Danish language

Vocabulary

Most Danish words are derived from the Old Norse language, with new words formed by compounding. A large percentage of Danish words, however, hails from Low German (for example, betale = to pay, måske = maybe). Later on, High German and French and now English have superseded Low German influence. Because English and Danish are related languages, many common words are very similar in the two languages. For example, the following Danish words are easily recognizable in their written form to English speakers: have, over, under, for, kat. When pronounced, these words sound quite different from their English equivalents, however. In addition, the suffix by, meaning "town", occurs in several English placenames, such as Whitby and Selby, as remnants of the Viking occupation.

Related Topics:
Old Norse language - Low German - High German - French - English - Viking

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Numerals

Danish numerals are in part based on a vigesimal system similar to that of French not shared with the other Scandinavian languages. This means that 20 (tyve) is used as a base number: Tres (short for tresindstyve) means 3 times 20, that is 60; firs (short for firsindstyve) means 4 times 20 that is 80. halvtreds means (3 - 1/2) times 20 (literally, half of the third times 20), that is 50; halvfjerds means (4 - 1/2) times 20, that is 70; and halvfems means (5 - 1/2) times 20, that is 90.

Related Topics:
Vigesimal - French

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