The English Language Part 28

So that the Picts were Scandinavian Goths.

From whence it follows that--a.s.suming what is true concerning the Orkneys is true concerning the Lowland Scotch--the Lowland Scotch was Pict, Scandinavian, Gothic, and (as such) more or less Belgic.

For the non-Gothic character of the Picts see the researches of Mr.

Garnett, as given in -- 139, as well as a paper--believed to be from the same author--in the Quarterly Review for 1834. {127}

For the position of the Belgae, see Chapter IV.

-- 188. That what is true concerning the Orkneys (viz. that they were Scandinavian) is _not_ true for the south and eastern parts of Scotland, is to be collected from the peculiar distribution of the Scottish Gaelic; which indicates a distinction between the Scandinavian of the north of Scotland and the Scandinavian of the east of England. The Lowland Scotch recedes as we go northward. Notwithstanding this, it is _not_ the extreme north that is most Gaelic. In Caithness the geographical names are Norse.

_Sutherland_, the most northern county of Scotland, takes its name from being _south_; that is, of Norway. The Orkneys and Shetland are in name, manners, and language, Norse or Scandinavian. The Hebrides are Gaelic mixed with Scandinavian. The Isle of Man is the same. The word _Sodor_ (in Sodor and Man) is Norse, with the same meaning as it has in _Sutherland_. All this indicates a more preponderating, and an earlier infusion of Norse along the coast of Scotland, than that which took place under the Danes upon the coasts of England, in the days of Alfred and under the reign of Canute. The first may, moreover, have this additional peculiarity, _viz._ of being Norwegian rather than Danish. Hence I infer that the Scandinavians settled in the northern parts of Scotland at an early period, but that it was a late period when they ravaged the southern ones; so that, though the language of Orkney may be Norse, that of the Lothians may be Saxon.

To verify these views we want not a general dictionary of the Scottish language taken altogether, but a series of local glossaries, or at any rate a vocabulary, 1st, of the northern; 2ndly, of the southern Scottish.

Between the English and Lowland Scotch we must account for the likeness as well as the difference. The Scandinavian theory accounts for the difference only.

-- 189. Of the following specimens of the Lowland Scotch, the first is from The Bruce, a poem written by Barbour, Archdeacon of Aberdeen, between the years 1360 and 1375; the second from Wyntoun; the third from Blind Harry's poem, Wallace, 1460; and the fourth from Gawin Douglas's translation of the aeneid, A.D. 1513. {128}

_The Bruce_, iv. 871--892.

And as he raid in to the nycht, So saw he, with the monys lycht, Schynnyng off scheldys gret plente; And had wondre quhat it mycht be.

With that all hale thai gaiff a cry, And he, that hard sa suddainly Sic noyis, sumdele affrayit was.

Bot in schort time he till him tais His spyrites full hardely; For his gentill hart, and worthy, a.s.surit hym in to that nede.

Then with the spuris he strak the sted, And ruschyt in amaing them all.

The feyrst he met he gert him fall; And syne his suord he swapyt out, And roucht about him mony rout, And slew s.e.xsum weill sone and ma: Then wndre him his horss thai sla: And he fell; but he smertty ra.s.s, And strykand rowm about him ma.s.s: And slew off thaim a quant.i.te.

But woundyt wondre sar was he.

_Wyntoun's Chronicle_, I. xiii. 1--22.

Blessyde Bretayn Beelde sulde be Of all e Ilys in e Se, Quhare Flowrys are fele on Feldys fayre Hale of hewe, haylsum of ayre.

Of all corne are is copy gret, Pese and A'tys, Bere and Qwhet: Bath froyt on Tre, and fysche in flwde; And tyl all Catale pasture gwde.

Solynus Sayis, in Brettany Sum steddys growys sa habowndanly Of Gyrs, at sum tym (but) air Fe Fra fwlth of Mete refrenyht be, air fwde sall turne am to peryle, To rot, or bryst, or dey sum quhyle.

are wylde in Wode has welth at wille; are hyrdys hydys Holme and Hille: are Bwyis bowys all for Byrtht, {129} Bathe Merle and Ma[:w]esys mellys for myrtht: are huntyng is at all kyne Dere, And rycht gud hawlkyn on Bwer; Of Fysche aire is habowndance; And nedfulle thyng to Mannys substance.

_Wallace_, xi. 230-262.

A lord off court, quhen he approchyt thar, Wnwisytly sperd, withoutyn prouision; "Wallace, dar ye go fecht on our lioun?"

