic Situation

Word geography is the primary criterion for determining Danish loans in North Frisian, according to Århammar (1966, p.303). We are generally on safe ground claiming Nordic origins for words in North Frisian which exist in Scandinavian, but which are absent in West Germanic elsewhere. The Jutlandic influence is most visible in the north of the North Frisian language area and reduces in force as you progress southward. This may have to do with a displacement later by Low German.

Sjölin (1998, p.71) notes that the loans from Danish are most common in the continental North Frisian dialects, but the majority (roughly 70 %) are also to be found in the dialects of Föhr and Sylt.

The Danish loans in the North Frisian dialects cover a wide spectrum of human experience (though Sjölin (1998, p.71) notes that they are – as to be expected – “…vornehmlich aus den Bereichen des bäuerlichen Lebens.”). Århammar (1966, p.304) further points out that the two ethnic groups, Danish and Frisian, are relatively close to each other and what we are likely dealing with originally was two languages of roughly equal cultural status. But the Frisians were numerically in the majority.

Århammar (1992, p.54) reckons to have provisionally arrived at 300–400 more or less certain Danish loans, including loan translations, as well as “relict words”, which have been preserved thanks to what he calls Danish “lexical support”. Around 200 of these words have survived only in (one of) the island dialects (especially on Sylt or Föhr-Amrum), or in one or more of the continental dialects. Of the remaining 150–200 words, which thus have the greatest extent, Århammar offers a representative sample of over 80 loans (including loan translations) and 30 of what he calls “støttede reliktord”. Note that some of the island loans may have been mediated via continental North Frisian.

The majority of the loans listed by Århammar go into the categories person/body/clothes, domestic, house and farm, and agriculture. The great number of loans must be functionally motivated in some way or another. I have attempted to make my own categories for the words considered by this article as provided below.

Århammar also discusses what he terms the “lexical support” of these loans. So, words which are long extinct in West Germanic outside of the influence area of the Danish language, which implies that these words were influenced by the Danish forms. Two examples are ial “fire” and knif “knife”, which beat native Old Frisian competitors fiur and sax thanks to the former words existing in Danish. To oust the core words Århammar is proposing very strong Danish “support”.

In his 1966 seminal article, Århammar explains some loans as stemming from a need for greater expressivity, whereas others filled gaps in the lexicon (p.306). To the former, he assigns treet “tired” and detheer “this” to give their Fering forms, to the latter em “sensitive, painful to the touch” and sesken “sibling” to give the Wiedingharder forms. Fu “get, receive” exists in the dialects and is an example of a total change in meaning, as it had an older meaning of “catch” in North Frisian (p.307).

In his much later article from 2001, Århammar counts among older loans: Fer. skaas and cont. skiis “spoon”; Fer. jul, cont. jül; Fer. kriak, cont. krååge “crow”; Fer. taft.

In some cases, cont. North Frisian has preserved the native word or loaned a Danish word more recently: Fer. fliating (loan or supported relic) cf. cont. native word ruume; Fer. sjürt “man’s shirt” cf. cont. särk, both loans from Old Danish or supported relics.

The core vocabulary of North Frisian has been affected by loan translations and lexical support. Århammar lists many examples on p.316 of the above-mentioned article.

As older loans whose forms betray them as such, Walker also mentions the following: bradlep, doord, gris, jül and lii.

Danish influence also extends to idioms and syntactic features. Remarkable is that North Frisian has partly undergone the Danish sound development with the characteristic weakening of p/t/k between vowels to a varying extent in the different dialects. OFris. hopia, wita, baka (hope, know, bake) (Dan. håbe, vide and bage) are in Fering hööbe, wed and baag, and in Mooring hoowe, waase and bååge. Sylter Frisian and Heligolandic are not party to this development.

Integrated words of Danish or Jutlandic origin of presumably younger date exist in all the dialects, however, most commonly in the northern continental dialects, especially in the dialect of the Wiedingharde, where until recently German-Danish-Frisian triglossia was the norm.

