The English language was self-sufficiently developed. A Scandinavian element, French element, and Latin element entered it during the course of time and modified its character.
There are a number of Scandinavian families which settled in England during the middle ages. Their names are often preceded by the word "back".
The similarity between old Norse and old English was obscured by the fact that these two languages were being influenced by different cultures and their respective cultures. Also, words were often distinguished by their original all or some other word that had been changed.
The Scandinavians gave us a fresh lease of life when it came to obsolete native English words.
In some cases, though, both torms can still survive in standard speech. In other cases, the Scandinavian form is only surviving in dialects, while the Danish form belongs to the literary language. In Danish forms, the word swuster was replaced by swon or swain.
The sphere of knowledge which Scandinavians have learned English can be ascertained through this loan-word test. The first words which appear in this test are war and navy, orrest, and fylcian. There are also many law-terms which are very important to the Scandinavian form.
These loan-words denote actions and objects that are commonly described in Scandinavian terms. There are also nouns such as husband, sky, skull, and so on.
The scrutiny of the English loan of non-technical words reveals that the English did not have new ideas but only new names which were marked by commonplaceness. This shows that the Scandinavians did not have a mental or industrial superiority over the English.
