Editing Old Norse (section)

== Modern descendants ==
{{Main|North Germanic languages}}

The modern descendants of the Old West Norse dialect are the West Scandinavian languages of [[Icelandic language|Icelandic]], [[Faroese language|Faroese]], [[Norwegian language|Norwegian]], and the extinct [[Norn language]] of [[Orkney]] and [[Shetland]], although Norwegian was heavily influenced by the East dialect, and is today more similar to East Scandinavian (Danish and Swedish) than to Icelandic and Faroese. The descendants of the Old East Norse dialect are the East Scandinavian languages of [[Danish language|Danish]], [[Swedish language|Swedish]] and [[Övdalian]], although Övdalian was heavily influenced by the West Dialect, and is sometimes considered to form its own group.

Among these, the grammar of Icelandic, Faroese and Övdalian have changed the least from Old Norse in the last thousand years, though the pronunciations of Icelandic and Faroese both have changed considerably from Old Norse. With Danish rule of the Faroe Islands, Faroese has also been influenced by Danish.

Both [[Middle English]] (especially [[Northumbrian Old English|northern English dialects]] within the area of the [[Danelaw]]) and [[Early Scots]] (including [[Lallans|Lowland Scots]]) were strongly [[List of English words of Old Norse origin|influenced by Norse]] and contained many Old Norse [[loanword]]s. Consequently, Modern English (including [[Scottish English]]), inherited a significant proportion of its vocabulary directly from Norse.

The development of [[Norman language|Norman French]] was also influenced by Norse. Through Norman, to a smaller extent, so was modern French.

Written modern Icelandic derives from the Old Norse [[phoneme|phonemic]] writing system. Contemporary Icelandic-speakers can read Old Norse, which varies slightly in spelling as well as semantics and word order. However, pronunciation, particularly of the vowel phonemes, has changed at least as much in Icelandic as in the other North Germanic languages.

Faroese retains many similarities but is influenced by Danish, Norwegian, and [[Goidelic languages|Gaelic]] ([[Scottish Gaelic|Scottish]] and/or [[Irish language|Irish]]).{{sfn|van der Auwera|König|1994|loc = "Faroese" (Barnes & Weyhe), p. 217}} Although Swedish, Danish and Norwegian have diverged the most, they still retain [[North Germanic languages#Mutual intelligibility|considerable mutual intelligibility]].{{sfn|Moberg|Gooskens|Nerbonne|Vaillette|2007}} Speakers of modern Swedish, Norwegian and Danish can mostly understand each other without studying their neighboring languages, particularly if speaking slowly. The languages are also sufficiently similar in writing that they can mostly be understood across borders. This could be because these languages have been mutually affected by each other, as well as having a similar development influenced by [[Middle Low German]].<ref>''See, e.g.'', {{harvnb|Harbert|2007|pp=7–10}}</ref>

=== Other influenced languages ===
Various languages unrelated to Old Norse and others not closely related have been heavily influenced by Norse, particularly the [[Norman language]]; to a lesser extent, [[Finnish language|Finnish]] and [[Estonian language|Estonian]]. Russian, [[Ukrainian language|Ukrainian]], [[Belarusian language|Belarusian]], [[Lithuanian language|Lithuanian]] and [[Latvian language|Latvian]] also have a few Norse loanwords. The words ''[[Rus (name)|Rus]]'' and ''Russia'', according to one theory, may be named after the [[Rus' people]], a Norse tribe, probably from present-day east-central Sweden. The current Finnish and Estonian words for Sweden are {{lang|fi|Ruotsi}} and {{lang|et|Rootsi}}, respectively.

A number of loanwords have been introduced into [[Irish language|Irish]], many associated with fishing and sailing.<ref>{{citation | title = Old Norse loanwords in modern Irish | first = Robert | last = Farren | type = thesis | year = 2014 | publisher = Lund University | url = http://lup.lub.lu.se/luur/download?func=downloadFile&recordOId=4861711&fileOId=4861798 | access-date = 5 September 2018 | archive-date = 16 August 2017 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170816011551/http://lup.lub.lu.se/luur/download?func=downloadFile&recordOId=4861711&fileOId=4861798 | url-status = live }}</ref><ref>{{citation| title = Norse loanwords in Old and Middle Irish | type= thesis | first = Aukje | last = Borkent | publisher = Utrecht University | year = 2014 | hdl= 1874/296646 }}</ref><ref>{{citation | url = http://irisharchaeology.ie/2013/11/some-irish-words-with-norse-origins/ | title = Some Irish words with Norse Origins | date = 21 November 2013 | work = irisharchaeology.ie | access-date = 5 September 2018 | archive-date = 5 September 2018 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180905181116/http://irisharchaeology.ie/2013/11/some-irish-words-with-norse-origins/ | url-status = live }}</ref><ref>{{citation| title = The influence of Scandinavian on Irish | editor-first =Bo | editor-last= Almqvist | editor-link= Bo Almqvist | editor-first2= David | editor-last2= Greene | work = Proceedings of the Seventh Viking Congress | publisher = Dundalgan Press, Dundalk | pages =75–82 | last = Greene | first = D. | year = 1973 }}</ref> A similar influence is found in [[Scottish Gaelic]], with over one hundred loanwords estimated to be in the language, many of which are related to fishing and sailing.<ref>{{citation| title = Lexical imposition: Old Norse vocabulary in Scottish Gaelic | first = Thomas W. (Jr.)|last = Stewart | journal = Diachronica | volume = 21 | issue = 2 | year = 2004 | pages = 393–420 | doi=10.1075/dia.21.2.06ste}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Medievalists.net|date=13 April 2014|title=Old Norse Influence in Modern English: The Effect of the Viking Invasion|url=https://www.medievalists.net/2014/04/old-norse-influence-modern-english-effect-viking-invasion/|access-date=5 August 2020|website=Medievalists.net|language=en-US|archive-date=29 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201129013702/https://www.medievalists.net/2014/04/old-norse-influence-modern-english-effect-viking-invasion/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{citation| url =https://archive.org/details/norseinfluenceon00hend| title = The Norse influence on Celtic Scotland | last = Henderson | first = George | author-link = George Henderson (scholar)| year= 1910 | pages = 108–204 | publisher = Glasgow : J. Maclehose and Sons }}</ref>