What was the Danelaw?

Part of England under Viking control

Old Norse Words Quiz: Viking Loanwords in English

Viking settlers in the Danelaw left a mark on English that reaches basic words like they and them, and this Old Norse words quiz shows how deep it goes. Play an interactive set of 10 questions on window and its wind eye, husband, law, skirt and shirt, take and get, berserk, place names ending in -by and -thorpe, and Lindisfarne.

Start Old Norse Words Quiz

🎯 Daily Trivia Challenge • 🧠 10 Questions • ⏱️ 150 Seconds

Question 1 / 10 Time: 150s

Pronoun
Which English pronoun came from Old Norse?
Window
What did Old Norse vindauga, the source of window, literally mean?
Husband
What did Old Norse húsbóndi mean?
Skirt
Which pair of English words grew from the same root, one via Old Norse?
Sky
Which everyday weather word is Norse in origin?
Danelaw
What was the Danelaw?
Places
Which place-name ending often marks a Norse settlement?
Berserk
What did berserk warriors supposedly wear?
Raid
Which monastery's 793 raid is often seen as the start of the Viking Age in England?
Verbs
Which pair of common verbs came from Old Norse?

Explanations: answer key for all 10 questions

Q1: Which English pronoun came from Old Norse?
Answer: They
They, them and their replaced Old English forms.
Q2: What did Old Norse vindauga, the source of window, literally mean?
Answer: Wind eye
Early windows were openings that let in wind and light.
Q3: What did Old Norse húsbóndi mean?
Answer: Master of the house
The word gave English husband.
Q4: Which pair of English words grew from the same root, one via Old Norse?
Answer: Skirt and shirt
Skirt is the Norse form, shirt the native English one.
Q5: Which everyday weather word is Norse in origin?
Answer: Sky
Old English used heofon, which survives as heaven.
Q6: What was the Danelaw?
Answer: Part of England under Viking control
It covered much of northern and eastern England.
Q7: Which place-name ending often marks a Norse settlement?
Answer: -by, as in Whitby
By meant farm or village in Old Norse.
Q8: What did berserk warriors supposedly wear?
Answer: Bear shirts
The word may come from bear and shirt.
Q9: Which monastery's 793 raid is often seen as the start of the Viking Age in England?
Answer: Lindisfarne
The attack shocked Christian Europe.
Q10: Which pair of common verbs came from Old Norse?
Answer: Take and get
Give in its modern form also shows Norse influence.

Old Norse Words Quiz – The Viking Words in English

Vikings began raiding England in 793 with an attack on Lindisfarne, and later settled across the Danelaw in northern and eastern England. Their language, Old Norse, mixed closely with Old English.

English borrowed everyday words such as sky, egg, knife, skin, law and window, from vindauga, wind eye. Even the pronouns they, them and their come from Norse. Husband came from húsbóndi, master of the house.

Sometimes both forms survived, such as Norse skirt and English shirt. Place names ending in -by and -thorpe, such as Whitby and Scunthorpe, mark Viking settlements.

What This Quiz Teaches

Language and history fans will enjoy these questions.

How Norse reached English
Which words were borrowed
What words originally meant
Which pairs survived
How place names show settlement

Did You Know?

Words with sk- sounds are often Norse.
Thursday is named after the god Thor.
Yorkshire dialects keep many Norse words.
Ransack and anger have Norse roots.
Danish and Old English speakers could partly understand each other.