Scandinavian influence on Southern Lowland Scotch by George Tobias Flom

G >> George Tobias Flom >> Scandinavian influence on Southern Lowland Scotch

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9

[Transcriber's Note:

This text includes a number of characters that could not be fully
represented in Latin-1 text encoding. These characters are shown
within brackets:
[*g] = Gaelic g
[vg] = g with caron
^{u} superscript u (circumflex accent is not used in this text)
Vowels with diacritics are "unpacked" and shown from top to bottom.
Some examples:
['ae] = ae with acute accent
[-e] = e with macron (long e)
[)e] = e with breve (short e)
[e,] = e with ogonek (hook open to right)

Italicized letters or words are enclosed in _underlines_.]

* * * * *

SCANDINAVIAN INFLUENCE
ON
SOUTHERN LOWLAND SCOTCH

A Contribution
to the Study of the Linguistic Relations
of English and Scandinavian

by

GEORGE TOBIAS FLOM, B.L., A.M.
Sometime Fellow in German, Columbia University

AMS PRESS, INC.
NEW YORK
1966

Copyright 1900, Columbia University Press,
New York

Reprinted with the permission of the
Original Publisher, 1966

AMS PRESS, INC.
New York, N.Y. 10003
1966

Manufactured in the United States of America

* * * * *

ERRATA.

P. vi, l. 10, for _norrnoe_, read _norrone_.

P. viii, l. 5, for _Wyntown_, read _Wyntoun_ and so elsewhere.

P. x, l. 11 from bottom, for _Koolmann_, read _Koolman_ and so
elsewhere.

P. xi, l. 1, for _Paul_, read _Kluge_; l. 2, for _Hermann Paul_,
read _Friedrich Kluge_.

P. 5, l. 6 from bottom, for _in York_, read _and York_.

P. 13, last line, for or [-ae] [-e,], read [-ae] or [-e,].

P. 18, l. 3 from bottom, for _Skaif_, read _Skaeif_.

P. 19, l. 13, for _is to_, read _is to be_.

P. 21, l. 10, for _Fiad_, read _Faid_.

P. 26, l. 2, _aparasta_ should be _aprasta_.

P. 31, under Bront (See Skeat _brunt_) should be See Skeat _brunt_.

P. 32, under _Byrd_, for b[-o]rae, read boerae.

P. 47, under Hansel, for Bruce, V, 120, Hansell used ironically
means "defeat," read: Bruce, V, 120, hansell, etc.

P. 50, under _Laike_, for _i-diphthong_, read _aei-diphthong_.

P. 66, under _Swarf_, in the last line for O. Fr. read O.F.

P. 74, l. 19, for _e to a_, read _e to ae_.

[Transcriber's Note:
The above changes, listed in the printed book,
have been made in the e-text without further notation.
In addition, all references to _Paul's Grundriss,
2 Auflage, I Band_ have been regularized to _P.G.(2)I_
to agree with the author's list of abbreviations.

The following apparent errors, not mentioned in the Errata,
have not been changed but are noted here:

P. 5, last line, the form _b[`y]r_
?should be the form _byr_

P. 28 _Bein, bene, bein_: duplication in original

P. 28 under _Bing_, Douglass
?should be Douglas

P. 29 under _Blout, blowt_, Douglas, III, 76; II,
?should be Douglas, III, 76, 11

P. 49 under _Irking_, Winyet, II, 76; I
?should be II, 76, 1

P. 55 under _Quey, quoy_: O. N. Norse

P. 69 under _Skyle_, Fer.
?should be Far.

P. 79 under _[-ae]_, [-ae] > e, e
?should be [-ae] > a, e

End of Transcriber's Note.]

To

Prof. WILLIAM H. CARPENTER, Ph.D.
Prof. CALVIN THOMAS, A.M.
Prof. THOMAS R. PRICE, LL.D.
of Columbia University in the City of New York

IN GRATITUDE

PREFACE.

