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Some of these sw-words are old norse, eg

    sware - "to answer" 
modern swedish = svara "to answer"

    sweger - "mother in law" 
modern swedish = svägerska "mother in law"

    sweor - "father in law" 
modern swedish = svärfar "father in law"


Old Norse is Germanic so I'm not sure whether you're suggesting those words entered the English vocabulary later, with the Vikings, of which I'm sure there are examples. On a side note, I liked seeing "swike", which would have been nice for Swedish speakers if it was still in use in English today.


> Old Norse is Germanic so I'm not sure whether you're suggesting those words entered the English vocabulary later, with the Vikings, of which I'm sure there are examples.

There are many. Often the native word coexists with the borrowed Norse cognate, as in yard / garden or shirt / skirt.

give is, I believe, subject to some debate. Without Norse influence, it would be pronounced yiv. People argue over whether it should be thought of as a borrowing from Norse or as a reversion of the pronunciation of the English word in a Norse-heavy environment. (etymonline has the second of those theories; wiktionary has the first.)


> Old Norse is Germanic

No, Old Norse is Old Norse.

"Germanic" (i guess you mean Proto-Germanic) and Old Norse are both indo-european languages.


Old Norse is a Nordic langauge, which makes it a North Germanic language, which, in turn, makes it a Germanic language.

Nordic languages (a family of languages) are descended from Proto-Nordic (a language).

Germanic languages (a family of languages) are descended from Proto-Germanic (a language).

Germanic languages are Indo-European languages, which have Proto-Indo-European as a root language.

You are not wrong in saying that Proto-Germanic and Old-Norse are IE languages. But it's also like saying that nickles and coins are currency, it doesn't mean that nickels are not coins.


Alright then.

My point that got lost along the way was about Norse ruling britain for 200 years and their cultural influence on the old english during that time.


It would be more correct to say that some of these sw-words can also be found in or are related to Old Norse and modern Swedish words.

They come from Indo-European roots and are older than Old Norse or Old English. Cognates are also found in Slavic and Roman languages:

  sware - свара - sermone
  sweor/sweger - свекор/свекровь - suocero/suocera




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