© F.Coakley , 2010
[From Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian
& Archaelogical Society Vol XIII 1895]
Art XXXI.- Some Manx Names in Cumbria. By W.G COLLINGWOOD, M.A., with notes
by Mr. EIRIKR MAGNUSSON. Read at Douglas, September 24th, 1894.
We have often heard, since the days of Worsaae, that our district owes its population mainly to the Northern Vikings, who infested the Irish sea in the 9th and 10th centuries. It has been thought by Mr. Robert Ferguson, Mr. J.R. Green, our President, and other writers, that they came into the Solway and Morecambe Bay from headquarters 1n the Isle of Man. That theory . may fnd support from a comparision of some Manx place- names with similar names in Cumberland and adjacent parts.
A few analogies have been noticed in print. The Rev. T. Ellwood mentions the two Fleshwicks, from Fles, in Icelandic "a grassy place," and vik, "a creek" - In his book on "The Surnames and Place-names of the Isle of Man," Mr. A. W. Moore compares :-
I.O.M. Piel, with our Pile-of-Fouldrey.
Scarsdale, with our Scarfgap (Skarð, notch, pass).
Cammall, with our Camfell (Kamor, comb). ,
Colby, with our Colby (Koll, hill-top). ,
Surby, with our Sowerby (Saurr, mud). ,
Kirby, with our Kirkby (Kirkyuber).
And Mr. Moore remarks that, of the Scandinavian elements which are common in our local names and dialect, some - namely, Haugh, Dale, Fell, Garth, Gill, Wick, Way (vagr), Ness, Toft and Thorp - are found in the Island; while some - namely, Thwaite, Beck, With, Tarn and Force - are absent ; from which he infers that the. Isle of Man is less purely Norse, and more Danish, than Cumbia. But his book, with its full account of Manx names gives us material for carrying the comparison further.
There are three classes of words to consider :- A. Celtic ; B. Scandinavian; C. mixed - the last class containing some curious examples of loan words from the Celtic to the Scandinavian.
The Celtic words, common in the Isle of Man where the Vikings became Celticised, are rare with us, where the settlers kept their own tongue until they became Anglicised. Carrock and Cark match the Manx Carrick "rocky"; Glencoin, " narrow valley," resembles Nascoin "narrow waterfall"; Morecambe and Cambeck are like Glencam, with a common element - cam, "crooked"; our Crummock, though commonly interpreted Crumbeck may be the same with the Manx and Galloway Crammag "cliff." But most of our Celtic names are Welsh, since Cumberland was the land of the Cymru. The earlier Gaelic element was partly crowded out; though traces of it returned with the Viking settlers, as I think to show.
Before their age, however, we have a few Gaelic importations. For, just as the Irish monks preceded the Vikings in the Hebrides and in Ireland, so they did in these parts; no doubt using the Isle of Man as a stepping stone across the sea. The Manx church of St Bridget, Kirkbride, matches our Kirkbride and Bridekirk, there is Kirksanton in both districts; and perhaps St. Sundays' Beck and Crag in Westmorland may be explained by the Irish Saint Sanctan; for in Domesday Kirksanton is written Santacherche, and Danton is Suntun, which bridges over the transition from Sanctan to Sunday.
The Manx keeills have Cumbrian analogies in Gilcrux and Gilcarran; and perhaps in two old names, "Gillmartyne ridding prope Crofton" (temp John), and Killerwick (temp Ed.III.) near Mousell in Furness, which I venture to suggest may be the puzzling Chiluestreuic of Domesday : vestr vegr meaning the west road, the Roman road on which it stands. All these churches and cells are near the coast, where such missionaries might have settled. St. Patrick himself, to whom there are dedications in the Isle of Man, is commemorated in Waspatrick, (temp Ed.I.), his "wath" over the Wampool ; and on the same Roman Road, at Askpatryk (temp Ed.III.) perhaps embalming some otherwise lost tradition of an ash tree under which he preached ; as at Patterdale is the well where he is said to have baptised. In the Isle of Man also we find Ash-tree and Well connected in Chibber Unjin, when the tree was formerly dressed with votive offerings. This custom survives with us; a great oak-tree overhanging a fountain at Satterthwaite was dressed with crockery and coloured rags on Maundy thursday a year ago, and another at Hawkshead Hill.
