Template:Short description Template:For Template:Use dmy dates {{#invoke:Infobox|infobox}}Template:Template otherTemplate:Main other Template:Cleanup lang Template:Old English topics Northumbrian was a dialect of Old English 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, now within England, to the Firth of Forth, now within Scotland. In the Danelaw after the Viking invasions, Northumbrian may have been influenced by the Norse languageTemplate:Citation needed.
Some of the earliest surviving Old English texts were written in Northumbrian, such Cædmon's Hymn (7th century) and Bede's Death Song (8th century). Other works, including the bulk of Cædmon's poetry, have been lost. Other examples of this dialect are the Runes on the Ruthwell Cross from the Dream of the Rood. Also in Northumbrian are the 9th-century Leiden Riddle<ref>In MS. Voss. lat. Q. 166 at the University of Leiden (see article by R. W. Zandvoort in English and Germanic Studies, vol. 3 (1949-50))</ref> and the late 10th century gloss of the Lindisfarne Gospels.
Today, the Scots language (including Ulster Scots) is descended from the Northumbrian dialect,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> as are modern Northumbrian, Cumbrian and Yorkshire (particularly in the North/East Ridings and northern West Riding) as well as the North Lancashire dialect.
HistoryEdit
Historical linguists recognise four distinct dialects of Old English: Northumbrian, Mercian, Kentish and West Saxon.<ref name="Campbell">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Scragg">Template:Cite book</ref> The Northumbrian dialect was spoken in the Kingdom of Northumbria from the Humber to the River Mersey (mersey meaning border river) in northern England to the Firth of Forth in the Scottish 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.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite book</ref> 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).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Modern Standard English, on the other hand, has its origins in the Mercian dialect, which was the dialect most similar to Northumbrian.<ref name="Skinner">Template:Cite book</ref>
The Angles brought their language (Englisc) to Northumbria in the 6th century AD, where it reached the modern-day Scottish Lowlands.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> This form of Northumbrian Old English was first recorded in poetry; e.g. Cædmon's Hymn Template:Circa), writings of the Venerable Bede (Template:Circa) and the Leiden Riddle.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The language is also attested in the Lindisfarne Gospels Template:Circa, in modern Scotland as a carved runic text, the Dream of the Rood, and on the Ruthwell Cross, Template:Circa. Old Northumbria was later conquered by the Danes (867–883 AD) and from this day forth the language became influenced with Old Norse.<ref name="CSL" />
The area now in Southern Scotland, which was originally a part of the Kingdom of Northumbria, was invaded by Kenneth III of Scotland and became part of Scots territory. Despite the king being a Scottish Gaelic speaker, he allowed the region to keep its Northumbrian Language. 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);<ref name=":0"/> the language north of the divide later became known as Scottis<ref name="Oxford University Press">Template:Cite book</ref> or Scots.<ref name="Skinner" />
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.<ref name=CSL>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> John of Trevisa spoke about nearby "strange men an aliens" in discussing northern English's alleged outlandishness, and in Template:Circa Osbern Bokenam wrote about Scots' influence on northern English in his Mappula Angliae.<ref name=":0"/>
By the 14th century, Lowland Scots became the main language of Scotland's Lowlands (excluding Galloway, which still spoke Gaelic).<ref name="Skinner" /> 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.<ref name=CSL /> The modern Northumbrian dialect is currently promoted by organisations such as the Northumbrian Language Society and Northumbrian Words Project.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Similarly, the closely related Cumbrian dialect is promoted by the Lakeland Dialect Society.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
ExamplesEdit
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.
Cædmon's HymnEdit
<poem style="margin-left: 2em;" lang="ang"> Nū sċylun herġan ‖ hefaenrīċaes uard, metudæs maecti ‖ end his mōdġidanc, uerc uuldurfadur, ‖ suē hē uundra ġihuaes, ēċi dryctin ‖ ōr āstelidæ. Hē Template:Overlinerist sċōp ‖ aelda barnum heben til hrōfe, ‖ hāleġ sċepend. Thā middunġeard, ‖ moncynnæs uard, ēċi dryctin ‖ æfter tīadæ, fīrum foldu, ‖ frēa allmectiġ.<ref>Marsden, Richard (2004), Old English Reader, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 80, collated with manuscript facsimile.</ref> </poem>
Bede's Death SongEdit
<poem style="margin-left: 2em;" lang="ang"> Fore thēm nTemplate:Overlinedfaerae ‖ nTemplate:Overlineniġ uuiurthit thoncsnottura, ‖ than him tharf sīe tō ymbhyċġġannae ‖ Template:Overliner his hiniongae huaet his gāstae ‖ gōdaes aeththa yflaes aefter dēothdaeġe ‖ dTemplate:Overlinemid uueorthae.<ref>Bede's Death Song: Northumbrian Version</ref> </poem>
The Leiden RiddleEdit
<poem style="margin-left: 2em;" lang="ang"> Mec se uēta uong, ‖ uundrum frēoriġ, ob his innaðae ‖ Template:Overlinerest 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 suTemplate:Overlineðēh ‖ uīdæ ofaer eorðu hātan mith heliðum ‖ hyhtliċ ġiuǣde; ni anTemplate:Overlineġu nō iċ mē aeriġfaerae ‖ eġsan brōgum, ðēh ði numen sīæ ‖ nīudlicae ob cocrum.<ref>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).</ref> </poem>
Ruthwell Cross inscriptionEdit
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: <poem style="margin-left: 2em;" lang="ang"> Ġeredæ hinæ God almeħttiġ ‖ þā hē walde on galgu ġistiga, modiġ fore... ‖ men bug...
... ic riicnæ kyniŋc, he͜afunæs hlāfard ‖ hælda ic ni darstæ bismæradun uŋket men ba ætgadre ‖ ic wæs miþ blodi bistemid... </poem>
Side 2: <poem style="margin-left: 2em;" lang="ang"> 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 him æt his līcæs heafdum, bihe͜aldun hīæ þēr... </poem>
The Lord's PrayerEdit
The following version of the Lord's Prayer is taken from the late 10th-century gloss of the Lindisfarne Gospels:<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
<poem lang="ang" style="margin-left: 2em;"> 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 uTemplate:Overline forġefon sċyldgum ūsum, ⁊ ne inlǣd ūsih in costunge, ah ġefriġ ūsich from yfle. </poem>
NotesEdit
<references/>
Further readingEdit
- 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)