PHYSICAL TYPES STILL EXISTING.
As early as the eleventh century the names of English towns and
villages are written in the Domesday Book with the Danish ending "by"
or "bi," and not with the Norwegian form of "böer" or "bö." This
preponderance of Danish endings proves the widely extended influence
of the Danes in the North. That they should have been preserved
in such numbers for more than eight centuries after the fall of
the Danish dominion in England, disproves the opinion that the old
Danish inhabitants of the country were supplanted or expelled after
the cessation of the Danish rule (1042), first by the Anglo-Saxons,
and afterwards by the Normans. Mr. Wörsæ says: "The Danes must have
continued to reside in great numbers in these districts, previously
conquered by them, and consequently it follows that a considerable
part of the present population may with certainty trace their origin
to the Northmen, and especially to the Danes. The general appearance
of the inhabitants is a weighty corroboration of the assertions of
history. The black hair, dark eye, the prominent nose, and the long
oval face to be found in the Southerners remind us of the relationship
with the Romans, or a strong mixture of the British Anglo-Saxon and
Norman races. The difference in physiognomy and stature of the Northern
races are also easily be recognised. The form of face is broader, the
cheekbones stand out prominently, the nose is flatter, and at times
turned somewhat upwards. The eyes and hair are of a lighter colour, and
even deep red hair is far from uncommon. The people are not very tall
in stature, but usually more compact and strongly built than those of
the South."
[Illustration: Example of Ancient Danish Loom; from the Färoes, now in
Bergen Museum.]
The still existing popular dialect is an excellent proof that the
resemblance of the inhabitants is not confined to an accidental or
personal likeness. Many words and phrases are preserved in the local
dialect which are neither found nor understood in other parts of the
country. These terms are not only given to waterfalls, mountains,
rivulets, fords, and islands, but are also in common use in daily life.
The housewife has her spool and spinning wheel from "spole"; her reel
and yarn-winder from "rock" and "granwindle"; her baking-board from
"bagebord." She is about to knead dough, from "deig"; and in order
to make oaten bread, or thin cakes beaten out by the hand, we have
clap-bread or clap-cake, form "klapperbröd" and "klapper-kake." She
spreads the tablecloth, "bordclaith," for dinner, "onden"; while the
fire smokes, "reeks," as it makes its way through the thatch, "thack,"
where in olden times the loft, "loft," was the upper room or bower,
"buir." Out in the yard or "gaard," is the barn, "lade," where is
stored the corn in "threaves." In the river are troughs, "trows," used
to cross over. These were two small boats, cut out of the trunks of
trees, and held together by a crosspole. By placing a foot in each
trough the shepherd rowed himself across with the help of an oar. He
goes up the valley, "updaal," to clip, "klippe," the sheep. It is said
that Canute the Great crossed over the river Severn in this manner,
when he concluded an agreement with Edmund Ironsides to divide England
between them. Blether, from "Bladdra," is also a common expression,
meaning to "blubber or cry," to gabble or talk without purpose. Another
form of the word is "bleat," as applied to sheep.
Other words now in use from the Norse are "twinter," a two-year-old
sheep, and "trinter," a three-year-old. A "gimmer lamb" is a female
lamb. The lug-mark, _i.e._, a bit cut out of a sheep's ear that it may
be recognised by the owner, is from lögg mark." Lög is law, and thus
it is the legal mark. The "smit" or smear of colour, generally red,
by which the sheep are marked occurs in the Bible of Ulphilas in the
same sense as smear. Another proof may be found on the carving in the
knitting sticks made and used by the Northern peasantry of the present
day. The patterns are decidedly Scandinavian.
Of the people of this district, it may be said that in their physical
attributes they are the finest race in the British dominions. Their
Scandinavian descent, their constant exposure to a highly oxygenised
atmosphere, their hereditary passion for athletic sports and exercises,
their happy temperament, their exemption from privation, and many
other causes, have contributed to develop and maintain their physical
pre-eminence, and to enable them to enjoy as pastime an amount of
exposure and fatigue that few but they would willingly encounter.
Thomas de Quincey, who lived thirty years among them, observed them
very closely, and knew them, well, after remarking that "it is the
lower classes that in every nation form the 'fundus' in which lies
the national face, as well as the national character," says: "Each
exists here in racy purity and integrity, not disturbed by alien
inter-marriages, nor in the other by novelties of opinion, or other
casual effects derived from education and reading." The same author
says: "There you saw old men whose heads would have been studies for
Guido; there you saw the most colossal and stately figures among the
young men that England has to show; there the most beautiful young
women. There it was that sometimes I saw a lovelier face than ever I
shall see again." The eloquent opium-eater gave the strongest possible
proof that his admiration was real by taking one of these "beautiful
young women" to wife.
