REGULAR T&A contributor DAVE WELBOURNE continues his look at old sayings, with this article on the link between the Yorkshire dialect and the Vikings.
In AD 793 the Vikings invaded Lindisfarne in Northumberland, ransacking the monastery of St. Cuthbert. For a number of years, the east coast was subjected to incessant raids. England was divided into four kingdoms: Wessex, Mercia, Northumbria and East Anglia. When ‘the Great Heathen Army’ of Norsemen landed in E. Anglia in 865 AD, it rampaged through the country until only Wessex led by Alfred the Great stood up successfully to this assault. In 878 AD, Alfred defeated Guthrum’s Viking army at Edington which led to a peace agreement. Part of this treaty involved the establishment of ‘Danelaw’, where groups of Vikings were allowed to settle, largely in the north and east of England, living alongside the Saxon population, trading and integrating peacefully.
In these areas Viking customs and laws tended to prevail. Yorkshire was in the kingdom of Northumbria with its capital Jorvik (York). By examining a map of this region we can see the Viking legacy, because many of these villages and towns owe their place names to our Scandinavian cousins:
‘By’ - farmstead or village (Whitby, Selby);
‘Thorpe’ - new village (Scunthorpe, Gristhorpe);
‘Thwaite’ - meadow (Yokenthwaite, Slaithwaite);
‘Dale’ - valley (Wharfedale, Swaledale).
With this settlement came the Norse language which has formed the basis of much of ‘the Yorkshire language’ or dialect.
Following my previous article on Yorkshire words I had a correspondence from someone, originally from Bradford, who had been to Norway and was amazed how many Norweigan words were similar to those used in Yorkshire. I decided to research this further, and here are just a few examples with, where possible, the Old Norse word, which illustrates just how much we owe to the Vikings.
Beck - stream - bekher
Brig - bridge or rocky headland - briggja
Cam - bank or ridge - kamber
Carr - marshy woodland - kjarr
Crake - crow - kraka
Fell - hill - fjell
Flags - stone paving - flaga
Flit - to move house - flytja
Foss - waterfall - fors
Garth - small grass enclosure next to a house - garor
Gawp - to stare - gapa
Gill, ghyll - ravine - giel
Happen - perhaps - happ
Ings - meadow near water - eng
Keld - spring or well - kelda
Laithe - barn or agricultural building - hlath
Ling - heather - lyng
Mickle - large - mikkel
Moss - marsh - mose
Nay - no - niei
Reckon - to pretend, consider - reikna
Riding - administrative part of Yorkshire - briojunger (third part)
Spell - splinter of wood in skin
Tarn - lake - tjarn
Thoil - to be willing to give, afford, endure, tolerate
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