Mainland
Scandinavian: Loans from
Middle Low German
(Written: 2000; last updated: 24 Mar 2020)
(Deutsche Fassung: hier klicken!)
Color key to
the
words:
red
= Modern Swedish, Danish and
Norwegian;
blue
= Middle Low German (MLG=MLS
and/or MDu);
green
= Old West or East Norse words
displaced;
purple:
Middle Scandinavian words.
Other abbreviations:
arch. = archaic; dial.
=
dialectal; emLG = Early Modern Low
German; HG = High German; LG = Low German; Nyn.
= Nynorsk; ON = Old Norse; OSwed. = Old Swedish.
Introduction and
Orientation
Definition of terms:
Middle Low
German
(MLG)
Means scholars are not certain about whether a loan came from Middle
Low Saxon
(MLS) or Middle Dutch (MDu). MLG can therefore be taken to mean from
either, or
both.
Middle Low
Saxon (MLS)
Means the Low German dialects spoken in northern
Middle Dutch
(MDu)
Means the Low German varieties based upon Old Franconian forms spoken
by
traders from what is now the
Old Norse
(ON)
Is used here, rather than the Old- and Middle- Danish/Swedish forms
that were
actually replaced (unless stated), as instances of Old Norse are much
easier to
locate and state with certainty.
Modern Low
Saxon/Modern Low German (ModLS)
Means today's Low German dialects that have descended from Old Saxon
and are
used in Northern Germany and the
Modern Dutch
(Du)
Means today's Low Franconian dialects that are used in the Netherlands,
Belgium
("Flemish"), and France (Westhoeks Flemish), as well as in
protectorates and former colonies of the Netherlands, descended from
Old Low
Franconian.
Introduction:
The influence of Low Saxon and Dutch
on the Scandinavian
languages during the late medieval and early modern period was
profound. Some
commentators have compared it to the huge influence, both at the
lexical and
structural levels, that Norman French exerted on late Old English
following the
Norman Conquest. Indeed, this is the only parallel that can be found
from the
entire history of European languages! During the course of the medieval
period,
Danish for example borrowed more than 1500 new words, some of which
were loaned
from Latin, but the great majority came in from Middle Low German. (Not
only
were there direct loanwords but many loan translations in which the
flesh is
native, but the soul imported). The changes effected by Middle Low
German on
the Mainland Nordic languages were especially pronounced in the period
c.1300-1400, when the Hansa was at its peak. But MLG influence lasted
until
1550 (and to a lesser degree beyond), after which, High German became
became
the primary language in
“Fast auf
allen
Gebieten der Nordistik spürt oder ahnt man direkt oder indirekt das
niederdeutsche Substrat. In Skandinavien können wir an dem
Niederdeutschen nie
vorbeikommen”.
Another way to appreciate the
magnitude of the effect of MLG
on the Nordic languages is to consider what it gave to the societies of
the
speakers. In other words, its cultural impact. This inpact was
tremendous and
lasting, effectively dragging the Nordic countries into the mainstream
of
European cultural life. As H. Bach remarks about Danish (p.527):
“…eins steht
völlig
klar: die Einwirkung des mnd. war die wichtigste Voraussetzung für
die Einbeziehung des Dänischen in das gesamteuropäische Kulturmuster.”
A detailed discussion of the social,
historical, legal,
cultural and literary impact of MLG on the Nordic languages is beyond
the scope
of this article, but the interested reader can get a small taste of it
by
noting the MLG loans from cultural and social life provided in this
article. It
is generally accepted that the political, sociological and linguistic
conditions in Sweden and Denmark-Norway were overall quite similar
during the
peak of the Hansa influence, thus allowing the largescale uptake of MLG
language
and culture across the board.
In the early and mid 1100s the Hansa
trade town of
Many aristocratic families from what
is now Northern Germany
settled in Denmark and elsewhere in Scandinavia, and these often held
prominent
positions and hence had the chance to influence the literary language
of all
three nations to quite a degree. Due to the prestige and power of these
artisans, tradesmen and courtiers their spoken and written Middle Low
German
enjoyed a special prestigious position in medieval Scandinavian society. The polite and courtly
speech of the
Scandinavian courts (from which there were such loans as riddari, knapi, gígja, hæverskr,
lên
and hertogi),
as well as the
terminology of merchants, craftsmen and officials was a for several
centuries
mainly Middle Low German, and this language left a considerable and
lasting
lexical legacy in the native languages before it expired as a spoken
language
in Scandinavia. These immigrants brought with them many loanwords for
professions, offices and tools, and the language of the Danish guilds
was, for
example, full of German terms until the 1800s. Legal and official
documents
from the Nordic trade-centres of the late medieval and early modern
period are
loaded with Middle Low German loans and expressions, that is, when they
are not
written in Low German itself. Germans in Scandinavian towns dominated
on
account of special rights granted them and influenced political life to
such an
extent that their presence was eventually decisive in bringing about
the
pan-Nordic Union of Kalmar in 1397. Albrekt of Mecklenburg, a
German-born king,
came to the Swedish throne in 1364 and MLG reached its greatest
influence
during his reign.
Most words that came in were
naturally enough connected with
trade and commerce or the nobility. Before 1300 we find fals, herbergi, skraddari, skúta,
treya,
danz,
par, slekt,
spital,
æra,
akta, prófa,
klókr,
opinberr,
ærligr.
Already in 1277 Magnus Lagabøter had
put the titles barrún
and riddari
into official use.
The Hanseatic domination of early
modern northern European
trade was not merely confined to the north Atlantic but spread to the
Baltic
Rim as well, with numbers of merchants and trade organisations
establishing
themselves in Poland, Russia, Finland and the Baltic countries.
Languages of
the region such as Finnish, Karelian, Estonian, Livonian and Latvian
also
received a number of Low Germanic loans as a result of this
intercourse. In
later times when Nordic nations thrived in the Baltic trade, still more
Low
German loans were introduced into these languages from their
Scandinavian
neighbours.
The result of Low German domination
of Nordic trade,
economy, handicrafts, shipping, mining, and to some extent, local
government
and the court, was an unparalleled influx of loanwords and productive
morphological elements from the high-prestige Low German varieties.
Only now is
modern international English contributing a comparable number of
loanwords to
the Mainland Scandinavian languages, or exerting a similar kind of
structural
influence. Most substantial among the areas for loans from the Low
German were
shipping, fishing and navigation, trade and economy, local
administration,
housebuilding and -keeping, handicrafts and religious activities, but
many
terms pertaining to the court and polite society were also borrowed, as
well as
military terminology and many general and now everyday verbs,
adjectives and
adverbs. In some cases the loanwords were indispensible in naming
professions,
objects and concepts for which the Scandinavian language speakers had
no
equivalents – i.e. they had been introduced by the German speakers. Literally thousands of MLG
loans and
words derived from MLG loaned elements entered into the Mainland
Scandinavian
languages, and many native Scandinavian words were displaced. The lower
prestige Scandinavian elements of the population who wanted to do
business with
the German immigrants, the main wielders of power at the time, were
obliged to
learn the foreigners’ language – or at least enough to get by. Nordic
merchants probably mixed in MLG words into their speech in order to be
better
understood by their Hansa counterparts. This partial learning of the immigrants’ tongue
paved the way for
hundreds of their everyday words to enter the Scandinavian languages.
During
the
late Middle Ages MLG was closer to the Scandinavian languages in terms
of
syntax, conjugation and pronunication than is the case between modern
High
German and Scandinavian.
Around
the
period 1325-1425, the Danish written language was in danger of being
replaced
as a written language for letters and official documents by MLG. The
nobility,
the clergy, the chancellry and the court were the primary users of
written
communication, and especially in
MLG
affected almost all spheres of the
Mainland Scandinavian lexicon (in Einar Haugen’s words: personal names,
titles
[herr, fru and frøken began as titles for
the nobility, but
eventually reached their way down to ordinary citizens], curses,
devices and
equipment, weapons, musical instruments, weights and measures, trade,
courtly
and refined behaviour, mining, animals, food, weather, illness, laws,
administration and education), but the examples given below of words
current in
modern Danish (unless stated otherwise) indicate the main spheres of
influence.
The areas most borrowing took place were in trade and professions,
house and
home, food, clothing, warfare, shipping, local administration and the
courtly
life. Many of these words are loan-translations (i.e. Low German
elements are
translated directly into their Scandinavian etymological and semantic
equivalents – often using word-forming elements borrowed from MLG), for
example
MLG
hantwerk
becomes håndværk
“craft, trade” and unwetenheit
becomes uvidenhed
“ignorance”. Many
of
these loans are now among the most everyday words in the Mainland
Scandinavian
languages:
1.
Trade
and professions: arbejd
“work”, bager
"baker", bytte
“exchange”, bødker
“cooper”, børs
“stock exchange”, bøssemager
"gunsmith", fisker
"fisherman", fragt "freight",
garver “tanner”, gesäll
(Swed.) “journeyman”, glasmästre
“glazer”, handel
“trade”, handle "to
trade", handskemager
"glover", håndværk "handicraft",
håndværker
“craftsman, workman”, høker
“shopkeeper; huckster”, isenkræmmer
"ironmonger", klejnsmed
"locksmith", kræmmer
“shopkeeper”, krögare
(Swed.) “innkeeper, restauranteur”, kunstner
"artist", købe
"to buy", købmand
"merchant", køgemester
“master cook”, köpenskap
(Swed.) “trade”, lærling
“apprentice”, maler
“painter”, murer
“mason”, pels "pelt,
hide", portner
“porter; janitor”, pund "pound",
præst "priest",
regne "calculate;
consider", regning "calculation",
regningskab (now regnskab)
"accounts", rente "interest,
dividend", sadelmager
"saddler", skomager "cobbler"
(replaced suder),
skrædder "tailor",
slagter "butcher"
(replaced kødmanger),
snedker “joiner”,
told “customs,
duty”, tømmermand
"ship-wright", udgift "expenditure",
vare "product,
article", værkmester
“foreman”, værksted
"workshop", værktøj
“tool”.
(Some
in this
category have disappeared or are seldom encountered because the trade,
profession or occupation is obsolete, e.g. bægermager
“cup maker”, fyrbøder
“stoker”, hjulmager
“wheelwright”, pottemager
“potter”, buntmager
“furrier”, kedelflikker
“tinker”, skoflikker
“cobbler”, klokkeguder
“clock caster”, plåtslagare
(Swed.) “plate smith”, slutter
“gaoler”, spillemand
“minstrel”, stratenrøver
“highwayman”, væbner
“weaponsmith”).
2.
