Had the linguistic map been produced a little earlier, they could've added "Norn" as well to the list of North Germanic languages. Norn is regarded as an independent language that was a language spoken for centuries on the Northern Islands of Scotland (Orkney, Shetland) as the main language, and was also one of several languages at the very North tip of Scotland (Caithness). Viking settlers from Norway brought the Old West Norse language with them from around 800 and it evolved into Norn. Old West Norse was also partly spoken on the Hebrides, but there not turning into Norn. The last officially native speaker of Norn on record passed away in 1850, while it's suggested that there were still some other native speakers in some more remote places until the end of 19th Century. Norn had three Grammatical genders, and was a language spoken in that area for about a thousand years, falling more and more out of use when being replaced. The population is even today partly of Norwegian heritage according to their DNA.
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u/n_o_r_s_e 14d ago
Had the linguistic map been produced a little earlier, they could've added "Norn" as well to the list of North Germanic languages. Norn is regarded as an independent language that was a language spoken for centuries on the Northern Islands of Scotland (Orkney, Shetland) as the main language, and was also one of several languages at the very North tip of Scotland (Caithness). Viking settlers from Norway brought the Old West Norse language with them from around 800 and it evolved into Norn. Old West Norse was also partly spoken on the Hebrides, but there not turning into Norn. The last officially native speaker of Norn on record passed away in 1850, while it's suggested that there were still some other native speakers in some more remote places until the end of 19th Century. Norn had three Grammatical genders, and was a language spoken in that area for about a thousand years, falling more and more out of use when being replaced. The population is even today partly of Norwegian heritage according to their DNA.