Northumbrian

Frae Wikipedia, the free beuk o knawledge
(Reguidit frae Northumbrian dialect)
Northumbrian
Native taeIngland
RegionNorthumberland, Tyne an Wear an Durham
Early forms
Auld Inglis
Leid codes
ISO 639-3
GlottologNone

Northumbrian is the byleid o Inglis[1] spak in the Inglis pairt o historic Northumbrie, nou the northmaist pairt o Ingland (Northumberland an Durham in the North East). It is the auldest[2] an maist kenspeckle[3] teep o Inglis spak the day. Thare ur fowk cawin fur it tae be seen as its ain leid, but ithers are agin it acause thay want tae jouk creautin a spleet atween thaim an the lave o Ingland.[4][5]

History[eedit | eedit soorce]

Stent o Northumbrie, c. 700 AD

Historians fur leids ken fower byleids o Auld Inglis: Northumbrie, Mercia, Kent an Wast Saxon.[6][7] The Northumbrie byleid (Auld Inglis: Norðanhymbrisċ) wis spak in the Kinrick o Northumbrie (frae the Humber on the east coast o Northren Ingland tae the Firth o Forth in the Scots Lawlands). Modren Scots, Northumbrie an northren Inglis byleids o cam frae it.[8] It was divers frae the byleids spak in ither Kingdoms, espeicially that o Wast Saxon, the main byleid.[9] Modren Staundart Inglis originatit frae the East Midland byleid o Mercia.[10]

The inscrieve o Rivvell Cross (en), owersettit frae Northumbrie Auld Inglis intae Modren Staundart Inglis

The Angles brocht thair leid (Englisc) tae Northumbria in the 6t yearhunner, whaur it first reakit whit is the Lawlands the nou.[11] This teep wis first screived in poetry; for ensample, Cædmon's Hymn (en) (c. 658-680), Bede (c. 700 AD) an the Leiden Riddle (en).[12] The leid is attestit in the Haly Island Evangels (en) c. 900 AD an aw, an in modren Scotland as a cairved runic text, The Dream o the Rood (en), an on the Rivell Cross (en), c. 750 AD. Auld Noruthumbria wis later taen ower bi the Dens (867–883 AD) an the leid wis than influenced bi Auld Norse.[3]

The airt o Lowden in the Lawlands wis taen frae Ingland intae Scotland in 970 bi the Gaelic-speakin Kenneth III, but wis still alloued tae speak thair ain byleid, than kent as Inglis. Divided frae Northumbrie follaein the Battle o Carham (1016) on the Watter o Tweid, Lowden than becam a pairt o Scotland[8] an the leid north o the border becam kent as Scottis[13] or Scots.[10]

The unkent screiver o the Middle Inglis Cursor Mundi (en) (c. 1300; in Scots: Rinnar o the Warld, a religious poem whilk is set in northren Ingland), said soothren Inglis texts haed tae be owerset intae northren byleids for fowk tae ken whit thay wis readin.[3] Ralph Higden (en) in 1364 descrived the Northumbrie byleid as muckle faucht for soothren fowk, an thocht this raison for this wis that the Northumbrians neibored "fremmit men an nations that speaketh stranglie"[14] (meanin the Scots fowk); John o Trevisa (en) spak anent nearby "strange men an aliens" in discussin Northren Inglis leged fremmitnes forby. In c. 1440 Osbern Bokenham (en) wrate anent Scots' influence on northren Inglis in his Mappula Angliae an aw.[8]

Bi the 14t-yearhunner, Lallans (Lawland Scots) becam the main leid o the Lawlands (no includin Gaelic-speakin Gallowa).[10] Housomiver in Ingland, Northumbrian began tae dwine in its staunin bi the 16t yearhunner. Northumbrie speech an byleid wis thocht o as less gentie bi soothren Inglis fowk, an as the Inglis state began tae centrify mair, texts in Midland an Soothren Inglis becam staundart. Althoch mony letters, poems an newspaper airticles wis written in Northumbrian byleid throu the 19t an 20t yearhunners, it wis Staundart Inglis thae gart write in the schuils.[3]

Modren Northumbrie byleid[eedit | eedit soorce]

The historic coonties o Northumberland and Durham in Ingland

Like Scots, the Northumbrie byleid is kent as a separate Anglic leid varietie to Modren Staundart Inglis bi the Northumbrian Leid Societie (Northumbrian Language Society) acause the byleid wis kythed lang afore Staundart Inglis.[15] The societie kens fower main byleids o Northumbrie: Geordie, Pitmatic, Northren (frae the North o the River Coquet, throu Alnwick an up til Berrick); an wastren (frae Allendale throu Hexham an up til Kielder).[16][17] It is aiblins the maist kenspeckle byleid in Ingland today.[3]

Ha'way the lads! (Sunderland A.F.C. chant).
Ho'way the lads! (Newcastle United chant)

Mackem (Sunderland) an Geordie (Newcastle) pronunciations o howay, a term o encouragement[18]

Geordie (spak in an aroun Newcastle) is the maist weel-kent form o Northumbrie. It haes mony wards an features in common wi Scots (sic as toon, canny an gang).[3] Acause o this the fowk, byleids an accents o nearby Sunderland (kent bi the nickname Mackem[19]), Sooth Shields (nicknamed Sand Dancers[20]) Middlesbrough (nicknamed Smoggies[21]) an ither pairts o Teesside an Durham that are pairt o North-Eastern Ingland are aft mistaken for Geordie bi fowk no frae those pairts.[2][22]

