High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Words of Old Norse origin have entered the English language, primarily from the colonisation of eastern and northern England between 865 and 954 CE (see e.g. Danelaw). Old Norse (abbreviated in dictionaries as ON) existed in its spoken and written form from the 8th century until its spread from Scandinavia to colonies as far west as Greenland and far east as Russia and the Baltic region (spoken by Swedish settlers).