| Cumbric | ||
|---|---|---|
| Spoken in | ||
| Language extinction | 11th - 12th century[1] | |
| Language family | Indo-European | |
| Language codes | ||
| ISO 639-1 | None | |
| ISO 639-2 | cel | |
| ISO 639-3 | xcb | |
| Linguasphere | ||
Cumbric was a variety of the Celtic spoken in the Hen Ogledd or "Old North" of what is now northern England and southern Lowland Scotland, the area anciently known as Cumbria, during the Early Middle Ages.[2] It was closely related to Old Welsh and the other Brythonic languages. Place name evidence suggests Cumbric speakers may have carried it into other parts of Northern England as migrants from its core area further north.[3] It may also have been spoken as far south as the Yorkshire Dales. Most linguists believe that it became extinct in the 12th century, after the incorporation of the semi-independent Kingdom of Strathclyde into the Kingdom of Scotland.
It is debated whether Cumbric should be considered a separate language or a dialect of Welsh. The land connection between the Brythonic speaking areas of the Old North and those of Wales was severed after the Battle of Chester in 616, which appears to have sealed the Northumbrian conquest of Cheshire, although some maritime links between the areas would have remained. In the 10th century the Brythonic speaking Kingdom of Strathclyde appears to have maintained hegemony over Cumberland - though possibly not Copeland - and the Eden Valley down to Stainmore[4][5][6]. The original boundaries of the Diocese of Carlisle are said traditionally to mark the extent of the rule of Strathclyde.[7] Cumbric placenames are also common in Lothian,[8][9] Peebleshire, Dumfriesshire, Lanarkshire and Ayrshire.[10] They exist in Galloway but are overlain and influenced by Gaelic settlement there.[11][12] Many of these areas were outside the supposed political control of Strathclyde and so Cumbric is not to be solely identified with that kingdom.
It is impossible for us to know whether language innovations were transmitted between Cumbria and the Welsh of Wales, or how long Brythonic speech persisted in areas under English political control. However, the Celtic place-name cluster around Wigan suggests that there may have been pockets in which the language survived for a considerable time.
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Dauvit Broun sets out the problems with the various terms used to describe the Cumbric language and its speakers.[13] The people seem to have called themselves *Cumbri the same way that the Welsh call themselves Cymry (most likely from British *kom-brogi meaning 'fellow countrymen'). It is likely that the Welsh and the Cumbric speaking people of what are now Southern Scotland and Northern England felt they were actually one ethnic group. The Gaels usually called them 'Breatnaich' or 'Cuimrich'. The Norse called them 'Brettar'. In Medieval Latin the English term Wales and the term Cumbri were Latinised as 'Wallenses' of Wales or 'Cumbrenses' of Cumbria. The traditional English usage was to call them Welsh. In Scots a Cumbric speaker seems to have been called 'Wallace', from the Scots Wallis/Wellis Welsh.
The Latinate term Cambria is often used for Wales; nevertheless, the Life of St Kentigern by Jocelin of Furness has the following passage:
Although the language is long extinct it is arguable that traces of its vocabulary persisted into the modern era. In the 19th and 20th centuries sheep counts and children's counting rhymes which are possibly derived from Cumbric were collected throughout northern England and southern Scotland: for example Yan, Tan, Tethera, Methera, Pimp compared with Old Welsh Un, Dou, Tri, Petwar, Pimp. Whether these counting systems bear any relation to the Brythonic dialects spoken in the region is a matter of some debate. It has been argued that these numerals were introduced to England by Welsh shepherds or monks during the medieval period. The fact that some have also been collected outside of the region in which Cumbric was spoken may indicate that they were a later introduction from Wales, or less probably that they are part of a wider Celtic sub-stratum. It is also possible that the counting systems were preserved in the Cumbric speaking region then exported into neighbouring areas.
More concrete evidence of Cumbric exists in the place-names of the extreme northwest of England and the South of Scotland, the personal names of Strathclyde Britons in Scottish, Irish and Anglo-Saxon sources, and a few Cumbric words surviving into the High Middle Ages in South West Scotland as legal terms.