Tools
and implements: bolt
“bolt”, fork
“pitchfork”, fusthammer
“hammer for horseshoes”,
høvl “plane”, knibtang
“pincers”, skrue
“screw”, fyrtøj
“tinderbox”.
3.
Court
and nobility: eventyr
"adventure, fairy tale", frøken "young
woman, Miss", fyrste "prince",
greve
"count, earl", herre
"lord"
(now "gentleman"), hertug "duke"
(replaced native jarl),
hof "court", hofmester
"steward" (now "waiter"), hovmod
"pride", jagt
“hunting”, jomfru "noble
young lady" (now
"virgin"), junker "nobleman",
kejser “emperor”, krone "crown",
ridder "knight", slot "castle, palace", væbner "squire", ære “honour, glory”, ærlighed "honour".
4.
Government,
law and church: almisse
“alms”, bann
“excommunication”, borger "citizen",
borgmester "burgomaster",
burskap (Swed.)
“freedom”, domherre
"judge" (now dommer),
embedsmand "goverment
offical" (cf. English
loan from Swedish ombudsman), forbud “ban”, fordel "advantage",
forhør “inquiry;
interrogation”, fuldmagt "authority",
kansler
“chancellor”, kætter
“heretic”, lægmand
“layman”, magt "power",
mester “master”, nåde
“grace; mercy”, oldermand "alderman",
pant “lien”, pave
“pope”, pinse
“Whitsun”, påske
“Easter”, regere "rule",
rådhus “town hall”,
rådmand
"alderman", sprog
“language”, straf
“punishment”, told "duty,
customs", trykkeri
“printing works”, tugthus
“prison”, tvist
“dispute”, vægter
“watchman”.
5.
Military:
afdelning
“unit, detachment”, anfalde
“attack”, angreb
“attack”, armborst
“crossbow”, befaling
“command”, befalla
(Swed.) “order, command”, bøsse
“gun”, erobre "conquer",
fane "banner,
standard", fejde "feud;
war", flag
“flag”, fodgænger "infantryman"
(now
"pedestrian"), gevær "gun,
rifle", harnesk
“armour”, høvedsmand
"captain", kamp "battle",
krig "war",
krudt “gunpowder”, kunskapare
(Swed.) “scout”, magt
“power”, nederlag "defeat",
orlog
"naval battle", overfalde
“attack, assault”, panser "armour",
plyndre "plunder",
rejse
(with the meaning) "campaign", trommeslager
“drummer”.
6.
Shipping,
fishing and navigation*:
agter "astern", bådsmand "boatswain", dok “dock”, dørk
“floor”, fartøj "vessel",
fiskeri “fishing”, flag "flag",
fok “foresail,
jib”, fribytter
“freebooter, buccaneer”, gast
“hand”, haj "shark",
kaj "quay",
klyver “jib”, kyst "coast",
lods “pilot”, malstrøm "whirlpool,
maelstrom", mandskab "crew",
matros “sailor”, roder
(Swed.) “rudder”, ræling “gunwale”, skipper
“skipper”, stuva
“stow”, styrbord "starboard",
styrmand "first
mate; helmsman", sælhund
"seal", tackla
(Swed.) “rig”.
7.
Relationships
etc.: fadder
“godparent”, formynder
“guardian”, fætter
“cousin”, gemal
“consort”, oldefar
“great-grandfather”, oldemor
“great-grandmother”, pebersvend
“bachelor”, slægt
“kindred, relations”, svoger
“brother-in-law”, til
ægte “have someone’s hand in marriage”, ægteskab
“marriage”.
8.
Food:
bakelse
(Swed.) “pastry, cake”, brændevin
“aquavit”, fennikel
“fennel”, frokost
“breakfast” (Dan.: lunch), frugt “fruit”, gaffel
“fork”, husgeråd
“kitchen utensils”, ingefær
“ginger”, koge
“cook; boil”, koldskål
“cold buttermilk dish”, kop
“cup”, krus “mug,
tankard”, krydderi
“spice”, køkken
“kitchen”, medvurst
“mettwurst”, mynte
“mint”, måltid
“meal”, mørbrad
“tenderloin”, peber
“pepper”, persille
“parsley”, postej
“pie”, senap
“mustard”, skinke
“ham”, smag
“taste”, smage
“(to) taste”, spæk
“blubber, fat”, suppe “soup”,
sylte
“brawn”, tallerken
“plate”, tallrik
(Swed.) “plate”, vaffel
“waffle”.
9.
Clothes:
bukser
“trousers”, dragt
“dress, clothes”, ficka
(Swed.) “pocket”, kappe
“cloak, coat”, mössa
(Swed.) “cap”, rock
(Swed.) “coat”, skørt
“skirt, petticoat”, strømpe
“stocking, sock”, støvle “boot”.
10.
Buildings,
house and home: bädd
(Swed.) “bed”, bænk
“bench”, disk
“counter”, fönster
(Swed.) “window”, gemak
“apartment”, herberg
“shelter; hostel”, kammer
“chamber”, kuffert
“trunk”, kælder “cellar”, køkken
“kitchen”, lampe
“lamp”, mur
“wall”, skab
“cupboard”, skorsten
“chimney”, spejl
“mirror”, sæbe
“soap”, tegl
“tile, brick”, trappe
“stairs”, tæppe
“carpet”.
11.
Medical:
brok
“hernia”, feber
“fever”, gigt
“gout”, krank
“ill”, kramp
“cramp”, pokker
“pox”, stær
“cataract”, svulst
“tumour”.
12.
Misc:
angst
“anxiety”, anledning
“ocassion, cause”, art
“type”, digt
“poem”, fiol
“violin”, fløjte
“flute”, forhold
“conditions, relations,
circumstances”, frygt
“fear”, gunst
“favour; mercy”, klokke
“clock; bell”, kunst
“art”, lykke
“happiness; good fortune”, pligt
“duty, obligation”, rygte
“reputation; rumour”, slange
“snake; hose”, iver
“zeal, fervour”, fare
“danger”, herkomst
“origin, descent”, äventyr
(Swed.) “adventure”, hovmod
“pride, arrogance”, högfärd
(Swed.) “pride, vanity, conceit”, bihang
(Swed.)
“appendix”, bilaga
(Swed.) “enclosure,
attachment”, uppförande
(Swed.) “building;
behaviour, conduct”, taske
“bag”, lægmand
“layman”, vandel
“morals, good conduct”, videnskab
“knowledge,
science”, vemod
“sadness, melancholy”, vilkår
“conditions”.
13.
Common
and auxilary verbs: anføre
“lead; state, quote”, anholde
“arrest, apprehend”, anmelde
“announce;
subscribe”, anvende "use",
arbejde "work", begribe
"comprehend", begynde
"begin",
behøve “need”, berette
“tell, narrate”, beskrive
“describe”, bestemme "decide",
betale
"pay", betyde "mean",
blive "become", bringe "bring", bruge
"use", digte
"compose,
write, write poetry", erfare "experience",
erhålla (Swed.)
“obtain, receive”, fatte "comprehend",
fordærve
“spoil, corrupt”, forekomme "appear",
forklare "explain",
foreslå
"suggest", forfatte
“write,
compose”, forlade
“leave, abandon; forgive”, formå
“be able to, be capable of”, fornøje
“gratify, please”, forsage
“renounce, give up”, forstå "understand",
fortjene “deserve”,
forsvinde
"disappear", fortsætte
“continue”, fortælle "tell,
narrate", frukta
(Swed.) “fear, dread”, fråga
(Swed.) “ask”, føle "feel",
förgäta (Swed.)
“forget”, gælde
“apply”, håbe "hope",
klage "complain", koge
"boil, cook", købe
"buy",
kæmpe "fight", lære "learn", mene "mean,
intend", male "paint",
opdage "discover",
ordne
"arrange", oversætte
"translate",
overveje "consider,
comtemplate", pleje "be
in the habit of", prate "chat"
(now only "talk
nonsense"), prøve "try",
redde "save,
rescue", rejse "travel",
regne
"estimate, reckon (with)", råbe
“shout, cry out”, samle "collect",
ske “happen”, skildre "describe",
skrive “write”, slute "finish",
smage "taste", snakke "talk, chat", spille "play",
stille "put,
place", straffe
“punish”, støtte "support",
tilgive “forgive,
pardon”, trække "draw, pull", tænke
“think”, undersøge "investigate",
undgå "avoid", undkomme “escape”, undskylde "excuse",
vandre “”walk,
wander”, vare "last",
øve "practice".
14.
Common
adjectives: alvorlig "serious",
bange
"afraid", berømt
“famous”, billig "cheap",
bra
(Swed./Nor.) “good, excellent; well”/ brav
(Dan.) “good, worthy”, dejlig "pleasant",
dygtig "capable", egentlig "real; proper", elendig “wretched,
miserable”, endelig "final",
enig
“united, agreed”, enkel "simple;
single", evig
“eternal”, falsk "false",
fin “fine”,
flink "clever", fri "free", frisk "fresh,
healthy", fremmed "foreign,
strange", from "pious",
færdig "ready", forsigtig
"cautious", gemen "public",
grov “coarse”, hemmelig "secret",
hændig "practical",
herlig "splendid",
høvisk
"courteous", høflig
"courteous",
klar “clear;
ready”, klejn
“tiny; delicate”, klog "wise", kort "short",
krank "sick", læsbar
“readible”, middelmådig "mediocre",
mulig "possible", rar
"nice, kind", rask
"quick",
rund “round”, skøn "pretty",
smal “narrow”, smuk
“fair, beautiful”, stille
“still, quiet”, stolt "proud",
svag "weak",
tapper "brave", tilfreds "satisfied", underdanig “submissive,
subservient”, ædel
“noble”, ægte "genuine",
ærlig “honest”, åbenbar "public,
manifest".
15.
Common
adverbs, prepositions and
conjuctions: alene
“only, solely”, allerede
“already”, blott
(Swed.) “merely, only”, bra
(Swed./Nor.) “well,
excellently; very, awfully” / bravt
(Dan.)
“stoutly, well”, dog "however,
yet", emellertid "however"
(Swed.), forbi "past",
ganske
"quite; very", jo
"yes
indeed, certainly", likväl (Swed.),
likevel (Nor.) "all
the same, nevertheless",
men "but", måske
“perhaps, maybe” (Dan.) nemlig "namely,
that is", overalt "everywhere",
redan "already"
(Swed.), samt "and
also, plus", sikker "certainly",
straks
"immediately", sådan
"such",
temmelig "rather",
tilsammen "in all,
altogether", trods "despite",
ur "from,
of" (Swed.), vældig "awfully,
very", øvrig "the
rest, what's
left".
