Scandinavian influence on Southern Lowland Scotch: A contribution to the study of the linguistic relations of English and ScandinavianFlom, George T. (George Tobias)
History
Scandinavian influence on Southern Lowland Scotch: A contribution to the study of the linguistic relations of English and Scandinavian
Flom, George T. (George Tobias)
Scots language; Scots language -- Foreign words and phrases -- Scandinavian
compared with 52 for Westmoreland and Cumberland. While _dale_ is
predominantly Norse, it may perfectly well be Danish, and it is not
rare in Denmark. Furthermore, the greater number of _dales_ in
Norway as compared with Denmark is largely accounted for by the
nature of the country. No conclusions can be drawn from names in
_force_ in Yorkshire, Cumberland and Westmoreland, as it is of too
infrequent occurrence. _Fell_ occurs 22 times in York, as against 57
in Cumberland and Westmoreland (42 in Westmoreland alone), but in
York occurs predominantly in West Riding, where everything points to
a mixed settlement. The distribution of _tarn_ is interesting.
_Tarn_ is as distinctively Norse as _thorpe_ is Danish. It occurs 24
times in Cumberland and Westmoreland, 3 in North Riding, and is not
found at all south of Westmoreland and York.
5. _BY_ IN PLACE-NAMES. CONCLUSIONS AS TO THIS TEST.
_By_ has been regarded as a sign of Danish settlement for the
following reasons: (1) O.N. _bör_ would have given _bo_. The O. Dan.
form _býr_ becomes _by_. (2) _By_ is peculiar to Denmark, rare in
Norway. (3) _Bö_ or _bo_ is the form found in Insular Scotland, in
the Faroes and other Norse settlements. First, the form _bỳr_ is
not exclusively O. Dan. It occurs several times in Old Norse sagas
in the form _býr_ and _bý_--in "Flateyarbók," III., 290, in
"Fagrskinna" 41, several times in the "Heimskringla," as well as
elsewhere. Again, J. Vibe (see Nordisk Tidskrift, 1884, 535, and
Norsk Historisk Tidskrift, 2 Række, 5 Bind), has shown that _by_ is
not peculiar to Denmark and rare in Norway. It occurs 600-700 times
in Denmark and Skåne, and 450 times in Norway. Finally, _by_ is
often found in Norse settlements in Scotland and elsewhere--in
Iceland, Shetland, Orkney, Man, and in the Western Isles. In fact,
_by_ seems to be the more common form outside of Iceland. All we can
say then is that _by_ is more Danish than Norse, but may also be
Norse. Where names in _by_ are numerous it indicates that the
settlements are rather Danish, but they may also be Norse. We have,
then, the following results: Predominantly Danish settlements:
Essex, Bedford, Buckingham, Suffolk, Norfolk, Northampton,
Leicester, Rutland, Lincoln, Nottingham, Derby, East Riding. Mixed
Norse and Danish settlements: North Riding, West Riding, Durham,
part of Cheshire, and Southern Lancashire. Norse settlements:
Cumberland, Westmoreland, North Lancashire, part of Cheshire, and
parts of Northumberland. The number of Scandinavian place-names in
Northumberland is not large, only 22 in Worsaae's list. North of the
Cheviot Hills the names are again predominantly Norse.
6. CHARACTERISTICS OF OLD NORTHERN, OR OLD SCANDINAVIAN.
EARLY DIALECTAL DIFFERENTIATION.
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