Northumbrian was a
dialect
The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of Linguistics, linguistic phenomena:
One usage refers to a variety (linguisti ...
of
Old English
Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...
spoken in the
Anglian Kingdom of Northumbria. Together with
Mercian,
Kentish and
West Saxon, it forms one of the sub-categories of Old English devised and employed by modern scholars.
The dialect was spoken from the
Humber
The Humber is a large tidal estuary on the east coast of Northern England. It is formed at Trent Falls, Faxfleet, by the confluence of the tidal rivers Ouse and Trent. From there to the North Sea, it forms part of the boundary between th ...
, now within
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
, to the
Firth of Forth
The Firth of Forth () is the estuary, or firth, of several Scottish rivers including the River Forth. It meets the North Sea with Fife on the north coast and Lothian on the south.
Name
''Firth'' is a cognate of ''fjord'', a Norse word meani ...
, now within
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
. In the
Danelaw after the
Viking invasions
Viking expansion was the historical movement which led Norse explorers, traders and warriors, the latter known in modern scholarship as Vikings, to sail most of the North Atlantic, reaching south as far as North Africa and east as far as Russ ...
, Northumbrian may have been influenced by the
Norse language.
The earliest surviving Old English texts were written in Northumbrian: these are
Caedmon's Hymn (7th century) and
Bede's Death Song
''Bede's Death Song'' is the editorial name given to a five-line Old English poem, supposedly the final words of the Venerable Bede. It is, by far, the Old English poem that survives in the largest number of manuscripts — 35 or 45 (mostly later ...
(8th century). Other works, including the bulk of Caedmon's poetry, have been
lost
Lost may refer to getting lost, or to:
Geography
*Lost, Aberdeenshire, a hamlet in Scotland
* Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail, or LOST, a hiking and cycling trail in Florida, US
History
*Abbreviation of lost work, any work which is known to have bee ...
.
Other examples of this dialect are the
Rune
Runes are the letter (alphabet), letters in a set of related alphabets known as runic alphabets native to the Germanic peoples. Runes were used to write various Germanic languages (with some exceptions) before they adopted the Latin alphabet, a ...
s on the
Ruthwell Cross from the ''
Dream of the Rood''. Also in Northumbrian are the 9th-century
Leiden Riddle The "Leiden Riddle" is an Old English riddle (which also survives in a similar form in the Exeter Book known as Exeter Book Riddle 33 or 35). It is noteworthy for being one of the earliest attested pieces of English poetry; one of only a small numbe ...
and the mid-10th-century gloss of the
Lindisfarne Gospels
The Lindisfarne Gospels (London, British Library Cotton MS Nero D.IV) is an illuminated manuscript gospel book probably produced around the years 715–720 in the monastery at Lindisfarne, off the coast of Northumberland, which is now in the B ...
.
The Viking invasion forced a division of the dialect into two distinct subdialects. South of the
River Tees
The River Tees (), in Northern England, rises on the eastern slope of Cross Fell in the North Pennines and flows eastwards for to reach the North Sea between Hartlepool and Redcar near Middlesbrough. The modern day history of the river has be ...
, southern Northumbrian was influenced by Norse, while northern Northumbrian retained many Old English words lost to the southern subdialect and influenced the development of the dialects of modern
North East England
North East England is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. The region has three current administrative levels below the region level in the region; combined authority, unitary authorit ...
(the modern
Northumbrian dialect) and
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
.
Today, the
Scots language (including
Ulster Scots Ulster Scots, may refer to:
* Ulster Scots people
* Ulster Scots dialect
Ulster Scots or Ulster-Scots (', ga, Albainis Uladh), also known as Ulster Scotch and Ullans, is the dialect of Scots language, Scots spoken in parts of Ulster in North ...
) is descended from the Northumbrian dialect, as are modern
Northumbrian,
Cumbrian
The Cumberland dialect is a local Northern English dialect in decline, spoken in Cumberland, Westmorland and Lancashire North of the Sands, not to be confused with the area's extinct Celtic language, Cumbric. Some parts of Cumbria have a mo ...
and
Yorkshire
Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...
(particularly in the North/East Ridings and northern West Riding) as well as the
North Lancashire dialect.
History
Historical linguists
Historical linguistics, also termed diachronic linguistics, is the scientific study of language change over time. Principal concerns of historical linguistics include:
# to describe and account for observed changes in particular languages
# ...
recognise four distinct dialects of
Old English
Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...
: Northumbrian, Mercian, Kentish and West Saxon.
The Northumbrian dialect was spoken in the
Kingdom of Northumbria from the Humber to the
River Mersey
The River Mersey () is in North West England. Its name derives from Old English and means "boundary river", possibly referring to its having been a border between the ancient kingdoms of Mercia and Northumbria. For centuries it has formed part ...
(mersey meaning border river) in northern England to the
Firth of Forth
The Firth of Forth () is the estuary, or firth, of several Scottish rivers including the River Forth. It meets the North Sea with Fife on the north coast and Lothian on the south.