But these church-names belong to an age before the Vikings came. They brought their own heathen worship, of which we find traces in both districts, And this leads us to the second class of words, namely -
In 1134, Bertrannus de London was one of 12 monks, who, with their abbot, Gerald, founded Calder. The Rev. A.G.Loftie, in his guide to the Abbey, remarks on the strangeness to this exiled Londoner of his new life and surroundings among rough neighbours and brethren, north-countrymen all. But again (temp Ed.III.), William de London neglected to pay his "thrave" to St. Nicholas Hospital at Carlisle; and the Testamenta Karliolensia show that the "de Londons" were a family of some local importance, without any suggestion of a connection with the great city. Now, we all know places whose names are derived, like similar names in Denmark, Sweden, and Iceland, from the Lundr or sacred grove of the Northmen; - Lund, near Whitehaven ; another near Ulverston. Hof Lund, near Appleby. But in the Isle of Man there is Little London, which Mr. Moore derives from Lundinn, (acc.) " the grove." This name which is found also in Lincolnshire and in Longsleddale, is practically the same as Lund, and suggests that we may look for the "London" of Friar Bertram not far from his first monastic home at Furness, and for the "London" of farmer William in Cumberland. The difference is merely grammatical as the Manx name seems to show.
Of this second class, all the Manx names can be matched in our district. Some are identical: as Ramsey Hyramnsey, "Raven's Island"; and Raby, Rábær "nook farm." The termination "by," it may be remarked in passing, is by no means a test of Danish settlement. It is common in Iceland, and is quite good Norse. The terminal r is merely the sign of the nominative, and it was dropped after a time in pronunciation, like the parallel Latin s of the nominative; and it disappears in inflexions, Thus, "Ulfr, his water" = Ufsvatn (v, pronounced in early times like w, and vatn sometimes written vatr) "his farm" is Ulfsbær =Ousby: therefore Ulvrestune, of Domesday, must be for Ulfars-tún, the inclosure of an early settler, Ulfarr. The popular pronunciation "Ouston" perhaps keeps a reminiscence of the later and greater Earl Ulphus or Ulfr, being the true equivalent of Ulfstin.
Some of these names are practically identical; Cringle (Isle of Man) and Crinkle Crags (Kringla, "circle" Jurby, formerly Ivorby, and Ireby (Ivar's farm) ; Kneebe and Knipe (gnípa, "peak"); Sulby and Soulby (Solvi's farm). ,
Some, again, are identical in one of the element of which they are compounded. To take a few samples, some of them from old forms of Manx names :-
I.O.M. Altadale and our Alps (Alþt "swan"),
A[s]mogarry, and our Osmotherley, formerly Asmunderlawe (Asmundar-garðr,-ljá)
Brackabroom, and our Brackenber (Brekku-brún,-barð).
Clet Elby and our Cleat How (Klettr, ""rock"),
Clytts, and our Cleator (Klettar, "rocks").
Colden, with our Caldfell, &c. (Kaldr, "cold").
Dalby, &c:; and our Dalton, &c. (dalr, "dale");
Foxdale, and our Foxfield (folks, "of the people").
Grauff, and our Orgrave (aur-gröf, "clay-pit ").
Heringstad, and our Harrington (Hæring,"hoary", prop.
name).
Hegness, and our Honister (Högna-nes,-staðr).
Keppellgate, and our Keppelcove (Kapall, "nag"").
Meary voar, &c., and our Merry hall-Mere beck (mærr, "borderland
"").
Orm"s house, and our Ormside (proper name).
Oxwath, and our Oxenfell, &c. (Oxavað, oxnafell).
Rozefell, and our Rosthwaite, &c. (hross, " horse"),
Sandwick, &c., and our Sandscale, &c. (sandvík, sandskáli).
Sleckby, and our Harrowslack, &c. (slakki,"slope "),
Staynarhea, and our Stennerley, &c. (steinn, " stone ""),
Strandhall and our Strands (strönd, pl. strandir).
Swarthawe, and our Swarthmoor, which is mentioned as Swartmore in 25 Hy. 6,
i.e, 1447, forty years before the invasion of Martin Schwartz (svartr,
"black").
Warfield - Wardefll and our Warthole, Warwick varða, beacon"
From one of such names in the Isle of Man, light is perhaps thrown on a curious series of names in our district. Mr. Moore explains Brausta (old form of Braust as Brautarstaðr "roadstead." Braut in Icelandic means a road broken through rocks or forests, as distinguished from vegr, stigr, gata, "path, track." Brautarmot is a meeting of roads, as Bekkjarmót (Beckermet) is a meeting of becks. And to the settlers in Cumbria the Roman roads must have been a great and remarkable feature of the country. When they found a passage through the rocks and forests of Patterdale, it is no wonder if they called the tarn,- by which it wound and at which it threw off a branch to the wonderful High-street - Brautarvatn, Brotherwater or Broaderwater ; so called long before the traditional brothers were drowned there.
