A history of the English Language

77.
Form Words.
If further evidence were needed of the intimate relation that existed between the two 
languages, it would be found in the fact that the Scandinavian words that made their way 
into English were not confined to nouns and adjectives and verbs but extended to 
pronouns, prepositions, adverbs, and even a part of the verb 
to be
. Such parts of speech 
are not often transferred from one language to another. The pronouns 
they, their,
and 
them
are Scandinavian. Old English used 
h
ī
e, hiera, him
(see § 45). Possibly the 
Scandinavian words were felt to be less subject to confusion with forms of the singular. 
Moreover, though these are the most important, they are not the only Scandinavian 
pronouns to be found in English. A late Old English inscription contains the Old Norse 
form 
hanum
for 
him
.
 Both
and 
same,
though not primarily pronouns, have pronominal 
uses and are of Scandinavian origin. The preposition 
till
was at one time widely used in 
the sense of 
to,
besides having its present meaning; and 
fro,
likewise in common use 
formerly as the equivalent of 
from,
survives in the phrase 
to and fro.
Both words are from 
the Scandinavian. From the same source comes the modern form of the conjunction 
though,
the Old Norse equivalent of OE 
þ
ē
ah
. The Scandinavian use of 
at
as a sign of the 
infinitive is to be seen in the English 
ado (at-do)
and was more widely used in this 
construction in Middle English. The adverbs 
aloft, athwart, aye
(ever), and 
seemly,
and 
the earlier 
heþen
(hence) and 
hweþen
(whence), are all derived from the Scandinavian. 
Finally the present plural 
are
of the verb 
to be
is a most significant adoption. While 
we 
aron
was the Old English form in the north, the West Saxon plural was 
syndon
(cf. 
German 
sind
), and the form 
are
in Modern English undoubtedly owes its extension to the 
influence of the Danes. When we remember that in the expression 
they are
both the 
pronoun and the verb are Scandinavian we realize once more how intimately the 
language of the invaders has entered into English. 
A history of the english language 92

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