(*note: there are
many specialised loans for shipping
and types of fish which are not included in the main lists below.)
Vibeke Winge points out interestingly
enough that Danish
words for artisans, goods and tools are by and large from MLG.
For about 300 years (approx.
1250-1550) Middle Low German
was the language of prestige, close to the speakers’ own languages,
from which
Scandinavian speakers augmented their own because it was the fashion to
do so,
rather than from any real necessity (in some cases, however, they had
no
equivalent words in their own languages). Germans formed the
intellectually and
economically leading class, so making MLG the “feine Sprache” and one
to be
imitated. The Scandinavian citizen in his appearance and language tried
to make
the “fineness” of the German higher class his own. As Dahlberg puts it “Niederdeutsch wurde Modesache”. This
factor no doubt eased considerably the passage of MLG words into
Mainland
Scandinavian. The non-clergy upper class and the middle classes used
MLG as
their favoured second language, as the royal family, the nobility, the
merchants and the craftsmen were either German or had close ties with
German-speakers. Otto Höfler is of the view that this language contact
went on
at a high level as in many cases the gender of MLG nouns is retained
with their
borrowing into Middle Scandinavian. Despite the men of the Hansa
representing
practical people – merchants, administrators, law-makers, shipwrights,
sailors
– there is no doubt they represented not only a higher material but
also a
higher intellectual culture than the native culture.
In the course of this process of
borrowing, many
Scandinavian arveord (words from
the
common Nordic stock), such as are in most cases still present in Modern
Icelandic, developed direct competitors. Loans from MLG (lånord
in the table below) considerably enriched the vocabularies
of the mainland Scandinavian languages, and examples are to be found of
word
pairs which are roughly synonymous (and therefore competitive) in the
modern
languages from both native and borrowed sources, for example (Norwegian
Bokmål
unless stated):
Arveord |
Lånord |
ON (OSwed.) |
Meaning |
ale opp |
opdra |
ala upp |
raise, bring up |
allesteds |
overalt |
allsstaðr |
everywhere |
andlet; anlete
(Swed.) |
ansikt |
andliti; andlite |
face |
bardage (arch.) |
kamp |
bardagi |
battle |
berg |
klippe |
bjarg |
rock, mountain |
besk |
bitter |
|
bitter |
bjuda (Swed.) |
befalla |
biuþa |
offer |
borg |
slot |
borg |
castle, fortress |
borge |
betala |
borga, greiða |
pay, defray |
bot |
vederlag |
bót |
recompense |
bratt |
steil;
plutselig |
brattr |
steep; sudden |
brygge |
kai |
bryggja |
wharf |
budskap |
beskjed |
boðskapr |
message |
bølgje; bölja (Swed.) |
våg (arch., dial.); våg |
bylgja; (OSwed.) bylghi |
wave |
börja (Swed.); byrje (Nyn.) |
begynna; begynne |
(OSwed.)
byria, børia;
(ON) byrja |
begin |
djerv |
dristig |
djarfr |
brave |
dugelig |
flink |
duglegr |
capable, clever |
dyrd (Swed., arch.) |
ära |
(OSwed.) dyrth |
honour |
eie |
besitte |
eiga |
to own |
ende |
slutt |
endi |
end |
ende |
slutte |
enda |
to end |
fager |
skjønn, smukk |
fagr |
pretty, fine |
fattigdom |
armod |
fátækr- |
poverty |
ferd |
reise |
ferð |
journey |
frende (arch.) |
slektning |
frændi |
relative |
gagn |
fordel |
gagn |
benefit, gain |
gave |
skjenk |
gjöf |
gift |
genast (Swed.) |
strax |
(OSwed.) genast |
immediately |
glad |
fro |
glaðr |
cheerful, joyous |
gjemme |
bevare |
gøyma |
store, keep |
glömma (Swed.) |
förgäta |
(OSwed.) gløma |
forget |
grein |
fag |
grein |
branch, subject |
grein |
regnskab |
grein |
account |
gripe |
fange |
grípa |
grasp, grip |
gälda (Swed.) |
betala |
(OSwed.)
giælda |
pay |
heder |
ære |
heiðr |
honour |
hænde (Dan.), hende (Nor.) |
ske |
henda |
happen, occur |
hest |
hingst |
hestr |
horse |
hird |
|
hirð |
court, retinue |
hjelpe |
støtte |
hjálpa |
to help |
hjälpa (Swed.) |
bistå |
(OSwed.)
hiælpa |
to help |
hug |
sinn |
hugr |
mind |
huske |
erinde |
hugsa |
to remember |
ild |
fyr |
eldr |
fire |
jorde |
begrave |
jarða |
to inter |
kjenne |
føle |
kenna |
to feel |
kjensle |
følelse |
kensl |
feeling |
kjære |
klage |
kæra |
to complain |
kledning |
drakt |
klæðnaðr |
clothing, garb |
kvede |
dikt |
kvæði |
poem |
kvide |
angst |
kviði |
pain, anxiety, fear |
leik |
spill |
leikr |
play |
leike |
spille |
leika |
to play |
lott |
del |
hlutr |
lot, share |
love |
berømme |
lofa |
praise |
lønnlig |
hemmelig |
leyniligr |
secret |
lød |
farge |
litr |
hue, colour |
makt |
vald |
máttr,
veldi |
power |
meget |
veldig |
mjök |
much, very, a lot |
miskunnelig |
barmhjertig |
miskunnsamr |
merciful |
mista, tapa (Swed.) |
förlora |
(OSwed.) mista; tapa, tappa |
to lose |
morgenmat |
frokost |
morgunmatr |
breakfast |
mål; tungomål (Swed.) |
språk |
mál |
language, speech |
möta (Swed.) |
drabba |
(OSwed.)
møta |
meet |
nytte |
anvende, bruke |
nýta |
use |
nåde |
gunst |
náðr |
favour |
ran |
rov |
rán |
plunder, robbery |
rane |
røve, plyndre |
ræna |
to rob, plunder |
redd |
bange |
hræddr |
afraid |
reddes |
frykte |
hræðast |
to be frightened (of) |
redsel |
frykt |
hræðsla |
fear |
rolig |
stille |
rólegr |
quiet, calm |
rope |
skrike |
hrópa |
to shout |
røyne (Nyn.) |
erfare |
reyna |
to experience |
røyne (Nyn.) |
forsøke, prøve |
reyna |
to test, try |
røynsle |
erfarenhet |
reynd |
experience |
sann |
ekte |
sannr |
true |
sanne |
prøve |
sanna |
to verify, confirm |
sende |
skikke |
senda |
to send |
si fra |
berette |
segja frá |
to narrate, tell |
si fra |
fortelle |
segja frá |
to narrate, tell |
si til |
underrette |
segja til |
to give an account |
skifte |
dele |
skipta |
divide |
skire |
døpe |
skíra |
to baptise |
skjønne |
begripe, forstå |
skynja |
to grasp, comprehend |
skydevåben (Dan.) |
bøsse, gevær |
(ON)
skotvopn |
firearm, rifle |
skytevåpen |
gevær |
skotvopn |
firearm, rifle |
skär (Swed.) |
klar |
? |
clear, pure |
sorg (Swed.) |
bekymmer |
(OSwed.)
sorgh |
grief, care |
spörja (Swed.) |
fråga |
(OSwed.)
spyria |
to ask |
sted |
plass |
staðr |
place |
strand |
kyst |
strönd |
coast, beach |
strid |
krig |
stríð |
war |
styrka (Swed.) |
bevisa |
(OSwed.)
styrkia |
prove, attest |
støe |
støtte |
stoða |
to support |
sveinn |
knape |
sveinn |
squire, lad |
svik |
fals |
svik |
false, deceitful |
svikte |
bedra |
svíkja |
to deceive |
syde |
koke |
sjóða |
to boil |
syssel |
len |
sýsla |
administrative district |
sømd |
æra |
? |
honour |
säng (Swed.) |
bädd |
(OSwed.)
sæng, siang |
bed |
tala (Swed.) |
prata |
tala |
speak, talk |
tale |
snakke |
tala |
talk, chat |
telle |
rekne |
telja |
count |
dra(ge) |
trekke |
draga |
pull, draw |
turve (Nyn.); tarva
(Swed.) |
behøve; behöva |
þarfa; (OSwed.) þarva |
to need to |
trygge |
borge |
tryggja |
guarantee, secure |
useier |
nederlag |
ósigur |
defeat |
vedgå |
erkjenne (HG loan) |
viðganga <
ganga við |
admit, acknowledge |
veide |
jage |
veiða |
to hunt |
veik |
svak |
veikr |
weak |
velde |
makt |
veldi |
power |
verk |
smerte |
verkr |
pain, ache |
vindöga (arch., dial.); vindue (Dan.) |
fönster |
vindauga |
window |
vettug |
klok |
vitr |
wise, sage |
vorde |
bli |
verða |
to become |
vrang |
falsk |
rangr |
false, incorrect |
vård (Swed.) |
vakt |
(OSwed.)
varþer |
care, charge, guard |
ætt |
herkomst |
ætterni |
descent, lineage |
ætt |
slekt |
ætt |
kin, family |
|
|
|
|
In some cases, the native
Scandinavian word acquired a
different or more narrow meaning, such as with syde
"seethe, boil, fizz", which
used to denote the
wider-meaning "cook" now taken by MLG loan koke.
Danish lød,
once a general term meaning "colour", now denotes the narrower
"hue, complexion" and has been largely replaced by loaned farve "colour; paint, dye"
(In Norwegian, lød
still denotes "colour", alongside
commoner farge).
In other cases, the native word
survived but became marginalised or less used than the loanword, e.g.
in
Norwegian, the case of the loaned trekke
and the
native dra (in
Danish,
drage has in almost all cases been replaced by trække).
Native Scandinavian mål,
which used to mean
“language” (cf. ON mál),
has largely come to mean the
narrower
“dialect” (cf. though Swedish tungomål
“language” from Old Swed. tungo
mal). Also in
Swedish native arvode
(from Old Swed. arvoþe)
has narrowed in meaning from “work” to
“remuneration for work done”, presumably under the influence of
MLG-derived arbete.
Some further examples, now from Danish, will
illustrate the weaker position of some native words against MLG import
(near-)synomyns: Danish fager
(cf. English fair) is now
considered poetic and
archaic, having been marginalised by the preferred and synonymous MLG
import smuk (fager is also poetic in
Norwegian); ræd is
still in use but MLG import bange
is definitely commoner (in Norwegian, however,
the reverse is true); brat
is also still in use,
but both its meanings are more commonly covered by the MLG imports stejl for "steep" and pludselig for "sudden". Leika “play” was replaced
by spille (<
MLG spelen) when
denoting playing music or acting.
