Psychologist and linguist Ed Conduit explains the influences of Cumbric on Lake District dialect . . .

IT IS well known that the dialect of the Lake District is influenced by Norse. Less well-known are the persisting influences of Cumbric, a language similar to Welsh that was spoken in North West England.

English comes mainly from Anglo-Saxon and the Saxons largely ignored the previous language of Britain.

There are probably less than ten words in standard English that come from Welsh: ‘corgi’, ‘penguin’ and ‘Dad’ are the most common.

After these the influence of Welsh gets increasingly obscure: ‘coracle’, ‘flummery’, or ‘cromlech’.

Lakeland English has a few more: ‘brat’ – an apron, ‘crag’ and ‘coble’ – a boat.

‘Joram’ is a big mess, from goramlu, and ‘jannock, meaning fair play, comes from the Welsh iawn. Both are still used, according to Jack Manning, one of the last men to drag for shrimps on the Furness coast.

Yet the place name evidence is very strong. The name of the county of Cumbria comes from a Welsh word meaning ‘companion’ and is the same as Cymru.

Then there are lakes: Derwent – ‘abounding in oaks’ and Devoke – ‘little dark one’.

Mountain names include Blencathra – summit, seat; Pen-y-Ghent, ‘hill of winds’; and perhaps the Allt Maen of Coniston, ‘steep place, stones’.

River names include Cocker – ‘crooked’, Levens – ‘smooth flowing’ and Kent – ‘sacred one’.

Carlisle comes from the Welsh pronunciation of the Roman god Luguvalium, with the Welsh word ‘caer’ – fort - added later.

The Welsh tried hard to keep Roman civilisation going after the Roman army left. In fact, the Welsh dragon is probably derived from the wind-sock used by mounted archers, originally from the Caspian Sea!

Torpenhow Hill (north of Bassenthwaite) is particularly curious, as it means hill – hill – hill - hill! Tor is the old British word and is also found on Dartmoor; Pen is Welsh, How is Danish, and the fourth name is Middle English.

Cumbric was spoken everywhere between the Mersey and the Clyde. In Cheshire, the place names Pendle and probably Rochdale are Welsh.

The kingdom of Rheged had its centre in the Eden valley between Penrith and Carlisle.

The early Welsh poet Taliesin left us 12 praise poems about King Urian Rhegedm, who was overrun by Northumbria around 780 AD, though Welsh continued to be spoken in the kingdom of Strathclyde for another three centuries.

Glasgow, Melrose, Linlithgow and Lanark all come from Cumbric.

The Lakeland Dialect Society heard about the Welsh connection at its meeting in Torver church hall in March. Its website is www.lakelanddialectsociety .org.