Walter Sutherland (Norn)
Encyclopedia
Walter Sutherland of Skaw
on the island of Unst
in Shetland was reported to be the last native speaker of Norn
, a Germanic language which had once been spoken throughout Shetland, Orkney and Caithness
. He lived in the northernmost house in the British Isles, near the present-day Unst Boat Haven.
Sutherland may, however, have been merely the last native speaker of Norn on Unst. Some unnamed Norn-speakers of Foula
were reported by Jakob Jakobsen
to have survived much later than the middle of the 19th century.
Skaw
Skaw is a tiny settlement on the Shetland island of Unst. It is located north of Haroldswick on a peninsula in the northeast corner of the island, and is the most northerly settlement in the United Kingdom...
on the island of Unst
Unst
Unst is one of the North Isles of the Shetland Islands, Scotland. It is the northernmost of the inhabited British Isles and is the third largest island in Shetland after the Mainland and Yell. It has an area of .Unst is largely grassland, with coastal cliffs...
in Shetland was reported to be the last native speaker of Norn
Norn language
Norn is an extinct North Germanic language that was spoken in Shetland and Orkney, off the north coast of mainland Scotland, and in Caithness. After the islands were pledged to Scotland by Norway in the 15th century, it was gradually replaced by Scots and on the mainland by Scottish...
, a Germanic language which had once been spoken throughout Shetland, Orkney and Caithness
Caithness
Caithness is a registration county, lieutenancy area and historic local government area of Scotland. The name was used also for the earldom of Caithness and the Caithness constituency of the Parliament of the United Kingdom . Boundaries are not identical in all contexts, but the Caithness area is...
. He lived in the northernmost house in the British Isles, near the present-day Unst Boat Haven.
Sutherland may, however, have been merely the last native speaker of Norn on Unst. Some unnamed Norn-speakers of Foula
Foula
Foula in the Shetland Islands of Scotland is one of Great Britain’s most remote permanently inhabited islands. Owned since the turn of the 20th century by the Holbourn family, the island was the location for the film The Edge of the World...
were reported by Jakob Jakobsen
Jakob Jakobsen
Dr. phil. Jakob Jakobsen, , was a Faroese linguist as well as a scholar of literature. He was the first Faroese person to earn a doctoral degree...
to have survived much later than the middle of the 19th century.