Early Scots or Older Scots describes the emerging literary language of Anglic-speaking Lowland Scotland in the period 1100 to 1450 which began diverging from the early Middle English descendant of Northumbrian or Early Northern English. During this period, it was mostly referred to as Inglis (Cognate with "English"). Early examples such as Barbour’s Bruce and Wyntoun’s Chronicle were orthographically indistinguishable from contemporary writing from northern England but by the end of the period when Middle Scots began to emerge, orthography and phonology had diverged significantly from that of Northumbrian Middle English. Anglic is a term used to refer to speech varieties derived from Old English, especially the Anglian variety thereof spoken in Northumbria—the most notable modern descendants of which are English and Scots—and their corresponding speech communities. ... The Scottish Lowlands ( an Galldachd in Gaelic ), although not officially a geographical area of the country, in normal usage is generally meant to include those parts of Scotland not referred to as the Highlands (or Gàidhealtachd), that is, everywhere due south and east of a line (the Highland Boundary... Middle English is the name given by historical linguistics to the diverse forms of the English language spoken between the Norman invasion in 1066 and the mid-to-late 15th century, when the Chancery Standard, a form of London-based English, began to become widespread, a process aided by the... Northumbrian was a dialect spoken in the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria. ... For the 19th-century U.S. senator from Virginia see John Strode Barbour Jr. ... Andrew of Wyntoun (?1350-?1420), author of a long metrical history of Scotland, called the Orygynale Cronykil of Scotland, was a canon regular of St Andrews, and prior of St Serfs in Lochieven. ... Middle Scots describes the language of Anglic-speaking Lowland Scotland in the period 1450 to 1700. ... Middle English is the name given by historical linguistics to the diverse forms of the English language spoken between the Norman invasion in 1066 and the mid-to-late 15th century, when the Chancery Standard, a form of London-based English, began to become widespread, a process aided by the...

History

Old English had been established in south-eastern Scotland in the 7th century and largely remained there until the 13th century, which is why in the late 12th century Adam of Dryburgh described his locality as "in the land of the English in the Kingdom of the Scots" ^[1] and why the early 13th century author of de Situ Albanie thought that the Firth of Forth "divides the kingdoms of the Scots and of the English" ^[2] Malcolm IIs victory at the battle of Carham in 1018 secured the Gael's control over the Anglic-speaking territory in what is now south east Scotland. Following the Norman conquest in 1066 Edgar the Atheling and his sisters Margaret and Christina fled as refugees to Scotland along with many Scandinavian-influenced English-speaking loyalists. Malcolm III took Margaret as his wife. Malcolm had learned English while in Exile and his wife had no Gaelic thus English became the private language of the royal household. Margaret endeavoured to bring the Celtic church into line with Rome and invited English Bishops to Scotland. Through Margaret's influence the Gaelic aristocracy merged with that of the new Anglo-Norman feudal landowners. Note: This page contains phonetic information presented in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) using Unicode. ... De Situ Albanie (dSA) is the name given to the first of seven Scottish documents found in the so-called Poppleton Manuscript, now in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris. ... The Firth of Forth from Calton Hill The Forth Bridges cross the Firth Satellite photo of the Firth and the surrounding area The Firth of Forth (Abhainn Dhubh [Black River] in Scottish Gaelic) is the estuary or firth of Scotlands River Forth, where it flows into the North Sea... Malcolm II of Scotland (Máel Coluim mac Cináeda) (c. ... Gael (Ancient people) : A Gael is a member of a distinct culture existing in Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man whose language is one that is Gaelic. ... Bayeux Tapestry depicting events leading to the Battle of Hastings The Norman Conquest of England was the conquest of the Kingdom of England by William the Conqueror (Duke of Normandy), in 1066 at the Battle of Hastings and the subsequent Norman control of England. ... Edgar Ætheling or Eadgar II (c. ... Stained glass window image of Saint Margaret of Scotland in the small chapel at Edinburgh Castle Saint Margaret of Scotland, also known by her Anglo-Saxon name Margaret Ætheling (c. ... King Malcolm III of Scotland, (1031? - November 13, 1093) also known as Malcolm Canmore (Malcolm with the large head), was the eldest son of King Duncan I of Scotland and first king of the House of Dunkeld. ... Scottish Gaelic (Gàidhlig) is a member of the Goidelic branch of Celtic languages. ... Celtic Christianity is a term used for the form of Christianity practiced in Ireland, Wales, Cornwall and Brittany from the missions of Saint Patrick and Saint Ninian in the 5th century (also known as Old British Church, Celtic Catholic Church, Culdee Church), in Scotland from the mission of Columcille from... The Roman Catholic Church, most often spoken of simply as the Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with over one billion members. ... A bishop is an ordained member of the Christian clergy who, in certain Christian churches, holds a position of authority. ... -1... Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Feudalism comes from the Late Latin word feudum, itself borrowed from a Germanic root *fehu, a commonly used term in the Middle Ages which means fief, or land held under certain obligations by feodati. ...

