T CUMBRIAN ETYMOLOGY. HE speech of Cumberland is in the main of Anglian origin. The Angles, or Engles, who were near akin to the Saxon invaders of South Britain, came from Schleswig in the fifth century, and took possession of our eastern coasts. In course of time they spread over the low-lying plains of Cumberland, which are thickly studded with villages whose names, ending in -ton, betray the fact that they were originally settlements established by these Teutonic conquerors. The word tûn in their language meant-literally, the hedge surrounding a farm or collection of farms, and hence the farm or "town" itself. We seem to trace the advance of the Angles along the road which flanked the Roman Wall to Denton, Brampton, Walton, Hayton, Irthington, and Houghton, and westward again to Wigton, Waverton, Brayton, Broughton, Workington, and so forth; while the extensive forest of Inglewood, or the Angle's wood, which covered all the country between Carlisle and Penrith, was full of their homesteads. Some centuries later the Danes, a people whose language shows both Scandinavian and Teutonic characteristics, entered Cumberland, apparently by the same route as their predecessors; for their settlements, distinguished by names ending in -by (the Danish term for a village) are interspersed amongst those of the Angles along the valleys of the Irthing and the Eden, at Boothby, Newby, Corby, Wallby, Crosby, Aglionby, Scotby, and Harraby; and upon the lowlands which fringe the western coast we find Oughterby, Gamblesby, Thursby (named of Thor, the god of war), Allonby, Ireby, Flimby, Moresby, and Ponsonby. But it is significant that both Angle and Dane (the remark is not my own) avoided the more mountainous, and therefore less fertile, tracts of the Lake District, and there is reason to believe that those sparsely-populated regions, after remaining for a time in the occupation of their original Celtic inhabitants, were finally (as we noticed in a previous paper 1) taken possession of by colonies of Norsemen from the Isle of Man. "The Cumberland Dialect," Gentleman's Magazine, May 1895. The termination -scale in local names has been held to be an indication of this Norse occupation, for skali in the old Norwegian language meant a wooden hut erected for the use of those who tend cattle or sheep. It occurs in Seascale, Priorscale, Winscales, and Deanscales, near the sea-coast, and in Bowscale fell, Lonscale fell, and Portingscales in the Lake District. It is peculiar to the western side of the county. The Danes had a corresponding word, skial, which throughout East Cumberland has been corrupted into shield, as in Jockeyshield and Wetheralshield. But Scaleby is obviously Danish, and derived, not from the Norse skali, but from the Danish skial. So, too, the termination wreay or wray, pronounced rea, may be either the old Norse vra or the Danish vraa, a nook or corner. Many localities retain the names originally bestowed upon them by the Celtic Britons, those, for example, which have the prefix cum, which is the Welsh cum, a valley. Anderson, the local poet, enumerates them : There's Cumwhitton, Cumwhinton, Cumranton, Some of the above names, it will be observed, have the Anglo-Saxon "-ton" superadded to them. The familiar Celtic prefixes, Pen, a hill-top, and Caer, a fortress, appear in Penrith and Penruddock (which both signify "red hill"), Cardurnock, and Carlisle, or Caer-Leol. Durnock may be the Gaelic dwr-cnoc, "water hill," or else a proper name. Leol is merely a contraction of Luguvallium, the Roman name of Carlisle, and the Latinised form of some unpronounceable appellation by which the Britons designated the site of that city. In Talkin we recognise the Celtic word talcen, a brow, and in Castle Carrock we may trace the Gaelic carragh (which means a large stone set on end), or the Welsh careg, a rock. The river-names of the county are for the most part of Celtic origin. Thus the Irthing, wandering over the alluvial plain, is believed to derive its name from the Welsh gwryddu, to writhe or turn, and the Gelt, dashing over its bed of red sandstone, from the Celtic galt, a rock. Of mountain-names Helvellyn, the yellow mountain, Rivelyn, the red mountain, and Blencathra, the seat mountain (the ancient name of Saddleback), are Celtic. The Gaelic word cathair and Welsh cader means a chair, and Blaen is a Welsh term for a hill-top, occurring in other local names, such as Blencow and Blennerhasset. Before leaving the subject of the nomenclature of the county, we may take occasion to notice some of the "field-names." This class is especially interesting, as many of them contain terms which are either obsolete or are rapidly becoming' so, while others have reference to the former condition and aspect of the country. For example, "Lingy close," "Whinny hills," "Broom riggs," and "Breckony know," indicate plots of ground recently enclosed and still overgrown with the wild plants which clothed the neighbouring commons, while "Brock-holes" tells us of the whilom haunt of the now extinct brock or badger. The following selection is taken from the maps of the Edmond Castle Estate, and is fairly representative of North Cumberland : Barras-dyke.- An ancient rampart of earth, forming the western boundary of the great group of manors known as the Barony of Gilsland. Barras Bridge is the name of a locality at Newcastle-onTyne. The old French word barres meant barriers, or lists erected for combatants, and the Scotch apply the term barras-door to a door formed of wooden bars set at equal distances apart. Barras-dyke, therefore, means the "boundary fence." Butt-riggs, a ridge formed by an outcrop of rock, at Talkin. Butt is defined in Jamieson's Scotch dictionary as "a piece of ground which in ploughing does not form a proper ridge, but is excluded as an angle." Butt-riggs seems, therefore, to mean the short ridges abutting on the corner of a ploughed field, and hence the corner itself. We may compare with this name the Cumbrian word butt, meaning the trunk of a tree, derived from the Norse but-r, a stump, and also the French bout, an extremity. Carr-boggs. The old Norse word Kjarr and the Danish Kar mean marshy ground, hence the Cumbrian word carr, a bog. Clay-hurleys, "the clay whirls."