Old English and old Norse were closely related languages, and it is therefore not surprising that many words in old Norse look familiar to English speakers, e.g. armr (arm), fótr (foot), land (land), fullr (full), hanga (to hang), standa (to stand), etc. This is because both English and old Norse date back to Proto-Germanic. In addition, a large number of old Norse words were borrowed into the old English language during the Viking age, becoming loanwords. Examples of old Norse loanwords in modern English are multiple, and include knife, window, bag, skirt (vs. the native English shirt of the same root), and the 3rd person-plural pronoun they, for which the Anglo-Saxons said hi.