Name
''Firth'' is a cognate of ''fjord'', a Norse word meani ...
in the
Scottish Lowlands
The Lowlands ( sco, Lallans or ; gd, a' Ghalldachd, , place of the foreigners, ) is a cultural and historical region of Scotland. Culturally, the Lowlands and the Highlands diverged from the Late Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowl ...
. Today,
Modern Scots,
Northumbrian,
Cumbrian
The Cumberland dialect is a local Northern English dialect in decline, spoken in Cumberland, Westmorland and Lancashire North of the Sands, not to be confused with the area's extinct Celtic language, Cumbric. Some parts of Cumbria have a mo ...
and north/east riding dialects originate purely from Northumbrian, as well as forming the basis for the since Mercian-influenced West Riding and Lancashire dialects.
It was significantly different from the dialects spoken by other Kingdoms, especially that of West-Saxon (the primary dialect). Modern Standard English, on the other hand, has its origins in the Mercian dialect.
The
Angles brought their language (''Englisc'') to Northumbria in the 6th century AD, where it reached the modern-day
Scottish Lowlands
The Lowlands ( sco, Lallans or ; gd, a' Ghalldachd, , place of the foreigners, ) is a cultural and historical region of Scotland. Culturally, the Lowlands and the Highlands diverged from the Late Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowl ...
. This form of Northumbrian Old English was first recorded in
poetic; e.g.
Cædmon's Hymn ), writings of the Venerable
Bede
Bede ( ; ang, Bǣda , ; 672/326 May 735), also known as Saint Bede, The Venerable Bede, and Bede the Venerable ( la, Beda Venerabilis), was an English monk at the monastery of St Peter and its companion monastery of St Paul in the Kingdom o ...
() and the
Leiden Riddle The "Leiden Riddle" is an Old English riddle (which also survives in a similar form in the Exeter Book known as Exeter Book Riddle 33 or 35). It is noteworthy for being one of the earliest attested pieces of English poetry; one of only a small numbe ...
. The language is also attested in the
Lindisfarne Gospels
The Lindisfarne Gospels (London, British Library Cotton MS Nero D.IV) is an illuminated manuscript gospel book probably produced around the years 715–720 in the monastery at Lindisfarne, off the coast of Northumberland, which is now in the B ...
, in modern Scotland as a carved runic text, the ''
Dream of the Rood'', and on the
Ruthwell Cross, . Old Northumbria was later conquered by the Danes (867–883 AD) and from this day forth the language became influenced with
Old Norse
Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and t ...
.
The region of
Lothian
Lothian (; sco, Lowden, Loudan, -en, -o(u)n; gd, Lodainn ) is a region of the Scottish Lowlands, lying between the southern shore of the Firth of Forth and the Lammermuir Hills and the Moorfoot Hills. The principal settlement is the Sco ...
in the Lowlands, which was originally a part of the
Kingdom of England
The Kingdom of England (, ) was a sovereign state on the island of Great Britain from 12 July 927, when it emerged from various Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, until 1 May 1707, when it united with Scotland to form the Kingdom of Great Britain.
On 1 ...
, was invaded by
Kenneth III of Scotland
Cináed mac Duib ( Modern Gaelic: ''Coinneach mac Dhuibh''; c. 966 – c. 25 March 1005), anglicised as Kenneth III, and nicknamed ''An Donn'' ("the Chief" or "the Brown"), was King of Scots from 997 to 1005. He was the son of Dub (Dub mac Maíl ...
and became part of Scotland's sovereign territory. Despite the king being a
Scottish Gaelic
Scottish Gaelic ( gd, Gàidhlig ), also known as Scots Gaelic and Gaelic, is a Goidelic language (in the Celtic branch of the Indo-European language family) native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a Goidelic language, Scottish Gaelic, as well as ...
speaker, he allowed the region to keep its Northumbrian dialect, which was then still known as ''Inglis''. However, the region became divided from Northumbria following the
Battle of Carham (with the northern half of the territory under Scottish rule and the southern part under the English);
the language north of the divide later became known as ''Scottis''
or ''Scots''.
The anonymous author of the Northumbrian ''
Cursor Mundi'' claimed southern English texts needed to be translated into northern dialects for people to fully understand what they were reading.
Ralph Higden
Ralph (pronounced ; or ,) is a male given name of English, Scottish and Irish origin, derived from the Old English ''Rædwulf'' and Radulf, cognate with the Old Norse ''Raðulfr'' (''rað'' "counsel" and ''ulfr'' "wolf").
The most common forms ...
in 1364 described Northumbrian as incredibly difficult for southern natives to understand, believing the reason for this to be the "strange men an nations that speaketh stronglie" (i.e. the Scots) the region bordered.
John of Trevisa
file:John Trevisa (1342-1402).png, 350px,
John Trevisa (or John of Trevisa; la, Ioannes Trevisa; floruit, fl. 1342–1402 AD) was a Cornish writer and translator.
