The Earliest Borrowing. The extent of this influence on English place-nomenclature would lead us to expect a large infiltration of other words into the vocabulary. But we should not expect this infiltration to show itself at once. The early relations of the invaders with the English were too hostile to lead to much natural intercourse, and we must allow time for such words as the Anglo-Saxons learned from their enemies to find their way into literature. The number of Scandinavian words that appear in Old English is consequently small, amounting to only about two score. The largest single group of these is such as would be associated with a sea-roving and predatory people. Words like barda (beaked ship), cnearr (small warship), scegfi (vessel), lij> (fleet), sccgpmann (pirate), dreng (warrior), ha (oarlock) and hd-sxta (rower in a warship), bdtswegen (boatman), hofding (chief, ringleader), orrest (battle), ran (robbery, rapine), and fylcian (to collect or marshal a force) show in what respects the invaders chiefly impressed the English. A little later we find a number of words relating to the law or characteristic of the social and administrative system of the Danelaw. The word law itself is of Scandinavian origin, as is the word outlaw. The word mâl (action at law), hold (freeholder), wapentake (an administrative district), hüsting (assembly), and riding (originally thrid-ing, one of the three divisions of Yorkshire) owe their use to the Danes. In addition to these, a number of genuine Old English words seem to be translations of Scandinavian terms: bötlcas (what cannot be compensated), hdmsocn (attacking an enemy in his house), lahceap (payment for re-entry into lost legal rights), landceap (tax paid when land was bought) are examples of such translations.1 English legal terminology underwent a complete reshaping after the Norman Conquest, and most of these words have been replaced now by terms from the French. But their temporary existence in the language is an evidence of the extent to which Scandinavian customs entered into the life of the districts in which the Danes were numerous.
Scandinavian Loan-words and Their Character. It was after the Danes had begun to settle down peaceably in the island and enter into the ordinary relations of life with the English that Scandinavian words commenced to enter in numbers into the language. If we examine the bulk of these words with a view to dividing them into classes and thus discovering in what domains of thought or experience the Danes contributed especially to English culture and therefore to the English language, we shall not arrive at any significant result. The Danish invasions were not like the introduction of Christianity, bringing the English into contact with a different civilization and introducing them to many things, physical as well as spiritual, that they had not known before. The civilization of the invaders was very much like that of the English themselves, if anything somewhat inferior to it. Consequently the Scandinavian elements that entered the English language are such as would make their way into it through the give and take of everyday life. Their character can best be conveyed by a few examples, arranged simply in alphabetical order. Among nouns that came in are axle-tree, band, bank, birth, boon, booth, brink, bull, calf (of leg), crook, dirt, down (feathers), dregs, egg, fellow, freckle, gait, gap, girth, guess, hap, keel, kid, leg, link, loan, mire, race, reindeer, reef (of sail), rift, root, scab, scales, score, scrap, scat, sister, skill, skin, skirt, sky, slaughter, snare, stack, steak, swain, thrift, tidings, trust, want, window. The list has been made somewhat long in order the better to illustrate the varied and yet simple character of the borrowings. Among adjectives we find awkward, flat, iÜ, loose, low, meek, muggy, odd, rotten, rugged, scant, seemly, sly, tattered, tight, and weak. There is also a surprising number of common verbs among the borrowings, verbs like to bait, bask, batten, call, cast, clip, cow, crave, crawl, die, droop, egg (on), flit, gape, gasp, get, give, glitter, kindle, lift, lug, nag, ransack, raise, rake, rid, rive, scare, scout (an idea), scowl, screech, snub, sprint, take, thrive, thrust. Lists such newcomers and that not a single Briton was left alive. The evidence of the place-names in this region lends support to the statement. But this was probably an exceptional case. In the east and southeast, where the Teutonic conquest was fully accomplished at a fairly early date, it is probable that there were fewer survivals of. a Celtic population than elsewhere. Large numbers of the defeated fled to the west. Here it is apparent that a considerable Celtic-speaking population survived until fairly late times. Some such situation is suggested by a whole cluster of Celtic place-names in the northeastern corner of Dorsetshire.1 It is altogether likely that many Celts were held as slaves by the conquerors and that many of the Teutons married Celtic women. In parts at least of the island, contact between the two races must have been constant and in some districts intimate for several generations.
