Native Americans and Norsemen

We all know by now that Columbus was not the first European discoverer of America, it was the Icelandic viking of Norwegian descent Leif Eirikson around year 1000.

Linguistic experts think that one result of the contact between the Norsemen and their Indian trading partners, was the adoption of certain words into the Indian language. In Arlington H. Mallery's book Lost America he points out that words the Indians accepted were applied to the same things as they had covered in Norway: "ok" for "and", "när" for "near", "ata" for "eat", "gnista" for "flame" and "loki" for "devil".

Related links:

Lost America by Arlington H. Mallery, Public Affairs Press, Waxhinton DC, 1950.

Bent Vanberg: Of Norwegian Ways, Dillon Press, Minneapolis, Minn., 1970, 1984.