Norwegian and Scots

The Norwegian language – then Old Norse – was brought to the Orkney islands by the Vikings during the 9th century. Later studies suggest that the form of Old Norse brought to Orkney originated in the south-west of the country around the district of Rogaland near Stavanger. In the Scots language the name for Norwegian is ‘Norn’ which derives from the Old Norse word ‘Norrøna’ meaning ‘northern language’. The oldest public document from Orkney, dated 1329, is in Norwegian and dated at ‘Kirkiuwaghe in Orknæyum’ (Kirkwall in Orkney). The last document issued in a Scandinavian tongue from Orkney was a list of grievances against David Menzies of Weem in 1426. It is written mostly in Norwegian but shows Danish and Scots influences too. Norway had come under Danish rule from the 1380’s and Danish began to be introduced as an official tongue both in Norway and Orkney. Both Danish and Scots are related to Norwegian so many words existed in all three anyway. However, while Norwegian in Norway became very influenced by Danish, Norwegian in Orkney became very influenced by Scots and was ultimately replaced by it, but not before Orcadian Scots had absorbed some Norwegian words and syntax.

By 1596 it was being stated that “of the Iles of Orchnay, sum ar Inglese, sum of the language of Norway”, meaning that in some parts Scots was dominant while in others Norwegian held sway. Sir Thomas Craig, writing in 1605, stated that the everyday language of Orkney was still Norwegian, though Scots was used for official business in the churches and courts. At that time too Dutch and German were known and widely spoken by Orcadian merchants and these languages are reflected in the Orkney dialect. In the late 1600’s Mathew MacKaile (who visited Orkney in 1664) wrote the following description of Orkney: “It is very probable that the inhabitants of the Orcades of old did only speak Noords or rude Danish; but there are only three or four parishes (especially on the Mainland or Pomona) wherein that language is spoken, and that chiefly when they are at their own houses; but all speak the Scots language, as the rest of the commons do.” So by the late 17th century Norwegian in Orkney was fast becoming a minority tongue, spoken mostly in informal settings and after 1700 it declined quickly. In 1700 James Wallace, in his ‘An Account of the Islands of Orkney’ wrote that “All speak English, after the Scots way…only some of the common People amongst themselves, speak a Language they call Norns..” This is reflected in comments by the Reverend John Brand whose account, published 1701, stated that the people generally spoke English (meaning Scots) with less of an accent than other parts of northern Scotland and that a few in Harray could only speak Norwegian “…this Language not being quite extinct among them...” In a case before the Court of Session in 1757 it was stated by one man that he remembered Norwegian being spoken by a few people on mainland Orkney in former times and that two or three in Harray and Firth parishes could still speak the language. However, down to single figures, these appear to have been the last of the native speakers of Orcadian Norwegian. Certainly when George Low (a Scottish minister in Orkney) was writing in 1774, about his tour of Orkney and Shetland, he stated that there was “scarce a single man in the country” who could speak the language. It would seem that Norwegian in Orkney was becoming extinct c.1760 but it persisted further north in Shetland for perhaps another generation becoming extinct by c.1800.