ot noticed here, because, from being
the staple of the present language, it is more or less the subject of the
book throughout.

s. 73. _The Danish, or Norse._--The pirates that pillaged Britain, under
the name of Danes, were not exclusively the inhabitants of Denmark. Of the
three Scandinavian nations, the Swedes took the least share, the Norwegians
the greatest, in these invasions.

The language of the three nations was the same; the differences being
differences of dialect. It was that which is now spoken in Iceland, having
been once common to Scandinavia and Denmark.

The Danish that became incorporated with our language, under the reign of
Canute and his sons, may be called the _direct_ Danish element, in
contradistinction to the _indirect_ Danish of s. 76.

The determination of the amount of Danish in English is difficult. It is
not difficult to prove a word _Scandinavian_; but, then, we must also show
that it is not German as well. A few years back the current opinion was
against the doctrine that there was much Danish in England. At present, the
tendency is rather the other way. The following facts are from Mr.
Garnett.--"Phil. Trans." vol. i.

1. The Saxon name of the present town of _Whitby_ in Yorkshire was
_Streoneshalch_. The present name _Whitby_, _Hvitby_, or _Whitetown_, is
Danish.

2. The Saxon name of the capital of Derbyshire was _Northweortheg_. The
present name is Danish.

3. The termination -by = _town_ is Norse.

4. On a monument in Aldburgh church, Holdernesse, in the East Riding of
Yorkshire, referred to the age of Edward the Confessor, is found the
following inscription:--

_Ulf_ het araeran cyrice _for hanum_ and for Gunthara saula.
"Ulf bid rear the church for him and for the soul of Gunthar."

Now, in this inscription, _Ulf_, in opposition to the Anglo-Saxon _Wulf_,
is a Norse form; whilst _hanum_ is a Norse dative, and by no means an
Anglo-Saxon one.--Old Norse _hanum_, Swedish _honom_.

5. The use of _at_ for _to_ as the sign of the infinitive mood is Norse,
not Saxon. It is the regular prefix in Icelandic, Danish, Swedish, and
Feroic. It is also found in the northern dialects of the Old English, and
in the particular dialect of Westmoreland at the present day.

6. The use of _sum_ for _as_; e.g.,--_swa sum_ we forgive oure detturs.

7. Isolated words in the northern dialects are Norse rather than Saxon.

_Provincial._ _Common Dialect._ _Norse._

Braid