The modern county of Cumbria is by no means unique in having a traditional local dialect, but the isolation of the area and its rich history mean that this is perhaps one of the most interesting rural dialects in the United Kingdom.

Brief History of the People and Language

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The Celtic Influence

Despite the modern county only being created in 1974 from the counties of Cumberland, Westmorland and North Lancashire and parts of Yorkshire, Cumbria is an ancient land. Before the arrival of the Romans the area was the home of the Carvetii tribe, which was later assimilated to the larger Brigantes tribe. These people would have spoken Brythonic, which developed into Old Welsh, but around the 5th century AD, when Cumbria was the centre of the kingdom of Rheged, the language spoken in northern England and southern Scotland from Yorkshire to Strathclyde had developed into a separate language known as Cumbric. Remnants of Brythonic and Cumbric are most often seen in place names, in elements such as caer 'fort' as in Carlisle, pen 'hill' as in Penrith and craig 'crag, rock' as in High Crag.

The most well known celtic influence in Cumbrian dialect is the so-called sheep counting numerals which were reputedly used in various forms by shepherds throughout the area, but which have probably only been used for knitting within living memory.

Before the 8th century AD Cumbria was annexed to English Northumbria and Old English began to be spoken in parts, although evidence suggests Cumbric survived in central regions in some form until the 11th century.

The Norse Influence

A far stronger influence on the modern dialect was Old Norse, spoken by Norwegian settlers who probably arrived in Cumbria in the 10th century via Ireland and the Isle of Man. The majority of Cumbrian place names are of Norse origin, including Ulverston from Ulfrs tun ('Ulfr's farmstead'), Kendal from Kent dalr ('valley of the River Kent') and Elterwater from eltr vatn ('swan lake'). Many of the traditional dialect words are also remnants of Norse settlement, including beck (bekkr, 'stream'), laik (leik, 'to play'), lowp (hlaupa, 'to jump) and glisky (gliskr, 'shimmering').

Old Norse seems to have survived in Cumbria until fairly late. A 12th century inscription found at Loppergarth in Furness bears a curious mixture of Old English and Norse, showing that the language was still felt in the south of the county at this time, and would probably have hung on in the fells and dales (both Norse words!) until later.

Anything else?

Not really. Once Cumbrians had assimilated to speaking English, there were few further influences on the dialect. In the middle ages, much of Cumbria frequently swapped hands between England and Scotland but this had little effect on the language used. In the nineteenth century miners from Cornwall and Wales began relocating to Cumbria to take advantage of the work offered by new iron ore, copper and wadd mines but whilst they seem to have affected some local accents (notably Barrow-in-Furness) they don't seem to have contributed much to the vocabulary.

One of the lasting characteristics of still found in the local dialect of Cumbria today is an inclination to drop vowels, especially in relation to the word "the" which is frequently abbreviated. Unlike the Yorkshire dialect where 'the' is abbreviated to 'th' (θ) in Cumbrian the sound is harder like the letter 'ð' or simply a 't' and in sentences sounds as if it is attached to the previous word, for example "int'" instead of "in the" "ont'" instead of "on the".

The Accent and Pronunciation

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Cumbria is a large county with several relatively isolated areas, so there is quite a large variation in accent, epecially between north and south. There are some uniform features that should be taken into account when pronouncing dialect words.

Vowels (RP English > Cumbrian) - see IPA for a guide to phonetics

/ɑː/ as in father > /æ/, as in car /æː/

/eɪ/ as in day > /eː/

/aɪ/ as in pile > /æː/

/əʊ/ as in boat > /oː/

/ʌ/ as in bud > /ʊ/

/iː/ as in seen > /ɪ/ (not in all cases)

/iə/ as in year > /ijə/

words with 'oo', such as poor and moor are pronounced /uə/ 'poowa' and 'moowa' to rhyme with 'sewer'

Other Features

r is tapped once against the roof of the mouth when pronounced

dd in spellings is /ð/ (th as in then)

n tends to be omitted before t in mid-sentence

/t/ tends to be glottalised medially and sometimes finally (eg. the phrase 'I don't want to' might be pronounced doːʔ wɒʔuː); this is not traditionally Cumbrian, but crept in with the migration of workers from the south west of England.

/k/ tends not to be released in the final position

• NB: the placename Kirkby (of which there are several in Cumbria) is always pronounced /kɜːbiː/, with the /k/ omitted, unlike most other parts of the country where it is pronounced /kɜːkbiː/.