In most cases, however, the old
Nordic words simply fell out
of use in Mainland Scandinavian, and loans from MLG (some of which
could also be
seen as unncessary) replaced them. Dahlberg makes a pertinent point in
this
connection:
“Auf diese
Weise sind
leider viele einheimische, gut brauchbare Wörter verlorengegangen.”
(p.196)
In
the mainland languages, native vorde
(Old Danish warthæ,
Old Swedish varþa,
cf. ON verða,
German werden)
has as good as been ousted by the MLG derived form bli(ve)/bliva (although vorde
still survives in poetic and biblical usage). In Danish, the loaned
forms arbejde
"work" and men
"but" ousted Old Danish ærvæthæ
"work, labour" (cf. ON erfiði)
and æn "but,
and" (cf. ON en),
as well as use of uden/utan “except”. Older Danish
børje
(cf. Swedish börja (which
is still the preferred
choice in that language), Nynorsk byrje)
gradually lost the struggle against loaned begynde,
while the same fate was suffered by older anlæte
“face” to ansigt (anlete
still exists in Swedish though alongside ansikte),
øbe/öpa
"cry, shout" to råbe/ropa (a Nordic word whose
meaning has been influenced
by the MLG cognate ropen)
and MLG import skrige,
older røne “try,
experience” fell to prøve
(cf. Norwegian røyne
though)
and genest fell to
MLG import straks (genast still exists in
Swedish though - alongside strax), in Swedish
older má fell to
måste,
Scandinavian ván “hope” was ousted
by MLG hope
(Danish håb,
Swedish hopp), as
was vónast
by hopast,
frjáls
by fri,
everðeligr
by evig
and samþykkiliga
by endrægteliga,
while common
verbs of motion ganga
and standa
both lost out to
MLG forms gân and
stân, resulting in
modern gå and stå.
Furthermore, þarf
fell to behóf
“need”, gøyma
and varðveita to
bevara
“preserve”, sanna
and prófa
to bevisa
“show, demonstrate”, skipta
to býta
“change, swap”, lutr
to deil “part”,
vitr
to klókr
“wise”, giäf
(Old Swed.) to gava,
máttr
and veldi to makt
“might, power”, háttr
to máti
“custom; manner”, hyggja
and ætla to meina
“intend”, ætla to akta (MLG achten), kenna “teach” and nema
“learn” to læra
“learn; teach” (MLG lêren),
(in Denmark) kenna
lost meaning of “feel” to følæ
(MLG vôlen),
løyfi to orlof
“leave”, stríð
to krig
“war”, ætt to slekt
“lineage”, hyggia,
ætla
and hugsa to þenkia
“think”. Furthermore, in Danish we can note the loss of neita to MLG-derived nægte, nytja to bruge, rædd to bange and reyna (ODan. rønæ) to forsøge. Social changes led
to such words as bygd,
træl, kone and rise becoming
antiquated in Danish, although in modern times they have been partly
revived
due to Norwegian influence. Peter Skautrup notes some further words
that were
lost in Danish in the early modern period (1350-1500): bukser “trousers”
replaced brog, dog
“however” replaced tho,
straks
“immediately” replaced thegær,
and sådan “such”
replaced slig.
When a choice still exists and there
are two forms to choose
from, the Low German loan generally tends to take precedence. Some
otherwise
obsolete Norse forms, however, still survive and are used
preferentially in
Norwegian Nynorsk. There are far
too
many in Nynorsk to give here.
Following the MLG model in late
medieval Swedish the k-sound
was reproduced
in writing as ch,
and this can still be seen in och
“and”, cf.
Danish og. In
Danish of the same period [sk] was
written sch-,
e.g. Schanning
“Skåne”.
In some cases words were borrowed
differently or provided
different inspiration in the respective recipient languages. So, for
example,
Danish loaned MLG merschûm
“meerschaum” as merskum,
whereas Swedish rather loan-translated it as sjöskum. Similarly, Danish
loaned MLG schadenfroh
(cf. German Schadenfreude) as skadefro, whereas
Swedish loan-translated as skadeglad.
In other
cases one language borrowed a word which was never taken up in another.
The
classic example is Swedish fönster
“window”
where Danish still uses the Nordic word vindue. Other well-known examples
are Swedish bädd
versus Danish seng,
Swedish börja
versus Danish begynde,
Swedish fråga
versus Danish spørge,
Swedish förgäta
versus Danish glemme,
Swedish ficka versus Danish lomme, Danish føle
versus Swedish känna,
Swedish hustru
versus Danish kone,
Swedish rita
versus Danish tegne,
Swedish skicka
versus Danish sende,
and Swedish äta
versus Danish spise.
More examples are given in the table below:
MLG-derived word |
Native Nordic
equivalent |
Meaning |
Swedish |
Danish |
|
anspråk |
krav, fordring |
claim |
belåten |
mæt |
satisfied, full |
bittida |
tidlig |
early |
bädd |
seng |
bed |
drabba |
træffe |
hit, strike, befall |
ficka |
lomme |
|
flod |
elv |
river |
fort |
rask,
hurtigt |
fast, quickly |
fråga |
spørge |
ask |
fönster |
vindue |
window |
förgäta |
glemme |
forget |
förlora |
miste, tabe |
lose |
förlust |
tab |
loss |
förstöra |
ødelægge |
destroy, wreck |
hustru |
kone |
wife |
hyra |
leje |
rent, hire |
inrymma |
inholde |
contain, include |
lärjunge |
lærling |
apprentice |
ort |
sted |
place, locality |
rita |
tegne |
draw |
skicka |
sende |
send, dispatch |
stad |
by |
town |
tillhopa |
helt,
helt og aldeles |
altogether, in all |
umbära |
undvære |
do/go without |
upprepa |
gentage |
repeat |
uppsåt |
forsæt
(also from MLG) |
intent, purpose |
även |
også, ligeledes |
also, too |
*** |
*** |
*** |
Danish |
Swedish |
|
altid |
jämt |
always |
bange |
rädd |
afraid |
begynde |
börje |
begin |
forfærdelig |
hemsk |
awful |
forkert |
orätt,
vrång |
wrong, incorrect |
forlade |
lämna |
leave |
fornøden |
--- |
necessary, needful |
forskel |
skillnad |
difference |
føle |
känna |
feel, perceive, know |
hvordan |
hur |
how |
kundskab |
kännedom |
knowledge |
men |
utan |
but |
måske |
kanske, kanhända
(ske and hända also from MLG) |
perhaps |
nøle |
tveka |
hesitate |
omtrent |
omkring |
around, about |
rejse (køre is Nordic however) |
åka |
go, drive, travel |
slem |
elak |
bad, nasty |
smuk |
fager,
vacker |
pretty, fair |
spise |
äta |
eat |
straks |
genast |
immediately |
sådan |
dylik |
such |
tænke |
tycka |
think |
undertiden |
ibland, stundom |
sometimes |
undervejs |
--- |
underway, in motion |
undskylde |
ursäkta |
excuse |
årsag |
skäl (orsak also exists in
Swedish) |
reason, cause |
The average speaker in Bergen, Oslo,
Copenhagen or Stockholm
could not help learning enough Middle Low German to be tempted to
colour their
speech and writing with them. The German settlers enjoyed the economic
and
social advantage and it was natural for the locals to use a kind of Mischsprache for their communication
needs. The settlers from northern
This settlement resulted in a large
expansion of the
vocabulary for everyday things, as well as more abstract concepts, and
the
developing urban dialects were strongly characterised by Low German
loans. The
influence of Middle Low German on the later development of the
Scandinavian
languages was succinctly described by the Norwegian Nordicist Didrik
Arup Seip
when he remarked:
"Two
Norwegians
cannot in our day carry on a conversation of 2-3
minutes without using Low German loanwords...of course without
knowing that they are doing so."
This statement applies in equal
measure to Swedish, and
perhaps even in slightly greater measure to Danish.
As we would expect, it would be
reasonable to suppose that
because of its geographical proximity, as well as closer political and
trading
ties,
According to some Swedish linguists
up to 75% of the modern
Swedish vocabulary derives from MLG or MLG-mediated words. (But this
figure is
clearly absurd – the actual percentage must be much lower, probably
25-30%).
Most of such words came into Old Swedish in the 12th-14th
centuries. In fact it is difficult to arrive at a reliable figure, but
there
can be no doubt that MLG loans, words inspired by them or words made
form
originally MLG elements are among the most common in the language.
In many cases the loans were for new
concepts, e.g. borgmeistari
and radman
– these were institutions not previously in existence in
Some MLG words were importated to
express negative or destructive
elements in society, e.g. skalkar
“rogue”, rövare “robber,
thief” and bödel
“hangman”.
To describe animals there were also
new words such as bæver,
falk “falcon”, flädermus (Swed.) “bat”, hingst “stallion”, kamel, lærke “lark”, løve “lion”, näktergal
(Swed.) “nightingale”, panter,
rotte “rat”, sköldpadda
“tortoise, turtle”, vagtel
“quail”. These words
often eventually rendered the native terms – if such existed – obsolete.
Swedish took in most loans after
1350, where we find such
everyday words as bädd,
frukost,
rock, språk, släkt, fri, from, klar, klen, smal, arbeta, bliva, bruka, lära, smaka, sådan. Other
loans from MLG are falskhet
(valschheit), frihet (vrîheit), and ärlighet
(êrlikheit). Of
words made on Danish or Swedish
soil but formed using MLG elements we could mention such words as benægte, begagna, benägen, forfremme, forsinke, förbrylla, undeselig and undvære
(loaned into Swedish as umbära).
Many common, everyday words which
make up a speaker of
modern Scandinavian’s basic vocabulary were brought in during this
period of
Hansa domination when MLG when the prestige language, e.g. nouns such
as arbete “work” bevis
“proof, evidence”, bukse “trousers”,
fel “error” förstånd
“reason, intelligence”, kopp “cup”,
papir “paper”, skrin “box”,
støvler “boots”, tröja “sweater”,
tvivel “doubt”, vilkor
“conditions” verbs such as bevisa
“prove, show”,
forklare “explain”,
forlike
“reconcile”, mene
“mean, intend”, prøve “test”
and skaffe “procure”,
adjectives such as falsk “false”,
fin “fine”, främmande
“foreign”, färdig
“ready, done”, klok
“wise”, möjlig
“possible” svag
“weak”, adverbs such as altid “always”,
bittida
“early”, blott
“only”, ganske
“quite”, straks “immediately”
and även “also”,
and conjunctions such as jo
“yes; oh” and men “but”.
