The Norn Language of Orkney and Shetland

[@GeoRoze]

Hi! I’m an orcadian myself and can confirm most of this stuff! Nice to see someone investigating orcadians since we are fairly overlooked these days

[@MountandbladeSteppeNomad]

why would anyone care about ur little fucking island?

[@twothumbs_uk5375]

Orkney is not the same as Shetland

[@philiprudy4195]

can you speak norn?

[@ahminyahnan1150]

@@MountandbladeSteppeNomad u watched a video about it 😭

[@Albanach-je1nk]

Saxon ???

[@maryavatar]

Random Norn words do still crop up in the Orcadian dialect. I’m Orcadian, and when I moved to Edinburgh for university, a lot of the time people had problems understanding me. I didn’t have a thick accent, so I was confused as to why. I was using words I thought were just ordinary everyday English, but they weren’t.

[@Sionnach1601]

Sounds like problems we Irish (with our 'Hiberno-English') would have with other Anglophones!

[@simunjorgensen3576]

I'm from the Faroe Islands, and I found it easier to read the Shetlandic norn than Orcadian norn and understood it better as well

[@davidcarson7855]

with a Swedish grandfather and a Prussian grandfather--I have had Brits tell me I look Irish or like I came from the Orkneys--through college I was a 5'7" version of cousins that played American football as linesman--so at a very powerful 200 pounds, I was the shrimp--my last name was originally Karlsson

[@xWHITExEAGLEx]

@@davidcarson7855 Five feet seven inches and two hundred pounds? You were a meaty fellow :D

[@Masseyman-nv2kl]

Simun Jorgensen am offended as am fae Orkney lol. Unfortunately orcadian dialect is a rarity not a days as al o these bloody incomes fae England is pushing their shite up here

[@ulfurkarlsson5885]

Im from Iceland, im sure there are some words simular, but i did not understand this text .

[@weepingscorpion8739]

​@Penguin Queen "I’m fascinated with how one lives when the sun doesn’t set and when the dark lasts for months." Well, it's just something you do. Just like I suppose you get use to it being dark at 18:00 in June. :)

[@maritnordin6017]

As a Swede (with basic knowlegde of old dialects) I have no problem reading and understanding the Lords prayer in Orcadian Norn. When reading it out loud, it sounds like an old dialect with some random english words thrown in.

[@Fraser-Gosden]

As a shetlander I find it interesting to see where our accent came from. But its interesting that dialects change across our islands, especially whalsay

[@Stumpybear7640]

Lol whalsay is a county on it's own ❤😘

[@harrybdub]

@The Switch Crusader Whalsay people are legends

[@magnushutchison4920]

@@harrybdub tanks t de

[@fletcherbullock7291]

“I would write this in old Norse but I am not Jackson Crawford”

[@hoonterofhoonters6588]

Hi, I'm Old Norse specialist, Jackson Crawford currently professor at the University of Colorado previously at Berkeley.

[@adamroodog1718]

I hope you wouldve used reconstructed medieval pronunciation insted of the modern Icelandic had you been the good doctor

[@Aliestor]

​@@hoonterofhoonters6588 University of Colorado Boulder* :P

[@yokhanan]

New to the channel but familiar with Crawford. Noticing quite a few posting about him here. Is there something wrong with Crawford's work or something? Honest question from a curious fellow that is trying to learn himself. :)

[@adamroodog1718]

His great, on another level. You should watch all his videos. Start with one of his havamal videos if your new to it all

[@mazzdacon2134]

My ancestors came from Orkney to Australia in 1850. Thank you for the interesting video.

[@lesterjohnston8888]

And they are from the picts and that is all we need to know

[@mazzdacon2134]

@@lesterjohnston8888 I am visiting Orkney next week.

[@JadenTreFolster]

​@@lesterjohnston8888 picts spoke norn?

[@lesterjohnston8888]

@@JadenTreFolster don't be daft no one knows what the picts language was only the the signs on the stones, don't forget they are my ancestors the picts

[@LuvBorderCollies]

Like how you squeezed in the Dutch connection to play that awesome anthem. ;-)

[@gunarsmiezis9321]

I still say the laviešu anthem is better Dievs svētī Latviju! For me Dutch anthem is third place

[@darthguilder1923]

-Skyrim- Shetland belongs to the -Nords- Norns

[@Ragemuffn]

Darth Guilder I see you’re not familiar with the Norns of Shiverpeak Mountains in Guild Wars ;) would’ve been a far better comparison!

[@grahamfleming7642]

Belongs to Scotland, by genetics and democracy, not by force and thuggery

[@MrKentam]

I am A Norn...

