CHAPTER III.

ON THE LOWLAND SCOTCH.

s. 183. The term _Lowland_ is used to distinguish the Scotch of the South-east from the Scotch of the Highlands. The former is English in its immediate affinities, and Germanic in origin; the latter is nearly the same language with the Gaelic of Ireland, and is, consequently, Celtic.

The question as to whether the Lowland Scotch is a dialect of the English, or a separate and independent language, is a verbal rather than a real one.

Reasons for considering the Scotch and English as _dialects_ of one and the same language lie in the fact of their being (except in the case of the more extreme forms of each) mutually intelligible.

Reasons for calling one a dialect of the other depend upon causes other than philological, _e.g._, political preponderance, literary development, and the like.

Reasons for treating the Scotch as a separate substantive language lie in the extent to which it has the qualities of a regular cultivated tongue, and a separate substantive literature--partially separate and substantive at the present time, wholly separate and substantive in the times anterior to the union of the crowns, and in the hands of Wyntoun, Blind Harry, Dunbar, and Lindsay.

s. 184. Reasons for making the _philological_ distinction between the English and Scotch dialects exactly coincide with the geographical and political boundaries between the two kingdoms are not so easily given. It is not likely that the Tweed and Solway should divide modes of speech so accurately as they divide laws and customs; that broad and trenchant lines of demarcation should separate the Scotch {125} from the English exactly along the line of the Border; and that there should be no Scotch elements in Northumberland, and no Northumbrian ones in Scotland. Neither is such the case. Hence, in speaking of the Lowland Scotch, it means the language in its typical rather than in its transitional forms; indeed, it means the _literary_ Lowland Scotch which, under the first five Stuarts, was as truly an independent language as compared with the English, as Swedish is to Danish, Portuguese to Spanish, or _vice vers[^a]_.

s. 185. This limitation leaves us fully sufficient room for the notice of the question as to its _origin_; a notice all the more necessary from the fact of its having created controversy.

What is the _prim[^a] facie_ view of the relations between the English of England, and the mutually intelligible language (Scotch or English, as we choose to call it) of Scotland? One of three:--

1. That it originated in England, and spread in the way of extension and diffusion northwards, and so reached Scotland.

2. That it originated in Scotland, and spread in the way of extension and diffusion southwards, and so reached England.

3. That it was introduced in each country from a common source.

In any of these cases it is Angle, or Saxon, or Anglo-Saxon, even as English is Angle, or Saxon, or Anglo-Saxon.

s. 186. A view, however, different from these, and one disconnecting the Lowland Scotch from the English and Anglo-Saxon equally, is what may be called the _Pict_ doctrine. Herein it is maintained that the Lowland _Scotch is derived from the Pict, and that the Picts were of Gothic_ origin. The reasoning upon these matters is to be found in the Dissertation upon the Origin of the Scottish Language prefixed to Jamieson's Etymological Dictionary: two extracts from which explain the view which the author undertakes to combat:--

_a._ "It is an opinion which, after many others, has been pretty generally received, and, perhaps, almost taken for granted, that the language spoken in the Lowlands of {126} Scotland is merely a corrupt dialect of the English, or at least of the Anglo-Saxon."

_b._ "It has generally been supposed that the Saxon language was introduced into Scotland in the reign of Malcolm Canmore by his good queen and her retinue; or partly by means of the intercourse which prevailed between the inhabitants of Scotland and those of Cumberland, Northumberland, Westmoreland, and Durham, which were held by the Kings of Scotland as fiefs of the crown of England. An English writer, not less distinguished for his amiable disposition and candour than for the cultivation of his mind, has objected to this hypothesis with great force of argument."

s. 187. Now, as against any such notion as that involved in the preceding extracts, the reasoning of the learned author of the Scottish Dictionary may, perhaps, be valid. No such view, however, is held, at the present moment, by any competent judge; and it is doubtful whether, in the extreme way in which it is put forward by the opponent of it, it was ever maintained at all.

Be this, however, as it may, the theory which is opposed to it rests upon the following positions--

1. That the Lowland Scotch were Picts.

2. That the Picts were Goths.

In favour of this latter view the chief reasons are--

1. That what the Belgae were the Picts were also.

2. That the Belgae were Germanic.

Again--

1. That the natives of the Orkneys were Picts.

2. That they were also Scandinavian.

So that the Picts were Scandinavian Goths.

From whence it follows that--assuming what is true concerning the Orkneys is true concerning the Lowland Scotch--the Lowland Scotch was Pict, Scandinavian, Gothic, and (as such) more or less Belgic.

