Scandinavian influence on Southern Lowland Scotch Part 19

The general character of the Scand. loanwords in Sco. is Norse, not Dan. This is shown by (a) A number of words that either do not exist in Dan. or else have in Sco. a distinctively W. Scand. sense; (b) Words with a W. Scand. form.

(a). The following words have in Sco. a W. Scand. meaning or are not found in Danish:

AIRT, to urge. O.N. _erta_. Not a Dan. word.

APERT, boldly. O.N. _apr_. Not Dan.

AWEBAND, a rope for tying cattle. O.N. _haband_. Meaning distinctively W. Scand.

BAUCH, awkward. Not E. Scand.

BEIN, liberal. Meaning is W. Scand.

BROD, to incite. O.N. _brodda_, id. Dan. _brodde_, means "to equip with points."

BYSNING, monstrous. O.N. _bysna_. Not E. Scand.

CARPE, to converse. Not E. Scand.

CHOWK, jawbone. Rather W. Scand. than E. Scand.

CHYNGILL, gravel. A Norse word.

DAPILL, gray. A W. Scand. word.

DYRDUM, uproar. W. Scand. The word is also found in Gael.

Furthermore the form is more W. Scand. than Dan. Cp. _dr_ and _dr_.

DOWLESS, worthless. _Duglauss_ a W. Scand. word.

DUDS, clothes. Not found in Dan. or Sw.

ETTLE, aim at. W. Scand. meaning. O. Dan. _aetlae_ meant "ponder over."

FARRAND, handsome. This meaning is Icelandic and Norse.

FELL, mountain. W. Scand. more than E. Scand.

GANE, be suitable. O.N. _gegna_. Vb. not found in Dan.

GYLL, a ravine. O.N. _gil_. Is W. Scand.

HEID, brightness. O.N. _haer_. Icel. and Norse.

HOOLIE, slow. O.N. _hogligr_. Not in Dan. or Sw.

KENDILL, to kindle. Ormulum _kinndlenn_ is from O. Ic. _kendill_ (Brate).

LIRK, to crease. I have not found the word in E. Scand.

MELDER, flour. O.N. _meldr_. Is W. Scand., particularly Norse.

POCKNET, a fishnet. O.N. _poki-net. _ Not Dan.

RAMSTAM, indiscreet, boisterous. Both elements are W. Scand.

SCARTH, cormorant. W. Scand.

TARN, a lake. Distinctively Norse.

TYNE, to lose. O.N. _tna_. Distinctively Norse.

WAITH, booty. O.N. _vaeir_. Icel. and Sndmre, Norway.

WARE, to spend. N. _verja_. W. Scand.

WICK, to cause to turn. O.N. _vikja_. Not Danish.

(b). The following words are W. Scand. in form:

BOLAX, hatchet. O.N. _bolox_. The O. Dan. word has the vowel _u_, _bulox_.

BOWN, O.N. _buinn_, cp. _grouf < grufu_;="" _bowk_="">< _bukr_;="" _stroup_="">< _strjupr_;="" _dowless_="">< _duglauss_,="" etc.="" the="" o.="">

word was _boin_. The form in Orm. is _bun_, a Norse loanword.

BUSK, to prepare, has W. Scand. reflexive ending _sk_.

BUTH, O.N. _bu_. The O. Dan., O. Sw. vowel was _o_, _bo_ and _bodh_, so in modern Dan. diall. In Norse diall. it is _u_.

CAPPIT shows W. Scand. a.s.similation of _mp_ <>

CLUBBIT shows W. Scand. a.s.similation of _mb_ <>

DRUCKEN exhibits W. Scand. a.s.similation of _nk > kk_. Cp. O. Dan.

_dronkne_, _drone_, but N.Dan. _drukken_.

HARN corresponds better to O.N. _hjarni_ than to umlauted Dan.

_hjerne_, O. Sw. _hiarne_.

ILL, WILL. Both show a.s.similation of _ld_ to _ll_. Cp. O.N.

_illr, villr_, but Dan. _ilde_, _vild_.

RUND, ROOND, is rather the O.N. _rond_ than Dan. _rand_.

SER, SEIR corresponds better to O.N., O. Ic. _ser_ than to O. Dan. _saer_. This change of _e_ to _ae_ in Dan. was, however, late, i.e., in the last part of the 10th Century. See Noreen P.G.(2)I, 526.

SLAK, O.N. _slakki_. Shows W. Scand. a.s.similation of _nk_ > _kk_.

STAPP, O.N. _stappa_. Has W. Scand. a.s.similation of _mp_ > _pp_.

Cp. _cappit_.

STERT is O.N. _sterta_. Cp. Dan. _styrte_.

