In celebration of the fact that it is RAINING for the very first time since I moved to Berkeley nearly five months ago, here is a list of some of the choicer English words that originate from Old Norse (prompted by a very enjoyable post-dinner discussion tonight with half-Swedish friends). The list is I think remarkably evocative of Viking, er, ambiance, although ambiance may itself be too delicate and French a word in this context. It reminds me of a lovely quote from Jon Bridgman, who taught history at the University of Washington for a zillion years, to the effect that, 'If you want to tell whether an English word is Latin or Anglo-Saxon in origin, hit your thumb with a big hammer very hard; all the words that come out will be Anglo-Saxon.' Without further ado (ado also being of Norse extraction), voici la liste:
anger awe awkward axle berserk billow
bleak blunder bulk club crawl crook
cur die dirt dregs haggle heathen
hit ill irk keel knife knot
mire mistake muck muggy oaf odd
outlaw plough ransack rid root rotten
rugged scare scant scathe scrap scrape
skid skull slaughter sledge stagger stain
steak thwart troll ugly
... also, weirdly, 'ombudsman,' (you don't really think of the Vikings having ombudsmen, at least I don't, but it turns out indeed they did). And just in case I am accused of political incorrectness and inferring that people of Nordic extraction are all berserk scary ransacking rotten oafs, they also came up with 'Yule,' so happy very early Christmas to all and to all a good night. I am quite enjoying the early dark and the rain, at least for the moment; it is warming a little northern corner of my soul that doesn't entirely approve of all this eternal California sunshine.
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