Again, Butterilket, the farm in Eskdale, just under the Roman fort, was written Brotherellkell (temp. Eliz.) ; Brotherulkul (temp. Hy. IV.) ; Brotherulkil (temp. Hy. III.) suggesting that the original Norse name was Braut-arhóls-kelda, "road-hill spring," where they stopped for a drink before taking the steep gradients up Hardknot. Brautarhóll or Brottholl (Brot being a common form in compounds) reappears in Brott-hole-hill in the Caldbeck neighbourhood (temp. Hy. III.) Brattah or Brotto in Legburthwaite may be the same, or else Brotthaugr, "road-howe".
It is interesting to observe that the confusion of "Brotherilket " with " Butterilket " is matched in Norse philology by that of Brautarsteinar with Bautasteinar, the popular name of the "road stones" or monuments (according to Vigfusson, s.v.) This may explain Butterliphowe, by the Roman road at Grasmere, as a natural and pastoral improvement on Brautarhliðshaugr road-gap-howe," a truly descriptive epithet ; while Butterwick are perhaps better explained by Búðir, " booths" ; Búðarveggr is good Norse for "booth-wall" and practically identical with the country pronunciation of Butterwick. To give one more turn to the kaleidoscope : Bethecar (High Furness) which was Bottocar (temp. Hy 8), must be for Brautar-kjarr being a bit of forest through which a Roman track pretty certainly ran.
This confusion between Brautar and Bauta may have been helped on - and it may be remembered - by the fact that the Irish for road is Bothar. For it is well known that the Northmen on the shores of the Irish Sea lost so much of their pure nationality, that the district of Galloway got its name from the Gall-gaedhil, the mixed Gall and Gael, Vikings and Celts. Even those who emigrated to Iceland took with them much Celtic blood and many Celtic words. Thus, Njâll and Kjartan and Kormak are Irish names of Norse Icelanders: pollr, "pool"; brók, "breeches," and poki, "bag," are Celtic loan-words in Icelandic literature. Now I think it can be shown that the Norse settlers brought Celtic loan-words into Cumbria, and that they brought them from the Isle of Man.
First we may take words that are recognised by the dictionary-makers as loans to the Norse from Celtic sources:
(1.). In the Edda is found a word Korki, from Manx korkey, Irish and Gaelic coirce, 'oats'. Now Corby in Cumberland was written (temp. John, Ric. I., and Hy. I.) Corkeby and Korkeby, i.e., Korkabaer, 'oats-farm'. A corresponding name in purer Norse is Haverthwaite, Hafraþveit. Similar formations are Ruthwaite and Ruckcroft (temp Ed.VI Rewcroft) from rúgr, 'rye': Rusland however was (temp. Ed. III.) Rolesland, Rolf'sland. Again, Bigland and Biggar (Bygg-garðr) from bygg, "six-rowed baley'; the four-rowed barley, barr, may be found in Barton; so from Korki may possibly be derived Cockley beck; i.e. Korkahlíð" Oats-fellside"; the termination being degraded on the analogy of Ainstable (temp. Hy. I. Ainstapellith i.e. Einstapahlið, "fern-fellside' 1). Again Corney (Cumb) = Corna (I.O.M.)=Kornsá (Icel,) = 'Corn= beck," so that the Cocker, on the banks of which is Cornhow, may perhaps be interpreted Korká. 'oats-beck'.
(2.) Hnukr is 'Knoll, peak',in Icelandic, but derived evidently from the Manx Knock, Irish cnoc. We have it naturalised in Knockpike and Knock Shalcok (temp. Ed. II).
Next we may take a set of words which are not found in the Icelandic dictionary, but are so used in Cumbria as to leave little doubt that they were brought over by the Celticised Vikings ; and their form seems to be distinctly Manx, in some instances at least.
(3.) Peel is Manx for a "fortified tower"; a word which though not found in Icelandic literature, was certainly adopted by the Norse in Cumbria, and used to considerable purpose
(4.) Parak occurs in our dialect, a loan word from Manx and Irish pairc ; though in Cleasby it appears only as a nickname 2.
