Page:An Etymological Dictionary of the Norn Language in Shetland Part I.pdf/33

Rh there till the bear appeared on the scene and licked the butter, and then, when it had lain down to sleep, seize his opportunity and bind it with ropes. Tait acted according to her advice. The bear, after having licked the butter, felt heavy, lay down and fell asleep, whereupon Tait, who had been watching, hastened to tie the animal with strong ropes. He managed to bring the bear alive before the king, but the king, wanting to be rid of him, ordered him out of his sight, bidding him to take the bear home with him to Shetland. Tait went back to Fetlar with the bear and transported it from there to the island of Yell-Linga (off the Yell coast), where there is a spot still called “the Bear’s Bait”, which name is known by very few people now. There is a green circle in the island, said to have been made by the bear’s walking around the pole to which it was tethered.

Mid-Yell was the centre from which I made journeys to de Herra, to North Yell, to East Yell, and to Fetlar.

In North Yell I got very special help from J. Fraser, carpenter, who had a most intimate knowledge of the old dialects of the district. To him I am indebted for the variant of the “Conningsburgh Phrase”, mentioned in “Fragments of Norn”; and to his daughter Margaret Fraser for the riddle in Norn about the melting snowflakes. Mr. Sandison, the merchant at Cullivoe, with whom I stayed part of the time, gave me good indirect help. — I also received good assistance from Wm. Brown, bookseller, a native of Fetlar, settled in Mid-Yell. In the course of his journeys in the North Isles, Brown collected a quantity of linguistic material, which he willingly placed at the disposal of L. Williamson and myself.

The two brothers Charleson, John and David, both old men, natives of de Herra, had a unique knowledge of the old dialect of their native district, and from them I obtained many obsolete words belonging to de Herra, especially from John Charleson, who was blind. The explanations accompanying the words were very exact and striking.

Among my informants who were settled in de Herra, I will name Thomas Henry of Buster, and Gilbert Gilbertson of Raga. To the first of these I am indebted for a proverbial expression in Norn and a couple of fragments of songs in Norn.

After returning to Lerwick and staying there again for a short while, I went a second time to Conningsburgh; and from there proceeded to Dunrossness, the most southerly parish in Shetland. Dunrossness, which is generally spoken of as “the Ness”, has been more strongly affected by the influence of Lowland Scottish than the other parts of Shetland, and, as a consequence, the Norn element here has been pushed further into the background. Nevertheless I found in Dunrossness a certain Norn vocabulary, peculiar to that parish. There exists a certain difference between the various parts of, especially between the most northerly and the most southerly.

Among my helpers in I will mention Mr. and Mrs. Jamieson of De Mul, Levenwick, from whom I got information not only about Levenwick and the surrounding district, but also about Sandwick, the most northerly part of, though only in a parochial sense belonging to it. For the middle part of I will name my host Andrew Goudie, of Braefield, Clumlie, a brother of the antiquary Gilbert Goudie of Edinburgh, already mentoned. A. Goudie and his family gave