[@grahamfleming7642]

@Danny Viking Norwegians are always welcome in Scotland, through out the country, the northern isles and western isles have Nordman heritage as well as my home town Berwick (barevik) in England. We acknowledge our Scandinavian heritage, in many ways,nobody yet puts Norn as a nationality on their census form,I would prefer Scotland to be in the Nordic council.

[@5u8x.A-D]

​@@grahamfleming7642 fun fact shetland does not belong to scotland by genetics, democracy, or force. it was gifted by the king of norway as a dowry to the scottish (see: english) crown in 15th century. the deed was also never signed so technically it isn't part of scotland at all, or at least shouldn't have been at one moment in time.

[@woolyimage]

Perhaps it’s been mentioned elsewhere but Voar in Shetland dialect actually refers to springtime where all the preparations for farming planting etc take place. The word Voe means an inlet/ mini fjord or the equivalent of a sea loch in Scotland. I have heard that there was still someone in Foula who had some of the Norn until around the middle of the 20th Century. They passed on some songs or poems to a chap who I think is still alive today.

[@walkyasmrwalkman5925]

Spring in Swedish is "vår", sort of pronounced "voar"

[@bentehansen5857]

In faroese vár

[@terjefevag2455]

Come back home, where you belong, Faroe Islands, Orkney and Iceland. Best Regards Your Father Norway

[@ljnv]

My father's grandparents are from the Shetlands, mother's parents are from Sweden and Norway. Love the nordic nations

[@vinny9868]

@@ljnv Return home, your nation is welcoming with open arms

[@MrKentam]

Its all came from Norway! Norn starded in west and nordick cost as far North like Tromsø some talk norn forlongtime..

[@jackhourston9203]

We would love to, especially in the political climate we are in.

[@edwardboyter9792]

What about Ljoðahús? It was under Norwegian control for half a millennium.

[@JacobOvergaardMadsen]

Thanks for your lecture at the Edinburgh Language Event. :-) I'll certainly follow your channel from now on.

[@daithimcbuan5235]

You put Shetland in a cut-out! The Scottish Parliament made that illegal. Please expect the police to be breaking down your door any moment for hurting the feelings of Shetlanders! (and breaking Scottish law)

[@dareallan9236]

Only Nazi pugs are illegal in Scotland. You are free to put 3etland in a box but the Scottish Government can't.

[@TheRagingStorm98]

@@dareallan9236 didn't you just change gingerbread men to gingerbread persons though 😅

[@dareallan9236]

@@TheRagingStorm98 - did that hurt you snowflake?

[@TheRagingStorm98]

@@dareallan9236 how can I be a snowflake when I'm not some Cultural Marxist leftist cunt mate, just saying you changed gingerbread men to gingerbread persons so the ironic thing is its illegal to put "men" there. I was also making a fucking joke at Scottish parliament expense for their own stupidity that changing the name was an actual priority for them.... Next thing you know fucking Manchester will become non binary or some shit

[@EugeneAyindolmah]

This isn't fake news googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2018/10/unboxing-shetlands.html

[@Raudavatn]

Being from Iceland, reading these texts is very interesting.

[@adamroodog1718]

An icelander! Its like seeing unicorn! Whats your favorite saga?

[@peder6909]

@@adamroodog1718 SO YOU CALLING US ICELANDERS UNICORNS ???

[@adamroodog1718]

Icelanders are as rare as unicorns in my part of the world. "Eg er australian". Im jealous you could take a drive to mossfell and see the same view as egil, or pop over to hrafnkelsdelur and see freyfaxahamarr with your own eyes. And thats not to mention the chicks! Anyway enjoy your life

[@TheAndriThor]

Adam Roodog I am icelandic and coinsidentally also a unicorn, my favorite saga is probably Egils saga Skallagrímssonar, Ive also read Grettis saga Ásmundarsonar, Gísla saga Súrsonar, Brennu-Njáls saga and Laxdæla saga and all of them are pretty good but the most interresing icelandic literature is for sure is Edda called Snorra-Edda by Snorri Sturluson. It describes in detail and tells stories about the old norse mythology and the old norse gods and how that whole belive system worked.

[@toolcruise]

Being from Norway reading these text made me clueless. I understood a bit from the Faroese version of the riddle and I could understand quite a bit from the prayer in norn.

[@PeJota615]

It's not a History With Hilbert episode without a reference to the Dutch.

[@revinhatol]

*G E K O L O N I S E E R D*

[@saftsuse866]

Great! This was the one video I was hoping for. Thanks a lot, Hilbert :) You just made this Norwegian very happy.

[@normannormiemates4844]

I've stood outside Walter's house on Unst. It's the northern most house in the UK.

[@UNRR]

muckle fluugga

[@rateeightx]

Can You Do A A Video On The Welsh Settlements In Argentina?

[@grignok8600]

wot

[@montimuros2837]

@@grignok8600 Y-Waldfa or something like that. Look it up.

