Scots language: Encyclopedia II - Scots language - Origins

Scots language - Origins

The Scots language descends from the northern form of the Northumbrian dialect of Middle English, which itself descended from the Northumbrian dialect of Anglo-Saxon brought by the Angles. Besides Gaelic influence, influential were Dutch and Middle Low German through trade with, and immigration from, the low countries; as well as Romance via ecclesiastical and legal Latin, Anglo-Norman and, later, Parisian French owing to the Auld Alliance. Anglic speakers were actually established in Lothian by the 7th century, but were largely confined there for the next half millenium. During the 12th and 13th centuries, Norman landowners and their retainers, were invited to settle by the king. It is probable that many of their retainers spoke Middle English, although probably French was more common. Most of the evidence suggests that English spread into Scotland via the burgh, proto-urban institutions which were first established by King David I. 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 communties appear to have been using English as something more than a lingua franca by the end of the 13th century. English appeared in Scotland for the first time in literary form in the mid-14th century, when its form unsurprisingly differed little from other northern English dialects. As a consequence of the outcome of the Wars of Independence though, the English of Lothian who lived under the King of Scots had to accept Scottish identity. The growth in prestige of English in the 14th century, and the complementary decline of French in Scotland, made English the prestige language of most of eastern Scotland. Moreover, by the late 15th century, perceptions of the difference with the language spoken further south arose; and English-speaking "Scots" started to call their language "Scottis." The first known instance of this was by an unknown man in 1494. It was thus that the language took its name.

Scots has loan words resulting from contact with Gaelic. These loan words are mainly for geographical and cultural features, such as clan and loch. Many Scots words have become part of English: flit, 'to move home', greed, eerie, cuddle, clan, stob, 'a post'.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Origins", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki