The Vikings were farmersand great traders. But they are most

rememberedfor their predatory activities

The word vikings perhaps means “creek dealers” or “pirates”

The Vikings came from three countries of

Scandinavia: Denmark, Norway and Sweden.

The Vikings who attacked

England where referred to as Dene “Danes”, but there were

also norwegians among them

The first attacks in England

probably took place round

A.D. 789

They were just piratical

raids in search of plunder.

Later, large groups spent the winter in

England

And large armies stayed for longer

periods.

and finally came conquest and settlement.

The Vikings came very near to conquer the

whole of England

But king Alfred held

the south and west against

them.

The boundary between Alfred`s territory and the Danelaw ran along the line from London to

Chester.

The Vikings left their inprint on the island in

government, legal procedures, language and even arithmetic.

Viking Influence

on the english

language

The Scandinavian influx has left its mark on English place names.

by: “village, homestead” Grimsbythorp: “secondary settlement”

Grimsthorpe toft: “building site, plot of land”

Langtoft” thwaite: “woodland clearing,

meadow” Micklewaite” Others: Brimsby, Whitby, Derby,

Rugby.

Personal names: ending in –son: Jackson, Robertson, Thompson, Stevenson,

Jonson.Many things of human existance:Nouns: band, birth, bull, dirt, down, egg,

fellow, gate, sky, wantVerbs: call, clasp, die, get, give, happen,

hit, raise, scream, takeAdjectives: awkward, flat, happy, ill, odd,

sly, tight, ugly, weak, wrongForm words: at, both, less, lesser, rather,

same, until, together, worse, hence They are is said to be pure Scandinavian.

The total number of scandinavian loans is in fact rather small

compared with other influences exerted upon English.

But many of them are words in very frequent use, and there is a scandinavian enclave in the very

central region of the English vocabulary.