North Germanic British Isles

Basically

The Angles, Saxons and Jutes were West Germanic in origin. (or if you want to be specific, Invaeonic/North Sea Germanic) and as a result, Old English was/is a West Germanic language like it's two descendants English and Scots.

Then the famous Vikings came into the picture, influencing the British Isles linguistically with words that have persisted to the present. Now I know there are several threads about a Norse England, Viking England or other Norse oriented the British Isles.

But, what if, the British Isles were never settled by West Germanic people, to begin with? What, who and how can we get the first Germanic settlers of the British Isles to be of North Germanic origin? Idk, the Norse didn't expand anywhere until the Viking age, and the Jutes weren't North Germanic IIRC.

How would a North Germanic Britain change the world in general?
 
The joke answer is considering the Vikings were seaborne raiders and settlers, and yet the Anglo-Saxons were ALSO seaborne raiders and settlers.....well...maybe we already know....:winkytongue:
 
Sutton Hoo
East England dynasty came from Sweden
That's a pretty strong claim given the ambiguous evidence that we have. We only know that there were similar burial customs, but one would think that were they Swedes, they would have North Germanic names rather than Anglic ones
 
Last edited:

samcster94

Banned
Where does Norn, an OTL language, fit into this??? I imagine it, or something similar, would be more widespread in TTL.
 
Alternatively, if the whole island of Great Britain can't be turned North Germanic. Then at the least turn what we know as Scotland into a North Germanic-speaking nation.

samcster94 If the Norwegian/Danish Vikings focus more on settlement, then Norn could replace Old English in Scotland and we'd see a North Germanic Scotland with heavy influence from (Old) English. 'Scots' ITTL might refer to this alternate 'Norn'. but idk.
 
The joke answer is considering the Vikings were seaborne raiders and settlers, and yet the Anglo-Saxons were ALSO seaborne raiders and settlers.....well...maybe we already know....:winkytongue:
And then it's all moot once they get invaded by French-speaking seaborne raiders and settlers...
 
Then at the least turn what we know as Scotland into a North Germanic-speaking nation.

Given the timeframe in which Scandinavians first became active as raiders and settlers it's unlikely, but the best bet there would probably be the Isles conquering Scotland instead of the reverse.

If you can find a way to get them moving sooner then all the better.
 
Top