Celts in Scandinavian Scotland and Anglo-Saxon England
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Carole Hough
Abstract
According to established models of language contact, communication between incoming settlers and indigenous populations leads to the survival of place-names, whose role as labels means that they can easily be transferred between groups of speakers without understanding of semantic content. The paucity of pre-Norse place-names in the Northern and Western Isles of Scotland, like the paucity of pre-Anglo-Saxon place-names in southern Britain, has therefore been taken to reflect a lack of continuity of settlement that is at odds with the archaeological and historical record. This chapter argues that, during the Anglo-Saxon and Viking Ages, place-names served functional purposes, where semantic content was important. This may account for the loss of place-names that were semantically opaque to incoming settlers.
Abstract
According to established models of language contact, communication between incoming settlers and indigenous populations leads to the survival of place-names, whose role as labels means that they can easily be transferred between groups of speakers without understanding of semantic content. The paucity of pre-Norse place-names in the Northern and Western Isles of Scotland, like the paucity of pre-Anglo-Saxon place-names in southern Britain, has therefore been taken to reflect a lack of continuity of settlement that is at odds with the archaeological and historical record. This chapter argues that, during the Anglo-Saxon and Viking Ages, place-names served functional purposes, where semantic content was important. This may account for the loss of place-names that were semantically opaque to incoming settlers.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Preface & Acknowledgments vii
- Editors’ introduction ix
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Part I. The evidence of place-names
- Celts in Scandinavian Scotland and Anglo-Saxon England 3
- The colonisation of England by Germanic tribes on the basis of place-names 23
- Ancient toponyms in south-west Norway 53
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Part II. Code selection in written texts
- On vernacular literacy in late medieval Norway 69
- Four languages, one text type 81
- On variation and change in London medieval mixed-language business documents 99
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Part III. Linguistic developments and contact situations
- Old English–Late British language contact and the English progressive 119
- The Old English origins of the Northern Subject Rule 141
- For Heaven’s sake 169
- North Sea timber trade terminology in the Early Modern period 193
- ‘Nornomania’ in the research on language in the Northern Isles 213
- Index of subjects, terms & languages 231
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Preface & Acknowledgments vii
- Editors’ introduction ix
-
Part I. The evidence of place-names
- Celts in Scandinavian Scotland and Anglo-Saxon England 3
- The colonisation of England by Germanic tribes on the basis of place-names 23
- Ancient toponyms in south-west Norway 53
-
Part II. Code selection in written texts
- On vernacular literacy in late medieval Norway 69
- Four languages, one text type 81
- On variation and change in London medieval mixed-language business documents 99
-
Part III. Linguistic developments and contact situations
- Old English–Late British language contact and the English progressive 119
- The Old English origins of the Northern Subject Rule 141
- For Heaven’s sake 169
- North Sea timber trade terminology in the Early Modern period 193
- ‘Nornomania’ in the research on language in the Northern Isles 213
- Index of subjects, terms & languages 231
