Learning and religion in Ireland suffered grievously from Norse attack but not so sorely as in England. There was never a time when so dark a picture could have been drawn of Irish learning as Alfred gives of the state of English learning when he translated the _Pastoral Care_, and when once the Vikings began to form settlements they were themselves strongly affected by the wealth of literary and artistic skill with which they found themselves brought into contact. The question of Irish influence on Norse mythology and literature is a much vexed one. At present we are suffering from a reaction against exaggerated claims made on its behalf some thirty years ago, but while refusing to accept the view that Norse legends, divine and heroic alike, are based on a wholesale refashioning and recreating of stories from Celtic saga-lore, it would be idle to deny that the contact between the two nations must have been fertile of result and that Norse literature in form, style and subject-matter alike, bears many marks of Gaelic influence. CHAPTER XI SCANDINAVIAN INFLUENCE IN ENGLAND Of the districts occupied by Scandinavian settlers in England the ones which show their presence most strongly are Cumberland, Westmorland, North Lancashire and Yorkshire in the old kingdom of Northumbria and the district of the Five Boroughs in the midlands. East Anglia was not so deeply affected by the Danish occupation. Before dealing with one of the chief sources of our knowledge of the presence of Norse and Danish settlers in various parts of England, viz. the evidence derived from place-nomenclature, a few words must be said as to the chief Scandinavian elements which can be recognised in English place-names. Of elements other than personal names the commonest are as follows, several of them being used as independent words to this day in English dialects which have been affected by Scandinavian influence:-- -BECK. O.N. _bekkr_, brook, small stream of water. -BIGGIN(G). O.N. _bygging_, building. -BY. O.N. _bør_, Dan. Swed. _by_, town or village. This word indicates a Danish rather than a Norse settlement. -CAR(R), -ker. O.N. _kjarr_, _kjörr_, brushwood, especially on swampy ground. -DALE. O.N. _dalr_, valley. Etymologically this word might be of native English origin but its distribution points to Norse influence. -FELL. O.N. _fjall_, mountain. -FORCE. O.N. _fors_, waterfall. -FORTH. O.N. _fjorðr_, fjord. English -ford and Scandinavian -forth often interchange in the old documents. -GARTH. O.N. _garðr_, enclosure, the Scandinavian equivalent of English 'yard.' -GILL. O.N. _gil_, deep narrow glen with a stream at the bottom. -HOLM. O.N. _holmr_, small island especially in a bay, creek, or river. In England its meaning was further developed and it often means 'low-lying level ground on the borders of a river or stream.' Now often concealed in the suffix -ham. -KELD. O.N. _kelda_, well, spring.