On p.73 of his 1998 article, Sjölin lists as more recent loans to Wiedingharder, among others:

bliant; bröie; nääm; peekfänger; pjat; säär; skou; snaus; stoole (ääw) – these words (plus others) appear in greater detail in the wordlists section below.

In the immediate North Frisian-Danish contact zone on Sylt and on the northern continent there is a younger layer of Jutlandic interference, especially in the Wiedingharder dialect. A number of these words are listed on p.318 of the chapter by Århammar (2001). Walker (1997) mentions gääsling as a more recent loan.

The present article is mainly interested in loans into North Frisian from Danish of earlier times. In more recent times, however, Standard Danish loans have been incorporated as a conscious element of the expansion of the North Frisian vocabulary. In order to avoid a preponderance of High German models in the creation of new words, some Danish models have been preferred, e.g. foriining (forening), grünleede (grundlægge). In the post-war expansion of Mooring to a continental standard, the Foriining for nationale Friiske (as now known) used a number of loan translations, etc. based on Danish models; aside from the two examples I already have provided are foormoon “chairman” (formand) and mötjseeting “opposite” (modsætning). Århammar (1988) offers further examples.

NB: This article is mainly concerned with the key representative dialects of the mainland (Mooring) and the islands (Fering), however, some attention has been paid to the in this perspective important Wiedingharder dialect, as this most closely borders on the loan-giving region. Note the comments made by Walker (1990, pp.412–13) in regard to the situation on Heligoland:

“Helgoland ist viel stärker dem niederdeutschen Einfluß ausgesetzt gewesen, während die Inselmundarten Sylt, Föhr, Amrum, und die nördlichen Festlandsmundarten mehr durch das Dänische beeinflußt worden sind.”

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My categorisation of Danish loans in North Frisian life

(Modern Standard Danish forms (unless specified) representing loans in Mooring and Fering):

Society and tradition

adjø; barn; bo; bryllup; dreng; farvel; fornærme; jul; pjat; prøve; rose; sladre; sveipa (ON); søskende; tirsdag; torsdag; trold; ven; venlig; vie; værsågod

Person/body/clothing

ble; byld; kirtel; krop; lænke; pegefinger; rav; skrappe (Jut.); tåre; uld; værk

Household

blyant; dagorth (OD); fad; fløde; høgindi (ON); jæst (Jut.); kage; kniv; natwarth (OD); påse; ske; skind; skjorte; stege; vindeng (Jut.); vugge; æske

House and yard/village life

bro; bygge; flytte; gyde; ild; jern; klippe; køre; leje; loft; syssel; tjære; trappe; to

Agriculture

aks; eykr (ON); gris; grønsager; hyrde; kaste; kjuklingr (ON); kvie; nød; rod; toft (OD); årt (Jut.)

Flora and fauna

bi; gedde; gæsling; hjort; krage; myre; orne; ræv; stjært; tidsel; ulv

Natural features/weather

kiar (OD); lund; skov; vång (Jut.)

Miscellaneous

af; af sted; aka (ON); beiskr (ON); broget; bryde (sig om); det her; ej; få; gavn; gul; klar; kræve; lidt; lunken; løfte; mange; mål; nem; ringe; rive; sej; skære; smuk; snavs; spilde; spå; stole (på); svare; sær; trives; træt; øm

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The Wordlists (= many of the more conspicuous or interesting proven loans from Danish)

