Northumbrian Old English

rdf:langString Northumbrian Old English

rdf:langString Northumbrian was a dialect of Old English spoken in the Anglian Kingdom of Northumbria. Together with Mercian, Kentish and West Saxon, it forms one of the sub-categories of Old English devised and employed by modern scholars. The dialect was spoken from the Humber, now within England, to the Firth of Forth, now within Scotland. In the Danelaw after the Viking invasions, Northumbrian may have been influenced by the Norse language. The earliest surviving Old English texts were written in Northumbrian: these are Caedmon's Hymn (7th century) and Bede's Death Song (8th century). Other works, including the bulk of Caedmon's poetry, have been lost. Other examples of this dialect are the Runes on the Ruthwell Cross from the Dream of the Rood. Also in Northumbrian are the 9th-century Leiden Riddle and the mid-10th-century gloss of the Lindisfarne Gospels. The Viking invasion forced a division of the dialect into two distinct subdialects. South of the River Tees, southern Northumbrian was influenced by Norse, while northern Northumbrian retained many Old English words lost to the southern subdialect and influenced the development of the dialects of modern North East England (the modern Northumbrian dialect) and Scotland. Today, the Scots language (including Ulster Scots) is descended from the Northumbrian dialect, as are modern Northumbrian, Cumbrian and Yorkshire (particularly in the North/East Ridings and northern West Riding) as well as the North Lancashire dialect.