5. The relation of the two languages.

The relation between the two languages in the district settled by the Danes is a matter of inference rather than exact knowledge. Although in some places the Scandinavians gave up their language early there were certainly communities in which Danish or Norse remained for some time the usual language. Up until the time of the Norman Conquest the Scandinavian language in England was constantly being renewed by the stream of trade and conquest.
In some districts where the prevailing speech was English there were many newcomers who continued to speak their own language at least as late as 1100 and a considerable number who were to a greater or lesser degree bilingual. There was as well a frequent intermarriage between the two peoples and by the similarity between the two tongues. There can be no doubt that the basis existed for an extensive interaction of the two languages upon each other, and it can be proved by the large number of Scandinavian elements later found in English.