What Language Did The Vikings Speak? (Answered!)

Vikings is the name given to a population of seafaring people originally from Scandinavia. They are most commonly known for raiding various settlements and communities during their time. Theit earliest recorded raid is from 793 AD, and they survived until 1066 AD when the Normans invaded and conquered England. The Vikings spoke Old Norse, which evolved from Proto-Norse in the 7^th century.

Old Norse was native to a number of different countries.

Firstly, it was spoken in the Scandinavian countries which is comprised of Norway, Sweden and Demark.

It was also spoken in Iceland, Faroe Island, Greenland and any other Norse settlements at the time.

Old Norse was a Germanic language and gave rise to a subset of other languages, six of which are still spoken today: Faroese, Icelandic, Norwegian, Danish, Swedish and Elfdalian.

The language stemmed from Proto-Norse. Proto languages are a hypothetical lost parent languages from which other languages are derived.

Proto-Norse is thought to have existed from the 2^nd century AD to the 8^th century AD.

Old Norse was written in Younger Futhark, the runic alphabet used by the Norsemen.

Proto-Norse was written in Elder Futhark.

In This Article

Is the Viking Language Still Spoken Today?

No, the Viking Language, more commonly known as Old Norse, is not still spoken today.

However, there are Old Norse words that the English language has borrowed and adopted into its own lexicon.

The Elfdalian language spoken natively by fewer than 2,000 people is the closest surviving language to Old Norse.

What is Elfdalian?

Elfdalian is one of six surviving languages that evolved from Old Norse and by far the most obscure.

As of 2009, there were only around 2,000 native speakers and as such it is considered to be endangered.

Attempts are being made to try and preserve the language, with many calling for Sweden to recognize it as an official language.

It developed in relative isolation since the Middle Ages and has remained closer to Old Norse than other Dalecarlian dialects.

The language is spoken in the locality of Älvdalen located in the south-eastern part of the Älvdalen Municipality in northern Dalarna, Sweden.

What Texts Were Written in Old Norse?

Many of the Old Norse texts we have today come from Iceland with a smaller number coming from Scandinavia.

Icelandic literature is typically divided up into three parts: Eddic poetry, Sagas and Scaldic Poetry.

Eddic Poetry, or edda, is a poetry form containing mainly mythological stories and scenarios.

Some of the best known edda are the Poetic Edda, written in the late 10^th century and the Prose Edda which dates to c. 1220.

Sagas were usually more reality-based and dealt with actual events.

Some of the best-known sagas are the Kings’ saga and the Icelanders’ saga.

Skaldic poetry was written to honour nobles and kings.

They were factual accounts and were composed by skalds, the well-known poets of the time.

These skalds were broken up into four different types: professional poets, private poets, clerics and anonymous poets.

What English Words Stemmed from Old Norse?

Just like the Vikings of old used to invade various settlements, the Viking language invaded the English language and there are many words we use today that have their origins in Old Norse.

For example, the term club comes from the Old Norse klubba, meaning a heavy, blunt weapon.

And the word ransack comes from rannsaka meaning to search a house.

For a longer, though incomplete, list of Old Norse words that have found their way into English see the list below:

English	Old Norse	Meaning
Loan	Lán	To lend
Skill	Skil	Distinction
Bug	Búkr	An insect within trees
Bull	Boli	A bull
Reindeer	Hreindyri	A reindeer
Dirt	Drit	Excrement
Mire	Myrr	Bog
Call	Kalla	To cry loudly
Cast	Kasta	To throw
Clip	Klippa	To cut
Stain	Steina	To paint
Ball	Bǫllr	A round object
Knot	Knutr	A knot
Cake	Kaka	A cake
Egg	Egg	An egg
Freckles	Freknur	Freckles
Skin	Skinn	Animal hide

What Was Proto-Norse?

Proto-Norse is the hypothesised parent language of Old Norse.

It was an Indo-European language that was spoken in Scandinavia and is thought to have evolved as a northern dialect of Proto-Germanic in the first century.

The Proto-Norse language is estimated to have been spoken between the 2^nd and 8^th centuries.

Proto-Norse goes by a variety of different names: Ancient Nordic, Ancient Scandinavian, Ancient Norse and so on.

Linguistically it is known as an attested language as there is surviving evidence for its existence.

The surviving evidence of Proto-Norse are all runic inscriptions in the Elder Futhark.

There are about 260 such inscriptions with the earliest dating back to the 2^nd century.

What Was Elder Futhark?

Elder Futhark, also known as Older Futhark, Old Futhark or Germanic Futhark, is the oldest form of runic alphabet.

Inscriptions of the alphabet can be on artifacts such as jewellery, tools and weapons as well as runestones.

The Elder Futhark got its name from the phoneme of its first six letters: F, U, Þ, A, R and K.

The alphabet has a total of 24 runes that are traditionally arranged into three groups of eight, with each group called an ætt.

What Was Younger Futhark?

Younger Futhark, also known as Scandinavian Runes, is another runic alphabet and a simplified form of Elder Futhark.

The alphabet only features 16 characters as compared to Elder Futhark’s 24.

Linguists place the widespread use of the simplified alphabet from about the 9^th century after first undergoing a transitional period in the 7^th and 8^th centuries.

Younger Futhark’s lifetime roughly corresponds with the Viking Age. Its use declined following the Christianization of Scandinavia from the 8^th century to the 12^th century, after which most Scandinavian writings was in the Latin alphabet.

Runic scripts did manage to survive in the form of medieval runes and Latinised Dalecarlian runes.

The Vikings were a seafaring people from Scandinavia best known for raiding and pillaging communities.

They spoke a language known as Old Norse which was written in the runic script, Younger Futhark.

The language is no longer spoken and the closest descendant we have today is Elfdalian, which comes from the locality of Älvdalen in Sweden.

There are many words in the English language that come from Old Norse such as club (klubba), reindeer (hreindyri) and cake (kaka).

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Polly Webster is the founder of Foreign Lingo and a seasoned traveler with a decade of exploration under her belt.

Over the past 10 years, she has journeyed to numerous countries around the globe, immersing herself in diverse cultures, traditions, and languages.

Drawing from her rich experiences, Polly now writes insightful articles about travel, languages, traditions, and cultures, sharing her unique perspectives and invaluable tips with her readers.

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