A (very) Brief History of Yorkshire Dialect
Yorkshire dialect is an ancient form of speech, and often similar to original Anglo-Saxon or Old Norse. See how the dialect grew over time:
From 500 BC: Yorkshire was inhabited by a tribe who spoke Celt about 500 BC and their language is found in some Yorkshire place names,such as Penyghent, Calder and Nidd.
From 54 BC: The Romans occupied England, but not for long enough to their Latin language to permeate the local tongue.
From 410 AD: The Angles invaded the north of England after the Romans departed - and the Saxons the south. The North was split into two kingdoms:
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Northumbria - north of the Humber to Scotland
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Mercia - roughly South Yorkshire and the Midlands
Initially Yorkshire spoke the Northumbrian dialect - the main origin of North and East Ridings dialect - until the dialect of Mercia gradually spread into the region - which impacted the West Ridings more.
From 900 AD: The Danish Vikings created the three Ridings after rolling up the Humber and capturing York. The Norwegian Vikings followed and contributed to the dialect with words such as beck and fell, as well as laik (to play) and teem (pour). They also named the villages Keld and Thwaite.
From 1066 AD: French was next to influence the language, although it was mainly used beside the now widely spoken English, and so provided alternatives to existing words, for example, a ‘buffit’, a low stool, which originates from the Old French ‘buffet’.
From 1400 AD: Old English and Norman French now combined to form Middle English, and with the development of the Caxton printing press, the London dialect became accepted as the standard widespread form of English.