 | This article should specify the language of its non-English content, using {{lang}}, {{transliteration}} for transliterated languages, and {{IPA}} for phonetic transcriptions, with an appropriate ISO 639 code. Wikipedia's multilingual support templates may also be used. (March 2021) |
 |
| Part of a series on |
| Old English |
|---|
Northumbrian was a dialect of Old English spoken in the Anglian Kingdom of Northumbria. Together with Mercian, Kentish and West Saxon, it forms one of the sub-categories of Old English devised and employed by modern scholars.
The dialect was spoken from the Humber, now within England, to the Firth of Forth, now within Scotland. In the Danelaw after the Viking invasions, Northumbrian may have been influenced by the Norse language[citation needed].
The earliest surviving Old English texts were written in Northumbrian: these are Cædmon's Hymn (7th century) and Bede's Death Song (8th century). Other works, including the bulk of Cædmon's poetry, have been lost. Other examples of this dialect are the Runes on the Ruthwell Cross from the Dream of the Rood. Also in Northumbrian are the 9th-century Leiden Riddle[1] and the mid-10th-century gloss of the Lindisfarne Gospels.
The Viking invasion forced a division of the dialect into two distinct subdialects. South of the River Tees, southern Northumbrian was influenced by Norse, while northern Northumbrian retained many Old English words lost to the southern subdialect and influenced the development of the dialects of modern North East England (the modern Northumbrian dialect) and Scotland.[2][3] Today, the Scots language (including Ulster Scots) is descended from the Northumbrian dialect,[4] as are modern Northumbrian, Cumbrian and Yorkshire (particularly in the North/East Ridings and northern West Riding) as well as the North Lancashire dialect.
- ^ In MS. Voss. lat. Q. 166 at the University of Leiden (see article by R. W. Zandvoort in English and Germanic Studies, vol. 3 (1949-50))
- ^ Wales, Katie (2006). Northern English: A Social and Cultural History. Cambridge University Press. pp. 49–50. ISBN 978-1-139-45705-7.
- ^ Horobin, Simon (2016). How English Became English: A Short History of a Global Language. Oxford University Press. p. 101. ISBN 978-0-19-875427-5.
- ^ "Ulster-Scots Language". Ulsterscotsagency.com. 30 January 2012. Retrieved 30 December 2012.