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Craigie: The Norse-Irish Question. 179
men showed greater readiness or capacity for acquiring a
knowledge of Irish than the later English settlers did. It
is indeed a fact which must be carefully remembered that
both in Ireland and Scotland the English-speaking
popula-tion has never shown any disposition to learn even the
ru-diments of Gaelic, although they have had centuries in which
to do it. The old Northmen may have been different, but
we cannot assume that they were, without some clearer proof
than has yet been adduced. If the character of the two
languages is considered, there can be little doubt, I think,
that it was easier for the Irishman to learn a little Norse,
than for the Northman to learn even a little Irish. As I
have elsewhere pointed out, even the Irish names of their
thralls were often discarded by Northmen in favour of
Norse ones.
It is not only in this passage that Dr. Bugge has made
his Statements much more sweeping and positive than the
evidence Warrants. On p. 283 he writes as follows: "Among
the colonists who came to Iceland between. 870 and 900
there is, as is well known, a large percentage who are said
to have come from the British Islands, especially from the
Hebrides and Ireland. Among these again there are many
who bear Irish names, e. g. Bekan, Hélgi bjöla, Óláfr feilan,
Äskell hnokkan, Kalman and his brother Kylan, or who have
Irish mothers and kinsfolk". This use of large percentage
and many is quite misleading, as a brief glance at the facts
will show. First, as to the actual number who came from
’west the sea’, I may cite the words of Prof. Finnur
Jonsson {Ben oldno. og oldisl. Litteraturs Hist. DL 188). "In all,
this" (i. e. the number of colonists who came direct from
Norway) "amounts to a good 300, to whom must be added
5 Swedish and Danish emigrants. In contrast to this there
are only 36 in all, who are said to have come from the
Hebrides, Ireland, Caithness and England; of these, however,
ARJQV FÖR NOBDISK KILO LOGI XIX, NT FÖLJD XV. 13
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