Dialect Words

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General words

as I

me my

us Usually used to mean 'me' in a question. See 'deek' below.

aa or aye yes

naa or nee no

owt anything

areet alright

nowt nothing

barie adj. good or nice

like Usually used at the end of a sentence, either to emphasise that it is a question, or simply out of habit, having no particular meaning. Similar to eh (see examples below).

garn v. going

jarn v. doing

scran n. food

wuk n. work

reet adj. right

bray v. beat (as in beat up someone)

biddies n. fleas

lug n. ear

scrow n. a mess

suwth n. adj. south

eh eh is used at the beginning or end of sentences. Can be used to emphasise that the phrase is a question (as is examples below) or can be inserted simply by habit, then having no particular meaning. Similar to like

wid conj, with

lowp v. jump

crack n. news/gossip

britches n. trousers

deek v. look

scower v. to look at

keks n. underpants

laik v. to play

ladgefull adj. embarrassing

gar thruw vp. go through (as in gar thruw to carlisle like eh)

radge, radgy adj. mad

owr adv. over or a lot

mek v. make

tek v. take

gar v. go

gay adv. very

la'al adj. small (pron. larl)

kalied adj. intoxicated (pron. kay-lied)

aald adj. old

clarty adj. muddy or messy

clarten v. messing about

gammerstang adj. awkward person

bad, badly adj. ill, unwell (a bad 'ed is a headache)

twining n. whinging or complaining

cack adj. bad, horrible or awful

wolf v. to eat quickly, ravenously

vanya adv. almost, nearly

kisty adj. squeamish or fussy (pron. ky-stee)

People

marra n. friend, companion, mate (mainly used in West Cumbria)

gadge n. person, friend, companion, colleague (mainly used in East Cumbria)

offcomer n. a non-native in Cumbria

fadder or favver n. father

cuz n. cousin

potter n. gypsy

laddo/ladd n. young man

lasso/lass n. young women

buwer n. unattractive girl

Places, landscapes, buildings etc

ginnel n. a narrow passage, a back alley

yam n. home

yat n. gate

sneck n. door latch

hingins/hangins n. hinges

fell n. a large hill or small mountain

lonnin n. a lane

crag n. stone or rock, also used for the name Craig

beck n. stream

tarn n. small lake

Farming Terms

boos n. a division in a shuppon

shuppon/shippon n. a cow shed originally used for milking

fodder gang n. passage for feeding cattle (usually in a shuppon)

yowe n. ewe sheep (rhymes with cow)

hogg n. yearling sheep

gimmer n. female which has not had a lamb

liggin' kessin adj. when an animal is lying on its back and can't get up

stoop n. a gate post

dyke n. hedge > dyking means to lay a hedge

cop n. the bank of earth on which a hedge grows

syke n. a gutter or ditch between a cop and the road for drainage

hoss/ross n. horse

cuddy n. cow

mowdy n. mole

The Weather

glisky adj. when the sky is really bright so you can't see properly

mizzlin adj. misty drizzly rain

syling adj. pouring rain

Cumbrian numbers

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The Cumbrian numbers, often called 'sheep counting numerals' because of their supposed use by shepherds until recent times, show clear signs that they may well have their origins in Cumbric. The table below shows the variation of the numbers throughout Cumbria, as well as the relevant cognate in Welsh and Cornish, which are the two closest British languages to Cumbric, for comparison.

*	Keswick	Westmorland	Eskdale	Millom	High Furness	Welsh	Cornish
1	yan	yan	yaena	aina	yan	un	onen/unn
2	tyan	tyan	taena	peina	taen	dau/dwy	dew/diw
3	tethera	tetherie	teddera	para	tedderte	tri/tair	tri/teyr
4	methera	peddera	meddera	pedera	medderte	pedwar/pedair	peswar/peder
5	pimp	gip	pimp	pimp	pimp	pump	pymp
6	sethera	teezie	hofa	ithy	haata	chwe(ch)	whegh
7	lethera	mithy	lofa	mithy	slaata	saith	seyth
8	hovera	katra	seckera	owera	lowera	wyth	eth
9	dovera	hornie	leckera	lowera	dowera	naw	naw
10	dick	dick	dec	dig	dick	deg	dek
15	bumfit	bumfit	bumfit	bumfit	mimph	pymtheg	pymthek
20	giggot	-	-	-	-	ugain	ugens

NB: reputedly, if these numerals were ever actually used for counting sheep, the shepherd would count to fifteen or twenty and then move a small stone from one of his pockets to the other before beginning again, thus keeping score. Numbers eleven, twelve etc. would have been 'yandick, taendick' etc.

Cumbrian Poetry

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• Derwent Pickering was a local writer who wrote in Cumbrian
• Norman Nicholson lived in Millom and wrote many poems about his native county

See also

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Cumbria

Cumbric

Dialect

Etymology of Cumbrian Place Names

External links

• cumbrian dialect glossary
• listen to pronunciation
• lakeland dialect society

Cumbria