We could also mention some common expressions that came into Mainland
Scandinavian from MLG: dit og
dat “one thing and
another” (dit un dat),
få
i sigte “to sight” (sichte),
göra klart
“make clear; prepare”, klappet
og klart
“ready, all set” (klapp un klar),
med rätta “rightly,
justly” and till godo
“to the good, in credit”, til
rette “in order, to rights” (to
rechte). We can also note that the plural of
Swedish stad
“town” is städer,
which is due to MLG influence (in Old Swedish it would be stathir).
A word frequency study by Martin
Gellerstam of 6,000 of the
most common Swedish words shows that 24.1% of these are from German and
for
30.3% of the words, German was the medium of borrowing. And yet to a
modern
speaker of Scandinavian the low and high German element in their
languages now
appear as if they were there from the beginnings of the language. As
Gellerstam
puts it:
“Vem tycker
idag att
de lågtyska lånen språk, arbete, lära,
fråga är något annat
än gamla hederliga svenska ord?”.
Dierecks and Braunmüller, quoting Moberg, make the
point
of how easy it was for words of MLG origin to enter the Swedish
language and
quickly become adopted:
“Die Anpassung
der mittelniederdeutschen Lehnwörter an
das altschwedische Flexionssystem konnte im allgemeinen ohne größere
Schwierigkeiten geschehen. Aufgrund der ähnlichen Struktur und oft
verwandten
Wortbildungsmuster konnten viele Substantive, Adjektive und Verben
relativ
einfach an entsprechende einheimische Wortgruppen anschließen.” (p.23)
Another point worth bearing in
mind is how the
mutual loaning into the Nordic languages meant all three languages more
closely
approached each other in terms of vocabulary, something which no doubt
eased
communication between Scandinavian speakers and continues to do so
today.
It is just at the end of the
middle ages that the
modern Scandinavian languages were taking shape and precisely during
and by the
end of the this period of MLG influence that modern Scandinavian
languages as
we know them were coming into being. MLG had much to do with their
modernisation and the present form. As Marquardsen says of Danish:
“Diese
moderne Form, die sich während der zweiten Hälfte des 14. und im 15.
Jahrhundert herausbildete, weicht so wesentlich von der Sprache der
vorhergehenden Period ab, dass innerhalb des Zeitraums von 1350-1500
eine
durchgreifende Veränderung der Dänischen Sprache zu constatieren ist.”
(p.405-406).
Borrowed Affixes
German-derived prefixes and suffixes
play a major role in
the modern Scandinavian languages.
Scandinavian speakers were adept at
resolving Middle Low
German forms into their own sound and inflexional systems, and many
affixes
borrowed from Middle Low German later became productive in the
formation of
native Scandinavian words on home soil. Middle Low Saxon and Middle
Dutch thus
had an effect at a morphological level, as well as a lexical one.
Indeed the
fact that such word-forming elements were borrowed and made so
productive
serves to stress just what an extraordinary influence MLG exerted on
the
Mainland Scandinavian languages (it is true to say, however, that the
language
was already in the process of simplification before contact with MLG –
but this
language contact accelerated and intensified the change). Native
abstract
suffixes which were common to North and West Germanic -dom,
-inge and -skap were
revitalized and the vocabulary enriched owing to masses of MLG imports
in -schap, -inge, -en(t) and -nisse which become
productive elements in the
borrowing languages (with -nisse
becoming -else in
Scandinavian), e.g. broderskap,
betalning, bedrövelse.
Furthermore, the elements -hed/-het, -inde/-inne and -ske/-ska which appeared in the
1300s were better suited to
the creation of new words than the native affixes, some of which were
weakened
by syncope and the reduction of unstressed syllables, meaning there
were fewer
options for word-formation based on native Scandinavian elements. The
imported
elements thus fulfilled a need. The suffix -hed
becomes completely common in Danish during the 1400s. The native
intensifying
prefix for-/för-
was reactivated by MLG vor-
(and later by High
German) – new words coined from native resources with this prefix are
legion,
for example, forarbejde
“prepare, process”, forbedret
“improved”, fortabe
“forfeit”, forskyde
“displace”, forøde
“waste, squander”, forglemme
“forget” (ODan. forglømæ
based on MLG vorgeten),
forbryde
“forfeit” (ODan. forbrytæ
based on MLG vorbrêken).
MLG -ent
is still very productive in Swedish forming
nouns in -ende and -ande,
e.g. letande
“searching”, vetande
“knowledge, learning”. The adjective suffixes
-agtig/-aktig (equivalent
to HG -haftig), -bar, -dan, -vortes/-vörtes were
borrowed after around 1400. Native suffix -sk became
-isk from a MLG
model, while -ugh
became -ig (see
below).
Kurt
Braunmüller
makes the point that the loaning
of word-forming elements from MLG changed the nature of the
Scandinavian
languages, making them less Nordic in character and bringing them
closer to
West
Germanic:
“Ein Ergebnis
dieses intensiven Sprachkontakts war – wie gezeigt – z.B. die
typologische Annäherung des Skandinavischen an das
Mnd./Westgermanische auf den Gebieten der Morphologie und besonders der
Wortbildung.” (p.159).
H. Bach makes the interesting
observation that these
borrowed affixes became so productive with both loaned and native
lexical
elements that the Scandinavian languages have in the course of time
developed a
large number of words which now have direct parallels in modern High German, which separately created
the same words using the same affixes and lexical material. There are
far too
many to examine here, but a few examples will suffice to clarify the
point: forandring
<> Veränderung, forfalske <> verfälschen, fordragelig
<> verträglich, indgang <> Eingang,
udgang
<> Ausgang, udsætte <> aussetzen, opgang
<> Aufgang, overenstemmende
<> übereinstimmend, medarbejder
<> Mitarbeiter, modstand <> Widerstand,
tilflugt
<> Zuflucht, tilstand <> Zustand, tillade
<> zulassen, undergang <> Untergang,
understøtte
<> unterstützen.
What follows is a list of the main
affix loans, illustrated
with examples from all three modern languages (many of these will be
familiar
to readers who know German):
Nordic affix |
Affix (MLS) |
Modern examples |
Meaning |
an- (late 1300s) |
an- |
anbefale, anklage, angrepp |
recommend, accuse, attack |
be- (since 1350) |
be-, bi- |
bidrage, behandle, betænke, beslut |
contribute, treat, consider, decision |
bi- (Swed.) |
bi- |
bifalla, bistå |
assent, support |
fore- |
vor- |
forekomst, foretrække,
foredrag |
occurrence, lecture/address |
för- (Swed.) |
vor- |
försiktig, fördöma |
cautious/careful, condemn |
om- |
um- |
omgive, omstendighet, omkreds |
surround, circumstance, circumference |
over- |
over- |
overbevise, overhøre, oversætte |
convince, interrogate, translate |
över- (Swed.) |
over- |
övermod, översätta |
arrogance/pride, translate |
un-/und- (since around 1400) |
unt- |
undgå, undskylde, unnvære |
escape/evade, excuse, do or go without |
-aktig (Swed.
post-1450, Nor.); |
-achtich |
varaktig, karlaktig, lögnaktig, dåraktig, småaktig, byagtig, livagtig, nøjagtig |
enduring, manly, lying,
foolish/silly,petty, urban, lifelike, precise |
-ande (c.1400 in Swed.), -ende
(Dan., Nor.) |
-ent |
inflytande, forehavende, udseende |
influence, enterprise, appearance |
-bar (1500s in Swed.) |
-bâr |
brukbar, frugtbar, kostbar, holdbar, strafbar, stridbar, åbenbar |
usable, costly/precious, durable/tenable,
punishable |
-dan (Dan.) |
-dân(ne) |
sådan, ligesådan, hvordan, ligedan |
so, thus, similar, how, similar |
-else (many orig. in –nisse) |
-sel |
skapelse, overdrivelse,
spøgelse |
shape/creation, exaggeration, spectre |
-are (Swed.), -er (Dan., Nor.) |
-êre |
borgare, jägare, bæger, maler,
lærer |
citizen, hunter, beaker, painter, teacher |
-eri
(pre-1400 in Dan.) |
-erîe |
fiskeri, bedrageri, tyveri, skriveri,
slagteri |
fishery, fraud, theft, abattoir |
-(er)ska (Swed.) -ske
(Dan.) (pre-1400) |
-ersche |
tvätterska, studentska, syerske,
husholderske |
laundress, student, seamstress, housekeeper |
-het
(Swed. pre-1375;
Nor.), |
-heit, -hêt |
nyhed, storhet, flertydighet, rigtighed |
novelty, greatness, ambiguity, correctness/truth |
-häftig
(Swed. post-1450),
-heftig (Nor) -haftig
(Dan) |
-heftich |
mandhaftig, standhaftig |
mannish, firm |
-inna (Swed.)
|
-inne, -in |
furstinna, hertuginde, grevinde, gudinna |
princess, duchess, countess, goddess |
-isk (loaned or influenced) |
-isch |
høvisk, upprorisk, jordisk |
courteous, rebellious, earthly/wordly |
-liken -ligen (Swed.) |
-liken |
troligen, skäligen,
|
very likely, rather; reasonably, |
-mager
(Dan.) -maker
(Nor.) -makare (Swed.) |
-maker |
hattemager, skomager, urmaker |
hatter, cobbler, watchmaker |
-näre (Swed.), -ner (Dan., Nor.) |
-(e)nêre |
kunstner, gartner, väpnare |
artist, gardener, squire |
-skap (Swed., Nor.) |
-schap |
vennskap, landskab, ekteskap, borgerskab |
friendship, landscape, marriage |
-slager (Dan.) |
-släger |
blikkenslager,
plattenslager |
tinsmith, con man |
Not all of these affixes are
productive in the modern
languages. Some like an-,
be-/bi-, fore-/för-, -ska and und-/unn-
are no longer productive as word forming elements, while om- and over-/över- are active elements.
The following suffixes used
to form adjectives, agent nouns and abstract nouns are still very
productive: -aktig/-agtig, -bar (also from HG
influence), -else, -er, -hed/-het, -ig/-lig. Productive adjectival
endings in the past were -et,
-sk, -som (agtsom, arbejdsom, beslutsom)
and -vorn (drillevorn,
sladdervorn, slingrevorn).
Most of these suffixes could be used with both native and loaned words.
–else
becomes much used with word material of native Scandinavian origin. Old
Scandinavian was relatively poor in word-forming elements for abstract
concepts, whereas MLG provided such elements in abundance.
