Page:Studies in Lowland Scots - Colville - 1909.djvu/190

166 the Anglian conquest of Kyle in Ayrshire, in the eighth century, contributed still more to reduce the Celtic area in the South-west. The later Lollard movement in this district was probably a consequence of this early settlement. But it is among the Cumbrian dalesmen that the Norse element has been most persistent. The Norse kingdom in Scotland, before it was swept away at the battle of Largs, was in two parts, the Norder-ey or Northern Isles (Hebrides), and the Suder-ey or Southern Isles (Man and others). The bishopric of Sodor and Man still illustrates the division. Besides this affinity of speech and race across the Solway and the Sark, there was a long-standing trade connection. For ages sturdy Galloways and wild Doddies (polled cattle) "swam the Esk river where ford there was none" their way to the southern markets.

The historical and geographical aspects of the question being-thus stated generally, let me follow up the linguistic trail. Fortunately there lies before me an altogether admirable guide in "A Glossary of the Words and Phrases pertaining to the Dialect of Cumberland." By W. Dickinson, F.L.S. Rearranged, Illustrated and Augmented by Quotations by E. W. Prevost, Ph.D., F.R.S.E. With a Short Digest of the Phonology and Grammar of the Dialect by S. Dickson Brown, B.A. (Hons.) Lond. (London: Bemrose & Sons. Carlisle: Thurnam & Sons).

This work is a new edition of that published in 1859, and now improved by the elimination of elements not specially Cumbrian, but merely peculiar pronunciations of ordinary English. The Scottish student of the vernacular must put this invaluable guide alongside of his Grigor's "Buchan Dialect," Edmonston's "Orcadian Glossary," and Dr. Murray's "Dialects of the South of Scotland"—all he has indeed to set against the magnificent dialect work that has been done in England in a field that is not any richer than his own. Dr. Prevost has now completed this great work in an admirable "Supplement." These two volumes it is a very special pleasure to me to utilize ab valuable side-lights on the Scottish vernacular.

The "Supplement" is a substantial continuation, of over two hundred pages, to the author's larger work on the same subject, published in 1900. It runs on the same admirable lines as its predecessor in the scientific treatment of idiom and