“Aspects of Orkney Dialect” – a talk by Dr Tom Rendall

What do the words dilder, fleg, claa, deeskit, blide, rookel, rive and snirl have in common?

Most folk in Orkney will know that they are examples of Orkney dialect but if you would like an insight into the dialect and the Orkney Norn language, then a series of talks are being held by Dr Tom Rendall in the exhibition room at the Orkney Museum during July and August.

As part of “Aspects of Orkney Dialect” Dr Rendall will delve into the Orkney Norn, linguistic features, the Viking legacy, words and expressions, dialect in poetry and cartoons and the future of the Orkney dialect.

Spoken Orcadian is often regarded as having a sing-song lilt and to others many of the words and how they are used may seem like a foreign language.

Dr Rendall said: “For almost 1,000 years, the language of the people of Orkney was a variant of Old Norse, known as Norn, carried to the Northern Isles by Norwegian settlers.

“Norn remained the language of Orkney until the 15th century. It is thought that from the late 1500s to the early 1700s, most Orcadians were probably bilingual - speaking both Norn and Scots English. But gradually, cultural change in society, coupled with the economic changes, meant that the old tongue began to die out.

“But although the grammar and intricacies of Norn are now lost, a huge number of Norn words survived in the spoken dialect of Orkney. These words, generally relating to everyday life, remained in the following centuries.”

Many factors have led to a further decline in the dialect such as discouragement at one time, television, social media and the mixing populations as people come and go.

But there have been efforts to revitalise the dialect, including within schools and Dr Rendall will also look to the future of the Orkney dialect within his talks.

All talks will run from 11am-noon on 13 and 20 July, and 3, 10, 17 and 24 August.

Admission is £5 on the door.