The Influence of Middle Low German
on the Scandinavian Languages

Definition of terms:
Middle Low German (MLG) : Means scholars are not certain about whether a loan came from Middle Low Saxon (MLS) or Middle Dutch (MDu). MLG can therefore be taken to mean from either, or both.
   Middle Low Saxon (MLS): Means the Low German dialects spoken in northern Germany and what is now the Netherlands by Hansa merchants etc. which were based on Old Saxon dialects.
   Middle Dutch (MDu): Means the Low German varieties based upon Old Franconian forms spoken by traders from what is now the Netherlands.
   Old Norse (ON): Is used here, rather than the Old- and Middle- Danish/Swedish forms that were actually replaced (unless stated), as instances of Old Norse are much easier to locate and state with certainty.

Background and history
The influence of Low Saxon and Dutch on the Scandinavian languages during the late medieval and early modern period has been profound. Some commentators have compared it to the huge influence, both at the lexical and structural levels, that Norman French exerted on late Old English following the Norman Conquest. During the course of the medieval period, Danish for example borrowed more than 1500 new words, some of which were loaned from Latin, but the great majority came in from Middle Low German.
   The influence of Middle Low German on the later development of the Scandinavian languages was succinctly described by the Nordicist Didrik Arup Seip when he remarked:
   “Two Norwegians cannot in our day carry on a conversation of 2-3 minutes without using Low German loanwords.....of course without knowing that they are doing so.”
   The changes effected by Middle Low German on the Mainland Nordic languages were especially pronounced in the period c.1300-1550, after which, High German became the primary language in Northern Germany and began to influence the Mainland Nordic languages.
   In the early and mid 1100s the Hansa trade town of Lübeck was rising to prominence on the Baltic coast. Along with other Hansa towns, Lübeck allowed the Hanseatic League to dominate trade across Scandinavia and the Baltic for the next three centuries. Colonies of Low German speaking merchants, craftsmen and officials settled in many major Nordic towns, such as Oslo, Bergen, Visby, Stockholm, Malmö and Copenhagen. In addition, many aristocratic families from what is now Northern Germany settled in Denmark and elsewhere in Scandinavia, and these often held prominent positions and hence had the chance to influence the literary language of all three nations to quite a degree. The polite and courtly speech of the Scandinavian courts, as well as the terminology of merchants, craftsmen and officials was for several centuries mainly Middle Low German, and this language left a considerable and lasting lexical legacy in the native languages before it expired as a spoken language in Scandinavia. Legal and official documents from the Nordic trade centres of the time are loaded with Middle Low German loans and expressions, that is, when they are not written in Low German itself. Germans in Scandinavian towns dominated on account of special rights granted them and influenced political life to such an extent that their presence was eventually decisive in bringing about the pan-Nordic Union of Kalmar in 1397. Albrekt of Mecklenburg, a German-born king, ascended to the Swedish throne in 1364. Furthermore, the first mayor of Stockholm was from the area of today’s Northern Germany and during the period 1364–89, the stadslag of Magnus Eriksson had to be passed in order to legislate against not more than half of the town officials being of “German” birth!
   The result of Low German domination of Nordic trade, economy, handicrafts, and to some extent, local government and the court, was an unparalleled influx of loanwords and productive morphological elements from the high-prestige Low German varieties. Most substantial among the areas for loans from Low German were shipping, fishing and navigation, trade and economy, craftsmanship, and local administration, but many terms pertaining to the court and polite society were also borrowed, as well as military terminology and many general and now everyday verbs, adjectives and adverbs. Literally thousands of MLG loans and words derived from MLG loaned elements entered into the Mainland Scandinavian languages, and many native Scandinavian words were displaced. However, some MLG words developed into competitive synonyms for words of North Germanic stock. Generally speaking, where North Germanic (i.e. native Scandinavian) and West Germanic (i.e. loaned or derived from MLG) synonyms exist in the modern languages, the West Germanic-derived words tend to have precedence. In other cases, they have marginalised the meanings of the North Germanic synonyms. There are far too many examples to list here.
   MLG affected almost all spheres of the Mainland Scandinavian lexicon, but the examples given below of words current in modern Danish (unless stated otherwise) indicate the main spheres of influence. Many of these words are loan-translations (i.e. Low German elements are translated directly into their Scandinavian etymological and semantic equivalents – often using word-forming elements borrowed from MLG), for example MLG hantwerk becomes Dan. håndværk “craft, trade” and MLG unwetenheit becomes Dan. uvidenhed “ignorance”. Many of these loans are now among the most everyday words in the Mainland Scandinavian languages:

