The Orcadian dialect

The native language of Orkney today is a dialect of Scots, called Orcadian, but it is a dialect significantly shaped by past contact with Norwegian.

  The first real study of the dialect was Edmonston’s An Etymological Glossary of the Shetland and Orkney Dialect published in 1866.  The Faroese scholar Jakob Jakobsen then made visits to Orkney during the period 1909-1914 and wrote academic studies about the dialect down to the 1930’s.  Jakobsen concluded that the grammatical structure of the dialect was Scots but that there was significant Norwegian vocabulary.  In the history of such studies Orcadian has tended to be overshadowed by work done on Shetland where it was long believed that Norwegian influence had been more lasting.

There are indications that Orkney began developing its own dialect of Scots from an early period.  For example John Ben, who lived in the islands in 1529, wrote a Latin description in which he stated that they (Orcadians) “…use a peculiar idiomatic expression, as when we say Guid day, Guidman, they say goand da, boundae, etc.”  In 1701 the Reverend John Brand also commented of the Orcadians that though their language was generally the same as the north of Scotland “yet several of the Isles have some Words and Phrases peculiar to themselves.” 

Today the main distinction in accent is that between the mainland of Orkney and the north islands, though each island has its distinct features.  In the north islands name, tale and table are pronounced as neem, teel and teeble, for instance.  These are pronunciations that were once standard in mainland Scots.  It is also common in the north isles for a hard c or k to be pronounced as ch where care or cake become chair and chek. 

Certain characteristics demonstrate the Norwegian background to Scots as spoken in Orkney.  In an earlier period the sound th was pronounced as d or t (at start of words) giving us tink (think) and midder (mother), though this is less common today.  The sound ö used in Scandinavian was once also common as in shö (she) and dö (do) but is now also uncommon.  Still used today is the Norwegian present participle ending -andi which is pronounced in Orcadian as -an while the dialect distinguishes between present participle -an and verbal noun -in.  It is also usual for j and soft g to be pronounced as ch in Orkney generally so germs become cherms and jaggie becomes chaggie.

Like Shetland, Orcadian still uses the pronoun thoo in an informal sense when addressing family or friends: “Whit daes thoo think o that?” (What do you think of that?) and with a verb in the present tense ending in s: “Tak thee book wi thee when thoo goes tae bed.”  In Scots generally where words end in -it (-ed in English), the Orcadian takes the form -id, so general Scots lockit (locked) and biggit (built) become lockid and biggid.

Writing in Orcadian dialect took off during the 19th century, appearing as short articles, letters and poems in the popular press.  A good example of Orcadian used for a formal discourse is the lecture given by JT Smith Leask in 1906 before the Glasgow Orkney and Shetland Literary and Scientific Association.  The following extract illustrates well the characteristics of Orcadian pronunciation and vocabulary:

“Trou da hairst dat wanjoy Secretary o’ wirs – Tamson – speered me gin I wadna gae a paper I’ wir ain dialec.  I telt’im at aince ‘at I hed been sae lang awa fae hame ‘at feinty bit o’ me minded on ony o’d, an’ even gin I deud I hed tent da way o’ makin’ a dacent discourse.  Da common galloos wadna leed tae me, bit jeust pat me doon for id.  Tae mak a lang story short, he sent a lang screed back tae me sayin ‘I high English “Thu’re a leer.”  Noo, bairns, I pit id tae yersels, waas dat right?  I wad hae taen da laa api’ ‘im for takin’ awa me guid name ‘I dat wey gin gin id warna ‘at ‘a body kens laaweers ar’ sic scoondrels dey wad hae jeust reuined is baith, sae I made ap me mind hid wad be better tae geong aboot wi’ a little wirt name nor loss da twa tree babees I hae…”

The following sources may prove useful to those with an interest in Orcadian:

The Orkney Dictionary, Margaret Flaws and Gregor Lamb (Kirkwall, 1996)

The Language of the People: Scots prose From the Victorian Revival, William Donaldson (Aberdeen, 1989)

‘Reflections on the Structure and the Demise of Orkney and Shetland Norn’, Michael P Barnes, in ‘Language Contact in the British isles’ P Sture Ireland and George Broderick (eds), (Isle of Man, 1988)

www.orkneyjar.com/orkney/dialectarchive

Picture from Euan Smith www.cottageguide.co.uk/garden-kierfiold/

For more information about Orkney www.visitorkney.com


 

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