[@Duececoupe]

Can't believe that I missed this one, only came across it thanks to your nynorn video, from the 26th! Greetings from a Swede up in Glasgow! 🍻

[@TheJazzax]

Hilbert is a beast with the content. Makes me want to cry almost.

[@barbaramcrobbie6899]

Voar actually means spring, as in spring time. A sheltered inlet is called a Voe.

[@paulallen2654]

I love this channel! The focus on Germanic and Celtic history is why I subscribe

[@andreascovano7742]

Heyy, Hilbert! Man you are working overtime!

[@leotheviking9796]

Wow spot on pronunciations! Cheers from Iceland.

[@robinsinpost]

Dutch people are used to tung and throat gymnastics in their own language. Maybe Hilbert is from Friesland too. Even more related to Nordic languages.

[@peterhiggins7998]

The word "voe" which is very similar sounding to "voar" is still used today in Orkney and It means bay. Although this is getting forgoton about slowly. For example there is a beach near my parents house called Ingavoe, but these days it is often called Ingavoe Bay!

[@Schnitz13]

I'd like to know If that has any relation to the Ungava Peninsula which forms part of northern Quebec in Canada. It is an area likely visited by Norse explorers 1,000 years ago and isn't that far from Greenland or Vinland (Newfoundland), where the L'anse aux meadows historic settlement was found.

[@whalefsh]

Voar means spring, as in "Da Voar Redd Up" (The Spring Clean Up)

[@behornedhorse4913]

Weird, vår is spring and vik is bay in Swedish

[@sturlamolden]

In Norwegian one word for bay is “våg”, which is “voeg” when written with English spelling.

[@craigpottinger321]

I’m actually fay Shetland and I didn’t keen most o’ dis stuff. I did keen a peerie bit o’ it.

[@kyrgyzjeff4550]

This reminds me of the BBC show my parents like called “Shetland.”

[@bretwalda8543]

My 4th great grandad was from orkney and in his family tree theres lots of viking names like tait, foubister, swanson meaning sveins son which is apparently a sept of clan gunn.

[@Lemonz1989]

I'm native Faroese. We also dropped the "th" sound while Iceland kept it. In Faroese the "th" sound went mostly to a "t" sound but in some words/names it was changed to a "h" sound, so it's like the "th" sound was split in two. The capital is called Tórshavn now, and was spelled "Þórshöfn" originally. Means Thor's harbor (Tór=Thor havn=harbor). Then there is the town of Hósvík, which was Þórsvík (Thor's inlet), where the "t" sound has been completely dropped and now only has the "h" sound. Vík means inlet, but the Hó part doesn't really mean anything anymore, so I don't know how that came about. I'm guessing it's a local dialect in the past that influenced the name in such a way, that it's completely unrecognizable now - it definitely doesn't mean Thor anymore.

[@notabed800]

In orcadian norn we kept the "th". On the island of westray the still say the old Norse thu and thee.

[@georgedickson6196]

It was a wee bit earlier than the eighth or the ninth century when the nordics came over. The Jarl of Orkey, Thorfinn Rollo Einarsson's ancestors came over in around a couple of hundred years earlier, when Vestfold Dagsdatter the noisy of Westmare, Norway moved over to Orkney in around about the year 750.

[@McFluff33]

I'm loving the frequent uploads. Thanks a lot Hilbert these videos really make my day.

[@wheresmyeyebrow1608]

I’m happy that my comment on Norn was pinned last episode and now this is here.

[@princet1492]

Hilbert I really enjoy your video about the languages of the British isles got me into history.😁

[@gumunduratli579]

Im from the Wastfjords of Iceland and grow up hearing all the sagas and my family are still practicing heathen traditions (norse mythology) so to me this hits home haha I can still understand the old norse and I do technically speak it Icelandic has not chants that much since then

[@Visse90]

"still practicing heathen traditions"... you mean they started to? I doubt they've done it since the middle ages.

[@gumunduratli579]

@@Visse90 no. In Iceland it was permitted to worship in secret. "að blóta á laun"

[@Visse90]

@@gumunduratli579 Att blota i lönndom? Never heard of. Interesting. So how did it survive if you only could do it in secret? Could you do it together with other family members, behind closed doors?

[@gumunduratli579]

@@Visse90 að blóta í laumi. Yeah you were aloud to practice the old religion behind closed doors. Most Icelanders converted to christianity but some kept the old ways alive to a degree ofcourse a lot of I got lost over time

[@SuperEddyn]

There are two th-sounds. Eth (Ðð) and Thorn (Þþ). Eth (Ðð) is similar to D, it's the th sound that appears in "The", "This" and "Though". Thorn (Þþ) is the th sound that appears in words like "Thing", "Thin", and "Thor".