The men of our northern dales do not pay much respect to anyone who
addresses them in language they are not accustomed to, nor do they
make much allowance for ignorance of their own dialect. In a northern
village we once stopped to speak to an old lady at her door, and
began by remarking that the river was much swollen. "We call it a
beck," said the old lady, turning her back upon us, and telling her
granddaughter to bring out the scrapple. "Whatever may a scrapple be?"
we asked, deferentially. "Why, that's what a scrapple may be," she
said, indicating a coal-rake in the girl's hand. As we moved away,
we overheard her say to a neighbour, "I don't know where he has been
brought up. He calls th' beck a river, and doesn't know what a scrapple
is!" They have a very quick sense of humour, and often practice a
little mystification on inquisitive strangers. To a tourist who made
the somewhat stupid inquiry, "Does it ever rain here?" the countrymen
replied: "Why it donks, and it dozzles, and sometimes gives a bit of a
snifter, but it ne'er comes in any girt pell," leaving the querist's
stock of information very much as he found it.
The first invasion of the Danes took place in the year 787, and to
Scotland they gave the name of "Sutherland," and the Hebrides were the
southern islands, or "Sudreygar," a name which survives in the title of
the Bishop of Sodor and Man.
The Forest of Rossendale contains eleven "vaccaries," or cow-pastures
(we are told by Mr. H. C. March, M.D.), which were called "booths,"
from the huts of the shepherds and cowherds. From this we trace
Cowpebooth, Bacopbooth, and Crawshawbooth. Booth is derived from the
old Norse "bûd," a dwelling, while from "byr" and "boer" we get the
surnames Byrom, Burton, Buerton, Bamber, Thornber. "Forseti" was the
judge of one of the Norse deities, and the word supplies us with
Fawcett, Facit, or Facid as it was spelt in 1781, and Foster. Unal
was a Danish chief, whose name survives as a surname Neal, Niel, and
O'Neil. From the old Norse "yarborg," an earthwork, we get Yarborough,
Yerburgh, Sedburg, and Sedberg. Boundaries have always been matters of
great importance, and "twistle" is a boundary betwixt farms. Endrod
was King of Norway in 784, and his name furnishes Endr, whose boundary
becomes Entwistle, and also Enderby. Rochdale is derived from "rockr,"
old Norse for rock, and dale from the Norse "daal," a wide valley;
thus the Norsename Rochdale supplanted Celtic-Saxon name of "Rachdam."
"Gamul," meaning old, was a common personal name among Norsemen. In a
grant of land dated 1051, fifteen years before the Conquest, appears
the name of Gouse Gamelson, which is a distinct Norse patronymic.
Gambleside was one of the vaccaries or cow-pastures of Rossendale
Forest, and was spelt Gambulside. In Anglo-Saxon and Teutonic dialects
"ing" is a patronymic, as in Bruning, son of Brun, says Mr. Robert
Ferguson, M.P., in his "Surnames as a Science." But it has also a wider
sense. Thus, in Leamington it signifies the people of the Leam, on
which river the place is situated. From a like origin comes the name
of the Scandinavian Vikings, Vik-ing; the people from Vik, a bay. Sir
J. Picton, in his "Ethnology of Wiltshire," says: "When the Saxons
first invaded England they came in tribes, and families headed by their
patriarchal leaders. Each tribe was called by its leader's name, with
the termination 'ing,' signifying family. Where they settled they gave
their patriarchal name to the mark, or central point round which they
clustered."
Considering the great number of these names, amounting to over a
thousand in England, and the manner in which they are dispersed, it
is impossible to consider them as anything else than the everyday
names of men. This large number will serve to give an idea of the very
great extent to which place-names are formed from the names of men
who founded the settlements. It must be remembered that the earlier
date now generally assigned for the Teutonic settlements tends to give
greater latitude to the inquiry as to the races by whom the settlements
were made, as well as the fact that all our settlements were made in
heathen times. From the neighbouring tribe of Picts we retain one form
"pecthun," from which we derive the surnames of Picton, Peyton, and
Paton. This may suggest that we owe the name peat to the same origin.
We have also the word pictures, probably formed from "pict," and
"heri," a warrior.
Political Freemen