Niels Åge Nielsen’s Dansk
Etymologisk Ordbog (3rd ed. 1976)
contained no less than 283
words with the MLG-derived prefix be-.
A large
dictionary of Danish will contain many more.
Although -ing
was productive
and native to the Old Scandinavian dialects, this noun-forming suffix
was
greatly expanded in terms of use and scope owing to MLG influence, in
which the
suffix was highly productive (it is also native to the West Germanic
languages
cf.
The same ease of adoption cannot be
ascribed to another MLG
noun-forming suffix, -nisse
(cf.
The prefix be- first appeared
in Norwegian in 1376 (behalda)
– bytala
was already known in Swedish from 1370. Bitala
appeared in Norwegian before 1400, beating
off competition from the native terms gjalda,
greiða
and reiða.
The prefix und- was related
to ON undan
meaning that words such as undfly
were supported by native fly
undan.
The suffix -heit is found in
Norwegian as early as 1353. It was already productive in Danish and
Swedish for
making abstract words (e.g. falskhet,
frihet, ärlighet, gudelighed, vanvittighed, retighed, vitterlighed,
barmhjertighed, with wârheit and swârheit providing the
models for sandhed and
tunghed), and in Norwegian it become the most productive
suffix for
turning adjectives into nouns, so making it difficult for scholars to
decide
whether a word was borrowed or formed on home soil. So, for example, in
Middle
Danish, witscap
“knowledge” could be a native
construct as both wit
+ -skap are
found in the language. But the word is
thought to be loaned in its entirety from MLG witscap.
This element -hed
competed with native -lek
and -ned and as
good as ousted them from Danish (-nad
is
somewhat common in Swedish and Norwegian however).
The suffixes -dom and -skap were rare, however
they are found in small number
of words, e.g. vennskap,
borgerskap, hedendom, trældom.
The affixes ge- and er- appeared late (around
1550 and the late 1500s
respectively) and were probably more due to the influence of High
German than
Low German.
In the 1400s -eri appeared in
Norwegian and was used for a range of professions and business
institutions
(thus denoting activity or place of activity) e.g. skriveri,
as well as forming words with derogatory meanings such as ketteri, røveri, svineri, tiggeri, snobberi. It is also still
productive in Danish and
Swedish (e.g. avguderi
“heathendom”, baktalari
“slander”). Another important suffix is
represented by nouns ending in -er
and denoting
“doer/agent”, e.g.
The other main affixes are detailed
in the lists below.
Mention also needs to be made of MLG influence on the use of the native
adjective and adverbial ending, -lig
(-ig). Although
this element is common Germanic (cf. ON
-ligr, -legr,
OE -lîc, OHG -lîh,
Goth. -leiks, ODan. -likær,
OSwed. -lîker), its present
popularity and widespread usage in word-formation has a great deal to
owe to
MLG influence, through the suffix -lîk.
Niels
Åge Nielsen (see booklist) makes the point in his Dansk
Etymologisk Ordbog:
"De Nord. adj. (og adv.) på -lig er for en
stor dels vedkommende lånt fra el.
påvirket af de modsv. former mnty. -lîk, nty. -lik,
ty. -lich."
(P.261;
he then procedes to give a list of examples of native
words in -lig
and those which have been loaned from, or influenced by, MLG). Indeed,
the
nominalizing suffix -leikr
almost disappeared
in Danish, and fell togther with the adjectival ending -lig (but cf. Norwegian kjærleik,
Swedish kärlek).
Similar observations regarding
Swedish -ig
are made by Bertil Molde (see
booklist below):
"Att -ig
dominerar som avledningselement för adjektivbildning (blodig, stenig)
beror också i hög grad på inflytande från lågtyskan." (p.78)
The influence of MLG adjectival
suffix -ich was to
render native nouns in -ogh
to change form to -ig
(an easy change), words in -ig were
activated and became productive due to MLG
influence.
Direct loans, however, are, for
example, Middle Swedish ävigh “eternal”,
pliktligh
“bound, obliged” and värdigh
“worthy” from MLG êwich,
pliktigh and werdich.
Forms in -ug
from a native Swedish
adjectival suffix are still, however, found in some northern Swedish
dialects
e.g. nyttug “useful”,
stenug
“stony”, tokug “silly”.
Diminutives -ken, -ke and -lín (cf. German
-chen, -lein)
as a rule only exist in direct loans from MLG, e.g. frøken “Miss”, tallerken
“plate”, nellike “clove”, sønneke “lad, sonny”, hønnike “pullet”.
H. Bach mentions lykke, klog and smuk as
probable Modewörter, and points out
that these words are MLG imports in High German as well.
Middle
Low
German had a slighter effect on syntax and such morphological aspects
as
nominal inflexional endings, although most scholars do agree that that
MLG
influence is behind the general levelling of the Scandinavian
inflexional
system and the more analytic
(relying
on word order to convey meaning), rather than synthetic
(case-endings bear the grammatical information) structure
of Scandinavian syntax which developed over the period in question,
meaning
that by the 1500s the Mainland Scandinavian languages had developed
into the
language stage we have now. (The most intense period of language
contact
appears to have been 1300s and 1400s, and the Nordic languages were
most
influenced during this period of high intensity). As Lars S. Vikør puts
it
(p.41): “The influence from Low German
may have been even more profound…it may have stimulated the
morphological
simplification of [Mainland] Scandinavian.” That having been
said,
inflexional levelling and increasingly analytical syntax has occurred
in all
the Germanic languages to a greater (e.g. English) or lesser (e.g.
German)
extent, regardless of the nature of language contacts. Some
commentators have
argued that these features were the result of Low German users being
unable to
speak Scandinavian correctly and so a grammatically-simplified Mischsprache arose - which is a
defensible viewpoint. (This view is especially prominent among Swedish
scholars). The real nature of such a mixed language first becomes clear
when
the number of loanwords has reached such an extent that a direct effect
on the
grammatical structure of the native language is visible. Many of the
MLG words
did not fit easily into the Scandinavian case system and this leads to
the
alternative view, i.e. that the loanwords themselves were the cause of
the loss
of the classic case system. Keith Boden presents a counter-argument to
the
Mischsprache theory, pointing out that Hanseatic Germans, as the
speakers of
the prestige language, would have no motivation to learn Scandinavian
until the
decline of the Hansa and the resurrgence of the Scandinavian kingdoms.
Therefore improper learning by Low German speakers cannot account for
the MLG
influence on the Scandinavian form system.
Whatever the cause, however, it seems likely, as
argued above, that
MLG contact both accelerated and helped determine the direction of
these
already existing processes in the Mainland Scandinavian languages.
In summary of the above, worth
repeating here are comments
made by Bertil Molde concerning the relative ease with which MLG loans
could be
assimilated into the native Scandinavian phonological, morphological
and
lexical systems:
"Detta lågtyska språk hade på vissa viktiga
punkter stora likheter med svenskan (och danskan). Det hade t.ex. inte
högtyskans diftonger, och den s.k.
högtyska ljudskridningen (dvs. övergangen av t.ex. äldre /p/ till /f/)
hade
inte genomförts i lågtyskan. Detta gjorde att lågtyskan hade ordformer
som sten, hûs, ôge, tunge,
dragen, gripen
(motsvarande högtyskans Stein, Haus, Auge, Zunge, tragen, greifen)
dvs. former som uttals- och
stavningsmässigt låg mycket nära svenskans. Sådana likheter mellan
lågtyskan
och den medeltida svenskan var av avgörande betydelse för möjligheterna
för
svenskan att ta emot lån från lågtyskan. Dessa lån kom att bli av
väldig
omfattning, och de finns inom
praktiskt taget alla områden." (p.77)
and
further:
"Deres allmänna struktur (i fråga om ljud, stavning,
böjning) låg redan från början så nära strukturen hos inhemska ord att
assimilations processen gick snabbt." (p.79)
To those listed by Molde, we might
add such MLG forms as open,
tam, eten, riden, vören, varen, leggen, setten, gôt and dôt (cf. the
close Swedish words öppen,
tam, äta, rida, föra, fara, lägga, sätta, god and död). Compare these with
the rather more distant High
German offen, zahm,
essen, reiten,
führen, fahren,
liegen, setzen,
gut and tot.
This closeness in vocabulary and
sounds of the language is
given by Moberg as one important reason why MLG did not become the
language of
the Scandinavian nations despite being so well ingrained. The
Scandinavian
languages were close enough to MLG for it not to seem very alien and
due to the
loaning of new, productive affixes, speakers of Scandinavian were quite
easily
able to form new words based on either native or loaned elements as the
need
arose. The natives did not feel they were learning and using a language
so
different from their own. The fact that elements with no independent
meaning
could be loaned from one language to another and form productive word
classes
indicates the in some respects closeness of MLG and the late medieval
Scandinavian languages.
Furthermore, a class of bilingual
speakers which arose from
intermarrying between the natives and the Low German immigrants would
have
intensified the influence of MLG on the less prestigious Scandinavian
languages
and is another reason why MLG came to impact on Scandinavian in the way
that it
did. Moberg mentions a Helmik van Nörden who kept the records for
Gradually as the power of the
Hanseatic League declined in
the 1400s, and the
At the same time, the advent of
printing, and later the
Luther Bible, brought a new High German influence to bear. Indeed, the
many MLG
loans in the Mainland Scandinavian languages eased the passage for these High German loans or models to begin
arriving in force from the middle of the 1500s. The 1526 Swedish New Testament was aimed at the town
dwellers and eschewed older native words and expressions such as found
in the
Vadestena Bible with the aim of being clear and easily understandable
for its
intended audience, who were by now users of a considerable number of
Low German
loanwords. So we find words such as fråga
instead of native spörja,
begynna instead of
native börja,
behaga and behaglig
instead of native thäkkias
and thäkkelig,
måste
instead of måtte, ansikte
instead of anlete. Not only the Bible but many psalms and songs were
based on German
models.
By 1540 the chancellery of the Danish
king had made the
switch to High German. The Lutheran Reformation in particular, opened
the way
for a flood of High German lexical items and syntactical influence.
Many of the
men of the Swedish Reformation had been schooled in
MLG would have been reflected in
speech before writing, so
our knowledge of its exact route is limited. One of the greatest
controversies
in this field is whether the loans in Swedish came in via Danish, or
directly
from MLG. For a small number of words, e.g. bagare,
the forms in Swedish
Whatever their route, MLG-derived
words are attested even in
rural Swedish dialects by the late 1500s and studies by Lennart Elmevik
have
shown that the dialects have been penetrated by LG to a far higher
extent than
previously believed.
