Scandinavian influence on Southern Lowland Scotch Part 3

CLAM, _adj._ slimy, deriv.

CLAMING, _sb._ adhesive material, deriv.

FLAY, _vb._ to frighten, O.N. _fleya_.

FLAYTLY, _adv._ timidly, deriv.

HAIN, _vb._ to save, protect, O.N. _hegna_.

LAKE, LAIKE, _vb._ to play, O.N. _laeika_, cp. O.E. _lacan_.

LAKEING, _sb._ a toy, deriv.

LAVE, _sb._ the remainder, O.N. _laeifr_, cp. O.E. _laf_.

RATE, _vb._ to bleach, whiten, O.N. _royta_. M.L.G. _roten_, is out of the question, and *_reeat_ would be the form corresponding to M.L.G. _raten_.

SLAKE, _vb._ to smear, daub, O.N. _slaeikja_. O.L.G. _slikken_ does not correspond.

SLAKE, _sb._ a kiss, deriv., cp. O.N. _slaeikr_.

SLAPE, _adj._ slippery, O.N. _slaeipr_, cp. O.E. _slape_.

SLAPEN, _vb._ to make smooth, O.N. _slaeipna_, but possibly deriv. from _slape_.

SNAPE, _vb._ to restrain, O.N. _snoypa_.

In addition to these, _blain_, "to become white," is a Scand. loan- word, but rather from Dan. _blegne_ than Norse _blaeikna_, cp.

_blake_ above. _Blained_, adj. "half dry," said of linen hung out to dry, is, of course, simply the pp. of _blain_, cp. Dan. _blegned_.

_Skaif_, "distant, wild, scattered abroad, or apt to be dispersed"

(is the definition given), corresponds exactly to O.N. _skaeif_ in form, but not in meaning. _Skaeif_ meant "crooked." Sco. _daive_, "to stun, stupefy," is here regularly spelled _deeave_ (_deave_ in Swaledale). It must, then, be derived from O.E. _deafian_, not O.N.

_doyfa_, O. Ic. _deyfa_. Swaledale _slaiching_, "sneaking," is the same as O.N. _slaeikja_, "to lick"; a secondary meaning of O.N.

_slaeikja_ is "to sneak"; _keeal_, "kail," could come from O.N. _kal_ or Gael. _cal_. It is probably from the latter. The word _slaister_, "to dawdle, to waste one's time," is not clear. The sb.

_slaisterer_, "a slink, an untidy person," is also found. The _ai_ indicates an original diphthong. It is probably the same as Norse _sloysa_, sb. "an untidy person," as vb. "to be untidy, to be careless." _Ster_ (_slais_ + _ster_) would, then, be an Eng. suffix, or it may be the same as that in Sco. _camstary_, cp. Germ.

_halsstarrig_. The Norse word _sloysa_ is probably not the direct source of the Eng. dialect word. _Slaister_, however, for _sloysa_, seems to be a recent word in Norse. _Skane_, "to cut the sh.e.l.l fish out of the sh.e.l.l" (Wall, list B), is to be derived from O.N.

_skaeina_, rather than from O.E. _scaenan_. _Slade_, "breadth of greensward in plowed land," cannot be from O.N. _slettr_, "plain,"

_sletta_, "a plain." Neither form nor meaning quite correspond. The Sw. _slagd_ corresponds perfectly in form but not in meaning. It is, however, probably from O.E. _slaed_. This word is taken from Wall's list, not from the works named above.

22. CELTIC, LOWLAND SCOTCH, AND NORSE.

In Gaelic and Irish, in the Western Isles and the Highlands, considerable Norse elements are found as the result of Norse occupancy that continued in the Isles, at least, for several hundred years. A number of words that have come into Gaelic and Irish from Norse are also found in Lowland Scotch. In some cases it seems that the word has not come into Lowland Scotch direct from Norse, but by way of Gaelic or Irish. Craigie has given a list of about 200 words in Gaelic that seem to come from Norse. Out of these I will take a few that have corresponding words in Scotch:

GAELIC OR IRISH. LOWLAND SCOTCH. OLD NORSE.

gardha garth garr lobht loft loft prine prin prjonn stop stoup staup sgeap skep skeppa sainseal hansell handsal gaort girt, girth gior cnapp, cneap knap knappr maol mull muli sgeir sker sker scarbh scarth scarfr gead ged, gedde gedda scat scait skata brod brod broddr masg mask _Dan._ maske rannsaich ransack, runsick rannsaka

_Garth_ and _loft_ agree perfectly with the O.N. and are not doubtful. With the Gael. _gardh_ cp. O.N. _garr_ and O. Sw.

_gardher_. The Sco. _garth_ has changed the original voiced spirant to a voiceless one. In Gael. _lobht_ _f_ has become _v_. _Prin_ is rather doubtful. There is an O.E. _preon_ from which the Gael.

word may have come. The Sco. word _prin_ does not seem to come from either O.E. _preon_ or O.N. _prjonn_, but from the Gael. _prine_.

There is a Northern dialectic _preon_ which may come from O.E.

_preon_. There is also a _pren_ in Dan. dial. _Stoup_ has the Norse diphthong which has been simplified in Gael. _stop_. _Skep_ is a little doubtful because of meaning. The loanword _sgeap_ in Gael.

has the specialized meaning of "a beehive." This meaning the Sco.

word has very frequently, the Norse to my knowledge never. It may be a case of borrowed meaning from Gael. _Girth_ is from the Norse.

_Girt_ is probably simply change of _th_ to _t_, which is also found elsewhere in Sco. _Knap_ may be from either. _Mull_ in Sco. may be native English. The word occurs in L.G. _Sker_ is from O.N. _Skarth_ is anomalous, showing change of _f_ to _th_. In the Gael. _scarbh_, _f_ is changed to _v_ as in _lobht_. _Ged_ is nearer the O.N.