This work aims primarily at giving a list of Scandinavian loanwords
found in Scottish literature. The publications of the Scottish Text
Society and Scotch works published by the Early English Text Society
have been examined. To these have been added a number of other works
to which I had access, principally Middle Scotch. Some words have
been taken from works more recent--"Mansie Wauch" by James Moir,
"Johnnie Gibb" by William Alexander, Isaiah and The Psalms by
P. Hately Waddell--partly to illustrate New Scotch forms, but also
because they help to show the dialectal provenience of loanwords.
Norse elements in the Northern dialects of Lowland Scotch, those of
Caithness and Insular Scotland, are not represented in this work.
My list of loanwords is probably far from complete. A few early
Scottish texts I have not been able to examine. These as well as the
large number of vernacular writings of the last 150 years will have
to be examined before anything like completeness can be arrived at.

I have adopted certain tests of form, meaning, and distribution.
With regard to the test of the form of a word great care must be
exercised. Old Norse and Old Northumbrian have a great many
characteristics in common, and some of these are the very ones in
which Old Northumbrian differs from West Saxon. It has,
consequently, in not a few cases, been difficult to decide whether
a word is a loanword or not. Tests that apply in the South prove
nothing for the North. Brate rightly regarded _le[*g][*g]kenn_ in
the Ormulum as a Scandinavian loanword, but in Middle Scotch
_laiken_ or _laken_ would be the form of the word whether Norse or
genuine English. Certain well-known tests of form, however, first
formulated by Brate, such as _ou_ for O.E. _ea_, or the assimilation
of certain consonants apply as well to Scotch as to Early Middle
English. The distribution of a word in English dialects frequently
helps to ascertain its real history, and may become a final test
where those of form and meaning leave us in doubt. In the study of
Norse or Scandinavian influence on Lowland Scotch the question of
Gaelic influence cannot be overlooked. The extent of Norse
influence on Celtic in Caithness, Sutherland and the Western
Highlands, has never been ascertained, nor the influence of Celtic
on Lowland Scotch. A large number of Scandinavian loanwords are
common to Gaelic, Irish, and Lowland Scotch. It is possible that
some of these have come into Scotch through Gaelic and not directly
from Norse. Perhaps _faid_, "a company of hunters," is such a word.

There are no works bearing directly on the subject of Scandinavian
elements in Lowland Scotch proper. J. Jakobsen's work, "Det norrone
Sprog pa Shetland," has sometimes given me valuable hints. From
Brate's well-known work on the Ormulum I have derived a great deal
of help. Steenstrup's "Danelag" has been of assistance to me, as
also Kluge's "Geschichte der englischen Sprache" in Paul's
Grundriss, the latter especially with regard to characteristics of
Northern English. Wall's work on "Scandinavian Elements in English
Dialects" has been especially helpful because of the excellent list
of loanwords given. In many cases, however, my own investigations
have led me to different conclusions, principally with regard to
certain tests and the dialectal provenience of loanwords. Finally,
the excellent editions of Scottish texts published by the S.T.S. and
the E.E.T.S. have made the work less difficult than it otherwise
would have been. I may mention particularly "The Bruce," Dunbar,
and Montgomery, where Scandinavian elements are very prominent.

ABBREVIATIONS REFERRING TO TEXTS INCLUDED IN THIS INVESTIGATION.

[*Footnote: The publications of the Scottish Text Society and those
of the Early English Text Society are given first. The others
follow, as nearly as may be, in chronological order.]

K.Q. = The "Kingis Quair" of James I., ed. W.W. Skeat. S.T.S. 1.

Dunbar = Bishop Dunbar's Works, ed. by John Small, R.J.G. Mackay
and W. Gregor. S.T.S. 2, 4, 16, 21, 29.

Rolland = "The Court of Venus" by John Rolland, ed. W. Gregor. S.T.S. 3.

Dalr. = Leslie's History of Scotland, translated by Dalrymple,
ed. E.G. Cody. S.T.S. 5, 14, 19, 34.

Wallace = Henry the Minstrel's "Wallace," ed. James Moir. S.T.S.
6, 7, 17.

Montg. = Alexander Montgomery's Poems, ed. James Cranstoun. S.T.S.
9, 10, 11.

Gau = "Richt way to the hevinlie Kingdom," by John Gau, ed. A.F.
Mitchell. S.T.S. 12.

Winyet = "Certain Tractates," by Ninian Winyet, ed. J.K. Hewison.
S.T.S. 15, 52.

