The Influence of Latin and Norse on the Goidelic Languages - Page 3
© Morag Gladstone
The Norse first arrived in the Isle of Man and Scotland circa 800AD. Archaeological evidence suggests that Manx culture was not usurped by the ruling class. The Isle of Man has the largest concentration of Norse runic inscriptions in Britain, apart from the Orkneys and Shetlands. Like the Chronicle of the Kings of Man and the Isles (1016 - 1316) they show both Norse and Gaelic personal names in the patronymics (9, p. 60), for example Dónal Mac Teige, and Mac Raghnall. Place name evidence also shows Norse influence as in Laksaa < Lax 'salmon' and aa 'stream' (12, p. 2, also see A). Norse place-names in the Isle of Man are relatively unaffected by Gaelic pronunciation compared to Scotland.
Although the Vikings were the ruling class, and considering that they were probably bilingual in both Norse and Gaelic, there are relatively few loan words in Manx, interestingly some of these are unique to Manx and are not found either in Irish or Scottish Gaelic. Examples of these are spret < spretta 'start', and grinney < grind 'gate' (13, p. 119).
Norse influence can be seen in personal and place names in Scottish Gaelic. The influence covers the spheres of household and family life, dress and armour, agriculture, time, government, trees, landscape and seascape. As can be seen throughout the Gaelic world, the majority of shipping terms are borrowed from Norse, for example, bìrlinn < byrðingr. Some more examples are compared below.
| Old Norse | Sc G | Manx | Old Irish | English |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| akkeri | acair | aker | accaire | anchor |
| bátr | bàta | baatey | bád | boat |
| gardhr | gearraidh | garey | garrda | garden, enclosure |
| log | lagha | leigh | -- | law |
| vindauga | uinneag | uinnag | fuindeoig | window |
| sraeti | stráid, sráid | -- | sráid | street |
There is a wealth of place name evidence of linguistic influence in Scotland, particularly in Lewis. The -ey endings are derived from the Norse word for island ey which is Gaelicised in word endings -ay and -aidh. For example, Barraidh 'Barr's Island' and Berneray 'Bjorn's Isle' (14, p. 176).
Whereas there is little evidence to suggest that Latin influenced the phonology of Old Irish, Norse had both a lexical and phonological influence on Scottish Gaelic. Initial str- is to be found in the north of Scotland, but this is sr- in Argyll. We know that the sr combination existed in Goidelic, sruth (Old Irish, 'stream') whereas the Teutonic group shows str e.g. straumr (N) (14, p. 108). Alternatively it has been suggested by Marstrander that this may be a result of the Vikings attempt to make the pronunciation of the sr combination easier (15, p. 84). Lewis pronunciation of air [eð] has also been attributed to Norse, as has that of the 'post-aspirated voiceless occlusives after stressed vocals' (15, p. 83). Examples of which can be heard in mac /mahk/ and cat /kaht/ in Lewis Gaelic but not in other dialects which are pronounced /mak/ and /cak/ respectively.
