Language in Shetland

We don’t know much about Pre-300AD the people of Shetland or Before the Picts The history of their language.

Pictish people carve symbols 300AD-800AD language in into stone and speak a ‘Celtic’ Picts language.

Shetland Vikings occupy the isles and introduce ‘Norn’. They carve S1-3 800AD-1500AD symbols called ‘runes’ into Vikings stone. The Picts and their language are then wiped out by Vikings. Scotland rule gradually influences life on the islands. The Scottish language 1500AD onwards eventually becomes the Scots prominent language.

The dialect Shetlanders Today speak with today contains Us! Scottish and Norn words.

2 THE PICTS

Ogham alphabet Some carvings are part of an The Picts spoke a Celtic The Picts lived in mainland alphabet called ‘ogham’. Ogham language, originating from Scotland from around the 6th represents the spoken language of Ireland. Picts may have to the 9th Century, possibly the Picts, by using a ‘stem’ with travelled from Ireland, earlier. Indications of a shorter lines across it or on either Scotland or further afield burial at Sumburgh suggest side of it. to settle on Shetland. that Picts had probably settled in Shetland by There are seven ogham ogham.celt.dias.ie 300AD. inscriptions from Shetland Picts in Shetland spoke one of (including St Ninian’s Isle, The side, number and angle of the the ‘strands’ of the Celtic Cunningsburgh and Bressay) short lines to the stem indicates the language. Picts also carved symbols onto and one from a peat bog in intended sound. Lunnasting. stone. These symbols have been found throughout These symbol stones may Scotland—common symbols have been grave markers, or This inscribed sandstone was dug they may have indicated up from the area of the ancient must have been understood by gathering points. Whatever church in Mail Churchyard in many Picts all over ‘Pictland’. their use, they were Cunningsburgh. communicative. Photo: c1903, from Shetland Museum Some stones appear to be memorials; the symbols chosen for a memorial stone may The Bressay Stone (right) shows represent the individual or family. elaborate decoration on both large sides, Some symbols were abstract; some and an ogham inscription on each end. The

depicted animals or human figures. inscription reads: CRROSCC : NAHHTVVDDADDS : DATTR : Others represented aspects of paganism ANNBENNISES : MEQQDDROANN or Christianity. Abstract symbols Which translates as: sometimes accompanied each other, or "The Cross of Nordred's daughter is here accompanied figures, such as animals or placed." beasts. symboldictionary.net “Benises son of Droan.” The Papil Stone (left) is an example of a Pictish symbol shetlopedia.com stone from 7-8th Century. It was found in 1877, and 4 3 depicts a cross, monks, a lion and two unusual ’bird-men’. $¥MBøŁ$ In ANNIHILATION $h£‡ŁANð

Carvings on small stone discs It is thought that The aural language was exterminated are unique to Shetland. the Picts and their without much trace, and any written In Shetland, many common language were forms, on wood or other perishable There are many ‘common’ Pictish symbols have been found, quickly eradicated symbols, found throughout Scotland; and some symbols appear when the Vikings materials may have been lost over more often than others. these include eagles, boars and invaded Shetland. the years. abstract Z-rod and V-rod symbols.

Only a few written artefacts have been found; they are mostly formal memorials , such as the inscription on the Bressay stone, and they do not help us establish what

symboldictionary.net Particularly popular in Shetland the ‘everyday’ language was like. is the rectangle style symbol. Some Pictish symbols are carved Both the Pictish and the Viking next to Christian crosses and some languages that were prominent include cruciform designs but as Later symbol stones clearly indicate in Shetland are likely to have Because of this, we know very little cruciform designs were popular in Christian depictions, particularly been communicated aurally, and about the Pictish language. We also Shetland, we cannot ascribe missionaries or monks, and the Papil seldom written down. Christianity as being the definite Monk’s Stone (below) may indicate the know only a little about the spoken purpose of these carvings. ‘arrival’ of Christianity. This stone is language the Vikings brought with The majority of the population from the 8th or 9th Century. them to Shetland. were illiterate at this time.