Sat. P. = Satirical Poems of the Time of the Reformation,
ed. J. Cranstoun. S.T.S. 20, 24, 28, 30.

Buchanan = Vernacular Writings of George Buchanan, ed. P. H. Brown.
S.T.S. 26.

Bruce = Barbour's "Bruce," ed. W. W. Skeat. E.E.T.S. Extra Series
II, 21, 29.

Lyndsay = Sir David Lyndsay's Works, containing "The Monarchie,"
"Squire Meldrum," "The Dream," and "Ane Satire of the Three
Estates," ed. F. Hall. E.E.T.S. 11, 19, 35, 37.

C.S.= "The Complaynt of Scotland," ed. J.A.H. Murray. E.E.T.S. 17.

L.L.= "Lancelot of the Laik," ed. W. W. Skeat. E.E.T.S. 6.

R.R. = "Ratis Raving" and other Moral and Religious Pieces in Prose
and Verse, ed. J. Rawson Lumby. E.E.T.S. 43.

Douglas = The Poetical Works of Gawain Douglas in 4 vols., ed. John
Small. Edinburgh. 1874.

Wyntoun = "The Orygynale Cronykil of Scotland," by Andrew of
Wyntoun, ed. David McPherson. 2 vols. London. 1795.

R. and L. = "Roswell and Lillian," ed. O. Lengert. Englische
Studien 16.

Gol. and Gaw. = "Golagros and Gawain," ed. Moritz Trautmann.
Anglia II.

Scott = The Poems of Alexander Scott, ed. Andrew Laing. Edinburgh.
1821.

Philotus = "Philotus, A Comedy imprinted at Edinburgh by Robert
Charters, 1603." Published by the Bannatyne Club. Edinburgh. 1835.

Anc. Pro. = Collection of Ancient Scottish Prophecies in
Alliterative Verse, 1603. Published by the Bannatyne Club. 1833.

Poet. Rem. = The Poetical Remains of Some of the Scottish Kings,
containing "Peblis to the Play," "Christ's Kirk on the Green,"
"The Gaberlunzie Man," and "Ane Ballad of Good Council," ed. George
Chalmers. London. 1824.

Sco. Poems = Scottish Poems in 3 vols. containing "The Tales of the
Priests of Peblis," "Ballads" (1508), Holland's "Howlate," "The
Bloody Sark" of Robert Henrison, and "Sir Gawain and Sir Galaron"
of Galloway. London. 1792.

A.P.B.S. = Ancient Popular Ballads and Songs, ed. Robert Jamieson.
Edinburgh. 1806.

Fergusson = The Works of Robert Fergusson, ed. David Irving.
Greenock. 1810.

Irving = History of Scottish Poetry, containing a number of
extracts, ed. David Irving. Edinburgh. 1874.

Scotticisms = Scotticisms Corrected. London. 1855.

Ramsay = The Poems of Allan Ramsay, in 2 vols. Printed by A. Strahan
for T. Cadwell and W. Davies. London. 1800.

Burns = The Works of Robert Burns, ed. Dr. Adolphus Wagner. Leipzig.
1835.

Isaiah = Isaiah, frae Hebrew intil Scottis, by P. Hately Waddell.
Edinburgh and Glasgow. 1879.

Psalms = The Psalms, frae Hebrew intil Scottis, by P. Hately
Waddell. Edinburgh and Glasgow. 1891.

M.W. = "Mansie Wauch," by D.M. Moir. Edinburgh. 1898. Centenary
Edition.

J.G. = "Johnnie Gibb of Gushetneuk," by William Alexander (1871).
Edinburgh. 1897.

ABBREVIATIONS REFERRING TO GRAMMARS, GLOSSARIES, DICTIONARIES,
AND THE LIKE.

Aasen = Norsk Ordbog, af Ivar Aasen. Christiania. 1873. Generally
referred to as Norse.

B-T. = The Bosworth-Toller Anglo-Saxon Dictionary. Referred to
generally as Old English.

B-S. = Bradley's Stratmann's Middle English Dictionary. References
to Middle English forms are to B-S., unless otherwise specified.

Brate = "Nordische Lehnwoerter im Ormulum." Paul und Braunes
Beitraege, X. 1885.

