To what extent are the Orkney, Shetland isles and the Hebrides Scandinavian? Anybody have any data on the Scandinavian admixture of these islands?
I don’t know about DNA but there must be a lot, as Scandinavians ruled the region long after their influence faded in the rest of the British Isles. They had a big linguistic impact and the Outer Hebrides, last stronghold of Scottish Gaelic, is full of Norse loan words. Many of the place names are Norse as well, a reversal of the usual pattern where older native names often prevail. Fun fact: despite America’s obsession with all things Trump, no one ever talks about his mother Mary Macleod, a Gaelic speaker from the island of Lewis.
>>16546301Orkney and Shetland are like half Scandinavian
>>16546379You got any actual data though? That’s what I’m interested in
>>16546408>https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1904761116Not half, closer to a third Norwegian in Shetland, a fifth in Orkney, a tenth in the Outer Hebrides, and a twentieth in Man. Culturally Shetland and Orkney became quite linguistically Scandinavian, speaking Norn, a Northern Germanic language dominantly until the 15th Century when it was gradually displaced in favour of Scots, and now English. Orcadian Norn was already declining from the mid-14th Century though. Insular Scots has significant Norn influence, and there's talk of a revival similiar to Manx and Cornish, Nynorn, with some enthusiasm.