(5.) Dub has in Icelandic nothing nearer 3 than djúþ "deep sea" ; while dubbyr, dob (Manx) means "a small pool" in our sense.
(6.) The Manx Spooyt of a waterfall, seen in our Gill Spout, &c., has no analogue in Icelandic. The nearest form is the cognate Aryan root sþyja "to spew" 4.
(7.) The Scrow at Coniston is a turfy hill, an outlier of the old Man. "Scrow " in our dialect means a crowd (from Icelandic skreið"shoal" of fish &c., or else scrimage to which it is doubtless akin). But neither of these explain the hill ; whereas the Manx for "turf" or "sod" is scrah 5.
(8.) Now to recur to the road-names. For the Irish bothar the corresponding
Manx is Bayr. In the Isle of Man is a place called Baregarrow, which
Mr. Moore interprets "rough road." On the Roman way between old Carlisle
and Maryport, we have Bagrow ("Baggerah")which may possibly indicate
that the invaders found that bit of Roman paving more cobbly or more worn than
usual. There is,however, a "Bagrave"on Watling Street in Northumberland.
Bayr may also account for to Domesday, Berebrune,) the road-well,"
on the Maiden Way. Bardsey is in Domesday, Berretseiore, Bayr-head's-edge
the edge or cliff at the head of the road called the Red Lane, through Furness.
And close to the spot where the road from Lancaster came upon the sands there
was Bare (sic in Domesday). I think these names are hardly explained
by the Icelandic Ber, in compounds berja, "berry," or
by berr "bare"; so that we may, perhaps, consider Bayr
as a loan-word ; and if so, not from Ireland, but from the Isle of Man.
In a third and final sub-division, we must put two which are found neither in Norse nor in Manx, and yet may have been loan-words borrowed by the Norse from the island. That is to say, words must have been current in the 9th century which are now obsolete there, and preserved only in place-names; and these words must have been brought by the Norsemen into Cumbria though not into Iceland
(9.)Glaise is Irish for "stream" and Mr. Moore considers that
its Manx equivalent was glas, in Douglas, "black stream." We
may find the same word in Glasson and Glassonby (both temp Hy. I.) and in Gleaston,
the Glassertoll of Domesday. Ravensglass (temp. Ed. I.),was Ranglass, a curious
form, because most names in early writing become longer and fuller; this is
an exception surely not without cause. The old Nicolson and Burn derivation
was Renigh-glas, "green-fern", - not very distinctive. But if Celtic
grammar will allow, the Manx glas for 'river' and raun for 'seal"
appear to supply material for a plausible etymology ; for the harbour must have
swarmed with seals in the 10th century.
(10.) The Irish boireann is not found in Manx, except in a place-name, and not in Icelandic at all ; but it seems to have been a loan-word, judging from its occurance in our dialect. It means properly, "rocky land," but, says Mr. Moore, "it is a name actually applied to an old earthern fortification " - Borrane Balebly. Now, in our district, borran is also used for rocky land in general, but as a proper name it attaches especially to land covered with ruins, e,g, Borrans Ring, the Roman camp at Ambleside ; High Borrans, near Windermere, is close to the Hunill settlement ; Low Borrans is near to the spot where the Roman road crossed Troutbeck. Indeed, the name is frequent on the track of the Roman roads (see, for examples, Cornelius Nicholson's "Annals of Kendall") while it is rare as a place-name in sites that are no more than naturally rocky.
There is a Borrans Hill House on Burns Hillside, near Sebergham, which seems to show that Burns is Borrans. Barnscar can hardly be anything but Borran-scar, from the heaps of remains found there. Burnmoor, borran-moor is a place where circles are found ; Wyebourne is near a British camp, east of Shap ; Garbourne is on the High street, south of Ill Bell. In these cases we have the loan-word compounded with a Norse element. Hence it may be suggested that "burn" in our district is frequently, if not always, equivalent to borran.