By 1600 the MLG loans were so well
assimilated that few
suspected such words were of foreign origin (unlike many later High
German
loans that were purged from the languages). Nowadays only linguists
among
Scandinavian speakers recognize that such words are of MLG origin.
When Esaias Tegnér the Elder
(1782-1846) in the poem Språken
(1817) described Swedish as “Ärans och
hjältarnas språk!”, he
presumably was not aware of the irony that the three nouns in his
sentence are
all descended from MLG!! (êre, helt,
sprâke).
**
*NOTE: these lists
can only give some of the more
common, important or else interesting MLG loans. There are
thousands and
whole books have been written detailing them. Deliberately excluded are
some
specialised registers, especially in the field of fishing and shipping,
but
also quite a few terms about the natural world. All the words in the
lists, as
far as I know, are still current in all or at least one of the Mainland
Scandinavian languages - and the lists give the modern forms of these,
along
with their current meanings. Loans into Icelandic and Faroese from MLG
are a
separate and more complex issue and will be treated later. However a
few
general remarks about the uptake of Low German loans into these insular
Nordic
languages is appropriate now.
Icelandic and Faroese received far
fewer direct loans from
Middle Low German mainly owing to their remote location and trade
agreements
with Norway, and later, Denmark. Most loans into these
A few words in the lists below are
element loan-translations
(e.g. domkyrka
from MLG dôm
and (originally) ON kirkja),
but these have
been included as important or interesting words).
Middle Low German forms use
circumflexes as a diacritic to
indicate long vowels because using macrons was impossible in an HTML
text.
In many cases, supposedly
Middle-Low-German-derived words in
Scandinavian seem more closely related to the corresponding ModLS forms
than to
the corresponding MLG forms as we know them from written sources. This
is
especially obvious where front vowels (represented by the letters y, ö/ø and ä/æ/e) correspond to
front vowels in ModLS (ü/üü, ö/öö, ä/ää e/ee) while corresponding to
what are
represented as back vowels in Middle Low German writing (u/û, o/ô, a/â). Other MLG loans
in Scandinavian are more similar to their ModLS cognates than to the
written
MLG ones in other ways. This may be an indication that such loans came
from
spoken Low Saxon dialects in which vowel fronting (umlauting) and other
changes
had already taken place, while this was not yet reflected in the more
or less
standardized and assumedly rather conservative written language at the
time.
Also, in some cases comparisons between the Scandinavian forms and the
ModLS
forms reveals that there was more than one MLG donor dialect. For
example, the
Swedish word sedel
is related to ModLS Zedel,
while the Danish equivalent seddel
is related to
the ModLS variant Zeddel. For this reason ModLS and, where deemed
necessary,
Modern Dutch (Du) cognates are added for comparison. This is limited to
actual
cognates, i.e. to directly corresponding words. It does not mean that
closely
related words do not exist. A cognate may or may not have the same
meaning as
that of the loanwords in Scandinavian.
ModLS has many dialects and so far no
standard dialect and
standard orthography. ModLS forms are here provided in a North Saxon
dialect of
* note:
a number of possible
MLG loans appear in my article on High German loans in the Scandinavian
languages
1 - NOUNS
(Dates given
for
first appearance in Swedish).
*All
loans
assumed to be Middle Low Saxon (MLS) unless given otherwise.
Swedish |
Danish |
English |
MLS |
Old Norse |
Mod LS or Du |
------ |
bødker |
cooper |
bödiker |
|
|
------ |
forskel |
difference |
vorschel |
munr |
Verscheel, Verschääl |
------ |
forsæt |
intention, purpose |
vorsat |
mál, ætlan |
Vörsatt (decision, plan) |
------ |
fætter |
cousin |
vedder |
frændi |
Vedder |
------ |
kok |
cook |
koch |
|
|
------ |
køgemester |
master cook |
kôkenmester |
|
|
------ |
maler |
painter |
|
|
Maler |
------ |
optog |
procession, paegeant |
optoch |
|
--- |
|
pebersvend |
bachelor |
|
|
|
------ |
taske |
bag |
tasche |
|
Tasch |
------ |
tæppe |
carpet |
teppet |
|
|
------ |
udtog |
abstract, summary |
ûttoch |
|
Uttog |
adel |
adel |
nobility |
adel |
|
Adel |
akt |
agt |
document, record; act |
âcht |
rit; lög |
Akt(e); akte (Du) |
allvar |
alvor |
earnestness |
alwâr |
alvara (loan from MLG) |
(alwaar 'whereas' (Du)) |
amma |
amme |
nurse |
amme |
|
Amm |
amt |
amt |
county |
ambacht, |
|
Amt |
andakt (c.1620) |
andagt |
devotion, prayers |
andacht |
bænir |
Andacht |
andel |
andel |
share, portion |
andêl |
hlútr |
Andeel |
andrake |
andrik |
drake |
anderik |
andarsteggr |
--- |
anfall |
anfald |
attack |
anval, aneval |
áhlaup |
Anfall |
angrepp |
angreb |
attack |
angrepe |
áhlaup |
Angreep |
anhang |
anhang |
supplement |
anhang |
|
Anhang |
ankomst |
ankomst |
arrival |
ankumpst |
koma, kváma |
Ankumst |
anrop |
anråb |
challenge |
anrop |
áskoran |
Anroop (call) |
ansikte |
ansigt |
face |
ansichte |
andlit |
|
anskri |
anskrig |
cry, scream |
anschrî |
óp, öskr |
--- |
anslag |
anslag |
impact; estimate; allowance |
anslach |
ætlan |
Anslag, Anslach |
anspråk |
------ |
claim, demand |
ansprake |
kröf |
Anspraak |
anstöt |
anstød |
offence |
anstôt |
afbrot |
Anstoot |
antal |
antal |
number |
antal |
tala |
aantal (Du) |
antal |
antal |
number, figure |
antal |
tal |
Antall, Antaal |
arbete |
arbejde |
work, labour |
arbeit |
erfiði |
Arbeid |
armod |
armod |
poverty |
armôt, armôde |
fátækð |
Armood |
art |
art |
kind, sort |
art |
tigund, kyn |
Aard, Aart, Oort |
avdelning |
afdeling |
division |
afdêlinge |
deild |
afdeling (Du) |
avlösning |
afløsning |
relief |
aflosinge |
|
|
bagare |
bager |
baker |
bakker |
|
Backer |
bedrift |
bedrift |
achievement, exploit; enterprise |
bedrif |
afrek, dáð |
Bedriev, Bedrief |
bedrövelse |
bedrøvelse |
sorrow, grief |
bedrôvenisse |
|
|
befallning |
befalning |
order, command |
|
|
Befehl |
befordring |
befordring |
conveyance |
|
|
|
begrepp |
begreb |
idea, concept |
begrîp, begrêp |
|
Begreep |
begär |
begær |
desire, craving |
beger |
þrá, lyst |
Begehr |
behag |
behag |
pleasure, satisfaction |
behach |
lyst, ánægja |
Behaag, Behaach, Behagen |
behov |
behov |
need |
behôf |
þorf |
behoef (Du) |
behov |
behov |
requirement, need |
behôf |
þörf, nauðr |
--- |
behåll |
behold |
keeping, preservation, retention |
beholt |
geymsla,
varðveizla |
--- |
bekymmer |
bekymring |
worry, concern, anxiety |
bekumberinge |
áhyggja |
|
belevenhet |
------ |
good breeding, fine manners |
belewtheit |
kurteisi |
--- |
belopp |
beløb |
amount |
belôp |
|
beloop (Du) |
beläte |
billede |
image, picture |
bilde, belde |
mynd |
Bild; beeld (Du) |
beråd |
beråd |
doubt, hesitation, uncertainty |
berât |
tvímæli, tvísýni |
--- |
besked |
besked |
message |
beschêd |
boð |
Bescheed |
beslag |
beslag |
fittings, mountings |
beslach |
|
Beslag, Beslach |
beslut |
beslutning |
decision, resolution |
beslut |
ákvæði |
Beslutt |
bestyr |
(bestyrelse) |
work, business,
management |
bestür |
verk, stjórn, viðskipti |
Bestüür |
bestånd |
bestand |
stock, number |
bestant |
birgðir |
Bestand |
beställning |
bestilling |
order |
|
|
|
besättning |
besættelse |
occupation |
besettinge |
hernám |
bezetting (Du) |
betryck |
betryk |
distress, need |
bedruck |
nauð |
--- |
bevillning |
bevilling |
grant, appropriation |
bewillinge |
veiting |
--- |
bevis |
bevis |
proof, evidence |
bewîs |
sannindi |
Bewies |
bevåg (c.1540) |
------ |
responsibility, authority |
bewach |
ábyrgð |
--- |
bihang |
------ |
appendage, appendix |
bîhank |
viðauki |
|
bilaga |
bilag |
enclosure, supplement, insert |
bilage |
|
Bi(e)lage, Bi(e)laag' |
bild |
billede |
image, picture |
bilde, belde |
mynd |
Bild; beeld (Du) |
bisittare |
bisidder |
assessor, observer |
bisitter |
|
Bisitter |
bislag |
bislag |
porch |
bislach |
|
Bislag, Bislach |
blick |
blik |
look, gaze |
blick |
ásyn |
|
borgare |
borger |
citizen |
borgere |
|
Börger |
borgmästare |
borgmester |
burgomaster |
borgermêster |
|
Börgermeester |
bovete |
boghvede |
buckwheat |