[@christopherlord3441]

Voiced and un-voiced we would say from a phonetics point of view.

[@ottov719]

Hi, I visited Orkney from Norway this summer. Bought a dictionary on Orkney dialect words. Thought I would have been able to recognize quite a few of them. But no. Not much more than words like bern, kirk, flit - words I already knew the Scots share with us. I also took it for granted that people from the Faroe Islands and Iceland would understand much more than me. After all their languages are much closer to Old Norse, having avoided the huge Low German influence (the Hansa) that changed Norwegian in medieval times. Having looked at the words, though: I'm not sure they would. The dictionary offers no information on the origin of these Orkney words. But to me it looks like the vast majority of them are words that are not of Norse origin but words that have appeared locally after the introduction of Scots. Do you have an opinion on this? And do you know if anyone has dived more into the matter? Thanks for any info.

[@ole7146]

Hej Otto, I’m Danish and find it a bit odd to write to you in English but I’ve “studiet” the Skots dialects, see list below. A list of words found within the different dialects of Scots compared to modern Danish. Scots/Danish/English: Aff/af/off, alane/alene/alone, ane/ane(juttish)/one, bairn/barn/child, big/byg/build, brar/bror/brother, bruik/bruge/use, broon/brun/brown, bane/ben/leg, blae/bleg/pail, blad/blad/leaf, blaff/blaff(juttish)/bang, coo/ko/cow, drucken/drukken/drowning, efter/efter/after, een/en/one, flit/flyt/moving house, fremmit/fremmed/stranger, frae(fae)/fra/from, forbye/forbi/past. Gavel/gavl/gable, greet/græde/crying, grund/grund/ground, gae/gå/going, het/hed/heat, hals/hals/neck, hoose/hus/house, hail/hel/whole, haen/har/has, hairst/høst/harvest, hoond/hund/dog, harsk/harsk/harsh, ken/kend/know, kail/kål/cabbage, keek/kig/look, kirk/kirke/church, lope/løbe/running, lang/lang/long, ligg/ligge/laying. Mirk/mørk/dark, mair/mer/more, maist/mest/most, moose/mus/mouse, oot/ud/out, oor/vor/our, quinie/kvinde/quinne(juttish)/woman, quey/kvie/cow with first calving, raip/reb/rope, reek/røg/smoke, sang/sang/song, sanger/sanger/singer, smaa(sma)/små/small, steid/sted/place, spier/spørg/ask, smittle(smit)/smitte/infection, stane/sten/stone, siccar/sikker/sure, spiel/spil/play(game). A leid is a dialect wi an airmy an fleet. Sources: Scotland languages bable, omniglot, glosbe, Scots language center and Scotsmen.

[@ottov719]

@@ole7146 Thanks for the input, Ole. I believe the Scots share some of these words with the Newcastle Geordies. Same with the diphtong simplification, Scots & Geordies will pronounce house, louse, mouse like Scandinavians do (hoose, loose, moose). Would you bother to take a look at this list of Shetland dialect words? www.baysights.com/shetlandbooks/shetdocs/glossary.htm Yes, some of these are instantly recognizable. My favourite is kirn-milk. Rig is a good one too. But I probably understand less than 10% of them. What about you? Then again, The North Islands left Denmark-Norway 549 years ago. So, they've had plenty time to create their own dialect words...

[@ottov719]

Addition: but of course lots of place names are instantly recognizable. Like: Stromness (strom=tidal/current, ness=headland). Kirkwall (kirk=church, wall, derived from våg=bay). Lerwick (ler=clay, vik=bay).

[@ole7146]

Out of the list with Shetlandic Scots I only recognized the following as comparable to our languages: tang/tang, whalp/hvalp, bigg/byg, flittin/flytte, gavel/gavl, grice/gris, haelin/hælde, kist/kiste, merk/mark. The thing is within the different dialects of mainland/insular Scots are variations of words and terms, for example lowland Scots would say brar/brother, ane/one, bruik/use and someone who speaks the Doric dialect and I have that from one who speaks the Doric dialect, would say braither/brother, een/one, ese/use. Yes, there’s many place names in both Scotland and in particular England. Jeg har aldrig selv besøgt Shetlandsøerne kun sejlet forbi på vej til Færøerne. rørene.