Many early Christian carvings were used as shrines, and were usually The Picts and their Pictish period culture were placed within the church (given burial cairn at strongly rooted in their size in the church, they may Sandwick, Unst. Shetland for around have acted as the altar themselves). A skeleton was 500 years before found below the the Vikings invaded rectangular cairn the isles from Charles Thomas (1973) suggests that the spirals seen on of quartz around 800AD this slab may represent the sea, and, with the monks, pebbles. onwards. 6 5 may indicate the early missionaries travel to Shetland. Til Hjaltland! Norn and our place-names Viking invasion! Hjaltland: Old Norse word for Vikings travelled Shetland to Shetland over a thousand years To identify areas and The Vikings travelled by sea from areas establish ownership, ago, sometime of Scandinavia—mostly Norway. Once Vikings named many after 800AD. they invaded Shetland, they settled This was called down. They took control of land and specific areas of land, the ‘Viking Age’. made a living as fishermen and crofters. including small parts of The amount of place field and hill—the names names with a Norn element indicate that assigned by Vikings were Vikings spoke an Old Norse Norn speakers often very descriptive. language originating from colonised Shetland quite heavily. Shetland their homeland in Scandinavia. This language got broken up into distinct dialects once Place-names in Shetland have retained the influence of the Norn language. Vikings settled in different areas. The ‘strand’ of Old Walls, or ‘Waas’, comes Norway Norse that became prominent from a Norn adjective in Shetland and Orkney was Places that include ‘ting’, from the Norse þing for the way the sea indicate possible assembly points. Tingwall was Sweden Britain given the name ‘Norn’. comes into the bay— the site of the old parliament, where political ’Va’, or Vaas’ (plural). decisions were made, laws upheld and disputes settled. From Orkney thingsites.com Norn was, in a sense, a & Shetland, 1920, (p.134) Norn was closely related to the dialect in South-West dialect of Old Norse, The descriptiveness of place Norway—the Norn language most likely travelled from just as Shetland now is names indicate that Norn was this area, and Shetland’s geographical connections with a dialect of Scots. perhaps quite a descriptive this area were greater than with other parts of Norway. language. The Shetland dialect today contains many adjectives relating to specific types of The word Norn derives from the Norn was spoken weather, nature and actions. in Shetland for Old Norse adjective Norrœnn, steekit mist—very dense fog meaning ‘Norse’ or ‘Norwegian’ and centuries until the Norn was mostly an aural language. Voar—spring the corresponding noun Norrœnna, islands came We don’t have many written records Knap—Shetlander’s attempt under Scottish of Norn— it was perhaps rarely meaning ‘Norwegian/Norse language’. to ‘speak proper English’ rule. written down, or perhaps written 7 records have perished over time. 8 Runic stone at Evidence of Viking language Eshaness kirkyard THE RUNIC The remnants of language we tarahill.com Orkney has 52 surviving runic have found in Orkney and inscriptions — Shetland has only 7. Shetland include: They are difficult to understand, but ALPHABET Common Futhark Runes ‡ Runic inscriptions we do know that they bear some ‡ Documents written in Latin relation to the West Scandinavian ‡ Fragments of spoken Norn language. Runic script: a set of related alphabets written down before the Runes using letters known language died as runes to write ‡ Words preserved in various Germanic Scaldic verse languages. ‡ Place-names Latin documents found on the isles were ‡ Remnants recorded after likely written by Norwegians, perhaps even

