Infopanel 6

The language of the Scandinavians

The language of the Vikings was Old Norse, with a distinction being made between West Norse—Norwegian, Faroese, and Icelandic—and East Norse—Danish, Swedish, and Gutnish (the language of Gotland). While today only Icelandic, Faroese, and Western Norwegian Nynorsk have retained elements of Old Norse, the other Scandinavian languages differ greatly from their origins. 

During the Viking Age, however, Scandinavians were able to communicate with each other relatively easily despite dialectal differences. Old Norse was also widespread in England and Ireland due to Scandinavian settlements, as well as in Normandy. And even in areas where Low German (Platt) was spoken, communication was possible because a common linguistic basis known as North Sea Germanic had developed in the North Sea region.