[@loomachun]

To understand Orkney dialect words and their connection to Old Norse it is much better to read The Orkney Norn by Dr. Hugh Marwick. Many of the words don't sound like Norwegian any longer, but have changed over the centuries. For example: Tusker is an implement for cutting peat, torv = peat, and skjære = to cut. "Speear" = ask has only a passing resemblance to "spør" in Norwegian now. Many of our dialect words, both Orkney and Shetland, have to be examined by etymologists to find their origins. Some of the grammar is still from the old language also, e.g. "I donna waant innytheen wae hid tae deu" - I don't want anything to do with it. Although the words are English, the grammar is Norse/Germanic with "to do" at the end of the sentence. Some words are still the same, e.g. naust, pronounced as in Norwegian. As there was no substitute word in English/Scots the Norse word was kept. The level of "inflitteen" to Orkney and Shetland is such now that in a relatively short time there will be little or no real dialect spoken. I still speak a broad Orcadian dialect, but only because I have lived in Norway for the past 40 years, and don't speak English on a daily basis. Family in Orkney, who are interacting with English-speaking peoples all the time, are losing their dialect very quickly.

[@ailinos]

Thank you for mentioning Gaeilge 💜💜

[@bell4textu973]

The Orkney and Shetland Islands had been used as collateral for the wedding dowry of Margaret of Denmark, the future wife of King James III of Scotland. It was indeed a problem that the Norwegian Council was never informed, and would never approve any "Norwegian land" being used as wedding dowry ever. The King of Denmark went beyond his powers, because he knew it would never be approved. Since 20 February 1472 over ten attempts were made to redeem the wedding dowry, but Scotland rejected buy back each time. A sad story indeed.

[@magnushutchison4920]

were trying again to go home to norway, here in shetland.

[@johnkilmartin5101]

I am pretty sure the Shetlands were part of the dowery of Anne of Denmark bride of James VI/ I. Fun fact the Hudson Bay Company recruited extensively in the Orkneys for men to serve in its forts on the Bay.

[@TartanCatholic]

It's Shetland and Orkney not 'The Shetlands' or 'The Orkneys'

[@johnkilmartin5101]

@@TartanCatholic They weren't lumped together in the 1570s. If I am not mistaken the current council system only dates back to the 1960s and before 1890 the largest administrative districts in Scotland were burghs and parishes.

[@johnkilmartin5101]

I did a little research and apparently up to Anne's marriage both claimed the area with Robert Stewart (James' illegitimate half uncle) doing homage to the Danish King for it as Jarl in 1575 before being made 1st Earl by James in 1581 both before the 1589 wedding.

[@TartanCatholic]

@@johnkilmartin5101 They are two separate places, my point is that orcadian locals call their homeland Orkney, not 'the orkneys' and likewise Shetlanders call theirs Shetland rather than the Shetlands. I was briefing you on the correct terminology!

[@johnkilmartin5101]

@@TartanCatholic Okay I thought it was analogous to the term Newfoundland and Labrador which is a single province but individuals will always say they are from one or the other. Thanks for the heads up.

[@modigbeowulf5482]

I learned something today from your video. Thanks.

[@1323GamerTV]

Got my wisdom teeth out, this is a cool channel to binge

[@spymen08]

wow i so loved this vid you are doing it just fine id skip a whole day of school and just watch your vids all day long heh.

[@Valhalla88888]

Fun Fact it was the king of Norway in the 12th century that gave Orkney and Shetland to the kingdom of Scotland when his daughter was married to the king of Scotland in Scotland there existed Picts who it appears are the forebears of the Germanic and Viking tribes.

[@Rimrock300]

mmm...to make more clear, that king was the king of Denmark, and Norway, who in 1468 was to marry his daughter to the Scottish king, and in lack of money to give the scotts to get his daughter married, he temporary handed them the islands as a pawn, until he could pay them. The money never came, and the rest is history) The Orkney would possible been captured by the scots sooner or later, while shetland maybe had ended up similar to Faroe Islands, under the Danish Crown

[@VarnokGamer]

I live in shetland and this is very interesting

[@kyrgyzjeff4550]

Hallo Hilbert! Prettige Kerstdagen!☃️🎄🎄

[@Zastrava]

My ancestors were bilingual in Orcadian Norn and Orcadian Scots until they emigrated to the Red River Colony in Canada. I've done a lot of reading into Nynorn, the revitalisation effort is pretty interesting! I've been trying to learn it.

[@emilykortan1740]

I’m super excited for your new merch! I wish it would have been released sooner so I could have asked for it for Christmas😊

[@k0mm4nd3r_k3n]

My maternal line comes STRAIGHT OUTTA ORKNEY.

[@rick149ou]

So you're a half-orc?

[@JKKnudsen]

I'm not a historian, and can't attest to the validity of your theory, nor my addition. But I think it should be mentioned that one of the major trading ports of the 9th century was Avaldsnes, located on the island Karmøy. And it sits just north the dividing line of accents even today(Traveling less than 30-km you go from hard to soft consonants). Now the oldest place names here, are often descriptive of the terrain, and the caledonian orogeny cuts straight through the same region. It's possible that the ones that came from regions further north had an easier time finding names that stuck. Regardless, great video!