Trade and professions: bager “baker”, bøssemager “gunsmith”, fisker “fisherman”, fragt “freight”, handle “to trade”, handskemager “glover”, håndværk “handicraft”, isenkræmmer “ironmonger”, klejnsmed “locksmith”, kunstner “artist”, købe “to buy”, købmand “merchant”, pels “pelt, hide”, pund “pound”, præst “priest”, regne “calculate; consider”, regning “calculation”, regningskab (now regnskab) “accounts”, rente “interest, dividend”, sadelmager “saddler”, skomager “cobbler”, skrædder “tailor”, slagter “butcher”, tømmermand “ship-wright”, udgift “expenditure”, vare “product, article”, værksted “workshop”.

Court and nobility: eventyr “adventure, fairy tale”, frøken “young woman, Miss”, fyrste “prince”, greve “count, earl”, herre “lord” (now “gentleman”), hertug “duke”, hof “court”, hofmester “steward” (now “waiter”), hovmod “pride”, jomfru “noble young lady” (now “virgin”), junker “nobleman”, krone “crown”, ridder “knight”, slot “castle, palace”, væbner “squire”, ærlighed “honour”.

Government and Power: borger “citizen”, borgmester “burgomaster”, domherre “judge” (now dommer), embedsmand “goverment offical” (cf. English loan from Swedish ombudsman), fordel “advantage”, fuldmagt “authority”, magt “power”, oldermand “alderman”, regere “rule”, rådmand “alderman”, told “duty, customs”.

Military: erobre “conquer”, fane “banner, standard”, fejde “feud; war”, fodgænger “infantryman” (now “pedestrian”), gevær “gun, rifle”, høvedsmand “captain”, kamp “battle”, krig “war”, nederlag “defeat”, orlog “naval battle”, panser “armour”, plyndre “plunder”, rejse (with the meaning) “campaign”.

Shipping, fishing and navigation*: agter “astern”, bådsmand “boatswain”, fartøj “vessel”, flag “flag”, haj “shark”, kaj “quay”, kyst “coast”, malstrøm “whirlpool, maelstrom”, mandskab “crew”, sælhund “seal”, styrbord “starboard”, styrmand “first mate; helmsman”.

Common and auxilary verbs: anvende “use”, arbejde “work”, begribe “comprehend”, begynde “begin”, bestemme “decide”, betale “pay”, betyde “mean”, blive “become”, bringe “bring”, bruge “use”, digte “compose, write, write poetry”, erfare “experience”, fatte “comprehend”, forekomme “appear”, forklare “explain”, foreslå “suggest”, forstå “understand”, forsvinde “disappear”, fortælle “tell, narrate”, føle “feel”, håbe “hope”, klage “complain”, koge “boil, cook”, købe “buy”, kæmpe “fight”, lære “learn”, mene “mean, intend”, male “paint”, opdage “discover”, ordne “arrange”, oversætte “translate”, overveje “consider, comtemplate”, pleje “be in the habit of”, prate “chat” (now only “talk nonsense”), prøve “try”, redde “save, rescue”, rejse “travel”, regne “estimate, reckon (on)”, samle “collect”, skildre “describe”, slute “finish”, smage “taste”, snakke “talk, chat”, spille “play”, stille “put, place”, støtte “support”, trække draw, pull, undersøge “investigate”, undgå “avoid”, undskylde “excuse”, vare “last”, øve “practise”.