Brem. W. = Bremisch-Niedersaechsisches Woerterbuch. Bremen. 1767.

Bouterwek = Die vier Evangelien in alt-nordhumbrischer Sprache.
Karl Bouterwek. Guetersloh. 1857.

Cl. and V. = Cleasby and Vigfusson's Icelandic-English Dictionary.
Oxford. 1874. Old Norse words have been taken largely from Cl. and
V.

Cook = A Glossary of the Old Northumbrian Gospels. A.S. Cook.
Halle. 1894.

Craigie = Oldnordiske Ord i de gaeliske Sprog. W.A. Craigie, in Arkiv
for nordisk Filologie X. pp. 149ff.

Curtis = An Investigation of the Rimes and Phonology of the Middle
Scotch Romance "Clariodus," by F.J. Curtis, in Anglia XVI and XVII.

Dickinson = A Glossary of the Words and Phrases of Cumberland.
William Dickinson. Whitehaven and London. 1859.

D.S.C.S. = The Dialect of the Southern Counties of Scotland, by
J.A.H. Murray. London. 1873.

Egge = Norse words in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. Albert Egge.
Pullman, Washington. 1898.

E.D.D. = The English Dialect Dictionary, A to C, ed. Joseph Wright.
Oxford. 1898.

Ellis = On Early English Pronunciation. Vol. 5, by Alexander J.
Ellis. Early English Text Society, Extra Series 56.

Fritzner = Ordbog over det gamle norske Sprog. Johan Fritzner.
Christiania. 1886-1896.

Gibson = The Folkspeech of Cumberland, by A.C. Gibson. London. 1873.

Haldorson = Lexicon Islandico-Latino-Danicum, Biornonis Haldorsonii.
Havniae. 1814.

Jakobsen = Det norrone Sprog pa Shetland, by J. Jakobsen. Koebenhavn.
1897. Shetland dialect forms are generally taken from this work.

Jamieson = Jamieson's Dictionary of the Scottish Language.

Jellinghaus = Angelsaechsisch-Neuenglische Woerter, die nicht
niederdeutsch sind, by H. Jellinghaus, in Anglia XX. Pp. 46-466.

Kalkar = Ordbog til det aeldre danske Sprog. Otto Kalkar. Koebenhavn.
1881-1892.

Lindeloef = Glossar zur altnordhumbrischen Evanglienuebersetzung in
der Rushworth-Handschrift (in Acta Societatis Scientiarum Fennicae
Tome XXII., No. 5), von Uno Lindeloef. Helsingfors. 1897.

Kluge P.G.(2)I. = Kluge's "Geschichte der englischen Sprache," in
Paul's Grundriss, 2 Auflage, I Band.

Kluge and Lutz = English Etymology, by F. Kluge and F. Lutz.
Strassburg. 1898.

Koolman = Woerterbuch der ostfriesischen Sprache. J ten Doornkaat
Koolman. Norden. 1879-1884. Sometimes cited as Low German.

Luik = Untersuchungen zur englischen Lautgeschichte. Strassburg. 1896.

Molbech = Dansk Ordbog. C. Molbech. Kjoebenhavn. 1859. Referred to
generally as Danish.

N.E.D. = The New English Dictionary, A to Frankish, ed. J.A.H.
Murray.

Noreen P.G.(2)I. = Noreen's "Geschichte der nordischen Sprachen,"
in Paul's Grundriss, 2 Auflage, 1 Band.

Kluge = Etymologisches Woerterbuch der deutschen Sprache. Friedrich
Kluge. Strassburg. 1894.

Richthofen (or O.F.) = Altfriesisches Woerterbuch, von Karl Freiherrn
von Richthofen. Goettingen. 1840.

Rietz (or Sw. dial.) = Svenskt Dialekt-Lexikon. J.E. Rietz.
Malmoe. 1867.

Ross = Norsk Ordbog. Tillaeg til Ivar Aasen's Ordbog. Hans Ross.
Christiania. 1895.

Schiller und Luebben = Mittelniederdeutsches Woerterbuch. Bremen.
1875-1880. Cited as M.L.G.

Schlyter = Glossarium til Skanelagen (Sveriges Gamle Lagar IX.).
C.J. Schlyter. Lund. 1859.

