Editing Northumbria (section)

==Language==
{{see also|Northumbrian Old English}}
In the time of [[Bede]], there were five languages in Britain: [[Old English|English]], [[Brittonic languages|British]], [[Old Irish|Irish]], [[Pictish language|Pictish]], and [[Medieval Latin|Latin]].{{efn|"At the present time, there are five languages in Britain, just as the divine law is written in five books, all devoted to seeking out and setting forth one and the same kind of wisdom, namely the knowledge of sublime truth and of true sublimity. These are the English, British, Irish, Pictish, as well as the Latin languages".}}<ref>{{harvnb|Bede|1990|pp=152}}</ref> [[Northumbrian Old English|Northumbrian]] was one of four distinct dialects of [[Old English]], along with [[Mercian dialect|Mercian]], [[West Saxon dialect|West Saxon]], and [[Kentish dialect|Kentish]].<ref>{{harvnb|Baugh|2002|pp=71}}</ref> Analysis of written texts, brooches, runes and other available sources shows that Northumbrian vowel pronunciation differed from West Saxon.<ref>{{harvnb|Cuesta|Ledesma|Silva|2008|pp=140}}</ref> 
Although loans borrowed from the [[Celtic Languages]], such as the [[Common Brittonic]] language of the Britons, and the [[Old Irish]] of the [[Celtic Christianity|Irish missionaries]], into Old English were few, some place-names such as [[Deira]] and [[Bernicia]] derive their names from Celtic tribal origins.<ref>{{harvnb|Baugh|2002|pp=68–69}}</ref>
In addition to the five languages present in Bede's day, [[Old Norse]] was added during the ninth century. This was due to the settlements of the [[wikt:Norse|Norse]] in the north and east of England, an area that became the [[Danelaw]].<ref>{{harvnb|Baugh|2002|pp=85}}</ref> This language had a strong influence on the dialect of Northumbria.<ref>{{harvnb|Baugh|2002|pp=93}}</ref> These settlers gave the region many place-names from their language as well as contributing to the vocabulary, syntax, and grammar of Old English. Similarities in basic vocabulary between Old English and Old Norse may have led to the dropping of their different inflectional endings.<ref>{{harvnb|Baugh|2002|pp=94}}</ref> The number of borrowed words is conservatively estimated to be around nine-hundred in [[standard English]] but rises to the thousands in some dialects.<ref>{{harvnb|Baugh|2002|pp=95}}</ref>