Common adjectives: alvorlig “serious”, bange “afraid”, billig “cheap”, dejlig “pleasant”, dygtig “capable”, egentlig “real; proper”, endelig “final”, enkel “simple; single”, falsk “false”, flink “clever”, fri “free”, frisk “fresh, healthy”, fremmed “foreign, strange”, from “pious”, færdig “ready”, forsigtig “cautious”, gemen “public”, hemmelig “secret”, hændig “practical”, herlig “splendid”, høvisk “courteous”, høflig “courteous”, klog “wise”, kort “short”, krank “sick”, middelmådig “mediocre”, mulig “possible”, rar “nice, kind”, rask “quick”, skøn “pretty”, stolt “proud”, svag “weak”, tapper “brave”, tilfreds “satisfied”, ægte “genuine”, åbenbar “public, manifest”.

Common adverbs, prepositions and conjuctions: dog “however, yet”, emellertid “however” (Swed.), forbi “past”, ganske “quite; very”, jo “yes indeed, certainly”, likväl (Swed.), likevel (Nor.) “all the same, nevertheless”, men “but”, nemlig “namely, that is”, overalt “everywhere”, redan “already” (Swed.), samt “and also, plus”, sikker “certainly”, straks “immediately”, sådan “such”, temmelig “rather”, tilsammen “in all, altogether”, trods “despite”, ur “from, of” (Swed.), vældig “awfully, very”, øvrig “the rest, what’s left”.

(*note: there are many specialised loans for shipping and types of fish which are not included in this article.)

Borrowed affixes
Scandinavian speakers were adept at resolving Middle Low German forms into their own sound and inflexional systems, and many affixes borrowed from Middle Low German later became productive in the formation of Scandinavian words on home soil. Middle Low Saxon and Middle Dutch thus had an effect at a morphological level, as well as a lexical one. What follows is a list of the most important borrowed affixes, illustrated with examples from all three modern languages (many of these will be familiar to readers who know German):

an- (MLG an-): anbefale “recommend”, anklage “accuse”, angrepp “attack”.
be- (MLG be-, bi-): behandle “treat”, betænke “consider”, beslut “decision”.
bi - (Swed. from MLG bi-): bifalla “assent”, bistå “support”.
fore- (Dan./Nor. from MLG vor-): forekomst “occurence”, foretrække “prefer”, foredrag “lecture, speech”.
för - (Swed. from MLG vor-): försiktig “cautious, careful”, fördöma “condemn”.
om- (MLG um-): omgive “surround”, omstendighet “circumstance”, omkreds “circumference”.
over- (Dan./Nor. from MLG over-): overbevise “convince”, overhøre “interrogate”, oversætte “translate”.
över- (Swed. from MLG over-): övermod “pride, arrogance”, översätta “translate”.
und - (Dan./Swed.)/unn- (Nor.) from MLG unt-): undgå “escape, evade”, undskylde “excuse”, unnvære “do/go/be without”.
-aktig (Swed./Nor.)/-agtig (Dan. from MLG -achtich): varaktig “enduring”, byagtig “urban”, livagtig “lifelike”.
-ande (Swed.)/-ende (Dan./Nor. from MLG -ent): inflytande “influence”, forehavende “enterprise”, udseende “appearance”.
-bar (MLG -bâr): brukbar “usable”, kostbar “costly, precious”, holdbar “durable, tenable”, strafbar “punishable”.
-else (MLG -sel): skapelse “shape, creation”, overdrivelse “exaggeration”, spøgelse “spectre”.
-er ( Dan./Nor.)/-are (Swed. from MLG -êre): borgare “citizen”, jägare “hunter”, maler “painter”, lærer “teacher”.
-eri (MLG -erîe): fiskeri “fishery”, bedrageri “fraud”, tyveri “theft”, slagteri “abattoir”.
-hed (Dan.)/-het (Swed./Nor. from MLG -heit, -hêt): nyhed “novelty”, storhet “greatness”, flertydighet “ambiguity”, rigtighed “correctness; truth”.
-haftig (Dan.)/-heftig (Nor.)/-ha ftig (Swed. from MLG -heftich): mandhaftig “mannish”, standhaftig “firm”.
-inna (Swed.)/-inde (Dan.)/-inne (Nor. from MLG -inne, -in): furstinna “princess”, hertuginde “duchess”, grevinde “countess”.
-isk (loaned from or influenced by MLG -isch): høvisk “courteous”, upprorisk “rebellious”, jordisk “earthly, worldly”.
-mager (Dan.)/-magare (Swed.)/-maker (Nor. from MLG -maker): hattemager “hatter”, skomager “cobbler”, urmaker “watchmaker”.
-ner (Dan./Nor.)/-näre (Swed. from MLG -(e)nêre): kunstner “artist”, gartner “gardener”, väpnare “squire”.
-ska (Dan./Nor.)/-(er)ska (Swed. from MLG -ersche): tvätterska “laundress”, syerske “seamstress”, husholderske “housekeeper”.
-skab (Dan.)/-skap (Nor./Swed. from MLG -schap): vennskap “friendship”, landskab “landscape”, ekteskap “marriage”.