Germanic languages Norn had already died written in Norway—they provide no Latin were used before Like Pictish symbols, runes in clear insight to the language in Shetland. the Roman alphabet Shetland were often carved into (Latin) came into use stone as memorial inscriptions. (at around 1100AD in Fragments of Norn were written down at Northern Europe). a time of linguistic change, by George Low, a man with no prior knowledge of Latin was probably already Scaldic Verse: A distinct Norn or Scandinavian —they give us The latest known example present in Shetland by this genre of Old Norse poetry we’ve found in Shetland is time (though the majority restricted insight to a changing language in only one isolated area of Shetland. Examples were found in Orkney, a graveslab from around were illiterate), but it’s but may have originated from possible that runes were 1300AD, from Eshaness. Scandinavia. used for some time after the introduction of Latin. Jakob Jakobsen gathered Altogether we’ve found only Norn words in the 1890’s— seven surviving runic inscriptions Norn was not spoken by

in Shetland—around fifty have this time, but Jakobsen bbc.co.uk been found in Orkney. managed to retrieve around 10,000 Norn words Place-names indicate a real The most complete inscription known or remembered by presence of Norn, but give us found on a stone in Shetland reads: A drawing of the Shetlanders at the time. little information about the “In memory of his/her father, stone’s inscription, structure of the language. 9 Thorbjorn” - a personal memorial. (Goudie, 1904, p.64) 10 Scottish rule James III and his wife, Scottish Influence Margaret of Denmark Shetland was pawned to Scotland for 8,000 Life in Shetland immediately after the annexation of At the end of the 14th Century Rhenish guilders the isles to Scotland changed very little —Scottish Norway entered into union with (currency in the laws were introduced in 1611, and from then the Denmark. Shetland was passed ‘Rhineland’ in 14th transition to the Scottish language, economy and and 15th centuries). from Norwegian to Danish customs was a gradual process. governance. The main reasons for an increase in Scottish influence were: Less than a century later, in 1469, Shetland √ Scottish rule Young Shetlanders were √ was handed over to Scotland, along with Governmental/economical connection to Scotland leaving the isles to find Orkney. This was to serve as part of √ Immigration better economic climates √ a dowry for the marriage between Emigration and more opportunities, A map of Shetland from √ Changes in trade whilst Scots were moving Princess Margaret of Denmark and A decrease in young 1654, by Willem Janszoon Shetlanders living on into the isles. Shetlanders sold their goods and Joan Blaeu. King James III. the isles meant the through Hanseatic German The Princess native language had merchantmen from the 15th The Scots who settled and the King on more difficulty century onwards. They exported influenced the language on surviving. Dowry: money or the Marriage wool, butter and salted fish, and the isles, and also brought goods a brides Window, Town imported cloth, salt, beer and William Gordon— their customs and religious Hall, Lerwick other goods. a missionary who, observances with them. family brings to like many other her groom at Scots, settled on Shetlanders were the isles. their marriage linguistically adept— King Christian I of Denmark they picked up

(and Norway) was not legally languages they needed for trade, Dutch busses permitted to pawn the islands (he such as German, was king of the people, but under and could converse with the Dutch “...almost all of them There was a clause in the Udal Law—the Norse legal fishermen who came pawning document which system—he had no overall ashore. speak as much Dutch, Danish, and Norwegian could allow a Danish ruler to ownership of the land). as serves the purpose of redeem the islands by a However, he did so anyway, Trade with the North buying and selling...some monetary deposit. There was German towns lasted George Low, during his ‘voyage to without consenting the ‘Norwegian Schetland’, in 1774—a time when of them speak these also an obligation to retain until 1707, when the Shetlanders predominantly spoke Scots. Riksråd’ (Council of the Realm) . languages fluently.” the language and laws of Act of Union prohibited Norway. German merchants from trading with Shetland. Lairds grew powerful in Shetland. The Danes did attempt to For 200 years after the pawning, the They took ownership of land— redeem the isles over a islands were passed back and forth Lairds took control of exportation and importation. tenants were at risk of being number of years, to no 14 times between the Scottish Crown Shetland was restricted to trading with Scotland only, evicted if they did not provide the avail—Scotland simply and Scottish courtiers as a means of and suffered an economic depression—there was less Laird with fish and meat to trade. ignored their requests. extracting income. need to learn other languages, and more need to speak The extravagant laird houses are Scots instead of Norn. still seen in Shetland today.