For the non-Gothic character of the Picts see the researches of Mr. Garnett, as given in s. 139, as well as a paper--believed to be from the same author--in the Quarterly Review for 1834. {127}

For the position of the Belgae, see Chapter IV.

s. 188. That what is true concerning the Orkneys (viz. that they were Scandinavian) is _not_ true for the south and eastern parts of Scotland, is to be collected from the peculiar distribution of the Scottish Gaelic; which indicates a distinction between the Scandinavian of the north of Scotland and the Scandinavian of the east of England. The Lowland Scotch recedes as we go northward. Notwithstanding this, it is _not_ the extreme north that is most Gaelic. In Caithness the geographical names are Norse. _Sutherland_, the most northern county of Scotland, takes its name from being _south_; that is, of Norway. The Orkneys and Shetland are in name, manners, and language, Norse or Scandinavian. The Hebrides are Gaelic mixed with Scandinavian. The Isle of Man is the same. The word _Sodor_ (in Sodor and Man) is Norse, with the same meaning as it has in _Sutherland_. All this indicates a more preponderating, and an earlier infusion of Norse along the coast of Scotland, than that which took place under the Danes upon the coasts of England, in the days of Alfred and under the reign of Canute. The first may, moreover, have this additional peculiarity, _viz._ of being Norwegian rather than Danish. Hence I infer that the Scandinavians settled in the northern parts of Scotland at an early period, but that it was a late period when they ravaged the southern ones; so that, though the language of Orkney may be Norse, that of the Lothians may be Saxon.

To verify these views we want not a general dictionary of the Scottish language taken altogether, but a series of local glossaries, or at any rate a vocabulary, 1st, of the northern; 2ndly, of the southern Scottish.

Between the English and Lowland Scotch we must account for the likeness as well as the difference. The Scandinavian theory accounts for the difference only.

s. 189. Of the following specimens of the Lowland Scotch, the first is from The Bruce, a poem written by Barbour, Archdeacon of Aberdeen, between the years 1360 and 1375; the second from Wyntoun; the third from Blind Harry's poem, Wallace, 1460; and the fourth from Gawin Douglas's translation of the Aeneid, A.D. 1513. {128}

_The Bruce_, iv. 871--892.

And as he raid in to the nycht, So saw he, with the monys lycht, Schynnyng off scheldys gret plent['e]; And had wondre quhat it mycht be. With that all hale thai gaiff a cry, And he, that hard sa suddainly Sic noyis, sumdele affrayit was. Bot in schort time he till him tais His spyrites full hardely; For his gentill hart, and worthy, Assurit hym in to that nede. Then with the spuris he strak the sted, And ruschyt in amaing them all. The feyrst he met he gert him fall; And syne his suord he swapyt out, And roucht about him mony rout, And slew sexsum weill sone and ma: Then wndre him his horss thai sla: And he fell; but he smertty rass, And strykand rowm about him mass: And slew off thaim a quantit['e]. But woundyt wondre sar was he.

_Wyntoun's Chronicle_, I. xiii. 1--22.

Blessyde Bretayn Beelde sulde be Of all the Ilys in the Se, Quhare Flowrys are fele on Feldys fayre Hale of hewe, haylsum of ayre. Of all corne thare is copy gret, Pese and A'tys, Bere and Qwhet: B['a]th froyt on Tre, and fysche in flwde; And tyl all Catale pasture gwde. Solynus Sayis, in Brettany Sum steddys growys s['a] habowndanly Of Gyrs, that sum tym (but) thair Fe Fr['a] fwlth of Mete refrenyht be, Dhair fwde sall turne tham to peryle, To rot, or bryst, or dey sum quhyle. Dhare wylde in Wode has welth at wille; Dhare hyrdys hydys Holme and Hille: Dhare Bwyis bowys all for Byrtht, {129} B['a]the Merle and Ma[:w]esys mellys for myrtht: Dhare huntyng is at all kyne Dere, And rycht gud hawlkyn on Bywer; Of Fysche thaire is habowndance; And nedfulle thyng to Mannys substance.

_Wallace_, xi. 230-262.