_Scait_ could be from either, as also _brod_. Sco. _mask_ is probably not at all a loanword, and may be from older _mex_ by metathesis of _s_; cp. O.E. _mexfat_ and Sco. _maskfat_ cited by Skeat, Et. Dict. The Gael. _masg_ is probably not a loanword from the Scand., but from O.E., or perhaps from O.Sco. An O. Nhb. _mesk_ probably existed. _Ransack_ agrees with the Norse word. The spelling _runsick_ found once (Wallace VII, 120), probably does not represent the exact sound, and is, in any case, as _ransack_ to be derived from the O.N. and not through the Gael. _Faid_, "a company of hunters," has already once been referred to. This cannot possibly come from the O.N. _vaeir_, for while the spirant __ sometimes becomes _d_, O.N. _v_ regularly becomes _w_ in Sco. (rarely _v_).

We should expect the form _waith_, and this is the form we have in Wallace I, 326, in the sense "the spoil of the chase." There is a Gael. _fiadhoig_, meaning "a huntsman." The first element _fiad_ seems to be the O.N. _veir_ with regular change of __ to _d_ (or _dh_, cp. _gardha_), and _v_ or _w_ to _f_ which is considered a sign of Gael. influence in Aberdeen Sco., cp. _fat_ for _what_, _fen_ for _when_, etc., the development probably being _wh_ > _w_ > _v_ > _f_. _Faid_ in Sco. is then probably from the Gaelic.

23. SOME WORDS THAT ARE NOT SCANDINAVIAN LOANWORDS.

We have spoken in ----10, 13, 20 and 22, of a number of words that are to be considered regular Sco. developments of O.E. words. The following words have also generally been derived from the Scand., but must be considered native, or from sources other than Norse:

BLAIT, _adj._ backward, must be traced to O.E. _bleat_, rather than to O.N. _blout_. O.N. _ou_, _au_ is always _ou_ or _oi_ in Sco.

BREID, _sb._ breadth, not Norse _braeidde_ nor Dan. _bredde_, but native Eng.

c.u.mMER, _sb._ misery, wail, seems uncertain. It corresponds in form and usage exactly to Norse _k.u.mmer_, but _mb_ > _mm_ is natural and occurs elsewhere in Sco., cp. _slummer_, "slumber," which need not be derived from Norse _slummer_ or any L.G. word. The usage of the word is peculiarly Scand.

DEAD, _sb._ death. Not Dan.-Norse _dod_, but English "death."

FALD, _vb._ to fall. Skeat says the _d_ is due to Scand.

influence, but cp. _boldin_ from _bolna_ (older _bolgna_). So _d_ after _l_ in _fald_ may be genuine. Besides the O.N. word is _falla_, later Dan. _falde_.

FERDE, ordinal of four, not Norse _fjerde_. See --19.

FLATLYNGIS, _adv._ flatly, headlong, looks very much like Norse _flatlengs_ and corresponds perfectly in meaning. The Norse word is, however, a late formation, apparently, and _-lyngs_ is a very common adverbial ending in Sco.

HAP, _vb._ to cover up, to wrap up, cannot come from O. Sw.

_hypia_, as _y_ could not become _a_.

LEDDER, _sb._ leather. Not from Dan. _leder_, for cp. --19; besides the vowel in the Dan. word is long.

MISTER, _sb._ and _vb._ need, from O. Fr. _mestier_, not from O.N. _miste_, which always means "to lose," as it does in the modern diall. The O. Fr. _mestier_ meant "office, trade," and sometimes "need." The last is the meaning of the modern _metier_ in the dialects of Normandy. Both meanings exist in Northern English.

OUKE, _sb._ week. In all probability from O.E. _wucu_ by loss of initial _w_ before _u_. The Dan. _uge_ does not quite correspond. The O.N. _vika_ even less. The Danish _uge_ simply shows similar dropping of _w_ (_v_) as the Sco. word.

RIGBANE, _sb._ backbone. Both elements are Eng. The compound finds a parallel in Norse _rygbaein_.

SOOM, _vb._ to swim. Not Dan. _somme_, but loss of _w_ before _oo_, cp. the two Norse forms _svomma_ and _symma_. Cp.

_soote_, the last word in the first line of the Prologue to Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.

TEEM, _vb._ to empty. It is not necessary to derive this from Norse _tomme_, "to empty." There is an O.E. _tom_ from which the Sco. adj. _toom_ probably comes. _Toom_ is also a verb in Sco. _Teem_ is simply this same word by characteristic Sco. change of _o_ to _e_. (See --17.) This also explains the length of the vowel.

TRAK, _vb._ to pull, not necessarily Norse _trekka_, cp. the L.G. _trekken_.

WID, _sb._ wood. Not O.N. _vir_ nor Dan. _ved_. The vowel is against it in both cases. But just as above _toom_ becomes _teem_, so _wood_ > _wid_, cp. Sco. _guid_, "good," _pit_, "put," etc. (See --17.) Hence also the shortness of the vowel in _wid_.

WERE, _sb._ spring, cp. Latin _ver_. _Var_, _vaar_ in Scand.

does not account for the _e_ in the Sco. word.

YIRD, _sb._ earth. Not from Dan. _jord_. See next word.

YIRTH, _sb._ earth, an inorganic _y_ (see --18). Not from O.N.

_jor_. For _d_ in _yird_ see --19.

24. LOANWORD TESTS.

I have adopted the following tests of form, meaning and distribution in determining the Scand. source of loanwords:

1. The diphthong _ou_, _ow_ corresponding to O.N. _ou_, O.E. _ea_.