Scandinavian influence on Southern Lowland Scotch | Page 5

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