Trevisa was born at Trevessa in the parish of St Enoder in mid-Cornwall, in Brita ...
spoke about nearby "strange men an aliens" in discussing northern English's alleged outlandishness, and in
Osbern Bokenam
Osbern Bokenam (c. 1393 – c. 1464, also spelt Bokenham) was an English Augustinian (Austin) friar and poet. He was a follower of Geoffrey Chaucer.
Life
Osbern Bokenam was born, according to his own account, on 6 October 1393. His name sugges ...
wrote about Scots' influence on northern English in his ''
Mappula Angliae''.
By the 14th century,
Lowland Scots became the main language of Scotland's Lowlands (excluding
Galloway
Galloway ( ; sco, Gallowa; la, Gallovidia) is a region in southwestern Scotland comprising the historic counties of Wigtownshire and Kirkcudbrightshire. It is administered as part of the council area of Dumfries and Galloway.
A native or i ...
, which still spoke Gaelic).
Despite this, Northumbrian began to lose its significance in England by the 16th century.
Northumbrian dialectical terms, accents, and manners of speaking were considered incorrect and inelegant to those in power, who were seated in the south of England. As England began to centralise its power in London and the south of England, texts in the midland and southern dialects became the ''de facto'' standard. A great number of letters, poems and newspaper articles were written in Northumbrian and Cumbrian dialects throughout the 19th and 20th centuries; however, their use is declining in favour of Standard English.
The
modern Northumbrian dialect is currently promoted by organisations such as the Northumbrian Language Society and Northumbrian Words Project. Similarly, the closely-related
Cumbrian dialect
The Cumberland dialect is a local Northern English dialect in decline, spoken in Cumberland, Westmorland and Lancashire North of the Sands, not to be confused with the area's extinct Celtic language, Cumbric. Some parts of Cumbria have a mor ...
is promoted by the Lakeland Dialect Society.
The Lord's Prayer
Some Scottish and Northumbrian folk still say or "our father" and "thou art". The Lord's Prayer as rendered below dates from .
[Bell, Laird D T. Northumbrian Culture and Language]
Bede's Death Song
Fore thaem neidfaerae ‖ naenig uuiurthit
thoncsnotturra, ‖ than him tharf sie
to ymbhycggannae ‖ aer his hiniongae
huaet his gastae ‖ godaes aeththa yflaes
aefter deothdaege ‖ doemid uueorthae.
Cædmon's Hymn
Nū scylun hergan ‖ hefaenrīcaes Uard,
metudæs maecti ‖ end his mōdgidanc,
uerc Uuldurfadur, ‖ suē hē uundra gihwaes,
ēci dryctin ‖ ōr āstelidæ
hē ǣrist scōp ‖ aelda barnum
heben til hrōfe, ‖ hāleg scepen.
Thā middungeard ‖ moncynnæs Uard,
eci Dryctin, ‖ æfter tīadæ
firum foldu, ‖ Frēa allmectig.
The Leiden Riddle
Mec se uēta uong, uundrum frēorig,
ob his innaðae rest cændæ.
Ni ut ic mec biuorthæ uullan flsum,
hērum ðerh hēhcraeft, hygiðonc....
Uundnae mē ni bīað ueflæ, ni ic uarp hafæ,
ni ðerih ðreatun giðraec ðrēt mē hlimmith,
ne mē hrūtendu hrīsil scelfath,
ni mec ōuana m sceal cnyssa.
Uyrmas mec ni āuēfun uyrdi craeftum,
ðā ði geolu gōdueb geatum fraetuath.
Uil mec huethrae su ðēh uīdæ ofaer eorðu
hātan mith h''æ''liðum hyhtlic giuǣde;
ni angun ic mē rigfaerae egsan brōgum,
ðēh ði n... ...n sīæ nīudlicae ob cocrum.[M. B. Parkes, ‘The Manuscript of the Leiden Riddle’, Anglo-Saxon England, 1 (1972), 207–17 (p. 208); DOI: 10.1017/S0263675100000168. Length-marks added to Parkes's transcription on the basis of John R. Clark Hall, ''A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary'', 4th rev. edn by Herbet D. Meritt (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1960).]
Ruthwell Cross inscription
Krist wæs on rodi hwethræ ther fusæ fearran
kwomu æththilæ til anum ic thæt al bihald
ALD or Ald may refer to:
Medicine, science and technology
* Adrenoleukodystrophy, a disease linked to the X chromosome
* Alcoholic liver disease
* Aldolase or ALD, an enzyme occurring naturally in animals
* Assistive listening device used to im ...
Mith strelum giwundad alegdun hiæ hinæ limwoerignæ
gistoddun him (æt his licæs heafdum).
Notes
Further reading
*Sweet, H., ed. (1885) ''The Oldest English Texts: glossaries, the Vespasian Psalter, and other works written before A.D. 900''. London: for the Early English Text Society
*Sweet, H., ed. (1946) ''Sweet's Anglo-Saxon Reader''; 10th ed., revised by C. T. Onions. Oxford: Clarendon Press. ("Northumbrian texts"—pp. 166–169)
Languages attested from the 7th century
Old English dialects
Northumbria
Language articles with unknown extinction date