O.S. = Old Saxon. Schmellers Glossarium Saxonicum e Poemate Heliand.
Tuebingae. 1840.

Sievers = Altenglische Grammatik. Eduard Sievers. 3 Auflage. 1898.

Skeat = Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. Oxford.
1882; and Concise Etymological Dictionary. Oxford. 1897.

Skeat's list = A List of English Words, the Etymology of which is
illustrated by Comparison with Icelandic. W.W. Skeat. Oxford. 1876.

Steenstrup = Danelag (Vol. IV. of "Normannerne"). J.C.H.R.
Steenstrup. Kjoebenhavn. 1882.

Sweet = Student's Anglo-Saxon Dictionary. Henry Sweet. Oxford. 1897.

Soederwall = Ordbok oefver svenska Medeltids Spraket, A to L. K.F.
Soederwall. Lund. 1884-1890.

Thorkelson = Supplement til islandske Ordboeger. Jon Thorkelson.
Reykjavik. 1876-1897.

Wall = "Scandinavian Elements in the English Dialects," by Arnold
Wall. Anglia XX.

Worsaae = Minder om de Danske og Normaendene i England, Skotland,
og Irland, af J.J.A. Worsaae. Kjoebenhavn. 1851.

ABBREVIATIONS REFERRING TO LANGUAGES, GRAMMATICAL TERMS, ETC.

adj. = adjective.
adv. = adverb.
cp. = compare.
conj. = conjunction.
Cu. = Cumbrian, Cumberland.
Dan. = New or Modern Danish.
dem. pr. = demonstrative pronoun.
deriv. = derivative.
dial. = dialect, dialectal.
diall. = dialects.
E. Norse = East Norse.
Eng. = English, standard speech.
Far. = Faroese.
Fr. = French.
Gael. = Gaelic.
Germ. = German.
Gmc. = Germanic.
Goth. = Gothic.
id. = the same.
inf. = infinitive.
Ir. = Irish.
L.G. = Low German.
M. Dan. = Middle Danish.
M. Du. = Middle Dutch.
M.E. = Middle English.
M.H.G. = Middle High German.
M.L.G. = Middle Low German.
M. Sco. = Middle Scotch.
M. Sw. = Middle Swedish.
Norse = New or Modern Norse.
N. Sco. = Modern Scotch dialects.
O. Dan. = Old Danish.
O.E. = Old English.
O.F. = Old Frisian.
O. Fr. = Old French.
O. Ic. = Old Icelandic.
O.N. = Old Norse.
O. Nh. = Old Northern.
O. Nhb. = Old Northumbrian.
O.S. = Old Saxon.
O. Sw. = Old Swedish.
p. = page; pp. = pages.
p. p. = past participle.
pr. p. = present participle.
pret. = preterite.
pron. = pronounced.
prep. = preposition.
pl. = plural.
q.v. = quod vide.
Scand. = Scandinavian.
Sco. = Scotch.
S.S. = Southern Scotland.
sb. = substantive.
Sw. = Swedish.
vb. = verb.
W.Norse = West Norse.
W. Scand. = West Scandinavian.
W.S. = West Saxon.
> = developed into.
< = derived from.
E.D.S. = English Dialect Society.
E.E.T.S. = Early English Text Society.
S.T.S. = Scottish Text Society.

There has been considerable confusion in the use of the terms Norse
and Danish. Either has been used to include the other, or, again,
in a still wider sense, as synonymous with Scandinavian; as, for
instance, when we speak of the Danish kingdoms in Dublin, or Norse
elements in Anglo-Saxon. Danish is the language of Denmark, Norse
the language of Norway. When I use the term Old Danish I mean that
dialect of Old Scandinavian, or Old Northern, that developed on
Danish soil. By Old Norse I mean the old language of Norway. The
one is East Scandinavian, the other West Scandinavian. The term
Scandinavian, being rather political than linguistic, is not a good
one, but it has the advantage of being clear, and I have used it
where the better one, Northern, might lead to confusion with
Northern Scotch.

CONTENTS.

PART I. INTRODUCTION.