[@MrJarl66]

Love your vids, keep em coming

[@Ratchet4647]

Go NyNorn! Let's bring back some of these great languages! Like Old Prussian and Old Livonian, and Cornish!

[@crywlf9103]

Kernow Bys Vyken

[@stephenhalcrow6354]

Voar in Shetlandic=Spring Time Voe=Sea Inlet

[@danishviking8002]

Old word for spring in danish is Vår

[@joniskahavet]

In Norwegian and Swedish "vår" (pronounced the same as "voar") is the word for spring, Icelandic has "vor" and Faeroese "vár". But in Danish the season is called "forår" (literally "pre-year").

[@sturlamolden]

Similar to Norwegian “vår” (spring) and “våg” (inlet/bay).

[@edwardboyter9792]

Norn also had an impact on Scots. Especially the Scots of the East Coast. The North Sea and fishing has ever been a connection.

[@deerwalker4053]

The word 'Noost' derives from Old Norse 'boat shed' means a place you put your boat in winter. Voar means 'Spring'. Someone mentioned you have put Shetland in a box and how that isn't allowed now, I did hear that, and yes it is annoying that it is in the wrong area as so many people in England have even argued with me about where it is.

[@bentehansen5857]

In faroese bátahús or nest voar in faroese vár

[@FingerBob]

We still use these words in Norwegian. Nøst/naust and vår

[@ayeshakhan6027]

Im from Glasgow Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇬🇧

[@BAIRN1876]

Stick that union flag up yer arse

[@andwhat]

Thank you Hilby

[@madmusial]

Very cool, really enjoy your videos thank you so much. Would love to see you do more on Poland....

[@xelgringoloco2]

Fun drinking game, take a shot everytime he says "At the time"

[@ChristophersMum]

In both Gaelic and Norwegian the word 'snog' means pretty, in Scots it's an extended session of kissing.....snoggable!

[@historywithhilbert]

Interesting stuff! It has a similar meaning to the Scots one in Northumbrian as I recall.

[@dareallan9236]

Kissing is snogging. A kiss is not, however a snog. A French kiss, would be a snog.

[@Luredreier]

+ChristophersMum I can't recall us using "snog" for "pretty" here in Norway. That said there's so many dialects that it might very well be used somewhere. And while I can't remember the exact word I seem to recall a *similar* word being used once...

[@Luredreier]

+@MrZapparin The problem with "snøgg" is that it means "fast" and has no connection to "pretty", "kissing", "cute" or anything of that sort. Most of the words that are similar to "snog" are related to snow here. Or in other words, the norwegian word "snøgg" is *not* in any way, shape or form realted to the swedish word "snygg". If you're Swedish you might be looking at a false friend there.

[@MartieD]

According to Wiktionary, the Swedish "snygg" (which means good-looking), is related to words in Norwegian and Icelandic that mean "short" or "fast". I don't know why their definitions have come to be so different though.

[@terryirvine5544]

Voar is spring time. A voe is a sheltered inlet

[@hrafnkellhelgason9129]

Vor in Icelandic. I'm loving this content. I could read the whole prayer in Shetlandic Norn, it's very similar to Icelandic. Chimeri being himinn/heaven is a very cool word. In the prayer it would be "himni" which is close to chimeri.

[@jackedwards8379]

THANK YOU HILBERT!

[@DeGust01Gote]

wow someone that can pronounce norse names good job!

[@Luredreier]

9:58 Hum, I can actually *read* that Shetlandish Norn and it makes sense to me. The Orcadian Norn version on the other hand didn't make much sense to me prior to seeing the Shetlandish version. Honestly that Shetlandish version actually looks a lot more like Norwegian then Faeroese to me.

[@landkonnudur]

I think that's only because the Shetlandic Norn had a Norse-influenced spelling while Orcadian Norn seems to have had Scots-influenced spelling.

[@notabed800]

The orkney Norn retained the original old Norse th sound and Shetland dropped it for d as did norwegian

[@Luredreier]

@@notabed800 What TH sound do you have in mind? There's two different ones, voiced and unvoiced. Icelandic got both, Faeroese dropped the unvoiced one leaving only the voiced one in their alphabet.

[@notabed800]

@@Luredreier shetlandic dropped both I believe. Or the voiced one at least

[@dublinpiper]

Really interesting what you said about the 'th' being reduced to a hard 't' or 'd'. We do dis all over Ireland, like we would pronounce 'thorn' as 'torn' and 'over there' would be 'over dere' We joke about the dis, dat, dees, and dose, dats the way the th goes! I wonder does the Norn dat was spoken in Ireland, have any bearing on our Hiberno-English? Maybe it's just inherent bad grammar?

[@MichaelMarko]

This is hilarious. I grew up with that same joking about "dis, dat, dees, and dose" but it was a New York City language thing!