From this time the Anglo-Norman burghs proto-urban institutions were established by David I, mostly in the south and east of Scotland. From the outset these burghs were Anglic-speaking centres. Incoming burghers were mainly English (especially from Northumbria, and the Earldom of Huntingdon), Flemish and French. Although the military aristocracy employed French and Gaelic, these small urban communities appear to have been using English as something more than a lingua franca by the end of the 13th century. They absorbed further English speaking refugess fleeing William I and II and the chaos of Stephen's reign. A burgh (pronounced burruh) is the Scots language equivalent of the English language borough. ... King David I (or Dabíd mac Maíl Choluim; also known as Saint David I or David I the Saint) (1084 – May 24, 1153), was King of Scotland from 1124 until his death, and the youngest son of Malcolm Canmore and of Saint Margaret (sister of Edgar Ætheling). ... Earl of Huntingdon is a title which has been created several times in the Peerage of England. ... Lingua franca, literally Frankish language in Italian, was originally a mixed language consisting largely of Italian plus a vocabulary drawn from Turkish, Persian, French, Greek and Arabic and used for communication throughout the Middle East. ... William of Normandy (French: Guillaume de Normandie; c. ... William II (called Rufus, perhaps because of his red-faced appearance) (c. ... Stephen (1096 – October 25, 1154), the last Norman King of England, reigned from 1135 to 1154, when he was succeeded by his cousin Henry II, the first of the Angevin or Plantagenet Kings. ...

The increasing economic influence of the burghs attracted further English, Fleming and Scandinavian immigration. As the economic power of the burghs grew Gaelic-speakers from the hinterland found it advantageous to acquire a working knowledge of English. The institutional language of the burghs consisted of vocabulary almost entirely Anglo-Saxon in origin such as toft (homestead and land), croft (smallholding), ruid (land let by a burgh), guild (a trade association), bow (an arched gateway), wynd (lane) and raw (row of houses). ^[3] The term Flemings (Dutch: Vlamingen) is currently mostly used to refer to the ethnic group native to Flanders (the northern half of Belgium), which in total numbers about 6 million people in Belgium. ... Scandinavia is a region in Northern Europe named after the Scandinavian Peninsula. ... Old English (also called Anglo-Saxon) is an early form of the English language that was spoken in parts of what is now England and southern Scotland between the mid-fifth century and the mid-twelfth century. ... In England and Scotland a toft village is a settlement comprising small relatively closely packed farms (tofts) with the surrounding land owned and farmed by those who live in the villages buildings. ... A croft is a fenced or enclosed area of land, usually small and arable with a crofters dwelling thereon. ... A Scottish rood (ruid in Lowland Scots, ròd in Scottish Gaelic) was a land measurement of Anglo-Saxon origin. ... A guild is an association of people of the same trade or pursuits (with a similar skill or craft), formed to protect mutual interests and maintain standards of morality or conduct. ... Wynd is a Scottish term. ...

One interpretation of the linguistic divide in 1400, here based on place-name evidence.