General Remarks Sec.1
Place-Names and Settlements in Northwestern England Sec.2
Scandinavian Settlements in Southern Scotland Sec.3
Settlements in England, Norse or Danish? The Place-Name Test Sec.4
_By_ in Place-Names. Conclusions as to this Test Sec.5
Characteristics of Old Northern, or Old Scandinavian.
Early Dialectal Differentiations Sec.6
Old Norse and Old Danish Sec.7
Remarks Sec.8
Characteristics of Old Northumbrian Sec.9
Remarks. Metathesis of _r_ Sec.10
The Question of Palatalization in Old Northumbrian Sec.11
_Sk_ as a Scandinavian Sign. Certain Words in _sk_.
Palatalization in Norse Sec.12
Conclusion as to the Test of Non-palatalization Sec.13.
Old and Middle Scotch Sec.14
Some Characteristics of Scotch. O.E. _[)a] [-a]_ Sec.15
Curtis's Table Sec.16
O.E. _[-o]_. A List of Illustrative Words
from the Aberdeen Dialect Sec.17
Inorganic _y_ in Scotch Sec.18
_D_ for the Spirant _th_ Sec.19
O.E. _[-a]_ and O.N. _aei_. How far we can Determine
such Words to be of Native or of Norse Origin Sec.20
A List of Some Words that are Norse. Further Remarks Sec.21
Celtic, Lowland Scotch, and Norse Sec.22
Some Words that are not Scandinavian Loanwords Sec.23
Loanword Tests Sec.24
Remarks on the Texts Sec.25

PART II.

A List of Scandinavian Loanwords taken chiefly from "The Bruce,"
"The Wallace," Wyntoun's Chronicle, Dunbar, Douglas, Lyndsay,
Alexander Scott, Montgomery, Ramsay and Burns.

PART III.

1. The Dialectal Provenience of Loanwords.

2. (a) The Old Northern Vowels in the Loanwords. Short Vowels, Long
Vowels, Diphthongs.

(b) The Old Northern Consonants.

* * * * *

PART I.

INTRODUCTION.

1. GENERAL REMARKS.

Worsaae's list of 1400 place-names in England gives us an idea of
the extent, as well as the distribution of Scandinavian settlements
in the 9th and 10th centuries. How long Scandinavian was spoken in
England we do not know, but it is probable that it began to merge
into English at an early date. The result was a language largely
mixed with Norse and Danish elements. These are especially prominent
in the M.E. works "Ormulum," "Cursor Mundi," and "Havelok." We have
historical records of the Danes in Central and Eastern England. We
have no such records of Scandinavian settlements in Northwestern
England, but that they took place on an extensive scale 300 place-
names in Cumberland and Westmoreland prove. In Southern Scotland,
there are only about 100 Scandinavian place-names, which would
indicate that such settlements here were on a far smaller scale than
in Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, or Cumberland--which inference, however,
the large number of Scandinavian elements in Early Scotch seems to
disprove. I have attempted to ascertain how extensive these elements
are in the literature of Scotland. It is possible that the
settlements were more numerous than place-names indicate, that they
took place at a later date, for instance, than those in Central
England. Brate showed that the general character of Scandinavian
loanwords in the Ormulum is East Scandinavian. Wall concludes that
it is not possible to determine the exact source of the loanwords in
modern English dialects because "the dialect spoken by the Norsemen
and the Danes at the time of settlement had not become sufficiently
differentiated to leave any distinctive trace in the loanwords
borrowed from them, or (that) neither race preponderated in any
district so far as to leave any distinctive mark upon the dialect of
the English peasantry." It is true that the general character of
the language of the two races was at the time very much the same,
but some very definite dialectal differentiations had already taken
place, and I believe the dialectal provenience of a very large
number of the loanwords can be determined. Furthermore, the
distribution of certain place-names indicates that certain parts
were settled more especially by Danes, others by Norsemen. The
larger number of loanwords in Wall's "List A" seem to me to be
Danish. My own list of loanwords bears a distinctively Norse stamp,
as I shall show in Part III. of this work. This we should also
expect, judging from the general character of Scandinavian place-
names in Southern Scotland.

