Scandinavian influence on Southern Lowland Scotch | Page 6

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. _Dingv?llr_) 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.
4. SETTLEMENTS IN ENGLAND, NORSE OR DANISH? THE PLACE-NAME TEST.
That the Danes were more numerous than the Norsemen in Central and Eastern England from Northumberland down to the Thames there can be no doubt. The distinctive Norse names fell, tarn and force do not occur at all, while thorpe and toft, which are as distinctively Danish, are confined almost exclusively to this section. In Northumberland, Durham, Cumberland, Westmoreland and Lancashire thorpe is comparatively rare, while toft is not found at all. On the other hand, fell, dale, force, haugh, and tarn (O.N. fjall, dalr, foss and fors, haugr, _tj?rn_) occur in large numbers in Northwestern England. Beck may be either Danish or Norse, occurs, however, chiefly in the North. Thwaite Worsaae regarded as Danish "because it occurs generally along with the Danish by." We find, however, that this is not exactly the case. In Lincolnshire there are 212 _by's_, in Leicestershire 66, in Northampton 26; thwaite does not occur at all. In Yorkshire there are 167 names in by and only 8 in thwaite, and 6 of these are in West Riding. It is only in Cumberland and Westmoreland that the proportions are nearly the same, but on by see below §5. Tveit is far more common in Norway than tved in Denmark. The form of the word in place-names in England is, furthermore, more Norse than Danish. In the earliest Scandinavian settlements in England, those of Lincolnshire, for instance, thwaite might be Danish if it occurred, for monophthongation of _?i_ to e did not take place in Danish before about the end of the 9th Century; by about 900 this was complete (see §6). The Scandinavian settlements in Northwestern England, however, did not take place so early, consequently if these names were Danish and not Norse we should expect to find thwet, or thweet (_tweet_), in place of thwaite. It is then to be regarded as Norse and not Danish. Thwaite occurs almost exclusively in Northwestern England--43 times in Cumberland as against 3 in the rest of England south of Yorkshire. Garth (O.N. _garer_, O. Dan. gardh, later _gaard_), occurs very often in Cumberland. With, ness, holm, land, and how, do not occur very often. How reminds one of the Jutish _h?w_ in Modern Danish dialect. The rest of these may be either Danish or Norse. In Yorkshire we find a mixed condition of affairs. East Riding, as we should expect, has predominantly Danish names. Thorpe, which occurs 63 times in Lincolnshire, is found 48 times in East Riding. Fell, tarn and haugh do not occur. Force is found twice, and thwaite once. Dale, however, occurs 12 times. West Riding was probably settled by Danes from the East and by Norsemen from the West. Thorpe occurs 29 times, with 8, toft 2, beck 4, fell 15, thwaite 6, dale 12, and tarn 2. In North Riding thorpe occurs 18 times. Force, fell, and tarn together 12. The large number of names in dale in North Riding is rather striking (40 in all), as 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. _b?r_ would have given bo. The O. Dan. form _byr_ becomes by. (2) By is peculiar to Denmark, rare in Norway. (3) _B?_ or bo is the form found in Insular Scotland, in