[@dublinpiper]

@@MichaelMarko Ah dats funny, interesting... Maybe dere's just a wee bit too much of an effort in putting your tongue between your teeth to pronounce dat proper soft 'th' sound. I tink a hard T or D is just easier, and more lazy to do. Although it is noticeable, when an Irish person does it properly. Denotes a certain refinement and/or snobbery even! It's mad the little things....

[@trondranorquoy5154]

What would be really good for Shetland and its differing history and language sources would be if the Scottish Government would see fit to spend a fraction of the money spent on Gaelic signage over most of Scotland, even in parts where Gaelic was only debatable and in others for a very short period (and totally giving the wrong impression of language history in the Western Isles). But every time you raise this topic, the issue is dampened down by Scots very forcibly saying that Norn is a dead language (despite some of us granddaughers of Shetlanders being taught "imsy wimsy spindle, kleptra op foor train" instead of the English version! Its like a modern day extension of when Norn was originally wiped out by the Scots and referred to by Scottish imported schoolteachers as "that old dirt".

[@robjohnson1189]

I'se frae a la'al village on Morecambe Bay and Norn seems easy to me. I remember a fisherman from our village coming back from shore duty in Iceland saying he could understand them. Not much has changed since the Vikings built Peel Castle and settled the area, them it's said went on to colonise Iceland, who knows for sure? My farther was always fadder for instance

[@terratremuit4757]

Good video! When will the Anglo-Saxon vs. Briton genocide video come out?

[@historywithhilbert]

That was meant to be out tonight but thought I'd do a bit more research before releasing that one so I think it'll be out either on Friday or on Saturday!

[@terratremuit4757]

@@historywithhilbert Great, I'm looking forward to it!

[@emmabarone1530]

Terra Tremuit well in historic facts The Germanics wiped out between 80%-95% of the Native British. The Germanics were hired by the Romanized British to protect them from the Picts. The Romanized British betrayed the Germanics [ Honor and Respect and Trust and loyalty was deep in their beliefs ] so the British Celts lied and were wiped out. The remaining British went to Wales and Welsh people are the Natives of Britain.

[@NiteDriv3r]

I WISH THIS LANGUAGE STILL EXISTED

[@arcanelyclaire6091]

Great video! Does anyone know the term ‘dangy’? My grandpa was Scots and he used it in reference to bad weather, but I’m trying to track down what or where the term came from - he was born in Orkney but travelled all over the Highlands and Islands...

[@TheAccidentalViking]

Oh wow. I just got got a MASSIVE sense of revertigo. When I saw the lord's prayer in the Orkadian dialect of Norn, all my Irish catholic and Norwegian language education collided and I got a headache! I think I saw sparks!

[@notabed800]

Fantastic video, I'm orcadian by the way.

[@JacobafJelling]

How do you brits feels about your part Scandinavian heritage? Greetings from Denmark

[@ulfheinn8363]

I would say proud, yes.

[@davidblackwood106]

Definitely proud of it :)

[@inkyscrolls5193]

11:32 There it is!

[@jardon8636]

my paternal ancestor is king sweyn forkbeard......omg ;)

[@vikingboat6347]

Cool film. History most not be forgotten ⛵⚓

[@roblundie8486]

As someone with a lot of Nordic Scot heritage, I find this very interesting.

[@PRKLGaming]

Can you do a video on the Gaulish language?

[@TheIndogamer]

Suomi *PEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRKELLLLEEEEEEEEEE*

[@surfstrat59]

Went to the Shetlands for maneuvers with the Royal Marines. Spent the entire time praying to God to miracle my ass out of there...🌬

[@ThebelgiumgamerFTW]

Thank you Hilbert for listening to us who requested this :) may Odin bless you!

[@DAVERAYNARD]

DO MORE ON VIKINGS IN ORKNEY , HILBERT.

[@MortenSKM]

Actually the danish king tried to buy the islands back, however the Scots didn't wanna give it back. That's how the story goes here in Denmark

[@XaaviWillow]

The runes in the thimbnail say "I would write this in Old Norse but I'm not Jackson Crawford."

[@FingerBob]

Shetlandic Norn was very understandable from a western-Norwegian point of view in comparison with Orkney Norn (although that was also somewhat understandable)

[@Yonn_krasnyy]

Awesome!!

[@trondranorquoy5154]

One of my favourite pronunciations of placenames in Shetland is "berry" as in "Ollaberry". You can be sure there will be a big hill there as it means "berg" but is presumably pronounced as it was in Old Norse? And is still retained in Swedish e.g. the surname "Bergman". I wonder if in some respects Swedish was more conservative in retaining certain forms of Old Norse pronunciation than Danish and Swedish?

[@elOkindin]

Voar could be related to the icelandic word vogur which means imlet/small bay. We also say vor which is spring.