A lord off court, quhen he approchyt thar, Wnwisytly sperd, withoutyn prouision; "Wallace, dar ye go fecht on our lioun?" And he said; "Ya, so the Kyng suffyr me; Or on your selff, gyff ye ocht bettyr be." Quhat will ye mar? this thing amittyt was, That Wallace suld on to the lioun pas. The King thaim chargyt to bring him gud harnas: Then he said; "Nay, God scheild me fra sic cass. I wald tak weid, suld I fecht with a man; But (for) a dog, that nocht off armes can, I will haiff nayn, bot synglar as I ga." A gret manteill about his hand can ta, And his gud suerd; with him he tuk na mar; Abandounly in barrace entryt thar. Gret chenys was wrocht in the yet with a gyn, And pulld it to quhen Wallace was tharin. The wod lyoun, on Wallace quhar he stud, Rampand he braid, for he desyryt blud; With his rude pollis in the mantill rocht sa. Aukwart the bak than Wallace can him ta, With his gud suerd, that was off burnest steill, His body in twa it thruschyt euirilkdeill. Syn to the King he raykyt in gret ire, And said on lowd; "Was this all your desyr, To wayr a Scot thus lychtly in to wayn? Is thar mar doggis at ye wald yeit haiff slayne? Go, bryng thaim furth, sen I mon doggis qwell, To do byddyng, quhill that with thee duell. It gaynd full weill I graithit me to Scotland; For grettar deidis thair men has apon hand, Than with a dog in battaill to escheiff-- At you in France for euir I tak my leiff."

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_Gawin Douglas_, Aen. ii.

As Laocon that was Neptunus priest, And chosin by cavil vnto that ilk office, Ane fare grete bull offerit in sacrifice, Solempnithe before the haly altere, Throw the still sey from Tenedos in fere, Lo twa gret lowpit edderis with mony thraw First throw the flude towart the land can draw. (My sprete abhorris this matter to declare) Aboue the wattir thare hals stude euirmare, With bludy creistis outwith the wallis hie, The remanent swam always vnder the se, With grisly bodyis lynkit mony fald, The salt fame stouris from the fard they hald, Unto the ground thay glade with glowand ene, Stuffit full of venom, fire and felloun tene, With tounges quhissling in thar mouthis red, Thay lik the twynkilland stangis in thar hed. We fled away al bludles for effere. Bot with ane braide to Laocon in fere Thay stert attanis, and his twa sonnys zyng First athir serpent lappit like ane ring, And with thare cruel bit, and stangis fell, Of tender membris tuke mony sory morsel; Syne thay the preist invadit baith twane, Quhilk wyth his wappins did his besy pane His childer for to helpen and reskew. Bot thay about him lowpit in wympillis threw, And twis circulit his myddel round about, And twys faldit thare sprutillit skynnis but dout, About his hals, baith neck and hed they schent. As he ettis thare hankis to haue rent, And with his handis thaym away haue draw, His hede bendis and garlandis all war blaw Full of vennum and rank poysoun attanis, Quhilk infekkis the flesche, blude, and banys.

s. 190. In the way of orthography, the most characteristic difference between the English and Scotch is the use, on the part of the latter, of _qu_ for _wh_; as _quhen_, _quhare_, _quhat_, for _when_, _where_, _what_. The substitution of _sch_ for _sh_ (as _scho_ for _she_), and of _z_ for the Old English _[gh]_ (as _zour_ for _[gh]eowr_, _your_), is as much northern English as Scotch. {131}

In pronunciation, the substitution of _d_ for _dh_ (if not a point of spelling), as in _fader_ for _father_; of _a_ for _o_, as _b['a]ith_ for _both_; of _s_ for _sh_, as _sall_ for _shall_; and the use of the guttural sound of _ch_, as in _loch_, _nocht_, are the same.

The ejection of the _n_ before _t_, or an allied sound, and the lengthening of the preceding vowel, by way of compensation, as in _begouth_ for _beginneth_, seems truly Scotch. It is the same change that in Greek turns the radical syllable [Greek: odont] into [Greek: odous].

The formation of the plural of verbs in _-s_, rather than in _-th_ (the Anglo-Saxon form), is Northern English as well as Scotch:--Scotch, _slepys_, _lovys_; Northern English, _slepis_, _lovis_; Old English, _slepen_, _loven_; Anglo-Saxon _slepiadh_, _lufiadh_.

The formation of the plural number of the genitive case by the addition of the syllable _-is_ (_blastis_, _birdis_, _bloomis_), instead of the letter _-s_ (_blasts_, _birds_, _blooms_), carries with it a metrical advantage, inasmuch as it gives a greater number of double rhymes.

The same may be said of the participial forms, _affrayit_, _assurit_, for _affrayd_, _assured_.

Concerning the comparative rate of change in the two languages no general assertion can be made. In the Scotch words _sterand_, _slepand_, &c., for _steering_, _sleeping_, the form is antiquated, and Anglo-Saxon rather than English. It is not so, however, with the words _thai_ (_they_), _thaim_ (_them_), _thair_ (_their_), compared with the contemporary words in English, _heo_, _hem_, _heora_. In these it is the Scottish that is least, and the English that is most Anglo-Saxon.

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