Origins of Orkney Scots

Orcadian Scots 2

Orcadian Scots 1

Three languages are known to have been spoken in Orkney’s history. Pictish (a P-Celtic language related to Welsh) is presumed to have been spoken until about AD 900 and then Norwegian until the 18th century. The third language spoken in Orkney is described by The Orkney Dictionary in the following terms: “In Orkney today we speak a dialect of Scots but we have an accent which is all our own…if we are asked what language we speak, we say Orcadian.”

The Scots language appears to have been introduced to Orkney during the 14th century. Just as the Norse invaders and settlers brought Norwegian to the islands during the 9th century, so it would appear that the Scottish Sinclair family brought Scots speakers to the islands from their estates in the mainland. The Sinclairs were based mainly at Roslin, near Edinburgh, but, by 1364, Thomas St Clair (Sinclair) was bailie to the king of Norway, managing the islands of Orkney on his behalf. Henry St Clair (Sinclair) was created earl of Orkney by King Haakon VI at a ceremony in Norway in 1379. The rise of the Sinclairs marks a period of transition during which Orkney and Shetland came under increasing Scottish political and cultural influence.

In the 14th century probably everyone on Orkney spoke a dialect derived from Norwegian but this began to change as the Scots language was introduced by Scottish officials – the Church and law courts - and by incoming tenants. Gradually Scots began to displace Norwegian from official circles (see also feature on Norwegian and Scots). The transfer of Orkney to Scottish rule certainly encouraged this process. The earliest surviving document in Scots that relates directly to Orkney is a disposition of tenements in Kirkwall (here called ‘Kirkwaw’), dated 6 June 1433, disponed by Duncan of Law to his sister Janet and her husband Donald Clerk who was to have “the saide fredome off the fornemmit burght as uthir burgeses dois in yeris or cotidiane dais, but fraude or gile, efter the maner and the statut off the contre.” The seal of Robert Bening, bailie of Kirkwall is attached. Not long after this, on 22 January 1439, the lawmen of Orkney issued a declaration in Scots from Kirkwall which is good evidence for the official status of the language by that period. The full text is as follows:

“Tyl all and syndri lele folk in Cryste to quhais knowledge thir present letteris sal to cum, Henry Randell, lawman of Orkney, Johne Haraldson, balye off Kirkwaw, and Jamis off Lask, greting in Gode ay lestand. Sen medefull and meritabill thing is to bere witnesse to the suthfastnes and namly in the cassis quhar the hyding off suthfastnes ma genner scathe, schame or prejudice till ane innocent man, fra theyne it is that we, the forsaid , testifies sekyir witnessis and for the schawing of suthfastnes til yowr universite makis kende that we, the forsaide, bystude, saw and onherde and for witnessis wes tane, quhen that John off Erwyne and Will Bernardson swore on the hirdman stein before owr lorde, the erle off Orkney, and the gentiles off the contre, that thai bystude, saw and onherde and for witnessis wes tane, quhen that Thomas Sinclere, the soun of quhilum Syncler, callit in the vestre in Sant Mawnus kirk, Johne of Kirknes, than lawman off Orkney, befor syndre gude men off the cuntre, and the saide to the forsaide Johne off Kirknes, that it wes demit in the cuntre that he, the fornemmit Johne, saide that agayne his will he had selit the charteris off the xij penny lande off Tollop to the forsaide Thomas; quharfor the forsaide Thomas peroffrit to the said Johne his charter and the saide lande agayne, giff he the saide Johne walde giff til hyme, the forsaide Thomas, the golde that he the saide Thomas giff for the charteris off hyme the saide Johne. And than the fornemmit Johne answerd the said plainly that it wes nocht agayne his will, and to the mare sikkirnesse off the saide lande to the saide Thomas, the saide Johne hanselde the saide Thomas off the fornemmit land for the forsaide golde that the fornemmyit Thomas craff, and syne the saide Thomas hanselde Wat Fresell off the saide lande and the saide Johne confermit it thare and hanselde the saide Wat of the fornemmit land fra hyme the saide Johne and his ayris to the forsaide Thomas and Wat, bath as ane and ane as bath, and al thare ayris foreuer mare, with al fredomis and profytis, as the saide charter of the saide lande beris. And thar atowre for the saide Johne grantit hyme fullely payt and content for the forsaide land be the fornemmit Thomas, the first and the last and al that betweyne. In witnesse of the quhilk thing, we the forsaide has set owre sele to thir present letteris, at Kirkwaw the xx day of the moneth of Januar, the yere off owre Lorde, mcccc xxxviij yere.

The most important political turning point came in 1469 when James III king of Scots married Margaret daughter of Christian I of Denmark-Norway. Christian, unable to pay his daughter’s dowry, pawned Orkney (and then Shetland too) to the Scottish crown and since that time Orkney has remained under Scottish rule. In 1470 James III bought the earldom from the Sinclairs and the Scottish parliament then annexed the earldom to the Scottish Crown in 1472. Scottish kings gradually extended their rule and in 1611 James VI abolished Norwegian law. During the 16th century the Scottish families of Balfour, Bellenden, Hepburn and Stewart consolidated this rule bringing in significant numbers of tenants from the mainland.