English → Old Norse
| Modern English | Old Norse |
|---|---|
| Hail, friend! | Heill, vinr! |
| Thank you. | Þakka þér. |
| Cheers! | Skál! |
| The warrior sailed across the sea. | Hermaðrinn sigldi yfir hafit. |
| Odin · Thor · Valhalla | Óðinn · Þórr · Valhǫll |
| king · ship · house | konungr · skip · hús |
What Old Norse is
Old Norse was the language of Scandinavia in the Viking Age and the centuries after. The great sagas and the Eddas were written down in Iceland, mostly in the 1200s, in the Latin alphabet; during the Viking Age itself, people carved short texts in runes. Modern Icelandic is its closest living relative.
Old Norse inside English
Viking settlers left hundreds of words in English. Sky, egg, knife, take, they and window all come from Old Norse. Window was vindauga, the “wind eye”.
How accurate is it?
The translator writes Old Norse in normalized saga spelling with real words and grammar, but it is an AI approximation. Modern ideas have no Old Norse words, and endings can be wrong. Before anything permanent, check it with an Old Norse dictionary or a specialist.
Old Norse words
- heill
- hail; whole, healthy
- vinr
- friend
- skál
- cheers! (literally “bowl”)
- jarl
- earl, chieftain
- konungr
- king
- drengr
- a brave, honourable man
- víkingr
- a sea raider
- Valhǫll
- Valhalla, “hall of the slain”