Northumbrian Language

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 language.

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 and the late 10th century gloss of the Lindisfarne Gospels.

Today, the Scots language (including Ulster Scots) is descended from the Northumbrian dialect, as are modern Northumbrian, Cumbrian and Yorkshire (particularly in the North/East Ridings and northern West Riding) as well as the North Lancashire dialect.

History

Historical linguists recognise four distinct dialects of Old English: Northumbrian, Mercian, Kentish and West Saxon. 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. 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). Modern Standard English, on the other hand, has its origins in the Mercian dialect, which was the dialect most similar to Northumbrian.

The Angles brought their language (''Englisc'') to Northumbria in the 6th century AD, where it reached the modern-day Scottish Lowlands. This form of Northumbrian Old English was first recorded in poetry; e.g. Cædmon's Hymn ), writings of the Venerable Bede () and the Leiden Riddle. The language is also attested in the Lindisfarne Gospels , in modern Scotland as a carved runic text, the ''Dream of the Rood'', and on the Ruthwell Cross, . Old Northumbria was later conquered by the Danes (867–883 AD) and from this day forth the language became influenced with Old Norse.

The area now in Southern Scotland, which was a part of the Kingdom of Northumbria from the 7th century, was invaded by Malcolm II of Scotland and became part of the kingdom of Alba following the Battle of Carham. The language north of the border later became known as ''Scottis'' or ''Scots''.

Meanwhile, in Galloway, Northumbrian and Cumbric were progressively displaced by Galwegian Gaelic, a process probably complete by the 11th century.

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. 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. John of Trevisa spoke about nearby "strange men an aliens" in discussing northern English's alleged outlandishness, and in Osbern Bokenam wrote about Scots' influence on northern English in his '' Mappula Angliae''.

By the 14th century, Lowland Scots became the main language of Scotland's Lowlands (excluding Galloway, which still spoke Gaelic). 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. The modern Northumbrian dialect is currently promoted by organisations such as the Northumbrian Language Society and Northumbrian Words Project. Similarly, the closely related Cumbrian dialect is promoted by the Lakeland Dialect Society.

Examples

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 Hymn

Nū sċylun herġ''a''n ‖ hefaenrīċaes uard,
metudæs maecti ‖ end his mōdġidanc,
uerc uuldurfadur, ‖ suē hē uundra ġihuaes,
ēċi dryctin ‖ ōr āstelidæ.
Hē rist sċōp ‖ aelda barnum
heben til hrōfe, ‖ hāleġ sċepen''d''.
Thā middunġeard, ‖ moncynnæs uard,
ēċi dryctin ‖ æfter tīadæ,
fīrum foldu, ‖ frēa allmectiġ.

Bede's Death Song

Fore thē''m'' ndfaerae ‖ nniġ uuiurthit
thoncsnottura, ‖ than him tharf sīe
tō ymbhyċġġannae ‖ r his hiniongae
huaet his gāstae ‖ gōdaes aeththa yflaes
aefter dēothdaeġe ‖ dmid uueorthae.

The Leiden Riddle

Mec se uēta uong, ‖ uundrum frēoriġ,
ob his innaðae ‖ rest cændæ.
Ni uaat iċ mec biuorthæ ‖ uullan flīusu''m'',
hēru''m'' ðerh hēhcraeft, ‖ hyġiðonc''um 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 ‖ ġeatu''m'' fraetuath.
Uil mec huethrae suðēh ‖ uīdæ ofaer eorðu
hātan mith heliðum ‖ hyhtliċ ġiuǣd''e'';
ni anġu n''ō'' iċ mē aeriġfaerae ‖ eġsan brōgu''m'',
ðēh ði n''umen sīæ'' ‖ nīudlicae ob cocrum.

Ruthwell Cross inscription

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:

Ġeredæ hinæ God almeħttiġ ‖ þā hē walde on galgu ġistiga,
modiġ f''ore''... ‖ men ''b''ug...

... ic riicnæ kyniŋc,
he͜afunæs hlāfard ‖ hælda ic ni darstæ
''b''ismæradu''n'' uŋket men ba æt''g''ad''re'' ‖ ''i''c ''wæs m''iþ b''l''odi bistemi''d''...

Side 2:

Krist wæs on rōdi,
hweþræ þēr fūsæ ‖ fe͜arran kwōmu
æþþilæ til ānum ‖ ic þæt al bih''eald''.
Sā''r'' ic wæs mi''þ'' sorgum ġidrœ̄fd ‖ h''n''ag...

Miþ strēlum ġiwundad
aleġdun hīæ hinæ limwœ̄riġnæ ‖ gistoddu''n h''im ''æt his lī''cæs ''hea''f''du''m,
''bih''e͜a''l''du''n'' hī''æ'' þē''r''...

The Lord's Prayer

The following version of the Lord's Prayer is taken from the late 10th-century gloss of the Lindisfarne Gospels:

Fader ūsær, ðū arð in heofnu''m''.
Sīe ġehālgad noma ðīn.
Tōcymeð rīċ ðīn.
Sīe willo ðīn,
suǣ is in heofne ⁊ in eorðo.
Hlāf ūserne of''er''wistlīċ sel ūs tōdæġ
⁊ f''or''ġef ūs sċylda ūsra,
suǣ u{{overline, oe f''or''ġefon sċyldgum ūsum,
⁊ ne inlǣd ūsih in costunge,
ah ġefriġ ūsich fro''m'' yfle.

Notes

Further reading

*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)

Languages attested from the 7th century
Old English dialects
Northumbria
Language articles with unknown extinction date