1) Danish loans extant in Mooring and/or Fering

DANISH	MOORING	FERING	MOOR/FER MEANING	GERMAN
< gøde “to spread manure”	gäi	ged	manure	Dünger
< vante “to lack” (OD)	--	waant	lack, want	Mangel
adjø	adiis	adjis	goodbye, adieu	Tschüss
af	ouf	uf	off, from	ab
af sted	oufstää	ufsteed	underway, out	unterwegs
aks	--	aaks	ear, spike	Ähre
barn	bjarn	biarn (only found in older works)	child	Kind
ble (dial.) “sheet”, ble “nappy”	bleech	bleech	bed sheet	Bettlaken
blyant	blijant	blijant	pencil	Bleistift
bo	booge	--	to live	wohnen
bro	bru	--	bridge	Brücke
broget	bröket	bruket	multi-coloured	bunt
bryllup	--	bradlep	wedding	Hochzeit
bygge	bäge	bau, bag	to build	bauen
byld	boole	bool	boil, abscess	Geschwür
dagorth (OD)	doord	doord	breakfast	Frühstück
det her	dåtheer	detheer	this	dieser
dreng	dring	dring	youth, boy	Junge
ej	ai	ei	not	nicht
fad	fåt	--	bowl	Schüssel
farvel	fårwälj	--	goodbye	Tschüss
flytte	fleete	flat “to move off”	to relocate	umziehen
fløde	--	fliating	cream	Sahne
få	füünj	fu	to get, to receive	bekommen, erhalten
gavn	gåågen	--	use	Nutzen
gedde	geed	--	pike (fish)	Hecht
gris	gris	gris	piglet	Ferkel
grønsager	gräinsååge	--	vegetables	Gemüse
gul	gööl	güül	yellow	gelb
gyde	giitje	jit	to pour	gießen
hyrde	jörder	hörd	shepherd	Hirte
høgindi (ON)	häigen	hegen	pillow	Kissen
ild	iilj	ial	flame, fire	Feuer
jul	jül	jul	Christmas	Weihnachten
kage	kååg	kaag	white bread	Weißbrot
kirtel	kjarling, kjörtel	karel	gland	Drüse
klar	klåår	klaar	ready, done	fertig
klippe	klape	klap	to cut with scissors	schneiden
kniv	knif	knif	knife	Messer
krage	krååg	kriik	crow	Krähe
krop	kroop	kroop	body	Körper
kræve	krååwe	kraawe	to exhort	mahnen
kvie	kweeg	kwiig	heifer	Färse
køre	kääre	keer	to drive	fahren
leje	liie	lii “to hire s-one”	to rent	mieten
lidt	latj	letj	small	klein
loft	looft	--	attic	Dachboden
lund	lünj	--	grove	Hain
lænke	lånk	leenk	chain	Kette
løfte	leefte	laft	to lift, to raise	heben
mange	maning	maning	many	viele
myre	--	miir	ant	Ameise
mål	müülj	mual	goal	Ziel
natwarth (OD)	nåchtert	naachtert	supper	Abendbrot
næb (or poss. from MLG nebbe)	neeb	neeb	beak	Schnabel
nød (dial.) “livestock”	nüütj	nuat	cow	Kuh
orne	oorne	ooren	boar	Eber
pegefinger	prakfainger	porefanger	index finger	Zeigefinger
påse	poose	pöös	bag	kleiner Sack
rav	reef	rääf	amber	Bernstein
ringe	ringe	ring	to sound, to ring	läuten
rive	riwe	riiw	to rip, to tear	reißen
rod	rötj	rut	root	Wurzel
ræv	reef	--	fox	Fuchs
ske	schiis	skaas	spoon	Löffel
skind	schan	skan	skin, fur	Fell
skjorte	--	schört	men’s shirt	Männerhemd
skrappe (Jut.) “travel bag”	schruk	skreep	pocket	Tasche
skære	scheere	skeer	to cut with a knife	schneiden mit dem Messer
sladre	slåådere	sladre	to gossip	klatschen
smuk	smuk	smok	pretty	hübsch
spilde	spile	spilj	to spill	verschütten
spå	spuie	spuai	to predict the future	wahrsagen
stege	stäke	stiike	to roast	rösten
stjært	stjart	stört	tail	Schwanz
svare	swååre	swaare	to answer	antworten
sveipa (ON)	swiipe	--	to change a nappy	wickeln
sær	sär	--	peculiar	eigentümlich
søskende	süschene	--	siblings	Geschwister
tidsel	tisel	fisel	thistle	Distel
tirsdag	täisdi	teisdai	Tuesday	Dienstag
tjære	tjååre	tjaar	tar	Teer
to	tüünj	tau	to wash	waschen
toft “plot of land” (OD)	tuft	taft	enclosure for grazing	“Stück Grasland”
torsdag	törsdi	tüürsdai	Thursday	Donnerstag
trives	triwe	triiw	to thrive	gedeihen
trold	trool “devil”	trool	witch	Hexe
træt	trååt	treet	tired	müde
tåre	tuur	tuar	tear	Träne
uld	ul	ol	wool	Wolle
ven	waane	--	friend	Freund
venlig	wanlik	wenelk	friendly	freundlich
vie	waie	wei	to get married in church	kirchlich trauen
vindeng (Jut.)	waning	wöning	window	Fenster
vugge	wåg	waag	cradle	Wiege
værk	wårk	wark	pain	Schmerz
værsågod	wees sü gödj	wees so gud	here you go, please	bitte
æske	eesch	eesk	box	Schachtel
øm	äim	em	sensitive, painful	empfindlich, schmerzend
årt (Jut.)	årt	eert	pea	Erbse

