have been the earliest, could not have taken place before about the
second quarter of the 10th Century, and probably were made later.
The other settlements in Southern Scotland may extend even into the
11th Century. The name Dingwall (O.N. _Ðingvöllr_) in Dumfries, the
place where the laws were announced annually, indicates a rather
extensive settlement in Dumfries, and the dialect of Dumfries is
also characterized by a larger number of Scandinavian elements than
the rest of the Southern counties.


4. SETTLEMENTS IN ENGLAND, NORSE OR DANISH? THE PLACE-NAME TEST.

That the Danes were more numerous than the Norsemen in Central and
Eastern England from Northumberland down to the Thames there can be
no doubt. The distinctive Norse names _fell_, _tarn_ and _force_ do
not occur at all, while _thorpe_ and _toft_, which are as
distinctively Danish, are confined almost exclusively to this
section. In Northumberland, Durham, Cumberland, Westmoreland and
Lancashire _thorpe_ is comparatively rare, while _toft_ is not found
at all. On the other hand, _fell_, _dale_, _force_, _haugh_, and
_tarn_ (O.N. _fjall_, _dalr_, _foss_ and _fors_, _haugr_, _tjörn_)
occur in large numbers in Northwestern England. _Beck_ may be either
Danish or Norse, occurs, however, chiefly in the North. _Thwaite_
Worsaae regarded as Danish "because it occurs generally along with
the Danish _by_." We find, however, that this is not exactly the
case. In Lincolnshire there are 212 _by's_, in Leicestershire 66, in
Northampton 26; _thwaite_ does not occur at all. In Yorkshire there
are 167 names in _by_ and only 8 in _thwaite_, and 6 of these are in
West Riding. It is only in Cumberland and Westmoreland that the
proportions are nearly the same, but on _by_ see below §5. _Tveit_