11 12

Gradual disintegration The demise of Norn: a summary

For some time Shetlanders Names, particularly forenames, were bilingual—they could were the first to go—Norse speak both Norn and Scots, forenames were refused by but gradually Norn became Scots clergy at baptisms, with The Norn language fragmented throughout less relevant. but a few exceptions, such as Magnus. the 17th century.

Other Norn words which By the 18th century the dominant language Sem Kløv—used were lost quickly for driving on spoken in Shetland was Scots. røvs (the washers referred to utensils or clinched onto implements no longer boat nails) part of Shetland life. A summary of the main reasons for the gradual demise of the Norn language is below:

Norn wasn’t a literary language— Words remain in a language for longer: when Scots threatened the Norn √ where they have a necessary use oral tradition, it’s complete (in the workplace) existence was jeopardised. √ where they are used informally √ Scotland acquiring rule of isles After it’s demise, very few (in the home) relics of the language were √ and where there is no equivalent √ found or recovered. in another language A growing legislative and governmental connection to Scotland Norn words survived in fishing, farming and The lack of written Norn has the home, as well as specific adjectives also made it difficult for us which do not have a sufficient Scottish/ √ Emigration of Shetlanders to map out the development, English equivalent (words for weather, and disintegration, of the seasons, nature and other descriptive Norn language. √ Immigration of Scots words for people, characters and actions). √ The transition of the language Importation and exportation from Norn to Scots was complex— business between Shetland the language in different areas of and Scotland only Shetland changed at different rates. Even today we hear differ- ent dialects in different areas of Shetland. Geography, travel and isolation from immigrants, sea-farers and other areas of Shetland determined how the Map of Scotland, 1761—both Shetland and Orkney are in an inset 13 language in a particular area changed. at the top right of the map. © scran.ac.uk 14

15 16

dialect. Shetland the to unique words in and words, Society

1973, Shetland Folk Folk Shetland 1973, Norn can be identified in our place names, our pronunciation of Scottish/English Scottish/English of pronunciation our names, place our in identified be can Norn

A’ll Sing Ta Dee’, Dee’, Ta Sing A’ll

Men, in ‘Da Sangs At At Sangs ‘Da in Men,

wrangle. to - ‘kibbelen’ their from stems Da Sang o Da Papa Papa Da o Sang Da

illustrations. his in dialect

labbi’ (meaning hubbub, or confused noise) noise) confused or hubbub, (meaning labbi’ - ‘cabbi word

Local cartoonist Smirk often uses uses often Smirk cartoonist Local

our dialect dialect our — centuries 19th and 18th the during Shetland

sources, such as the Dutch fishermen who frequented frequented who fishermen Dutch the as such sources, song. in and drama

shetland.gov.uk

We have retained some influences from lesser known known lesser from influences some retained have We literature, in poetry, in in poetry, in literature,

Dialect is also found in in found also is Dialect

English. standard or Norn, Scots,

most we can trace back to Old Old to back trace can we most — use we words some

experienced makes it difficult to assign origin to to origin assign to difficult it makes experienced The amount of linguistic influences Shetland has has Shetland influences linguistic of amount The

shetlandtimes.co.uk

Shetland. in exist that differences linguistic

isolation of each area can be attributed somewhat to the the to somewhat attributed be can area each of isolation

of Shetland. The history of the area, travel limitations and and limitations travel area, the of history The Shetland. of

There are differences in dialect throughout different areas areas different throughout dialect in differences are There stories written for young children. young for written stories

There are a number of dialect dialect of number a are There

from. come

depending on the area of Shetland you you Shetland of area the on depending

come. is

pronunciation, like just vary can

noo da Voar Voar da noo

dialect words is debated regularly, and and regularly, debated is words dialect

Am dat blyde blyde dat Am

today.

