Page:An Etymological Dictionary of the Norn Language in Shetland Part I.pdf/42

XXXIV particular, many words peculiar to the south-east corner of the country, Smålenene, are found again in Shetlandic. This also is of significance in an investigation of the origin of the Shetland Norn. A wave of migration from these south-easterly parts of Norway went in a westerly and north-westerly direction out to the sea, and then from the south-westerly parts of the country a stream of immigrants went farther to the westward, to the Shetland and Orkney Isles.

One fact that plays a part in an investigation regarding the original homes of the Shetland settlers has still to be mentioned, and that is, that along with the Norn kernel in the Shetland dialect there are to be found many words that are peculiar to and Danish dialects and not to Norwegian. Some of these words appear also in Swedish dialects.

A few of these Danish words in Shetlandic can be shown to be later loan-words, and several of them certainly came in during the fifteenth century, especially after Norway had become united with Denmark, and Danish began to force its way into the speech. The Danish vocabulary in Shetlandic is, however, relatively large and of weight, and contains not a few strongly-marked old dialect words, so there certainly must be an original or, at all events, very old Danish element in Shetlandic. Some of the words may have been in use, in ancient times, both in Denmark and in southern Norway. Altogether, the occurrence of the Danish element in Shetlandic strengthens the conviction, reached on other grounds, that the central point for the emigration to Shetland is to be sought in the south-west and south of Norway.

There are also to be found a not insignificant number of words that have parallels only in Swedish dialects. But, as regards the localisation of these Swedish dialect words, investigation gives a very variegated picture, although, in this case also, the central point falls in the south. It may be remarked that a Shetland word such as, , pack-horse equipment, seems to have a parallel only in Northern Swedish, Helsingland, where “bände, bänne”, according to Rietz, are found used in a similar sense. The word is also found, indeed, in other parts of Sweden, but with other meanings.

In this connection, special notice must be taken of the Shetlandic in relation to the Norwegian. In a linguistic investigation as to the parts of Norway from which the Shetland settlers came, it is necessary to take the place-names into account, in such a manner that, on the one hand, the names from the different parts of Norway shall be examined and compared, in order to find out the peculiarities of each individual part, and that, on the other hand, the Norwegian and Shetlandic names shall be compared, in order to discover with what Norwegian place-names the Shetlandic place-names best agree.

The Norwegian settlers in Shetland would, where they did not adopt the names in use by the earlier Celtic inhabitants, give new place-names in harmony with use and wont in their original homeland, and, in many instances, they would certainly call places in their new homeland by old Norwegian names. It is not possible to