From this scanty evidence, little can be deduced about the singular characteristics of Cumbric, not even the name by which its speakers referred to it. What is known is that the language was Brythonic Insular Celtic, descended from Old North Welsh, related to the presumed Brythonic Pictish language, and to Cornish and Breton. Due to its location, it is likely that Goidelic and Scandinavian loan-words were incorporated into the language before its demise.
Some linguists argue that the differences between Cumbric and Old Welsh are not enough to classify Cumbric as a separate language or, if it is so classified, at what point it can be considered to have become sufficiently separate. No definitive answer to such questions can really be given, partly because data on Cumbric is very sparse (or comes to us through Welsh sources), but chiefly because no principled distinction can be made in any case between languages and dialects.
Differences that apparently existed between Cumbric and Welsh include the final sound of such forms as *lanerc (grove), which are invariably found without the [x] sound of Welsh llannerch. Examples are Lanark and Lanercost. Jackson[16] thought that the development of [rk] to [rx] which happened in Welsh may have happened later in Cumbric or not at all. This feature is also found in Pictish or Pritennic placenames further north and it may be that in this Cumbric was closer to Pictish than to Welsh.[3] Koch[17] sees Cumbric going with Welsh rather than Pictish, although place name evidence suggests that the three languages were quite similar.[18] It may well be that during the period all three survived their speakers could understand each other. Certainly the Cumbric speakers and the Welsh both called themselves "Cymry" and Welsh tradition shows that they felt themselves to be close kin or even one people - 'Remnants of the True and Ancient Britons'.
Another possible difference between Welsh and Cumbric was noted by Jackson[16] in the legal term "galnys", equivalent to Welsh "galanas", which he felt might show syncope. Similar syncope seems also to be found in the (presumably Pictish) name of the Mounth (?= Cumbric *monidh).
Noted above was the apparent lack of aspiration found in Lanercost and Lanark, but the Cumbric word *monidh (Welsh 'mynydd') is regularly found apparently exhibiting both syncope and lack of aspiration in many place names e.g. Kinmont (as in Kinmont Willie) and Trimont (now a caravan site north of Carlisle). James mentions the lack of voicing also found in many Cumbric place-names[3]. One example (not James's) is Rutter Falls — a farm by a waterfall in Westmorland, which seems to contain a word cognate with Rhayader in Powys, namely 'rhaeadr' — a cataract, but with an unvoiced [t] instead of the voiced sound [d], but there are many other examples of this phenomenon e.g. Tinnis Castle, Drumelzier from the word dinas - a fort. As Watson points out this devoicing is also found in the Cornish name Tintagel from din - a fort [10].
Another feature is the loss of the semivowel [w]. Watson[10] cites the Galloway dialect word "gossock" which is presumably the Cumbric equivalent of the Welsh "gwas" a servant or a knave with the diminutive -og ending (note again lack of voice). This lacks the [w] of the Welsh word. The same feature is apparently found in the personal name Gospatrick - in Welsh this would be 'Gwaspadrig'. The place-name Niddrie apparently represents a Cumbric equivalent of Newydd-dre, 'New Settlement' but again lacking aspiration and the semivowel [w]. We should also note the pronunciation of Carlisle as [karlail]. The Welsh for Carlisle is Caerliwelydd. In Bede it is Luel from a Latinised British Luguvalium. Caer was prefixed by Cumbric speakers after Bede's time. The point to note is that again the [w] sound has disappeared. Loss of [w] is not uniform however and Gospatrick in his charter refers to his wassenas or his retainers which seems to be a Cumbric wassen (Welsh gweision) with an Anglo-Saxon plural appended [19].
These observations based on surviving Cumbric forms thus hint at ways in which Cumbric might have differed from Welsh, although they do nothing to answer the question of whether or not Cumbric should be considered a separate language. It is further worth noting that modern spelling does not necessarily accurately reflect historical pronunciation; moreover, the phonology of the place names has been affected by transmission through English.
It is impossible to give an exact date of the extinction of Cumbric. However, there are some pointers which may give a reasonably accurate estimate. In the mid 11th century some landowners still bore what appear to be Cumbric names. Examples of such landowners are Dunegal (Dyfnwal), lord of Strathnith or Nithsdale;[20] Moryn (Morien), lord of Cardew and Cumdivock near Carlisle and Eilifr (Eliffer), lord of Penrith.[21]
There is a village near Carlisle called Cumwhitton (earlier Cumquinton). This appears to contain the Norman name Quinton[19] There were no Normans in this area until 1069 at the earliest.