Norman French and English were becoming functional languages of the Kingdom and in the 12th Century the people of the realm were addressed as 'Franci, Angli, Scoti et Gallovidiani' (French, English, Scots and Galloway-men(. The end of the House of Dunkeld led to the throne being passed to three lowland families, the Balliols, Bruces and Stewarts who increasingly identified themselves with the Anglic-speaking part of the kingdom. As a result the capital moved from Perth to Edinburgh, although Robert the Bruce was himself a Gaelic-speaker, and James IV (Stewart) also spoke it. Image File history File links RossScotLang1400. ... Image File history File links RossScotLang1400. ... The Norman language is a Romance language, one of the Oïl languages. ... The Gaels are an ethno-linguistic group in Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man, whose language is one that is Gaelic (Goidelic), a division of Insular Celtic languages. ... Galwegian Gaelic is an extinct Goidelic dialect formerly spoken in South West Scotland. ... The House of Dunkeld or Canmore was a dynasty of Scottish kings that ruled Scotland from 1058 to 1290. ... The House of Balliol was a Scottish royal family in the 13th and 14th centuries. ... The House of Bruce was a Scottish Royal House in the 14th century. ... The Coat of Arms of King James I, the first British monarch of the House of Stuart. ... The Royal Burgh of Perth (Peairt in Scottish Gaelic) is a large burgh in central Scotland. ... Edinburgh (pronounced ; Dùn Èideann () in Scottish Gaelic) is the second-largest city in Scotland and the countrys capital city. ... Robert I, King of Scots, usually known as Robert the Bruce (July 11, 1274 – June 7, 1329, reigned 1306 – 1329), was, according to a modern biographer (Geoffrey Barrow), a great hero who lived in a minor country. ...

By the 14th Century the variety of Northern English that resulted from the above influences, called Inglis by its speakers, had replaced Gaelic (Scottis) and Cumbric in much of the lowlands and the Norman French of the court. It had also come to replace Latin as a language for records and literature. In Caithness, it came into contact with both Norn and Gaelic. Cumbric was the Brythonic Celtic language centred in Cumbria, and spoken from southern lowland Scotland south as far as Greater Manchester, i. ... Latin was the language originally spoken in the region around Rome called Latium. ... Caithness (Gallaibh in Gaelic) is a committee area of Highland Council, Scotland; a lieutenancy area; and a registration county, Caithness was formerly a district within the Highland region from 1975 to 1996 and a local government county with its own county council from 1891 to 1975. ... The Norns The Norns of the Norse Mythology are three old crones by the names of Urd (fate), Skuld (necessity) and Verdandi (in the making). ... Note: This page contains phonetic information presented in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) using Unicode. ...

Vocabulary

The core vocabulary is of Anglo-Saxon origin though Scots retained many words which became obsolete further south. The pattern of foreign borrowings, such as Romance via ecclesiastical and legal Latin and French, was much the same as that of contemporary English but was often different in detail because of the continuing influence of the Auld Alliance and the imaginative use of Latinisms in literarure. Romance languages in the world: Blue – French; Green – Spanish; Orange – Portuguese; Yellow – Italian; Red – Romanian The Romance languages, a major branch of the Indo-European language family, comprise all languages that descended from Latin, the language of the Roman Empire. ... Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in the region around Rome called Latium. ... The Auld Alliance was an alliance between Scotland, and France. ...

During this period a number of words of Anglo-Saxon origin, such as anerly (alone), berynes (grave), clenge (cleanse), halfindall (a half part), scathful (harmful) , sturting (contention) thyrllage (bondage) and umbeset (surround), were now almost or completely unique to Scots.

French derived warfare terms such as arsoun (saddle-bow), bassynet (helmet), eschell (batallion), hawbrek (coat of mail), qwyrbolle (hardened leather), troppell (troop), vaward (vanguard) and vyre (crossbow bolt) became part of the language along with other French vocabulary such as cummer (godmother), disjone (breakfast), dour (stern, grim), fasch (annoy), grosar (gooseberry), ladron (rascal), moyen (means), plenissing (furniture) and vevaris (provisions).

