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| Northumbrian Old English | |
|---|---|
| Native to | England |
| Region | Roughly around what is nowNorthern England andSouthern Scotland |
| Ethnicity | Anglo-Saxons |
Early forms | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
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| Part ofa series on |
| Old English |
|---|
Northumbrian was adialect ofOld English spoken in theAnglian Kingdom ofNorthumbria. Together withMercian,Kentish andWest Saxon, it forms one of the sub-categories of Old English devised and employed by modern scholars.
The dialect was spoken from theHumber, now withinEngland, to theFirth of Forth, now withinScotland. In theDanelaw after theViking invasions, Northumbrian may have been influenced by theNorse language[citation needed].
Some of the earliest surviving Old English texts were written in Northumbrian, suchCædmon's Hymn (7th century) andBede's Death Song (8th century). Other works, including the bulk of Cædmon's poetry, have beenlost. Other examples of this dialect are theRunes on theRuthwell Cross from theDream of the Rood. Also in Northumbrian are the 9th-centuryLeiden Riddle[1] and the late 10th century gloss of theLindisfarne Gospels.
Today, theScots language (includingUlster Scots) is descended from the Northumbrian dialect,[2] as are modernNorthumbrian,Cumbrian andYorkshire (particularly in the North/East Ridings and northern West Riding) as well as theNorth Lancashire dialect.
Historical linguists recognise four distinct dialects ofOld English: Northumbrian, Mercian, Kentish and West Saxon.[3][4] The Northumbrian dialect was spoken in the Kingdom ofNorthumbria from the Humber to theRiver Mersey (mersey meaning border river) in northern England to theFirth of Forth in theScottish Lowlands. Today,Modern Scots,Northumbrian,Cumbrian and North/East Riding dialects originate purely from Northumbrian, as well as forming the substrate of the since Mercian-influenced West Riding and Lancashire dialects.[5] It was significantly different from the dialects spoken by other Kingdoms, especially that of West-Saxon (the dialect used for most modern studies of Old English).[6] Modern Standard English, on the other hand, has its origins in the Mercian dialect, which was the dialect most similar to Northumbrian.[7]
TheAngles brought their language (Englisc) to Northumbria in the 6th century AD, where it reached the modern-dayScottish Lowlands.[8] This form of Northumbrian Old English was first recorded inpoetry; e.g.Cædmon's Hymnc. 658-680), writings of the VenerableBede (c. 700 AD) and theLeiden Riddle.[9] The language is also attested in theLindisfarne Gospelsc. 970 AD, in modern Scotland as a carved runic text, theDream of the Rood, and on theRuthwell Cross,c. 750 AD. Old Northumbria was later conquered by the Danes (867–883 AD) and from this day forth the language became influenced withOld Norse.[10]
The area now in Southern Scotland, which was a part of theKingdom of Northumbria from the 7th century, was invaded byMalcolm II of Scotland and became part of the kingdom of Alba following theBattle of Carham. The language north of the border later became known asScottis[11] orScots.[7]
Meanwhile, in Galloway, Northumbrian and Cumbric were progressively displaced byGalwegian Gaelic, a process probably complete by the 11th century.
The anonymous author of the NorthumbrianCursor Mundi claimed southern English texts needed to be translated into northern dialects for people to fully understand what they were reading.[10]Ralph Higden 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.[12]John of Trevisa spoke about nearby "strange men an aliens" in discussing northern English's alleged outlandishness, and inc. 1440Osbern Bokenam wrote about Scots' influence on northern English in hisMappula Angliae.[5]
By the 14th century,Lowland Scots became the main language of Scotland's Lowlands (excludingGalloway, which still spoke Gaelic).[7] 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 thede 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.[10] The modern Northumbrian dialect is currently promoted by organisations such as the Northumbrian Language Society and Northumbrian Words Project.[13][14][15] Similarly, the closely relatedCumbrian dialect is promoted by the Lakeland Dialect Society.[16][17]
The following witnesses to the language have added punctuation, diacritics for long vowels and palatalization, and italics representing expanded abbreviations and missing or illegible text.
Nū sċylun herġan ‖ hefaenrīċaes uard,
metudæs maecti ‖ end his mōdġidanc,
uerc uuldurfadur, ‖ suē hē uundra ġihuaes,
ēċi dryctin ‖ ōr āstelidæ.
Hēaerist sċōp ‖ aelda barnum
heben til hrōfe, ‖ hāleġ sċepend.
Thā middunġeard, ‖ moncynnæs uard,
ēċi dryctin ‖ æfter tīadæ,
fīrum foldu, ‖ frēa allmectiġ.[18]
Fore thēm neidfaerae ‖ naeniġ uuiurthit
thoncsnottura, ‖ than him tharf sīe
tō ymbhyċġġannae ‖aer his hiniongae
huaet his gāstae ‖ gōdaes aeththa yflaes
aefter dēothdaeġe ‖ doemid uueorthae.[19]
Mec se uēta uong, ‖ uundrum frēoriġ,
ob his innaðae ‖aerest cændæ.
Ni uaat iċ mec biuorthæ ‖ uullan flīusum,
hērum ðerh hēhcraeft, ‖ hyġiðoncum mīn.
Uundnae mē ni bīað ueflæ, ‖ ni iċ uarp hafæ,
ni ðerih ðrēatun ġiðraec ‖ ðrēt mē hlimmith,
ne mē hrūtendu ‖ hrīsil sċelfath,
ni mec ōuana ‖ aam sċeal cnyssa.
Uyrmas mec ni āuēfun ‖ uyrdi craeftum,
ðā ði ġeolu gōdueb ‖ ġeatum fraetuath.
Uil mec huethrae suaeðēh ‖ uīdæ ofaer eorðu
hātan mith heliðum ‖ hyhtliċ ġiuǣde;
ni anoeġu nō iċ mē aeriġfaerae ‖ eġsan brōgum,
ðēh ði numen sīæ ‖ nīudlicae ob cocrum.[20]
Transcription notes: ġ = ᚷ; g = ᚸ; ħ = ᛇ; c = ᚳ; k = ᛣ/ᛤ; e͜a = ᛠ; ŋ = ᛝ. Many aspects of this transcription are subject to debate, due to the highly weathered condition of the original inscription.
Side 1:
Ġeredæ hinæ God almeħttiġ ‖ þā hē walde on galgu ġistiga,
modiġ fore... ‖ menbug...
... ic riicnæ kyniŋc,
he͜afunæs hlāfard ‖ hælda ic ni darstæ
bismæradun uŋket men ba ætgadre ‖icwæs miþ blodi bistemid...
Side 2:
Krist wæs on rōdi,
hweþræ þēr fūsæ ‖ fe͜arran kwōmu
æþþilæ til ānum ‖ ic þæt al biheald.
Sār ic wæs miþ sorgum ġidrœ̄fd ‖ hnag...
Miþ strēlum ġiwundad
aleġdun hīæ hinæ limwœ̄riġnæ ‖ gistoddun himæt his līcæsheafdum,
bihe͜aldun hīæ þēr...
The following version of theLord's Prayer is taken from the late 10th-century gloss of theLindisfarne Gospels:[22]
Fader ūsær, ðū arð in heofnum.
Sīe ġehālgad noma ðīn.
Tōcymeð rīċ ðīn.
Sīe willo ðīn,
suǣ is in heofne ⁊ in eorðo.
Hlāf ūserne oferwistlīċ sel ūs tōdæġ
⁊ forġef ūs sċylda ūsra,
suǣ uoe forġefon sċyldgum ūsum,
⁊ ne inlǣd ūsih in costunge,
ah ġefriġ ūsich from yfle.
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