Not all of these affixes are productive in the modern languages. Some like an-, be-/bi-, fore-/för-, -ska and und-/unn- are no longer productive as word forming elements, while om- and over-/över- are active elements. The following suffixes used to form adjectives, agent nouns and abstract nouns are still very productive: -aktig/-agtig, -bar, -else, -er, -hed/-het.
   Mention also needs to be made of MLG influence on the use of the native adjective and adverbial ending, -lig. Although this element is common Germanic (cf. ON -ligr, -legr, ODan. -likær, OSwed. -lîker), its present popularity and very widespread usage in Scandinavian word-formation has a great deal to owe to MLG influence, through the suffix -lîk. Similar observations regarding the dominance of adjective forming suffix -ig in Swedish are made by Bertil Molde (p.78 - see booklist below) e.g. blodig “bloody”, stenig “stony”.
   Worth repeating here are comments made by Bertil Molde concerning the relative ease with which MLG loans could be assimilated into the native Scandinavian phonological, morphological and lexical systems:
   “This Low German language had certain features significantly in common with Swedish (and Danish). For example, it lacked the diphthongs of High German and had not undergone the High German soundshift…This meant that Low German had word forms such as sten, hûs, ôge, tunge, dragen, gripen (cf. High German Stein, Haus, Auge, Zunge, tragen, greifen) which in terms of pronunciation and spelling were very close to Swedish. Such similarities between Low German and medieval Swedish were of crucial importance for the possibilities of Swedish to loan words from Low German.  (P.77; translation mine)
   And further:
   “Their general structure (in terms of sound, spelling, inflection) were from the beginning so close to the structure of native words that the process of assimilation was rapid.” (P.79; translation mine)
To those listed by Molde, we might add such MLG forms as bok, open, tam, eten and riden. Compare these with the rather more distant High German Buch, offen, zahm, essen and reiten.
   Middle Low German had a slighter effect on syntax and such morphological aspects as nominal inflexional endings, although most scholars do agree that that MLG influence is behind the general levelling of the Scandinavian inflexional system and the more analytic (relying on word order to convey meaning), rather than synthetic (case-endings bear the grammatical information) structure of Scandinavian syntax which developed over the period in question. That having been said, inflexional levelling and increasingly analytical syntax has occurred in all the Germanic languages to a greater (e.g. English) or lesser (e.g. German) extent, regardless of the nature of language contacts. Some commentators have argued that these features were the result of Low German users being unable to speak Scandinavian correctly - which is a defensible viewpoint. Whatever the cause, however, it seems likely, as argued above, that MLG contact accelerated these processes in the Mainland Scandinavian languages.
   Gradually as the power of the Hanseatic League declined in the 1400s and early 1500s, so did the influence of Middle Low German on the Nordic tongues. At the same time, the advent of printing, and later the Luther Bible, brought a new High German influence to bear. The Lutheran Reformation in particular, opened the way for a flood of High German lexical items and syntactical influence.