In the Battle of the Standard in 1138, the Cumbrians are noted as a separate ethnic group. Given that their material culture was very similar to their Gaelic and Anglian neighbours, it is arguable that what set them apart was still their language [22]. Also the castle at Castle Carrock – Castell Caerog dates from around 1160-1170. Barmulloch earlier Badermonoc (Cumbric *bod-ir-monoc – Monk’s Dwelling) was given to the church by King Mael Choluim IV between 1153-1165.
A more controversial point is the surname Wallace. It means “Welshman”. It is possible that all the Wallaces in the Clyde area were medieval immigrants from Wales, but given that the term was also used for local Cumbric speaking Strathclyde Welsh it seems equally if not more likely that the surname refers to people who were seen as being "Welsh" due to their Cumbric language. Surnames in Scotland were not inherited before 1200 and not regularly until 1400. William Wallace (known in Gaelic as Uilleam Breatnach – namely William the Briton or Welshman) came from the Renfrew area – itself a Cumbric name. Wallace slew the sheriff of Lanark (also a Cumbric name) in 1297. Even if he had inherited the surname from his father it is possible that the family spoke Cumbric within memory in order to be thus named.
There are also some historical pointers to a continuing separate ethnic identity. David I, before he was crowned king of Scotland was invested with the title Prince of the Cumbrians in 1124. William I of Scotland between 1173-1180 made an address to his subjects, identifying the Cumbrians as a separate ethnic group[13]. This does not prove that any of them still spoke Cumbric at this time.
The legal documents in the Lanercost Cartulary dating from the late 12th Century show witnesses with Norman French or English names, and no obvious Cumbric names. Though these people represent the upper classes, it seems significant that by the late 12th century in the Lanercost area, Cumbric is not obvious in these personal names[23] .
Given that the Anglicisation of the upper classes in general has happened before the Anglicisation of the peasantry in other areas which have given up speaking Celtic languages it is not implausible that the peasantry, "y werin" in Welsh terminology, continued to speak Cumbric for at least a little while after. Around 1200 there is a list of the names of men living in the area of Peebles[10]. Amongst them are Cumbric names such as Gospatrick: servant or follower of St Patrick, Gosmungo: servant of St Mungo, Guososwald: servant of St Oswald and Goscubrycht: servant of St Cuthbert. This practice of putting 'gwas' meaning 'servant' in front of a saint's name is not found in Wales though it is found in Gaelic — where either 'maol' or 'gille' is put in front. Also, two of the saints — Oswald and Cuthbert —are from Northumbria showing influence on Cumbric not found in Welsh.
By 1262 in Peebles jurymen in a legal dispute over peat cutting have names which mostly appear Norman French or English [24]. Possible exceptions are Gauri Pluchan, Cokin Smith and Richard Gladhoc, where Gladhoc has the look of an adjective similar to Welsh "gwladog" = "countryman". In the charters of Wetherall Priory near Carlisle there is a monk called Robert Minnoc who appears as a witness to 8 charters dating from around 1260 [25]. His name is variously spelled Minnoc/Minot/Mynoc and it is tempting to see an equivalent of the Welsh "mynach" - "Robert the Monk" here. However his name is the only one that can remotely be interpreted as Cumbric from among the witnesses.
The royal seal of Alexander III (who reigned 4 September 1241 – 19 March 1286) bore the title "Rex Scotorum et Britanniarum", or "King of Scots and Britons".
In 1305 Edward I of England prohibited the laws of the Scots and the Brets [26] The term Brets or Britons refers to the native, traditionally Cumbric speaking people of southern Scotland.
It seems that Cumbric could well have survived into the middle of the 12th Century as a community language and even lasted into the 13th on the tongues of the last remaining speakers. Certain areas seem to be particularly dense in Cumbric place-names even down to very minor features. The two most striking of these are around Lanercost east of Carlisle and around Torquhan south of Edinburgh. If the 1262 names from Peebles do contain traces of Cumbric personal names then we can imagine Cumbric dying out between 1250 and 1300 at the very latest.