CHAPTER V
Celtic Place-names.
When we come, however, to seek the evidence for this contact in the English language investigation yields very meager results. Such evidence as there is survives chiefly in place-names. The kingdom of Kent, for example, owes its name to the Celtic word Canti or Cantion, the meaning of which is unknown, while the two ancient Northumbrian kingdoms of Deira and Bernicia derive their designations from Celtic tribal names. Other districts, especially in the west and southwest, preserve in their present-day names traces of their earlier Celtic designations. Devonshire contains in the first element the tribal name Dumnonii, Cornwall means the 'Cornubian Welsh', and Cumberland is the 'land of the Cymry or Britons'. Moreover, a number of important centers in the Roman period have names in which Celtic elements are embodied. The name London itself, although the origin of the word is somewhat uncertain, most likely goes back to a Celtic designation. The first syllable of Winchester, Salisbury, Exeter, Gloucester, Worcester, Lichfield, and a score of other names of cities is traceable to a Celtic source, while the earlier name of Canterbury (Durovernum) and the name fork are originally Celtic. But it is in the names of rivers and hills and places in proximity to these natural features that the greatest number of Celtic names survives. Thus the Thames is a Celtic river name, and various Celtic words for river or water are preserved in the names Avon, Exe, Esk, Usk, Dover, and Wye. Celtic words meaning 'hill' are found in place-names like Barr (cf. Welsh bar, 'top, summit'), Bredon (cf. Welsh bre, TıilF), Bryn Mawr (cf. Welsh bryn liill' and mawr 'great'), Creech, Pendle (cf. Welsh pen 'top'), and others. Certain other Celtic elements occur more or less frequently such as cumb (a deep valley) in names like Duncombe, Holcombe, Winchcombe; torr (high rock, peak) in Torr, Torcross, Torhill; pill (a tidal creek) in Pylle, Huntspill; and brace (badger) in Brockholes, Brockhall, etc. Besides these purely Celtic elements a few Latin words such as castra, fantana, fossa, portus, and vicus were used in naming places during the Roman occupation of the island and were passed on by the Celts to the English. These will be discussed later. It is natural that Celtic place-names should be commoner in the west than in the east and southeast, but the evidence of these names shows that the Celts impressed themselves upon the Teutonic consciousness at least to the extent of causing the newcomers to adopt many of the local names current in Celtic speech and to make them a permanent part of their vocabulary.
Celtic Loan-words.Outside of place-names, Jiow-ever, the influence of Celtic upon the English language js almost negligible. Not over a score of words in Old English can be traced with reasonable probability to a Celtic source. Within this small number it is possible to distinguish twogroups: (1) those which the Anglo-Saxons learned through everyday contact with the natives, and (2) those which were introduced by the Irish missionaries in the north. The former were transmitted orally and were of popular character; the latter were connected with religious activities and were more or less learned. The popular words include binn (basket, crib), bratt (cloak), and brocc as these suggest better than any explanation the familiar, everyday character of the words which the Scandinavian invasions and subsequent settlement brought into English.
