Scandinavian invasions

Lecture 4

Middle English

Historical background from the 5^th to 15^th c;

Linguistic situation; Written records;

In the 11^th c. feudalism in Britain was already well established. According to a survey made in the late 11^th c. slaves and freeman were declining classes. Under natural economy, characteristics of feudalism, most of the things needed for the life of the lord and villain were produced on the estate. Feudal manors were separated from their neighbors by tolls, local feuds, and various restrictions concerning settlement, travelling, and employment. These historical conditions produced a certain influence on the development of the language.

The main dialectal division in England, which survived in later ages with some slight modification of boundaries and considerable dialect mixture, goes back to feudal stage of British history.

In the age of poor communication dialect boundaries often coincided with geographical barriers such as rivers, forests and mountains, as these barriers would hinder the diffusion of linguistic features.

In addition to economic, geographical and social conditions, dialectal differences in Early ME were accentuated by some historical events, namely the Scandinavian invasion and the Norman Conquest.

Scandinavian invasions

Though the Scandinavian invasions of England are dated in the OE period, their effect on the language is particularly apparent in ME.

We may recall that since the 8^th c. the British Isles were ravaged by sea rovers from Scandinavia, first by Danes, later- by Norwegians. By the end of the 9^th c. the Danes had succeeded in obtaining a permanent footing in England. More than half of England was yielded to the invaders and recognized as Danish territory- “Danelaw”.

The Scandinavian made their permanent home in North East England. In the early years of occupation the Danish settlements were little more than armed camps. But gradually the conditions stabilized and the Danes began to bring their families. The new settlers and the English intermarried; they lived close together and didn’t differ either in social rank or in the level of culture and customs; there was no linguistic barrier between them.(OE and O Scandinavian belonged to the Germanic group of languages and at that time were much closer than their descendants are today.

The colonization continued from the 9^th c. on, during two hundred years, which witnessed diverse political events: the re-conquest of Danelaw under Alfred’s successors, the renewal of Scandinavian onslaughts in the late 10^th c. and the political annexation of England by Denmark under Canute (In 1017 Canute was acknowledged as the king of a great northern empire and England became its part).

In the areas of the heaviest settlement the Scandinavian outnumbered the Anglo-Saxon population, which is attested by geographical names. In Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, Northumberland, Cumberland – up to 75 percent of the place-names are Danish or Norwegian. Altogether more than 1,400 English villages and towns bear names of Scandinavian origin (with the element thorp meaning “village”, Woodthorp, Linthorp; toft “a piece of land” Brimtoft, Lowestoft etc. We find a large

admixture of Scandinavian words in Early ME coming from the North East.

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