BEFORE WE DIVE IN
I’m a little tired today.
I stayed up until stupid o’clock to watch England play Norway in the World Cup.
People made some good jokes:
(The French in the final were really Norsemen too)
You may or may not be aware that “Old Norse”, the language of the Vikings, made a large impact on English.
For example, all the places in Northern England ending in -by or -thorpe were founded by the invaders (Grimsby, Scunthorpe, Derby).
Even more intriguing for our Spanish-speaking students is the fact that many of the most common words in English are Norse rather than French or Latin.
The following sentence is almost entirely made from Norse-derived words
They took the knife and cut the egg by the window.
Let's break it down:
They ← þeir
Took ← taka
The ← Old English
Knife ← knífr
And ← Old English (and)
Cut ← kutta (via Old Norse)
The ← Old English
Egg ← egg
By ← bý
The ← Old English
Window ← vindauga ("wind" + "eye")
Seven of the eleven words are Norse in origin.
And that's not unusual.
Some of the most common words in English came from Old Norse:
they ← þeir
them ← þeim
their ← þeira
get ← geta
give ← gefa
call ← kalla
die ← deyja
want ← vanta
sky ← ský ("cloud")
husband ← húsbóndi ("master of the house")
law ← lag
wrong ← rangr
ugly ← ugglig
So next time you take a break, crack an egg, look out of the window, or say they, you’re speaking a little Viking without even realising it.
England may have knocked Norway out of the World Cup.
But Old Norse has never been knocked out of English.
Who will get their hands on the World Cup?
This week’s three tips:
SOMETHING TO AVOID 🫣
🤦🏻♀️ “England won Norway”
In English you win a game, a match, a competition or a trophy.
✅ “England beat Norway”
But we always beat an opponent.
I hope England beat France and win the World Cup
SOMETHING TO SOUND CONFIDENT 🧐
👔 Business expressions
“To hold the fort”
To keep things running while the person in charge is away.
Why “fort”?
The expression comes from military life. If the commander left a fort, someone else had to defend it and keep everything under control until they returned.
Today, we use it in business to mean “keep things running until I get back.”
Sarah held the fort while the CEO was in New York.
SOMETHING TO WATCH 📺
OUR INTENSIVE COURSE THIS SUMMER
SPEED SPRINTTM🏃♂️
Running from 29th of June 31st of July
Click below to find out more 👇
NEXT STEPS ➡️
Keep learning,
Jack & Krystallo
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