80% o distinct Northumbrian an Geordie wards are Anglo-Saxon in origin.[2]

Classification in relation tae English an Scots[eedit | eedit soorce]

The Northumbrian Language Society (Scots: Societie fur the Northumbrian Leid), foondit in 1983 tae leuk intae, keep gang an forrit the Northumbrian leid varietie, sees it as sindry enouch tae no be a byleid o Inglis, an insteid it's ain Anglic leid, acause it's difficult tae unnerstaun bi staundart Inglis spikkers[4] an baith are sometimes seen as sindry leids fae Auld Inglis but close tae wan anither,[4] or as maistly the same leid, wi wee differences. The sibness urnae kent formal-like cause o sensitivies on baith sides on the mairches,[23] acause o this, the status o Scots an Northumbrian as aither leids or byleids steys appen fur debate.[5]


References[eedit | eedit soorce]

  1. https://northumbrianlanguagesociety.co.uk/language/history/
  2. a b c "Origins of Geordie". northeastengland.talktalk.net (in Inglis). Archived frae the original on 24 Februar 2008. Retrieved 16 September 2020. Archived 2008-02-24 at the Wayback Machine
  3. a b c d e f "Germanic and Other Languages". Centre for the Scots Leid. Retrieved 16 September 2020.
  4. a b c "The Northumbrian Language Society" [The Societie fur the Northumbrian Leid]. The Northumbrian Language Society (in Inglis). Retrieved 14 December 2020.
  5. a b "Can Scots be English?" [Kin Scots be Inglis?]. BadLinguistics (in Inglis). Badlinguistics.posterous.com. Retrieved 15 Mairch 2013.
  6. Campbell, Alistair (1959). Old English Grammar (in Inglis). Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 4. ISBN 0-19-811943-7.
  7. Scragg, D. G. (1974). A History of English Spelling (in Inglis). Manchester University Press. p. 6. ISBN 978-0-7190-0553-4.
  8. a b c Wales, Katie (2006). Northern English: A Social and Cultural History (in Inglis). Cambridge University Press. p. 49-50. ISBN 978-1-139-45705-7.
  9. Beal, Joan C. (2012). Urban North-Eastern English (in Inglis). Edinburgh University Press. p. 4. ISBN 978-0-7486-6445-0.
  10. a b c Skinner, June Sawyers (1999). Maverick Guide to Scotland (in Inglis). Pelican Publishing. p. 60. ISBN 978-1-4556-0866-9.
  11. Penhallurick, Rob (2010). Studying the English Language (in Inglis). Macmillan International Higher Education. p. 73. ISBN 978-1-137-03621-6.
  12. Smith, Albert Hugh (1933). Three Northumbrian Poems: Caedmon's Hymn, Bede's Death Song and the Leiden Riddle (in Inglis). Ardent Media.
  13. Horobin, Simon (2016). How English Became English: A Short History of a Global Language (in Inglis). Oxford University Press. p. 101. ISBN 978-0-19-875427-5.
  14. Chatto.]), Stephen OLIVER (the Younger, pseud [i e William Andrew; Chatto, William Andrew (1835). "Rambles in Northumberland and on the Scottish Border ... By S. Oliver, etc" (in Inglis). Chapman and Hall.
  15. "History & Evolution". Northumbrian Language Society. Retrieved 16 September 2020. Speakers of Northumbrian are not very bothered about whether their speech is regarded as a language or a dialect, because it can be both. The important point to grasp however, is that whilst Northumbrian is an English dialect, it is not a dialect of standard English, because Northumbrian came into existence centuries before standard English was created.
  16. "Northumbrian Language Society". www.northumbriana.org.uk (in Inglis). Retrieved 13 September 2020.
  17. "The Distinctive Northumbrian Language - Living North". www.livingnorth.com (in Inglis). Retrieved 13 September 2020.
  18. Dixon, Thomas M. (2015). Weeping Britannia: Portrait of a Nation in Tears (in Inglis). Oxford University Press. p. 265. ISBN 978-0-19-967605-7.
  19. "New Entry for OED Online: Mackem, n. (Draft Entry Jan. 2006)". OED.com. Oxford University Press. 11 Januar 2006. pp. "OED News: BBC Balderdash and Piffle (Series One)" section. Archived frae the original on 19 Apryle 2009. Retrieved 31 Julie 2011.
  20. Hallowell, Michael J. (2008). South Shields Through Time (in Inglis). Amberley Publishing Limited. p. 6. ISBN 978-1-4456-0984-3.
  21. Harley, Shaun (16 October 2007). "'I was made in Middlesbrough'". BBC News. Retrieved 16 September 2020.
  22. Rowley, Tom (21 Apryle 2012). "Are you Geordie, a Mackem or a Smoggie?". Chronicle Live (in Inglis). Retrieved 16 September 2020.
  23. Riley. Geordie and Northumbria Dialect: Resource Book for North East English Dialect. CreateSpace. p. 10.

Forder readin[eedit | eedit soorce]

Fremmit airtins[eedit | eedit soorce]