Manchester Alemoirs, Vol. xliv. ( 1 899), No. ^. 2 1 



races should understand each other, that which f(jr the 

 time was the weaker had probably to give way, and learn 

 to understand the speech of the stronger. Those who 

 settled permanently in the isles did, of course, speak 

 Gaelic, but this very fact makes it all the less probable 

 that a knowledge of Gaelic would reach Iceland, for 

 Icelanders who visited Ireland in their journeys east 

 mixed chiefly with those who spoke their own tongue^, 

 and if they had any intercourse with Gaels, would hardly 

 trouble to learn a new language when they had inter- 

 preters in plenty. The sagas give us two instances only 

 of Icelanders or Norwegians who spoke Irish when they 

 visited Ireland ; one of these, an Icelander, Olafr Pa,- had 

 been taught the language in secret by his Irish mother ; 

 the other;' a Norseman, acted as interpreter for the 

 hostages left by Magnus Berf?ettr with Myrkjartan, King 

 of Connaught, but his knowledge of the language can 

 hardly have been extensive, since when he tried to make 

 a complimentary speech to the king, the result was, to 

 the indignation of the court, a curse (written down 

 phonetically by the saga-writer). 



The relative number of loan words in the two 

 languages confirms these suppositions. Some 200 words' 

 of probable Norse origin occur in Gaelic. A few of these 

 appear sporadically in references to the Norsemen, nick- 

 names, or quotations ; by far the greater number are still 

 living words in Gaelic, many having derivatives with 

 Gaelic suffixes. About twenty might phonetically as well 

 come from Anglo-Saxon forms, but in most of these the 



' Cf. Njals Saga, ch. 85, f., 152, f., Eyrbygg/a. ch. 29, 64. Gzuinlaugs 

 Saga Ormstuugn, ch. 8. 

 - Laxdala Saga. 

 ^ Bisktipa Sdgur I., 227. 

 * Arkiv for nordisk Filologi, vol. X., 149- 166. 