And he said; "Ya, so the Kyng suffyr me; Or on your selff, gyff ye ocht bettyr be."

Quhat will ye mar? this thing amittyt was, That Wallace suld on to the lioun pas.

The King thaim chargyt to bring him gud harnas: Then he said; "Nay, G.o.d scheild me fra sic ca.s.s.

I wald tak weid, suld I fecht with a man; But (for) a dog, that nocht off armes can, I will haiff nayn, bot synglar as I ga."

A gret manteill about his hand can ta, And his gud suerd; with him he tuk na mar; Abandounly in barrace entryt thar.

Gret chenys was wrocht in the yet with a gyn, And pulld it to quhen Wallace was tharin.

The wod lyoun, on Wallace quhar he stud, Rampand he braid, for he desyryt blud; With his rude pollis in the mantill rocht sa.

Aukwart the bak than Wallace can him ta, With his gud suerd, that was off burnest steill, His body in twa it thruschyt euirilkdeill.

Syn to the King he raykyt in gret ire, And said on lowd; "Was this all your desyr, To wayr a Scot thus lychtly in to wayn?

Is thar mar doggis at ye wald yeit haiff slayne?

Go, bryng thaim furth, sen I mon doggis qwell, To do byddyng, quhill that with thee duell.

It gaynd full weill I graithit me to Scotland; For grettar deidis thair men has apon hand, Than with a dog in battaill to escheiff-- At you in France for euir I tak my leiff."

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_Gawin Douglas_, aen. ii.

As Laocon that was Neptunus priest, And chosin by cavil vnto that ilk office, Ane fare grete bull offerit in sacrifice, Solempnithe before the haly altere, Throw the still sey from Tenedos in fere, Lo twa gret lowpit edderis with mony thraw First throw the flude towart the land can draw.

(My sprete abhorris this matter to declare) Aboue the wattir thare hals stude euirmare, With bludy creistis outwith the wallis hie, The remanent swam always vnder the se, With grisly bodyis lynkit mony fald, The salt fame stouris from the fard they hald, Unto the ground thay glade with glowand ene, Stuffit full of venom, fire and felloun tene, With tounges quhissling in thar mouthis red, Thay lik the twynkilland stangis in thar hed.

We fled away al bludles for effere.

Bot with ane braide to Laocon in fere Thay stert attanis, and his twa sonnys zyng First athir serpent lappit like ane ring, And with thare cruel bit, and stangis fell, Of tender membris tuke mony sory morsel; Syne thay the preist invadit baith twane, Quhilk wyth his wappins did his besy pane His childer for to helpen and reskew.

Bot thay about him lowpit in wympillis threw, And twis circulit his myddel round about, And twys faldit thare sprutillit skynnis but dout, About his hals, baith neck and hed they schent.

As he ettis thare hankis to haue rent, And with his handis thaym away haue draw, His hede bendis and garlandis all war blaw Full of vennum and rank poysoun attanis, Quhilk infekkis the flesche, blude, and banys.

-- 190. In the way of orthography, the most characteristic difference between the English and Scotch is the use, on the part of the latter, of _qu_ for _wh_; as _quhen_, _quhare_, _quhat_, for _when_, _where_, _what_.

The subst.i.tution of _sch_ for _sh_ (as _scho_ for _she_), and of _z_ for the Old English _[gh]_ (as _zour_ for _[gh]eowr_, _your_), is as much northern English as Scotch. {131}

In p.r.o.nunciation, the subst.i.tution of _d_ for __ (if not a point of spelling), as in _fader_ for _father_; of _a_ for _o_, as _baith_ for _both_; of _s_ for _sh_, as _sall_ for _shall_; and the use of the guttural sound of _ch_, as in _loch_, _nocht_, are the same.

The ejection of the _n_ before _t_, or an allied sound, and the lengthening of the preceding vowel, by way of compensation, as in _begouth_ for _beginneth_, seems truly Scotch. It is the same change that in Greek turns the radical syllable [Greek: odont] into [Greek: odous].

The formation of the plural of verbs in _-s_, rather than in _-th_ (the Anglo-Saxon form), is Northern English as well as Scotch:--Scotch, _slepys_, _lovys_; Northern English, _slepis_, _lovis_; Old English, _slepen_, _loven_; Anglo-Saxon _slepia_, _lufia_.

The formation of the plural number of the genitive case by the addition of the syllable _-is_ (_blastis_, _birdis_, _bloomis_), instead of the letter _-s_ (_blasts_, _birds_, _blooms_), carries with it a metrical advantage, inasmuch as it gives a greater number of double rhymes.