[@SuperMagnetizer]

Vik also means bay I Think, as in Sandviken, a Town North of Stockholm.

[@cranque-1]

I got scottish ancestry, time to see if any of them were that far north in the 1600's.

[@16voyeur]

Thank You!!

[@janfranc8458]

Hello Hilbert nice video. Could you do history of Hebrides and Faroe?

[@lars-gunnarolsson7460]

Where on earth is the Scandinavian (Viking) heritage stronger than on Shetland? The Up Helly Aa is magnificent. The galley called Yggdrasil derives from the nordic Asa faith. Just the language Norn is missing today but could be replaced by Norwegian/Swedish in the education. I feel that Shetlanders are more Scandinavians than Scots. Kom hem till oss!

[@zicada7661]

I like your Norwegian pronunciation. Not too bad at all.

[@guldklimp]

I'm swedish and it's interesting to see how much easier the Shetland norn was to read than the Orkney norn! Shetland and Orkney, if you ever want to return to the Nordic fellowship, we welcome you back 😉

[@neenee8194]

Dutch has the same as these dialects. We say Dit (this), Dat, (that) deze (these) die (those). Since it is the same with German and Norwegian maybe it could be an aspect of Germanic languages?

[@Randi-k6m]

The Frisians and Danes have a very long “kinsmen / family” history which also includes royal intermarriages so no wonder that there are similarities in written as well as spoken languages. Many many stories could be told of this relationship, one which springs to mind is when the Frisian king Radboud had a visit from a high-ranking monk representing the papacy, with the task to convince the king to convert. He refused, but pulled a prank on the monk; advising him to try his luck with the Danish king, well knowing that he was a hard-core “pagan” and that the monk didn’t have a chance. So, the monk travelled to the Danish king, and should I sum up the monks report of that meeting, basically it said that he had never met such a terrible man before in his entire life. King Radboud must have laughed for 14 days. After the Frisians lost their land to the Franks in 697, the Danes during Viking Age (and perhaps even before) attacked the new “owners” again and again. The Danes kept claiming that they had the legal right to the land because of the family relationship with the Frisian people including the Frisian royals who had been driven out when the Franks after many years of wars succeeded in invading Frisia, causing the Frisian royals to flee to the Danish Island Helgoland. And for many years, in different periods, the Franks gave in and allowed the Danes to control the “former” Frisian area. The Northern Frisian Islands was part of Denmark until the British “stole” it in 1807 under the Napoleon wars. The relationship between the Frisians and Danes continue even to this day as The Danish Government pays for schools and institutions in Schleswig (former Danish land now in Northern Germany) where the minorities from former Danish lands can join, i.e. Frisians and Northern Germans with Danish roots.

[@neenee8194]

@@Randi-k6m very interesting! Thanks for the detailed explanation

[@notabed800]

In proto germanic there was the th sound and it changed to d in Germany and some descendents of old norse.

[@thundercliff93]

Funny Eyjaskeggjar in modern Icelandic simply means natives of an Island

[@ZadenZane]

Yo, Hilbert! If you're Dutch, how come you sound like Selina Scott (who is Scottish btw, used to present the Clothes Show on BBC telly). I love the way you pronounce those ancient names (3:55, etc) why don't you do a video where you babble nonstop for an hour in whatever Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic languages they're teaching you at Cambridge... Okay I'm joking but a Conversational Norse video would be a great idea. You could dress all your friends as Vikings and get them to converse. "Hello. My name's Æthelfred, I'm new round here. I've just got off the longboat and I'm a bit skint. Do you know anyone I might pillage this morning?"/Etc. Also it would be great if you could do a video on what your BA course in Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic actually involves? I tried to access the online prospectus. Talk about uninformative! You'd think the actual course units and reading lists were state secrets; they give barely any details, apart from a few mutterings about mediaeval Irish and Welsh. Could you please illuminate us on what you actually study? What do you read in mediaeval Welsh and Irish? (Or Norse.) Is there any opportunity to learn Scots Gaelic, or is that not mediaeval enough? Please divulge all you can!👍

[@steve154life]

Verry amazing. I love tha letter þ but whene typeing í write da in place of tha

[@ItsLeesus]

Dat and Dis is still spoken by Chavs in the UK

[@craigpottinger321]

Lee Allcock dats right

[@jardon8636]

so hilbert is a viking lover from the nederlands(low lander) that was born and resides in UK, i was born and reside in UK**... in a recent dna test... my origins are sardinia & denmark...no joke... any explanation hillbert? of course i too , love the vikings, always been fascinated by them, the recent mgm vikings and bbc-netflix last kingdom, are both depicting simmilar viking history...

[@satyr1349]

Would enjoy a more in depth analysis of the history and language of the islands.

[@bobbyhobok7820]

Thank you