2) Danish loans extant in Wiedingharder also extant in Mooring and/or Fering

WIED	DAN (OD/ON)	MOORING	FERING	MOOR/FER MEANING	GERMAN
aage	aka (ON)	ååge “go leisurely by horse and cart”	aage “go by horse and cart”	<<	(mit)fahren
bliant	blyant	blijant	blijant	pencil	Bleistift
bäi	bi	bi	--	bee	Biene
bäisk	beiskr (ON)	bäisch	bääsk	bitter	bitter
eek	eykr (ON)	äkj	--	mare	Stute
gääsling	gæsling	gääsling	--	gosling	Gänseküken
joorn	jern	joorn	--	iron	Eisen
jort	hjort	jört	--	stag	Hirsch
jäst	jæst (Jut.)	jüst	--	yeast	Hefe
nääm	nem	nääm	--	convenient, easy	leicht, bequem
peekfänger	pegefinger	prakfäinger	porefanger	index finger	Zeigefinger
pjat	pjat “nonsense”	pjåt	patjerei	gossip, chatter	Geschwätz
preewe	prøve	präiwe	preewe	try, test	versuchen, probieren
seech	sej (ON seigr)	säich	--	tough	zäh
snaus	snavs “rotten, bad”	snausi	--	nasty, unclean	unsauber, eklig
süükling	kjuklingr (ON)	schükling	--	chick	Küken
süüsel	syssel “occupation; chore”	schüsel	--	domestic work	häusliche Arbeit
säär	sær	säär	--	peculiar	eigentümlich
trap	trappe	treep	treep	stairs	Treppe
ülew	ulv	ulew	wulew	wolf	Wolf
wong	vång (Jut.)	wång	--	field, plain	Schlag Land

3) Danish loans extant in Wiedingharder

WIED	DAN	MOORING	FERING	WIED MEANING	GERMAN
bröie	bryde (sig om) “to like, to pay attention to”, etc.	--	--	to take care of something	sich um etw kümmern
fornärme	fornærme	--	--	to insult	beleidigen
koaste	kaste	--	--	to winnow	worfeln
lonk	lunken	--	--	lukewarm	lauwarm
roose	rose	--	--	to praise	loben
skou	skov	--	--	forest	Wald
stoole (ääw)	stole (på)	--	--	to rely on	sich auf etw verlassen
tjoar	kiar (OD)	--	--	bog, marsh	Sumpf, Moor

**

Bibliography:

1) Articles/primary source material:

Århammar, N.: “Nordische Lehnwörter und lexikalische Stützung im Nordfriesischen”. In Nordfriesisches Jahrbuch 2, 1966. Pp.302–316.