MLG influence on Icelandic and Faroese
Icelandic and Faroese received fewer direct loans from Middle Low German mainly owing to their remote location and trade agreements with Norway, and later, Denmark. Most loans into these North Atlantic languages therefore were taken up indirectly, with Norwegian or Danish (especially the latter) acting as an intermediary. There were fewer loans into Icelandic compared to the mainland, but those that existed were used with vigour in the learned written language until the 1600s when the tide began to turn against them. Such loans (as well as those that were entirely Mainland Scandinavian in origin) were increasingly frowned upon as corruptive and unnecessary. This feeling gradually increased and culminated last century in the hreintungustefna (policy of linguistic purism) which still defines the criteria concerning the adoption of foreign words into Icelandic. Many Low German loans through Danish as well as pure Danish words have been ejected in favour of native constructs and most of the productive word-forming elements loaned from the original imports have been cleansed from the written language. The result is a purer but rather different Icelandic from that of the 1600s and before. A similar principle guides some of the more ardent adherents of Norwegian Nynorsk, who want to see Low German “interference” minimised. The situation with Faroese is rather more complicated, as the language is still subjected to considerable Danish influence. There has been a movement for a less mixed language there too, but the impetus has been weaker. Consequently the Low German lexical influence in Faroese (mostly through Danish) is more noticeable, but still not nearly so important as the corresponding influence on the Mainland Scandinavian languages.
   Icelanders were reading Middle Low German books before the Reformation in the late 1400s and the Hanseatic commercial power was first making its presence felt in Iceland around this time. Examples of MLG loans, most of which are still viable today, are: greifi “earl”, hertogi “duke”, jungherra “master, nobleman”, jungfrú “lady”, fursti “prince”, riddari “knight”, lén “fife”, kurteis “courtesy”, handla “act; trade”, smakka “taste”, sykur “sugar”, kokkur “cook”, kokka “cook, boil”, diktur “poem”, forma “form”, klókur “clever, cunning” and mekt “might, power”.
   Middle Low German words mediated through Danish are also in great evidence in learned written documents from the Icelandic renaissance and later Reformation period. A great number of the loans taken in by the Icelandic scholars of the Reformation never progressed further than the ecclesiastical register, including most of the verbs formed in their hundreds with various affixes and suffixes (for-, -, ofur-), agent nouns formed with -arí (e.g. kettarí “heresy”), -erí (e.g. hórerí “prostitution”) and the abstract noun suffix from MLG -sel (e.g. bískermelsi “protection”). Many other common MLG via Danish words such as brúka, blífa, and makt remained in Icelandic but have since been purged by the fierce policy of lexical purism that has operated for over 100 years. Some of the these still remain however, e.g. glas “glass”, fordæma “condemn”, pakki “packet, pack”, spegill “mirror”, slæmur “bad, poor”, spaug “joke, jest” and orsök “cause”. Although almost all Danish (and hence MLG) has been purged from the formal written language, many Danish loanwords are used in everyday speech.
   Middle Low German and Danish-mediated MLG had a similar influence on the Faroese lexicon as they had on the Icelandic. From Middle Low German we can assign handil “trade; shop”, bakari “baker”, blíva “become”, mekt “power”, and arbeiði “work” (only bakari is still in Icelandic), as well as many others which have been loaned in via Danish. In this latter category we can place betala “pay” (from betale; obsolete in Icelandic), toy “cloth” (Danish tøj) and vitskapur “science” (Danish videnskab), as well as begynna “begin” (begynde), bevara “preserve” (bevare), forderva “spoil, corrupt” (fordærve), forráða “betray” (forråde) and gemeinur “public, common” (gemen is now not especially favoured in Danish). Danish is also the source of some Faroese abstract nouns terminating in -heit and -ilsi (the Danish endings are themselves derived from Middle Low German) e.g. in words like sannheit “truth” (sandhed) and følilsi “feeling, sensation” (følelse).
However, in more recent times Faroese has developed its own alternatives to the words listed above, either from its own resources or in imitation of Icelandic or Old Norse (or occassionally Norwegian). Thus begynna “begin” > byrja, betala “pay” > gjalda, bevara “preserve” > varðveita, forderva “spoil” > spilla, forráða “betray” > svíkja, gemeinur “common, public” > vanligur, sannheit “truth” > sannleiki, følilsi “feeling” > kensla, fortapilsi “damnation” > glatan, herligheit “glory, splendour” > dýrd, kerligheit “love” > kærleiki and trefoldigheit “trinity” > tríeind (Poulsen, 1983, p.133).
In general though, Faroese is much more tolerant of this foreign element in its midst than Icelandic.