It has often been noticed. that our dialect does not use "burn" for "stream", as in Scotland and Northumberland. Burn from baerne, is an Anglo-Saxon word, not occurring in Norse, in which the nearest form is brunnr, "a well", as in the Icelandic proverb, "Late to bar the burn when the barn is fallen in," referring to a well with a gate, such as we see near old-fashioned cottages. The Scotch and Northumbrian "burns" were so named by Anglicans, two or three centuries before the Northmen settled our diatrict. The old Norse word was bekkr; but this was antiquated in Iceland by the time the sagas were written, and even in the 10th century they used laekr for bekkr in local names. This shows, I think, that our district was settled and named, and that a local dialect of pre-Icelandic Norse was formed, by the early part of the 10th century. We keep several words that the Icelanders lost. They had a proverb, "öl heitir með mönnum, en með Asum bjór" - "ale it hight with men, and with Gods beer" meaning that " beer " was the ancient poetical word, ordinary folk asked for "ale." A parallel proverb said of barley " bygg. it is called by men, and barr by Gods"; barr being the older and less familial name for the less productive sort, superseded by bygg. But as we have seen, both words remain with us, in Bigland and Barton. Tilberthwaite, however, is not from "tilling bear," as some one has suggested, but from (Tjald-borgarþveit, "tent-fort-field," seen in Tildesburgthwait (temp. Ric. 1.), like Tjaldastaðir (Icel.)
The use of old forms is strikingly shown in the name Burnside, which used to be derived from burn, "a brook." It was written (temp. Ed. III.) Brunolesheved, Bronnolshevel, ;and (temp Ed. I.) the valley of Sleddal Bronnolf and one Roger de Bronnolph are mentioned (temp. Ed, I.) and Sleddall Brunholf (temp. Hy III,) showing that Burneside (Burnishead) was named from some early settler Brunolvi, "the wolf-browed", a recognised Norse appellative. To the same name, if not the same person, may be refeered Brunnelscroft, Middleton.
But in other "burns" the case is different. Greenburn is the Valley that opens at the green borran which has been identified by Mr. H.S. Cowper as our lake district Tynwald, "Greenburn-beck", not Green-burn is the stream that flows past it. So Wythburn may be properly not the name of the stream but of the ground by which Wythburn-beck: runs. "Wyth" is víðr "wide" like víðlendi ; "wide lands",. ; or víðir, "withy", like Vididalr in Iceland, "willow-dale". And the land is not only unusually rocky, but it is also traversed by a great Roman road, marked by the names Stanwick (steinvegr) "stone road " paved with boulders), and Stenkin Nook (Stanwick-ing,"meadow" ) ; and there are traces of ruins which, at the time of the settlement, must have been striking enough in their extent to be called the "wide-borran", or so overgrown as to suggest the name "withy-borran". In a word, the original Cumbrian Norse dialect called our streams bekkr, or a, and perhaps sometimes laekr, but never burn, which is the Manx loan-word borran ; except in those outlying parts of our district where pre-Norse - i.e., Anglian-names survived. These ten loan-words, if the derivations be accepted, and in any case the parallelism of so many Manx and Cumbrian place-names, illustrate the interest - it might almost be said the necessity - of going beyond the bounds of our own district to compare the antiquities of our neighbours ; and they rivet new links in the chain of evidence which binds us to the Isle of Man in the history of a thousand years ago.
1 Mr Magnusson says:- "Einstaþi looks quite Icelandic = standing rock, as rock-pillar == staþi, by itself = ein; and reminds of einbúi, lone-dweller, a name frequently given to solitary rocks that have tumbled down to the flat ground of a valley from a mountain top. Einstapahlið might therefore = slope of the solitary rock pillar if the locality favours it.
2 Mr Magnusson remarks on this :- In the shepherds' language of Iceland the word paraka or parraka means to herd nilking ewes, by closely confining them to a narrow run of pasture. The word is a loan-word in Icelandic.
3 Mr Magnusson says :- "There is the poetic word dúfa = wave, which formally comes nearer to "dub" than djúþ.
4 Mr Magnusson remarks :- "Spooyt" = Icelandic spyta (1) to spit (2) to spout or to gush; e.g. æð spytir blóði, a wound sputters blood" But there is no Icelandic substantive corresponding with the Cumbrian "spout" a waterfall.
5 Mr Magnusson says :- "I may mention that a very similar name exists
in Iceland - Skrúðey, now Skrúðr, a high rock
island, outside of the Fa-skrúðs-fjöðr. The etymology
of skreið seems too far-fetched. Whether Skrúð
in Skrúðey is to be connected with Skrúð =
ship's shrouds from it being cone-formed - in which the ratio nominis would
be the same as in the case of Heklufjatt=Mantle-fell - I leave an open question.
It was suggested when the paper was read that "Scrow" was merely a
variant of the common word "Scroggs".
6 So Cleasby & Vigfusson, S.V.
7 Mr. Magnusson says :-" These names seem closely to answer to Brundlfr the oldest form of the common name"
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