Århammar, N.: “Zum lexikalischen Ausbau des Nordfriesischen vom 16. Jahrhundert bis zur Gegenwart”. In: H. H. Munske et al. (ed.): Deutscher Wortschatz. Lexikologische Studien. Festschrift für Ludwig Erich Schmitt zum 80. Geburtstag. Berlin/New York, 1988. Pp.687–726.

Århammar, N.: “Om danske låneord i nordfrisisk og deres betydning for jysk ord- og lydhistorie – med en ekskurs om nordfrisiske lån i jysk”. In: Ord & Sag 12 (1992). Pp.46–65.

Århammar, N.: “Das Nordfriesische im Sprachkontakt (unter Einschluß der nordfriesischen Lexikologie)”. In: Horst Haider Munske (ed.): Handbuch des Friesischen/Handbook of Frisian Studies. Tübingen 2001. Pp.313–353.

Hofmann, D.: “Probleme der nordfriesischen Dialektforschung”. In: Zeitschrift für Mundartforschung 24. Jahrg., H.2 (1956). Pp.78–112.

Sjölin, B.: “Das Nordfriesische”. In: Die Friesen und ihre Sprache (Nachbarn 32). Feitsma, A., Alberts, W. and Sjölin, B. Bonn, 1987. [No ISBN]. Pp.34–43.

Sjölin, B.: “Nordfriesische Lexikologie”. In: Us Wurk 47 (1998). Pp.67–106.

Walker, A.: “Nordfriesland als Sprachkontaktraum”. In: Kremer, Ludger/Niebaum, Hermann (eds.): Grenzdialekte. Studien zur Entwicklung kontinentalwestgermanischer Dialektkontinua (Germanistische Linguistik, 101–103). Hildesheim/Zürich/New York, 1990. Pp.407–426.

Walker, A. “Danisch-Nordfriesisch”. In: Goebl, H., Nelde, P., Zdeněk, S. and Wölck, W. (eds.): Kontaktlinguistik: Ein internationales Handbuch zeitgenössischer Forschung, 2. Halbband, Berlin/New York 1997. Pp.1782–1786.

Wilts, O.: “Dänisch, Nordfriesisch, Hoch- und Niederdeutsch in Schleswig-Holstein”. In: P.S. Ureland (ed.), Sprachkontakte im Nordseegebiet, Tübingen, 1978. Pp.149–166.

Wilts, O. “Nordfriesische Philologie und Linguistik”. In: Horst Haider Munske (ed.): Handbuch des Friesischen/Handbook of Frisian Studies. Tübingen 2001. Pp.22–32.

2) Reference works consulted

Basiswörterbuch Deutsch-Friesisch (Mooringer Mundart). Wilts, O. & Hamann, I. (eds.). Kiel: Nordfriesische Wörterbuchstelle, 2000. ISBN: 3-9807110-0-5.

Einführung in das Friesische. Sjölin, B. (Sammlung Metzler M86). Stuttgart: J. B. Metzlersche Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1969.

Frasch-Tjüsch-Dånsch Uurdebök. Tams Jörgensen, V. (Nordfriisk Instituut Nr. 37). Bredstedt: Verlag Nordfriisk Instituut, 3. aplååge, 1991. ISBN: 3-88007-064-4.

Snaak friisk!: interfriisk leksikon Deutsch/Dansk/Mooring/Fehring-Öömrang/Sölring/Halunder/Frysk/English. Tams Jörgensen, V. (Nordfriisk Instituut Nr. 36). Bredstedt: Verlag Nordfriisk Instituut, 2. veränderte Auflage, 1981. ISBN: 3-88007-215-9.

Wurdenbuk för Feer an Oomram. Friesisches Wörterbuch. Wilts, O. (ed.). Amrum: Verlag Jens Quedens, 1986. ISBN: 978-3-924422-11-0.

Wurdenbuk tjiisk-fering/Wörterbuch Deutsch-Föhrer Friesisch. Wilts, O. (ed.). Amrum: Verlag Jens Quedens, 2011. ISBN: 978-3-924422-71-4.

© Edward Smith 2023.

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