WANDRETH is nearer to O.N. _vandraei_ than to O. Dan. *_vandra_ (Brate), from which N. Dan. _vanraad_.

Monophthongization of _ou_ to _o_, _ai_ to _i_ (_e_), _oy_ to _o_ took place in O. Dan. about 900. The Scand. loanwords in Eng., where the monophthong might be expected to appear, nearly always have the diphthong, however, which as we know was kept in W. Scand. Have such words been borrowed from W. Scand. then, or were they borrowed from Dan. before the period of monophthongation? Danish settlements began in the latter half of the 9th Century, but Dan. (and Norse) and Eng.

did not merge immediately. Scand. continued to be spoken throughout the next century down to the beginning of the 11th Century (Noreen).

Brate says the majority of loanwords probably came in in the beginning of the 10th Century. Wall points out that the Mercian and the Northumbrian Gospels of the 1st part of the 10th Century show extremely small traces of Scand. influence. It would seem, then, that the greater number of loanwords came in after monophthongation had taken place in Dan. The following dates for the appearance of loanwords in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle may be of interest. These are all taken from Egge's article, "Norse Words in the A-S. Chronicle."

_Hold_ first appears in 905, then again in 911 and 921; _law_ in the present sense is first used in 959; in 1002 is first found the word _grith_, peace, which at once became common; _laetan_, to think, is first found in 1005. In 1008 appears _sagth_; in 1011 _hustinge_; 1014 _utlagian_; 1048 the noun _utlah_; 1016 _feologan_; 1036, 1046, 1047, _lithmen_, sailors; _lith_, fleet, in 1012, 1066, 1068, 1069, 1071; in 1055 _sciplith_; in 1036, 1041, 1054, 1045, and 1071 _huscarl_; _hamule_, _hamle_ 1039; _ha_ 1040; _hasata_, rower, (O.N.

_ha-saeti_) in 1052; in 1048 _bunda_ and _husbunda_; 1049 _nithing_; in the same year also the phrase _scylode of male_, paid off (O.N.

_skilja af mali_); 1052, 1066 _butscarl_, boatsman, _hytte_ in 1066, _wyrre_ 1066. In 1072 for the first time appears _tacan_; in 1076 _hofding_ and _brydlop_, etc.

We may conclude that the Scand. elements that had come into O.Eng.

in the beginning of the 10th Century were not large. From the middle of the century they came in in large numbers, but the period of most extensive borrowing seems rather to be the last part of the 10th and the first half of the 11th Century. Wall suggests that the Dan.

spoken by the Dan. settlers in England was of a more archaic kind than that spoken in Denmark--that this might in many cases account for the archaic character of the loanwords. We know that the settlements in central England were predominantly Dan. as opposed to Norse. The Scand. place-names as well as the character of the loanwords in the Ormulum indicate that. It is probable, then, that monophthongation took place later in the Dan. spoken in England than in that spoken in Denmark. The following is a list of some of these words found in Scotch. O.N. _aei_, Dan. _e_: _bayt_, to graze; _blaik_, to cleanse; _graip_, a fork; _grane_, a branch; _graith_, to prepare; _laike_, to play; _slaik_, to smoothen; _lairing_, gutter; the Yorkshire form _lyring_ (Wall) seems to show an original monophthong. O.N. _oy_: _careing_, _smaik_. O.N. _ou_, Dan. _o_: _blout_, bare; _douff_, dull; _gowk_, a fool; _haugh_, a knoll; _loup_, to run; _louse_, loose; _nout_, cattle; _rowt_, to roar; _rowst_, to cry out; _stowp_, a beaker; _stour_, a pole.

It will be seen from the above, leaving out of consideration the diphthong _ou_ and _ai_, that the character of a large number of the loanwords is Norse. In a great many cases the E. and W. Scand. form of the word was the same. There are, however, a few words in Sco.

that bear a Dan. stamp: _sprent_, _donk_ and _slonk_ exhibit E. Scand. non-a.s.similation of _nt_ and _nk_ to _tt_ and _kk_. _Snib_ corresponds to Dan. _snibbe_, cp. M.E. _snibben_. All these have the umlaut. Eng. _snub_, M.E. _snubben_ and O.N. _snubba_ have the unumlauted vowel. _Bud_ agrees closer with Dan. _bud_, _budh_, than O.N. _bo_, Norse _bod_. _Thraive_ (Dunbar) and _threave_ (Ramsay) both indicate an original _a_-vowel, hence correspond better to Dan.

_trave_ than O.N. _refi_. To these may be added _bask_, _flegger_ and _forjeskit_, which are not found in W. Scand.