The most probable end of the Cumbric language was in the late 13th century, and the effects of the Black Death may have eradicated the last of the possible Cumbric speakers. There is nothing to substantiate the curious statement by Joseph Lucas, who first collected the counting system (below) that Cumbric was reported to have continued being spoken in Swaledale (Yorkshire) as late as the 19th Century.[27]
| * | Keswick | Westmorland | Eskdale | Millom | High Furness | Wasdale | Teesdale | Swaledale | Wensleydale | Ayrshire | Modern Welsh |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | yan | yan | yaena | aina | yan | yan | yan | yahn | yan | yinty | un |
| 2 | tyan | tyan | taena | peina | taen | taen | tean | tayhn | tean | tinty | dau |
| 3 | tethera | tetherie | teddera | para | tedderte | tudder | tetherma | tether | tither | tetheri | tri |
| 4 | methera | peddera | meddera | pedera | medderte | anudder | metherma | mether | mither | metheri | pedwar |
| 5 | pimp | gip | pimp | pimp | pimp | nimph | pip | mimp(h) | pip | bamf | pump |
| 6 | sethera | teezie | hofa | ithy | haata | - | lezar | hith-her | teaser | leetera | chwech |
| 7 | lethera | mithy | lofa | mithy | slaata | - | azar | lith-her | leaser | seetera | saith |
| 8 | hovera | katra | seckera | owera | lowera | - | catrah | anver | catra | over | wyth |
| 9 | dovera | hornie | leckera | lowera | dowa | - | horna | danver | horna | dover | naw |
| 10 | dick | dick | dec | dig | dick | - | dick | dic | dick | dik | deg |
| 15 | bumfit | bumfit | bumfit | bumfit | mimph | - | bumfit | mimphit | bumper | - | pymtheg |
| 20 | giggot | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | Jiggit | - | ugain |
The numbers show some similarity to one another; some forms have clearly been altered by folk etymology (e.g. bumper) or to follow rhyming patterns (e.g. yan, tan; leetera, seetera). In some cases, there is semantic shift (for example, in Ayrshire, seetera means seven, but in Keswick, sethera is six).
The Cumbric origin of these counting systems is debatable, but there is a clear Celtic component in their origin, (compare e.g. pethera/methera with Welsh pedwar). Similar Yan Tan Tethera counts have been collected throughout upland England. This may show some support for James's theory of the diaspora of Cumbric speakers moving out from the Clyde basin and settling widely across northern England.[3]
Cumbric placenames are found in Scotland south of the firths of Forth and Clyde. Brythonic names north of this line are arguably Pictish. They are also found commonly in the historic county of Cumberland and bordering areas of Northumberland. They are less common in Westmorland with some in Lancashire and the adjoining areas of North Yorkshire. As we approach Cheshire, late Brythonic placenames are probably better described as being Welsh rather than Cumbric. As noted above, however, any clear distinction between Cumbric and Welsh is difficult to prove. For references see Armstrong et al. [19], Watson [10] and Jackson [16]. There remain many Brythonic place-names in Northern England which should not be described as Cumbric because they originate from a period before Brythonic split into its daughter dialects e.g. Welsh, Cornish, Breton and — arguably — Cumbric.
Here is a list of some of these names and their translations.
A number of words occurring in Scottish and Northern England dialects of English have been proposed as being of possible Brythonic origin[32]. Ascertaining the real derivation of these words is far from simple, due in part to the similarities between some cognates in the Brythonic and Goidelic languages (see Linn below, for instance) and the fact that borrowing took place in both directions between these languages. Another difficulty lies with some words which were taken into Old English as in many cases it is impossible to tell whether the borrowing is directly from Brythonic or not (see Brogat, Crag). The following are possibilities:
In 2009 a small group of enthusiasts working on the text of the Hen Ogledd proposed a Cumbric revival. Their term for the language is Cwmbraic.[33] In May 2009 the group launched a website "Cumbric Revival Community Network" and has been working on reconstructing and adapting the "forgotten" Brythonic language of Cumberland to a modern setting using such online media as YouTube and Facebook.[33][34]
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