Information AboutOlder Scots |
|
HISTORY Malcolm II s victory at the battle of Carham in 1018 secured the Gael 's control over the Anglic-speaking territory in what is now south east Scotland. Following the Norman Conquest in 1066 Edgar The Atheling and his sisters Margaret and Christina fled as refugees to Scotland along with many Scandinavian-influenced English-speaking loyalists. Malcolm III took Margaret as his wife. Malcolm had learned English while in Exile and his wife had no Gaelic thus English became the private language of the royal household. Margaret endeavoured to bring the Celtic Church into line with Rome and invited English Bishop s to Scotland. Through Margaret's influence the Gaelic Aristocracy merged with that of the new Anglo-Norman Feudal landowners. From this time the Anglo-Norman Burghs were established, mostly in the south and east of Scotland. From the outset these burghs were Anglic-speaking centres. They absorbed further English speaking refugess fleeing William I and II and the chaos of Stephen 's reign. The increasing economic influence of the burghs attracted further English, Fleming and Scandinavian immigration. As the economic power of the burghs grew Gaelic-speakers from the hinterland found it advantageous to acquire a working knowledge of English. The institutional language of the burghs consisted of vocabulary almost entirely Anglo-Saxon in origin such as '' Toft '' (homestead and land), '' Croft '' (smallholding), '' Ruid '' (land let by a burgh), '' Guild '' (a trade association), ''bow'' (an arched gateway), '' Wynd '' (lane) and ''raw'' (row of houses). Norman French and English were becoming functional languages of the Kingdom and in the 12th Century the people of the realm were addressed as 'Franci, Angli, Scoti et Gallovidiani ' (French, English, Scots and Galloway-men(. The end of the House Of Dunkeld led to the throne being passed to three lowland families, the Balliol s, Bruces and Stewart s who increasingly identified themselves with the Anglic-speaking part of the kingdom. As a result the capital moved from Perth to Edinburgh , although Robert The Bruce was himself a Gaelic-speaker, and James IV (Stewart) also spoke it. By the 14th Century the variety of Northern English that resulted from the above influences, called ''Inglis'' by its speakers, had replaced Gaelic (Scottis) and Cumbric in much of the lowlands and the Norman French of the court. It had also come to replace Latin as a language for records and literature. In Caithness , it came into contact with both Norn and Gaelic . VOCABULARY The core vocabulary is of Anglo-Saxon origin though Scots retained many words which became obsolete further south. The pattern of foreign borrowings was much the same as that of contemporary English but was often different in detail because of the continuing influence of the Auld Alliance and the Imaginative use of Latinisms in literarure. During this period a number of words of Anglo-Saxon origin, such as ''anerly'' (alone), ''berynes'' (grave), ''clenge'' (cleanse), ''halfindall'' (a half part), ''scathful'' (harmful) , ''sturting'' (contention) ''thyrllage'' (bondage) and ''umbeset'' (surround), were now almost or completely unique to Scots. French derived warfare terms such as ''arsoun'' (saddle-bow), ''bassynet'' (helmet), ''eschell'' (batallion), ''hawbrek'' (coat of mail), ''qwyrbolle'' (hardened leather), ''troppell'' (troop), ''vaward'' (vanguard) and ''vyre'' (crossbow bolt) became part of the language along with other French vocabulary such as ''cummer'' (godmother), ''disjone'' (breakfast), ''dour'' (stern, grim), ''fasch'' (annoy), ''grosar'' (gooseberry), ''ladron'' (rascal), ''moyen'' (means), ''plenissing'' (furniture) and ''vevaris'' (provisions). The vocabulary of Scots was also augmented by the speech of the English, Flemings and Scandinavians who settled in the burghs. From scandinavian (often via Scandinavian influenced Middle English ) came ''at'' (that/who), ''byg'' (build), ''bak'' (bat), ''bla'' ( Blae ), ''bra'' ( Brae ), ''ferlie'' (marvel), ''flyt'' remove, ''fra'' (from), ''gar'' (compel), ''gowk'' (cuckoo), ''harnis'' (brains), ''ithand'' (industrious), ''low'' (flame), ''lug'' (an appendage, ear), ''man'' (must), ''neve'' (fist), ''sark'' (shirt), ''spe'' (prophesy), ''þa'' (those), ''til'' (to), ''tinsell'' (loss), ''wycht'' (valiant) and ''wyll'' (lost, confused). The flemings introduced '' Bonspell '' (sporting contest), ''bowcht'' (sheep pen), ''cavie'' (hen-coop), ''crame'' (a booth), ''furisine'' (flint striker), ''grotkyn'' (a gross), ''howff'' (courtyard), ''kesart'' (cheese vat), ''lunt'' (match), ''much'' (a cap), ''muchkin'' (a liquid measure), ''skaff'' (scrounge), ''wapinschaw'' (muster of militia), ''wyssill'' (change of money) and the coins ''plak'', ''stek'' and ''doyt''. A number of Gaelic words such as ''breive'' (judge), ''cane'' (a tribute), ''couthal'' (court of justice), ''davach'' (a measure of land), ''duniwassal'' (nobleman), ''kenkynolle'' (head of the kindred), ''mare'' (tax collector) and ''toschachdor'' (leader) occurred in early legal documents but most became obsolete early in the period. Gaelic words for topographical features have endured ''bogg'' (bog), ''carn'' (pile of stones), ''corrie'' (hollow in a hill), ''crag'' (rock), ''inch'' (small island), ''knok'' (hill), ''loch'' (lake or fjord) and ''strath'' (river valley). PHONOLOGY The Early Scots Vowel System (c1375)
The major differences to contemporary southern English are the outcome of Anglo-Saxon as , the distribution of the unchanged Anglo-Saxon and from Anglo-Saxon . The Scandinavian influenced in words such as ''birk'' (birch), ''brekis'' (breeches), ''brig'' (bridge), ''kirk'' (church), ''kist'' (chest), ''mekil'' (much) and ''rig'' (ridge), and the retention of Germanic in words such as ''lowp'' (leap), ''cowp'' (cf. cheap, to trade) and ''nowt'' (cattle). REFERENCES
SEE ALSO
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||