The same may be said of the participial forms, _affrayit_, _a.s.surit_, for _affrayd_, _a.s.sured_.

Concerning the comparative rate of change in the two languages no general a.s.sertion can be made. In the Scotch words _sterand_, _slepand_, &c., for _steering_, _sleeping_, the form is antiquated, and Anglo-Saxon rather than English. It is not so, however, with the words _thai_ (_they_), _thaim_ (_them_), _thair_ (_their_), compared with the contemporary words in English, _heo_, _hem_, _heora_. In these it is the Scottish that is least, and the English that is most Anglo-Saxon.

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CHAPTER IV.

OF CERTAIN UNDETERMINED AND FICt.i.tIOUS LANGUAGES OF GREAT BRITAIN.

-- 191. The languages mentioned in the present chapter claim their place on one ground only,--_they have been the subject of controversy_. The notice of them will be brief. The current texts upon which the controversies have turned will be quoted; whilst the opinion of the present writer is left to be collected from the t.i.tle of the chapter.

_The Belgae._--By some these are considered a Germanic rather than a Celtic tribe; the view being supported by the following extracts from Caesar:--"_Gallia est omnis divisa in tres partes; quarum unam incolunt Belgae, aliam Aquitani, tertiam, qui ipsorum lingua Celtae, nostra Galli, appellantur. Hi omnes lingua, inst.i.tutis, legibus inter se differunt.

Gallos--a Belgis Matrona et Sequana dividit._"--B. G. i. "_Belgae ab extremis Galliae finibus oriuntur._"--B. G. ii. "_Quum ab his quaereret, quae civitates, quantaeque in armis essent, et quid in bello possent, sic reperiebat: plerosque Belgas esse ortos a Germanis, Rhenumque antiquitus transductos, propter loci fertilitatem ibi consedisse; Gallosque, qui ea loca incolerent, expulisse; solosque esse qui patrum nostrorum memoria, omni Gallia vexata Teutones Cimbrosque intra fines suos ingredi prohibuerunt._"--B. G. ii. 4. "_Britanniae pars interior ab iis incolitur quos natos in insula ipsa memoria proditum dic.u.n.t: maritima pars ab iis, qui praedae ac belli inferendi causa ex Belgio transierant._"--B. G. v. 12.

-- 192. The possibly Germanic origin of the Belgae, and the Belgic element of the British population, are matters which bear upon the question indicated in -- 10, or that of the Germanic influences anterior to A.D. 449. {133}

They have a still more important bearing, the historian over and above identifying the Belgae with the Germans, affirms _that what applies to the Belgae applies to the Picts_ also.

Now this is one of the arguments in favour of the doctrine exhibited (and objected to) in pp. 124-127, and the extent of questions upon which it bears, may be collected from the following quotation:--"A variety of other considerations might be mentioned, which, although they do not singly amount to proof, yet merit attention, as viewed in connexion with what has been already stated.

"As so great a part of the eastern coast of what is now called England was so early peopled by the Belgae, it is hardly conceivable that neither so enterprising a people, nor any of their kindred tribes, should ever think of extending their descents a little farther eastward. For that the Belgae and the inhabitants of the countries bordering on the Baltic, had a common origin, there seems to be little reason to doubt. The Dutch a.s.sert that their progenitors were Scandinavians, who, about a century before the common era, left Jutland and the neighbouring territories, in quest of new habitations.[29] The Saxons must be viewed as a branch from the same stock; for they also proceeded from modern Jutland and its vicinity. Now, there is nothing repugnant to reason in supposing that some of these tribes should pa.s.s over directly to the coast of Scotland opposite to them, even before the Christian era. For Mr. Whitaker admits that the Saxons, whom he strangely makes a Gaulic people, in the second century applied themselves to navigation, and soon became formidable to the Romans.[30] Before they could become formidable to so powerful a people, they must have been at least so well acquainted with navigation as to account it no great enterprise to cross from the sh.o.r.es of the Baltic over to Scotland, especially if they took the islands of Shetland and Orkney in their way.

"As we have seen that, according to Ptolemy, there were, in his time, different tribes of Belgae, settled on the northern {134} extremity of our country: the most natural idea undoubtedly is, that they came directly from the Continent. For had these Belgae crossed the English Channel, according to the common progress of barbarous nations, it is scarcely supposable that this island would have been settled to its utmost extremity so early as the age of Agricola.