bôkwête |
|
Bookweten |
brännvin |
brændevin |
brandy, gin |
bernewîn |
|
Brandwien |
bukt |
bugt |
bay, gulf |
bucht |
vík |
Bucht |
bult |
bolt |
bolt |
bolte |
|
Bult, Bült |
burskap |
borgerskab |
franchise; citizens |
bûrschap |
borgarlýðr |
|
byxa |
bukse |
trousers, breeches |
buxe |
|
Büx(e), Bux(e) |
bålverk |
bolværk |
rampart, bulwark |
bolwerk (MLG) |
|
Bollwark |
båtsman |
bådsmand |
boatswain |
bôtsman |
bátsmaðr |
Bootsmann |
bädd |
------- |
bed |
bedde |
rúm,
sæng |
Bedd, Bett |
bägare |
bæger |
baker |
beker |
bakari |
Backer, Bäcker |
bäver |
bæver |
beaver |
bever |
bjórr |
Bever, Bewer |
bödel |
bøddel |
executioner, hangman |
bodel, boddel |
|
Bödel, Bodel |
börs |
børs |
purse, fund |
börs (LG), burse (MLG) |
fjárfundr, sjóðr |
Börs(e) ('purse', 'stock exchange') |
bössa |
bøsse |
gun; cashbox |
busse |
|
Büss(e), bus |
? |
bøssemager |
gunsmith |
? |
------ |
|
del |
del |
part, fraction |
dêl, deil |
hlutr |
Deel |
dikt |
digt |
poem |
dichte |
kvæði |
|
docka |
dok |
dock |
MDu dok, MLG
docke |
|
|
domherre |
domherre |
judge |
dômherre |
dómsmaðr |
Doomherr |
domkyrka |
domkirke |
cathedral |
dôm (MLG) + |
dómkirkja |
Dookark |
dop |
dåb |
baptism |
dope |
|
|
drake |
drage |
dragon |
drake |
dreki |
Drake |
dryckenskap |
drukkenskab |
drunkenness |
drunkenschap |
drykkjuskapr |
|
dräkt |
dragt |
dress, garb |
dracht |
umbúningr, klæði |
Dracht |
dunder |
dunder |
thunder, rumble |
dunner |
|
|
dust |
dyst |
fight, clash, tussle |
dust, diest |
bardagi |
|
däck (c.1690) |
dæk |
deck |
dek (LG or Du) |
|
|
döp |
dåb |
baptism |
dôpe |
skírn |
Dööp |
ebb |
ebbe |
low tide, ebb |
ebbe (Du) |
fjarra |
Ebb; eb(be) (Du) |
egendom |
ejendom |
property |
êgendôm (MLG) |
eign |
Egendoom |
egendom |
ejendom |
property, estate |
egendom |
eign, bú |
Egendom |
elände |
------- |
misery |
ellende |
aumleikr |
Elend |
endräkt |
endragt |
harmony, concord |
eindracht |
samræði,
samhljóðan |
Eendracht |
-eri |
-eri |
(suffix forming nomen agentis) |
-erîe |
|
-eree, - |
fack |
fag |
line, trade; subject |
vak (MLG) |
|
Fack |
fadder |
fadder |
godparent |
vadder |
|
|
falk |
falk |
falcon, hawk |
valke |
haukr, fálki |
Falk(e) |
fals |
fals |
deceit, falsehood |
vals |
lygi |
falsch 'wrong' |
falskhet |
falskhed |
falsness, duplicity |
valschheit |
|
Falschheit |
fana |
fane |
banner, standard |
vane |
merki |
Faan, Fahn |
fara |
fare |
danger |
vâre |
hætta |
Faar, Fahr |
fartyg |
fartøj |
vessel, ship |
fartüg (MLG) |
skip |
Faartüüg, Fahrtüüg |
feber (c.1533) |
feber |
fever |
feber |
|
Fever, Fewer |
fejda |
fejde |
feud, strife, war |
veide |
stríð, ófriðr |
Fede, Feed' |
fel |
fejl |
mistake, error |
feil, fegel |
villr |
Feel |
fett |
fedt |
fat, lard, grease |
fett |
feitr |
Fett |
ficka |
----- |
pocket |
ficke |
|
Fick |
fiol |
fiol |
violin |
viole |
|
|
flagg |
flag |
flag |
flagge (MLG) or vlag (Du) |
|
Flagg(e) |
flykt |
flugt |
escape, flight |
vlucht, vlücht |
flótti |
Flucht, Flücht |
flöjt |
fløjte |
flute |
flöite |
|
|
fogde |
foged |
sheriff, bailiff |
voget |
sýslumaðr |
Voogt |
fotfolk |
fodfolk |
infantry |
vôtvolk |
fótgönguherr |
|
fotgängare |
fodgænger |
infantryman |
vôtgenger |
fótgöngumaðr |
|
frakt |
fragt |
freight |
vracht |
farmr |
Fracht |
fru |
frue |
lady; Mrs |
vrouwe |
kona |
Fru, Fro |
frukost |
frokost |
breakfast |
vrôkost |
|
Fru(h)kost |
frukt |
frugt |
fruit |
vrucht |
|
Frucht |
fruktan |
frygt |
fear, dread |
vruchte |
hræzla, ótti |
Forcht, Furcht |
fröken |
frøken |
young lady; Miss |
vrouwekin, vrouken |
|
|
fukt |
fugt |
damp, moisture |
vucht |
|
|
fullmakt |
fuldmagt |
authority |
vulmacht |
yfirskipan |
Vullmacht |
fullmäktig |
fuldmægtig |
principal, delegate |
vulmechtich |
forstjóri |
Vullmacht |
furste |
fyrste |
prince |
vorste, vurste |
vísir |
|
furstinna |
fyrsteinde |
princess |
vorstinne |
dróttning |
Förstin |
fyr |
fyr |
fire |
vûr, vuer |
eldr |
Füür |
fält |
felt |
sphere; field |
velt |
|
Feld |
fängelse |
fængsel |
prison; imprisonment |
vengnisse |
fangelsi |
|
färg |
farve |
colour, hue |
varwe, varve |
litr |
Farv(e) |
fästning (c.1630) |
fæstning |
fortress |
vesteninge |
|
|
föga (falla till
föga) |
føje (falde til
føje) |
cause, ground, reason (yield, submit) |
vôge (in de vôge fallen) |
örsok |
|
fönster (ousted OSwed. vindögha) |
------ |
window |
vinster, venster |
gluggr |
Finster, Fenster |
förakt |
foragt |
contempt, disdain |
voracht |
|
--- |
förbud |
forbud |
ban, prohibition |
vorbot |
|
|
förbund |
forbund |
union, league, federation |
vorbunt |
lag, samfélag |
Verbund |
fördel |
fordel |
advantage |
vordêl |
gagn |
Fördeel |
fördrag |
------ |
lecture, address, delivery |
vordrach |
|
verdrag (Du) |
förekomst |
forekomst |
occurence, incidence |
vorkumpst |
|
--- |
föreståndare |
forstander |
principal, director |
vorstender |
forstjóri |
--- |
förfall |
forfald |
decay, decline |
vorval |
niðrfall |
Verfall |
förfång |
------ |
detriment; prejudice |
vorvank |
|
--- |
förgift |
forgift |
poison |
vorgift |
eitr |
--- |
förgängelse |
(forgængelighed) |
corruption |
vorgenknis |
spilling |
--- |
förhänge |
forhæng |
curtain, drape; veil |
vorhenge |
tjald |
Vörhäng |
förhör |
forhør |
interrogation |
(vorhören) |
|
|
förköp |
forkøb |
pre-emption |
vorkôp |
|
Verkoop |
förlopp |
forløb |
lapse; course
of events |
vorlop |
|
|
förlov |
forlov |
permission, leave |
vorlôf |
leyfi |
Verlööv, Verlööf |
förlust |
------ |
loss, damage |
vorlust |
tapan, skaði |
Verlust |
förnuft |
fornuft |
sense, reason |
vornuft |
skynsemd |
|
förräder |
forræder |
traitor |
vorrêder |
svikamaðr |
Verrader, Verräder |
förstånd |
forstand |
intellect, brains, reason |
vorstant |
vitsmunr, skynsemd, samvizka |
Verstand |
förtret |
fortræd |
annoyance, vexation, harm |
vordrêt |
skapraun; skaði |
Verdreet |
gaffel |
gaffel |
fork |
gaffel(e) |
|
Gaffel |
garvare |
garver |
tanner |
garwer, gerwer
(LG) |
sútari |
Garver |
gemål (c.1565) |
gemal |
consort, spouse |
gemâl |
maki |
|
gesäll |
gesel |
journeyman |
geselle |
|
Gesell(e) |
gevär |
gevær |
rifle, gun |
gewêre |
|
Geweer, Gewehr |
gikt (c.1578) |
gigt |
gout |
gicht, jicht |
|
Gicht, Jicht |
greve |
greve |
count, earl |
greve, grave |
jarl |
Graaf |
grevinna |
grevinde |
countess |
grevinne |
greifinna |
(Gräfin) |
gräns |
grænse |
border, boundary |
grense, grenitze |
merki |
Grenz(e), Grenß(e) |
gunst |
gunst |
favour, grace |
gunst |
náð |
Gunst |
gåva |
gave |
gift, present |
gâve |
gjöf; giäf (Old Swed.) |
Gaav', Gave |
-gängare |
-gænger |
-walker, -goer |
-genger, -ginger |
fótgöngmaðr |
-gänger |
haj |
haj |
shark |
haai |
|
Hai |
handel |
handel |
trade, commerce |
handel |
|
|
handske |
handske |
glove |
hantschô, hantsche |
hanzki |
Handsch(e) |
handskmakare |
handskemager |
glover |
|
|
|
hantwerk |
håndværk |
handicraft, trade |
hantwerk |
iðn |
Handwark; |
hast |
hast |
haste, hurry |
hast |
skynding, skyndir |
Hast |
helgon (pl.) |
helgen |
saint |
thie hêlagon (OSax.) |
|
|
herre |
herre |
gentleman; Mr |
hêrre (MLG) |
maðr, karlmaðr |
Herr |
herrskap |
herskab |
master and mistress |
hêrschop, hêrschap |
|
Herrschup(p) |
hertig |
hertug |
duke |
hertoch, hertich |
hertoga |
Hertog, Hertoch |
hertiginna |
hertuginde |
duchess |
hertochinne
|
|
|
hingst |
hingst |
stallion |
hinxt, hingest |
hestr |
Hingst |
hjälte |
helt |
hero |
helt |
hetja |
Held |
hjältinna |
heltinde |
heroine |
|
|
|
hopp |
håb |
hope, expectation |
hôpe (MLG) |
ván |
hoop (Du) |
hov |
|
court, noble
society |
|
hirð |
Hoff |
högmod |
hovmod |
pride, arrogance |
hogmôt |
|
|
husgeråd |
husgeråd |
household utensils |
hûsgerât |
|
|
husman |
husmand |
smallholder |
hûsman |
smábóndi |
|
hustru |
hustru |
(house)wife |
hûsvrouwe |
húsfreyja |
Huusfru, Huusfro |
hytt |
hytte |
cabin |
hütt, hütte (LG) |
|
Hütt |
häkte |
hægte |
custody, jail |
hechte |
varðhald |
hecht; haft (Du) |
härbärge |
herberg |
shelter, lodging |
herberge |
gisting |
Harbarg; |
härkomst |
herkomst |
origin, lineage |
herkumpst |
ætterni |
Herkumst, Herkomst |
höft |
------ |
hip |
hûfte |
mjöðm |
Hüft(e) |
högfärd |
------ |
pride, vanity |
hôchvart |
hégómadýrð |
--- |
högmod |
hovmod |
pride, arrogance |
hogemôt, homôt |
dramb |
Hoogmood |
högmod |
højmod |
|