The vocabulary of Scots was augmented by the speech of Scandinavians, Flemings, Dutch and Middle Low German speakers through trade with, and immigration from, the low countries. The Middle Low German language is an ancestor of the modern Low German language, and was spoken from about 1100 to 1500. ...

From scandinavian (often via Scandinavian influenced Middle English) came at (that/who), byg (build), bak (bat), bla (blae), bra (brae), ferlie (marvel), flyt remove, fra (from), gar (compel), gowk (cuckoo), harnis (brains), ithand (industrious), low (flame), lug (an appendage, ear), man (must), neve (fist), sark (shirt), spe (prophesy), þa (those), til (to), tinsell (loss), wycht (valiant) and wyll (lost, confused). Middle English is the name given by historical linguistics to the diverse forms of the English language spoken between the Norman invasion in 1066 and the mid-to-late 15th century, when the Chancery Standard, a form of London-based English, began to become widespread, a process aided by the... Blue is any of a number of similar colors. ... Look up brae in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

The flemings introduced bonspell (sporting contest), bowcht (sheep pen), cavie (hen-coop), crame (a booth), furisine (flint striker), grotkyn (a gross), howff (courtyard), kesart (cheese vat), lunt (match), much (a cap), muchkin (a liquid measure), skaff (scrounge), wapinschaw (muster of militia), wyssill (change of money) and the coins plak, stek and doyt. A bonspiel is a curling tournament. ...

A number of Gaelic words such as breive (judge), cane (a tribute), couthal (court of justice), davach (a measure of land), duniwassal (nobleman), kenkynolle (head of the kindred), mare (tax collector) and toschachdor (leader) occurred in early legal documents but most became obsolete early in the period. Gaelic words for topographical features have endured bogg (bog), carn (pile of stones), corrie (hollow in a hill), crag (rock), inch (small island), knok (hill), loch (lake or fjord) and strath (river valley).

Literature

The language first appeared in literary form in the mid-14th century, when its written form differed little from that of northern English dialects, and so Scots shared many Northumbrian borrowings from Old Norse and Anglo-Norman French. Old Norse or Danish tongue is the Germanic language once spoken by the inhabitants of the Nordic countries (for instance during the Viking Age). ... The Anglo-Norman language is the name given to the variety of Norman spoken by the Anglo-Normans, the descendants of the Normans who ruled England following the conquest by William of Normandy in 1066. ...

Phonology

The Early Scots Vowel System (c1375)

The major differences to contemporary southern English are the outcome of Anglo-Saxon /o:/ as /ø:/, the distribution of the unchanged Anglo-Saxon /a:/ and /o:/ from Anglo-Saxon /o/. The Scandinavian influenced /k/ in words such as birk (birch), brekis (breeches), brig (bridge), kirk (church), kist (chest), mekil (much) and rig (ridge), and the retention of Germanic /ou/ in words such as lowp (leap), cowp (cf. cheap, to trade) and nowt (cattle).

Notes

Alan Orr Anderson (1879-1958) was a Scottish historian and compiler. ... Dauvit Broun (David Brown) is a Scottish historian based at the University of Glasgow, and one of the most prominent and influential scholars in the field of medieval Scottish or Celtic studies. ...

References

• Aitken, A.J. (1977) How to Pronounce Older Scots in Bards and Makars. Glasgow, Glasgow University Press.
• Aitken, A.J. (2002) Macafee C. (Ed) The Older Scots Vowels: A History of the Stressed Vowels of Older Scots From the Beginnings to the Eighteenth Century. Edinburgh, The Scottish Text Society. ISBN 1897976186
• Jones, Charles (1997) The Edinburgh History of the Scots Language. Edinburgh, University of Edinburgh Press. ISBN 0748607544

See also

• Phonological history of the Scots language
• Dictionary of the Scots Language
• Reading Older Scots
• Teaching Package
• The Scottish Text Society