The Relation of Borrowed and Native Words. It will be seen from the words in the above lists that in many cases the new words could have supplied no real need in the English vocabulary. They made their way into English simply as the result of the mixture of the two races. The Scandinavian and the English words were being used side by side, and the survival of one or the other must often have been a matter of chance. Under such circumstances a number of things might happen. Where words in the two languages coincided more or less in form and meaning the modern word stands at the same time for both its English and its Scandinavian ancestors. Examples of such words are burn, cole, drag, fast, gang, murk(y), scrape, Ilick. Where there were differences of form the English word often survived. Beside such English words as bench, goat, heathen, yarn, few, grey, loath, leap, flay corresponding Scandinavian forms are found quite often in Middle English literature and in some cases still exist in dialectal use. We find scrcdc, skcllc, skcrc with the hard pronunciation of the initial consonant group beside the standard English shred, shell, sheer, wae beside woe, the surviving form except in welaway, Mgg the Old Norse equivalent of O.E, treowe (true). Again where the same idea was expressed by different words in the two languages it was often, as we should expect, the English word that lived on. We must remember that the area in which the two languages existed for a time side by side was confined to the northern and eastern half of England. Examples are the Scandinavian words attlen beside English think (in the sense of purpose, intend), bolnen beside swell, f men (O.N. tyna) beside lose, site beside sorrow, roke (fog) beside mist, reike beside path. (3) In other cases the Scandinavian word replaced the native word, often after the two had long remained in use concurrently. Our word awe from Scandinavian, and its cognate eye (aye) from Old English are both found in the Ormulum (c. 1200). In the earlier part of the Middle English period the English word is commoner, but by 1300 the Scandinavian form begins to appear with increasing frequency, and finally replaces the Old English word. The two forms must have been current in the everyday speech of the northeast for several centuries, until finally the pronunciation awe prevailed. The Old English form is not found after the fourteenth century. The same thing happened with the two words for egg, ey (English) and egg (Scandinavian). Caxton complains at the close of the fifteenth century (see the passage quoted below, p. 236) that it was hard even then to know which to use. In the words sister (O.N. syster, O.E. swcostor), boon (O.N. bön, O.E. ben), loan (O.N. Ian, O.E. ten), weak (O.N. veikr, O.E. tvâc) the Scandinavian form lived. Often a good Old English word was lost, since it expressed the same idea as the foreign word. Thus the verb take replaced the O.E. niman;1 cast superseded the O.E. weorpan, while it has itself been largely displaced now by throw; cut took the place of O.E. snîÖan and ceorfan. Old English had several words for anger (O.N. angr), including torn, grama, and irre, but the Old Norse word prevailed. In the same way the Scandinavian word bark replaced O.E. rind, wing replaced O.E. jehra, sky took the place of iiprodor and wolccn (the latter now being preserved only in the poetical word welkin), and window (= wind-eye) drove out the equally appropriate English word eagjiyrcl (eye-thirl, i.e., eye-hole; cf. nostril = nose thirl, nose hole). (4) Occasionally both the English and the Scandinavian words were retained with a difference of meaning or use, as in the following pairs (the English word is given first): no—nay, whole —hale, rear—raise, from—fro, craft—skill, hide—skin, sick—ill. (5) In certain cases a native word which was apparently not in common use was reinforced, if not reintroduced, from the Scandinavian. In this way we must account for such words as till, dale, rim, blend, run, and the Scotch bairn. (6) Finally, the English word might be modified, taking on some of the character of the corresponding Scandinavian word. Give and get with their hard g are examples, as are scatter beside shatter, and Thursday instead of the O.E. Thunresdseg. Some confusion must have existed in the Danish area between the Scandinavian and the English form of many words, a confusion that is clearly betrayed in the survival of such hybrid forms as shriek and screech. All this merely goes to show that in the Scandinavian influence on the English language we have to do with the intimate mingling of two tongues. The results are just what we should expect when two rather similar languages are spoken for upwards of two centuries in the same area.
CHAPTER VI
Form Words.
