It was inspired by the likes of Old English, Old Norse, and Icelandic. Some words are directly lifted, such as tiid "time," identical to the Old English word tid. Bethesda Senior Designer Emil Pagliarulo cites Old English recordings of Beowulf as an inspiration for the language.

It's largely just "made up", though its syntax and grammar are largely analogous with English, at least in non-draconic usage.

Old English, Norse and Icelandic, but there are some words which are from other languages, mainly coincidental.

The Norse isn't surprising considering that alot of the Nord's culture and Skyrim was based off of the Scandinavians.