2. PLACE-NAMES AND SETTLEMENTS IN NORTHWESTERN ENGLAND.

Cumberland and Westmoreland, together covering an area equal to
about two-thirds that of Yorkshire, have 300 Scandinavian place-
names. Yorkshire has 407 according to Worsaae's table. The character
of these names in Cumberland and Westmoreland is different from that
of those in the rest of England. It seems that these counties were
settled predominantly by Norsemen and also perhaps at a later date
than that which we accept for the settlements in York and
Lincolnshire. We know that as early as 795 Norse vikings began their
visits to Ireland; that they settled and occupied the Western Isles
about that time; that in 825 the Faroes were first colonized by
Norsemen, partly from the Isles. After 870 Iceland was settled by
Norsemen from Norway, but in part also from the Western Isles and
Ireland. The 'Austmen' in Ireland, especially Dublin, seem
frequently to have visited the opposite shore. It seems probable
that Northwestern England was settled chiefly by Norsemen from
Ireland, Man, and the Isles on the west. It is not likely that any
settlements took place before 900. It seems more probable that they
belong rather to the second quarter of the 10th Century or even
later, when the Irish began successfully to assert themselves
against the Norse kings in Dublin and Waterford. Perhaps some may
have taken place even as late as the end of the 10th Century.

3. SCANDINAVIAN SETTLEMENTS IN SOUTHERN SCOTLAND.

In Southern Scotland, Dumfriesshire, Eastern Kircudbright and
Western Roxburgh seem to have formed the center of Scandinavian
settlements; so, at any rate, the larger number of place-names would
indicate. The dialect spoken here is in many respects very similar
to that of Northwestern England, D. 31 in Ellis, and the general
character of the place-names is the same. These are, however, far
fewer than in Northwestern England. Worsaae gives a list of about
30. This list is not exhaustive. From additional sources, rather
incomplete, I have been able to add about 80 more Scandinavian
place-names that occur in Southern Scotland, most of them of the
same general character as those in Northwestern England. Among them:
Applegarth, Cogarth, Auldgirth, Hartsgarth, Dalsgairth, Tundergarth,
Stonegarthside, Helbeck, Thornythwaite, Twathwaite, Robiethwaite,
Murraythwaite, Lockerby, Alby, Denbie, Middlebie, Dunnabie, Wysebie,
Perceby, Newby, Milby, Warmanbie, Sorbie, Canoby, Begbie, Sterby,
Crosby, Bushby, Magby, Pockby, Humbie, Begbie, Dinlaybyre, Maybole,
Carnbo, Gateside, Glenholm, Broomholm, Twynholm, Yetholm, Smailholm,
Langholm, Cogar, Prestwick, Fenwick, Howgate, Bowland, Arbigland,
Berwick, Southwick, Corstorphine, Rowantree, Eggerness, Southerness,
Boness, etc. There are in all about 110 such place-names, with a
number of others that may be either English or Scandinavian. The
number of Scandinavian elements in Southern Scotch is, however, very
great and indicates larger settlements than can be inferred from
place-names alone. In the case of early settlements these will
generally represent fairly well the extent of settlement. But where
they have taken place comparatively late, or where they have been of
a more peaceful nature, the number of new names of places that
result from them may not at all indicate their extent. The
Scandinavians that settled in Southern Scotland probably at no time
exceeded in number the native population. The place-names would then
for the most part remain unchanged. The loanwords found in Southern
Scotch and the names of places resemble those of Northwestern
England. The same Northern race that located in Cumberland and
Westmoreland also located in Scotland. It is probable, as Worsaae
believed, that it is a second migration, chiefly from Cumberland.
Dumfriesshire, at any rate, may have been settled in this way. The
settlers of Kircudbright and Wigtown were probably largely from the
Isles on the west. Other independent settlements were made in
Lothian and the region about the Forth. That these are all later
than those of Cumberland and Westmoreland is probable. According to
what has been said above, the settlements in Dumfries, which seem to
have been the earliest, could not have taken place before about the
second quarter of the 10th Century, and probably were made later.
The other settlements in Southern Scotland may extend even into the
11th Century. The name Dingwall (O.N. _Ethingvoellr_) in Dumfries, the
place where the laws were announced annually, indicates a rather
extensive settlement in Dumfries, and the dialect of Dumfries is
also characterized by a larger number of Scandinavian elements than
the rest of the Southern counties.

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9