how we spell spell we how — tradition aural an from

Shetland in survival

Like Norn, the Shetland dialect comes comes dialect Shetland the Norn, Like

Norn language has some some has language Norn

an example of how the the how of example an

Replacing ‘th’ with ‘d’ is is ‘d’ with ‘th’ Replacing Norn. from derived words

We have retained many many retained have We

the old Norn language. This makes our dialect unique. dialect our makes This language. Norn old the

language, there are still aspects of our dialect which relate to to relate which dialect our of aspects still are there language,

Whilst we have now fully adopted the Scottish Scottish the adopted fully now have we Whilst

fiction material, particularly published memoirs. published particularly material, fiction - non local of number

today

Dialect can be found in the local press, local radio and in an increasing increasing an in and radio local press, local the in found be can Dialect

language Our

poetry and prose in Dialect

up mirackling deesel! mirackling up If du dusna tak care du’ll end end du’ll care tak dusna du If Bibliography

Books:

Barnes, Michael. P., 1998, The Norn Language of Orkney and Shetland (Shetland Times Ltd)

Goudie, G., 1904, The Celtic and Scandinavian Antiquities of Shetland, Aald Daa (W. Blackwood & Sons, Edinburgh, London)

Jakobsen, J., 1928, An Etymological Dictionary of the Norn Language in Shetland, Parts 1 & 2 Da tap, tap, tap o his staff apu da brig-stanes; (D. Nutt (A.G. Berry) London)

He clears oot o his craig, an gies a kreks; Jakobsen, J., 1993, The Place-names of Shetland, translated by Anna Horsbøl (née Jakobsen), Sneets his nose atween twa müldy fingers, (D. Nutt (A.G. Berry) London; Orcadian Limited)

Dan comes in trow, an for da pipe he reks. Laurenson, A., 1860 (original), The Shetland Dialect, translated by John Nicolson, (Johnson & Greig, Lerwick)

Leyden, K van, 2004, Prosodic Characteristics of Orkney and Shetland Dialects: An experimental Büts lowsed aff, da sock feet ta da fire; approach, (LOT, Utrecht) An wi a bit o pocky faalded in a steek, Low, G., 1978, A Tour through the islands of Orkney and Schetland, (Bookmag, Inverness) He boos him for a light, an draas contentit; Moodie Heddle, J.G.F., & Mainland. T., 1920, Orkney and Shetland, Neebin ower among da bacha reek. (Cambridge University Press)

Scott, I.G. & Ritchie, A., 2009, Pictish and Viking-Age Carvings from Shetland, (RCAHMS) Time’s steady haand is scored in monny a wrinkle; Stewart, J., 1964, Norn in Shetland, (Serprent, Torshavn) Shortened da stride, an draan da sinnan tight. Bit still da blue een hadd a mirry twinkle, Thomas, Charles, 1973, ‘Sculptured stones and crosses from St Ninian’s Isle and Papil’, in Alan Small et al eds., St Ninian’s Isle and its treasure, (Oxford)

Laek bright stars idda hidmist day-a-light. Online resources:

Shetland Forwirds: www.shetlanddialect.org.uk Aald Daa, by well-known Shetland poet Rhoda Bulter, Shetland Museum and Archives: www.shetland-museum.org.uk 1929-1994 Scran: www.scran.ac.uk

All photos from Shetland Museum Photo Library or Scran unless stated otherwise. brig-stanes = flat stones pocky = paper bag

before house door Good Reads: steek = taper

craig = throat . neebin ower = nodding sleepily Chandler, Pauline, 2007, Viking Girl, (Oxford)

müldy = lightly soiled with sinnan = sinew Deary, Terry, 2010, Viking Tales, (A&C Black;London) earth or peat 17 hidmist = last Fisher, Catherine, 2003, The Snow-Walker, (Red Fox, London) 18