If further evidence were needed of the intimate relation that existed between the two languages, it would be found in the fact that the Scandinavian words that made their way into English were not confined to nouns and adjectives and verbs, but extended to pronouns, prepositions, adverbs, and even a part of the verb to be. Such parts of speech are not often transferred from one language to another. The pronouns they, their, and them are Scandinavian. Old English used hie, hicra, him (see above, p. 68). Possibly the Scandinavian words were felt to be less subject to confusion with forms of the singular. Moreover, though these are the most important, they arc not the only Scandinavian pronouns to be found in English. A late Old English inscription contains the Old Norse form hamım for him. Both and same, though not primarily pronouns, have pronominal uses and are of Scandinavian origin. The preposition till was at one time widely used in the sense of to, besides having its present meaning, and fro, likewise in common use formerly as the equivalent of from, survives in the phrase to and fro. Both words are from the Scandinavian. From the same source comes the modern form of the conjunction though, the Old Norse equivalent of O.E. heah. The Scandinavian use of at as a sign of the infinitive is to be seen in the English ado (at-do) and was more widely used in this construction in Middle English. The adverbs aloft, athwart, aye (ever), and seemly, and the earlier hehen (hence) and hwepen (whence) are all derived from the Scandinavian Finally the present plural are of the verb to be is a most significant adoption. While we aron was the Old English form in the north, the West Saxon plural was syndon (cf. German sind) and the form are in Modern English undoubtedly owes its extension to the influence of the Danes. When we remember that in the expression I they are both the pronoun and the verb are Scandinavian we/ realize once more how intimately the language of the invaders has entered into English.
Scandinavian Influence outside the Standard Speech.We should miss the full significance of the Scandinavian influence if we failed to recognize the extent to which it is found outside the standard speech. Our older literature and the modern dialects are full of words which are not now in ordinary use. The ballads offer many examples. When the Geste of Robin Hood begins "Lythe and listin, gcntilmen" it has for its first word an Old Norse synonym for listen. When a little later on the Sheriff of Nottingham says to Little John "Say me nowe, wight yonge man, what is nowe thy name?" he uses the O.N. vigt (strong, courageous). In the ballad of Captain Car the line "Busk and bowne, my merry men all" contains two words from the same source meaning prepare. The word gar, meaning to cause or make one do something, is of frequent occurrence. Thus, in Chevy Chace we are told of Douglas' men that "Many a doughete the(y) garde to dy"—i.e., they made many a doughty man die. In Robin Hood and Guy of Gisborne the Virgin Mary is addressed: "Ah, deere Lady! sayd Robin Hoode, Thou art both mother and may!" in which may is a Scandinavian form for »note/. Bessie Bell and Mary Gray, in the ballad of that name, "bigget a bower on yon burn-brae", employing in the process another word of Norse origin, biggen (to build), a word also used by Burns in To a Mouse: "Thy wee bit housie, too, in ruin! . . . And naething now to big a new ane." In Burns and Scott we find the comparative worse in the form waur: "A" the warld kens that they maun either marry or do waur" (Old Mortality), also an old word (O.N. verre) more commonly found in the form used by Chaucer in the Boofc of the Duchess: "Alias! how myghte I fare werre?" Examples could be (brock or badger); a group of words for geographical features which had not played much part in the experience of the Anglo-Saxons in their continental home—crag, luh (lake), cumb (valley), and torr1(outcropping or projecting rock, peak), the two latter chiefly as elements in place-names; possibly the words dun (dark colored), and ass (ultimately from Latin asinus). Words of the second group, those that came into English through Celtic Christianity, are likewise few in number. In 563 St. Columba hadcome with twelve monks from Ireland to preach to his kinsmen in Britain. On the little island of lona off the west coast of Scotland he established a monastery and made it his headquarters for the remaining thirty-four years of his life. From this center many missionaries went out, founded other religious houses, and did much to spread Christian doctrine and learning. As a result of their activity the words ancor (hermit), dry (magician), cine (a gathering of parchment leaves), cross, chtgge (bell), gabolrind (compass), mind (diadem), and perhaps stxr (history) and cur-sian (to curse) came into at least partial use in Old English.