Old English give certain evidence of an influence on syntax. The change to Old English from Old Norse was substantive, pervasive, and of a democratic character. Old Norse and Old English resembled each other closely like cousins and with some words in common, they roughly understood each other; in time the inflections melted away and the analytic pattern emerged. It is most "important to recognize that in many words the English and Scandinavian language differed chiefly in their inflectional elements. The body of the word was so nearly the same in the two languages that only the endings would put obstacles in
Man (word) Romanian, where ' refers to a 'human', vs. " (male). The inflected forms of Old English " are: The inflected forms of Old High German word for "man" (without i-mutation) are: The inflected forms of the Old Norse word for man, "maðr", are: The word "man" is still used in its generic meaning in literary English. The verb "to man" (i.e. "to furnish [a fortress or a ship] with a company of men") dates to early Middle English. The word has been applied generally as a suffix in modern combinations like "fireman", "policeman" and "mailman". With social changes in the