-A place near Little Corby where the river Irthing hurls or whirls suddenly in its course around the foot of a steep clay bank. There is an old Swedish verb hworla, meaning to whirl. Cowran. The spot where the Newcastle and Carlisle Railway passes through what is believed to be the deepest cutting in Eng'and. The name of the place is derived from the Celtic corn, a pile or cairn. Dead dimples. So named from the dipples or hollows in t field which were found unfertile. Faugh (pronounced Faff) is an old word meaning a fallow, derived from the Anglo-Saxon Fealg. The pronunciation of "gh" final as "f" is of common occurrence in the Cumberland dialect. Thus the names Hough, Waugh, and Burgh are pronounced Hoff, Woff, and Bruff. The standard English pronunciation adopts the same sound in the words cough, trough, and enough. Forth-gate.-Forth is an old mode of spelling and pronouncing ford, and gate (derived from the Old Norse gata) is a Cumbrian term for a road. The field in question must have derived its name from the road leading through it to a ford across the river. Guldy-flat. Guldy is a form of gully, meaning a small stream, and flat was once a common term for a field in Cumberland. High Leases. Leases or Leasows does not mean leaseholds, but is the Anglo-Saxon læsuw, a pasture, represented in Old French by Leswes or Lesues.1 Old Hag, from the Anglo-Saxon haga, a hedge or field. Haver-close.-Haver is an Old English name for oats. It survives in the term haversack, and is represented in the Old Norse by haf-r, and in the Dutch language by haver. Ink-foot, means meadowfoot, ing being Anglo-Saxon for a meadow. Keel Pool in the Irthing at Newby. This name is probably derived from the Old Norse kelda, used in Iceland to signify a deep still pool in a river. There is a corresponding word in Anglo-Saxon, keld, which means a well or spring of water. Longsike-riggs. The very common termination sike means a wet ditch or very small stream. It comes from the Old Norse siki, a drain, or Anglo-Saxon sich, a furrow. Marr. A large pool of water at Talkin, is called the "Marr." It may be derived from the Anglo-Saxon mere, a pool, or the Mediæval Latin mara, a marsh. Nitchel Hill. - Nitchel or knitchell means a small bundle or truss of hay. It is derived from the Old Swedish knyta, or the AngloSaxon cnytan, to tie. Peck ở big hole means "peck of barley hole," a reference to the small productive power of the land. Bigg (Danish bygg) was formerly a common term for barley in the north. Pickle. The Old English word picle or pickle signified a croft or small enclosure of land. Pigeon clint.-Clint means a crevice in the rock, and is the same as the Danish word klint, a rock. Pottle-ford. At this spot the Brampton and Warwick Bridge road crosses a piece of swampy ground that has long had the Cf. the Lewses or Leawses at Cirencester, Archæologia, vii. 406. VOL. CCLXXX. NO. 1984. EE reputation of being haunted. Pottle is probably the Old English word podel, a bog. The Scar.-Old Norse skor, a precipice. The Scroggs.-This name means stunted bushes, and is derived from the Gaelic word sgrogag, a scraggy tree. The Shaws. A shaw is an old term for a shady wood. It occurs in the Friar's Tale-"Whider ridestow under this grene schaw?" The Skellion.- This word is the same as skelling or shieling, a shed. The curious termination occurs in two other local names-viz. Aglion-by and Mill-ion house. They are respectively pronounced Skellin, Aglinby, and Millin house. The last name is evidently miln, that is, mill house. Tootop or Tow-top is a contraction of "the how-top." The Cumberland word how, meaning a hill, is derived from the Old Norse haugr. Weygill Hill. From whey (Old Norse quiga, Danish quie), a heifer, and gill (Old Norse gil), a gully. Yoking. This field takes its name from an obsolete landmeasure. By a deed of 1686 John Graham, the elder, of Edmond Castle, conveys to John Graham, the younger, of the same place, "a piece of land being three yoaken, at a place called Pickell on both sides of the watter of Irding." In a later deed the word is spelt yoking. It is, of course, connected with the yoke used in ploughing. But to return to the current speech. It is by no means an easy task to collect dialectic words, for the people are not inclined to be communicative, and have a way of dropping provincial expressions when speaking to strangers. Children, too, at school are taught the Queen's English, and revert to the local dialect only when engaged in conversation amongst themselves. We will pay a visit to a farmhouse, and there we may perhaps be able to hear some further peculiarities of expression. The occupier is a "statesman," that is to say, he owns a small freehold property which has belonged to his family for generations. He rents in addition some ninety acres of land, and the work of the farm is carried on by himself and his family, with the assistance of one farm labourer. "Mistress" Bell welcomes us, and seats us near the fire in the red-flagged kitchen, while she busies herself in preparing tea for us. Presently the "lad" shambles in, and, seating himself in the farthest corner of the kitchen, proceeds to demolish a pile of apple pastry cakes, which he washes down with weak tea. The farm servants, male and female, are engaged, for a period of six months, at the half-yearly "hirings" which take place in the streets of Carlisle. It is the custom on such occasions for those |