Recommended reading:
Much has been written on this subject but almost nothing in English. The interested reader will need to be able to read a Mainland Scandinavian language (and preferably German) to research it in any depth.
   The best general specific introduction to the subject is probably Wessén (1956). Useful general accounts are also given in Haugen (1984), Karker (1996), Skard (1977), and rather fully, in Skautrup (1970). Törnqvist (1977) offers a useful companion to Wessén, but is not without omissions.
There are several more academic anthologies dealing with this subject (Braunmüller, Hyldgaard-Jensen, Jahr) and while excellent, these tend to address specific technical issues.

General language histories that contain chapters or sections on this subject or period:

Barðdal, J., et al: Nordiska: Våra Språk förr och nu, Lund: Studentlitteratur, 1997;
Bergman, Gösta: Kortfattad Svensk Språkhistoria, Stockholm: Primsa Förlaget, 1991;
Haugen, Einar: Die skandinavischen Sprachen. Eine Einführung in ihre Geschichte. Hamburg: Helmut Buscke Verlag, 1984;
Hutterer, Claus Jürgen: Die germanischen Sprachen: Ihre Geschichte in Grundzügen Akademiai Kiadó, Budapest, 1998;
Karker, Allan: Politikens Sproghistorie. Udviklingslinjer før nudansk, Politikens Forlag, Århus, 1996;
Karker, Allan: Dansk i tusind år. Et omrids af sprogets historie, Virum: Modersmål-Selskabet/C.A. Reitzels Forlag A/S, 1995;
Moberg, Lena & Westman, Margareta (eds.): Svensk i tusen år. Glimtar ur svenska språkets utveckling, Norstedts Förlag AB, 1998;
Ottósson, K.: Íslensk málhreinsun: sögulegt yfirlitt. Íslenskrar málnefndar no.6, Reykjavík, 1990;
Pettersson, Gertrud: Svenska språket under sjuhundra år. En historia om svenskan och dess utforskande, Studentlitteratur, Lund, 1997;
Skard, Vemund: Norsk Språkhistorie, Oslo, 1977;
Skautrup, Peter: Det danske sprogs historie. København: Gyldendal, 1944-1970. 5 vols;
Sveinsson, Sölvi: Íslensk málsaga. Iðunn, Reykjavík, 1992;
Walshe, M.O’C.: Introduction to the Scandinavian Languages, London: Andre Deutsch, 1965.

Specific books and articles:

Braunmüller, Kurt & Dierecks, Willy (eds.): Niederdeutsch und die skandinavischen Sprachen. Heidelberg: Carl Winter, 1993;
Braunmüller, Kurt (ed.): Niederdeutsch und die skandinavischen Sprachen II. Heidelberg: Carl Winter, 1995;
Gregersen, H. V.: Plattysk i Sønderjylland: en undersøgelse af fortyskningens historie indtil 1600-årene. (Odense University studies in history and social sciences, v. 19). Odense: Odense University Press, 1974;
Hansen, Erik & Lund, Jørn: Kulturens Gesandter. Fremmedordene i dansk. København: Munksgaards Sprogserie, 1994;
Hyldgaard-Jensen, Karl et al. (eds.): Niederdeutsch in Skandinavien. Akten des 1. nordischen Symposiums ‘Niederdeutsch in Skandinavien’ in Oslo 27.2.-1.3.1985 (= Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für deutsche Philologie, vol. 4), Berlin: E. Schmidt Verlag, 1987;
Hyldgaard-Jensen, Karl et al. (eds.) Niederdeutsch in Skandinavien II. Akten des 2. nordischen Symposiums ‘Niederdeutsch in Skandinavien’ in Kopenhagen 18.–20. Mai 1987. Berlin: E. Schmidt Verlag, 1987;
Jahr, Ernst Håkon, (ed.): Nordisk og nedertysk: språkkontakt og språkutvikling i Norden i seinmellomalderen, Oslo: Novus Forlag, 1995;
Jónsson, Baldur: “Isländska språket”. In Nordens språk, ed. Karker, A. et al., Oslo: Novus, 1997. pp. 161-76;
Kvaran, Guðrún: “Þættir úr sögu orðaforðans” pp. 35-48 of Erindi um Íslenskt Mál, ed. and pub. Íslenska Málfræðifélagið, Reykjavík, 1996;
Moberg, Lena: Lagtyskt och svenskt i Stockholms medeltida tankebocker. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell, 1989;
Moberg, Lena: “Svenskt och tyskt” pp. 39-50 of Allén, Sture (ed.): Arv och lån i svenskan. Sju uppsatser om ordförrådet i kulturströmmarnas perspektiv, Nordsteds Förlag AB, 1994;
Molde, Bertil: “Svenska språket”. In Nordens språk, ed. Karker, A. et al, Oslo: Novus, 1997. pp. 73-94;
Nesse, Agnete: Språkkontakt mellom norsk og tysk i hansatidens Bergen. Oslo: Novus Forlag, 2002;
Poulsen, Jóhan Hendrik: “Færøsk sprog”. In Språkene i Norden, ed. Karker, A. & Molde, B. et al., 1983. pp.124-136;
Poulsen, Jóhan Hendrik: “Det færøske sprog”. In Nordens språk, ed. Karker, A. et al., Oslo: Novus, 1997. pp. 177-92;
Törnqvist, Nils: Das niederdeutsche und niederländische Lehngut im schwedischen Wortschatz, Neumünster: Wachholtz, 1977;
Wessén, Elias: Om det tyska inflytandet på svenskt språk under medeltiden (Skrifter utgivna av Nämnden för Svensk Språkvård, 12), Norstedts Svenska Bokförlaget, Stockholm, 1956;
Westergaard-Nielsen, Christian: Låneordene i det 16. århundredes trykte islandske litteratur. (Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana Vol. VI). København: Einar Munksgaard, 1946;
Winge, Vibeke: Dänische Deutsche - deutsche Dänen. Geschichte der deutschen Sprache in Dänemark 1300 - 1800 mit einem Ausblick auf das 19. Jahrhundert, (Sprachgeschichte Band 1), Heidelberg: Carl Winter Universitätsverlag, 1992.

Etymological and other dictionaries:

Bjorvand, Harald & Lindemann, Fredrik Otto (eds.): Våre arveord: etymologisk ordbok. Oslo: Novus Forlag, 2000;
Falk & Torp: Norwegisches-dänisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Carl Winter Verlag, Heidelberg, 1910-11. 2 vols;
Heggstad, Leiv, Hødnebø, Finn & Simensen, Erik: Norrøn Ordbok, Det Norske Samlaget, Oslo, 1997;
Katlev, Jan: Politikens Etymologisk Ordbog, Politikens Forlag, København, 2000;
Landrø, Marit Ingebjørg og Wangensteen, Boye (eds.): Bokmålsordboka. Definisjons- og rettskrivningsordbok, Universitetsforlaget, Oslo, 1996;
Lindow, Wolfgang: Plattdeutsches Wörterbuch, Institut für Niederdeutsche Sprache, Bremen. Leer: Schuster, 1984;
Nielsen, Niels Åge: Dansk Etymologisk Ordbog, København: Gyldendal, 1989;
Politikens Nudansk Ordbog med etymologi (electronic edition: 17. udgave, 1. oplag). Århus: Politikens Forlag A/S, 1999;
de Vries, Jan: Altnordisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch. Zweite verbesserte Auflage. Leiden: Brill, 2000;
Wessén, Elias: Våra ord, deras uttal och ursprung, Esselte Studium, Uppsala, 1985;
Zoëga, G.T.: Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford U.P., 1961.

Author: Edward Sproston, 2002 (adapted from two much larger articles currently under preparation by him)

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