The Language of William Dunbar

Maybe I should have titled this English of William of Dunbar or William Dunbar’s English, but I haven’t —  because I am unsure what exactly is the language in which William Dunbar composed his poems. Or rather, I am pretty certain that the language is English, though literary authorities claim it’s not.

William Dunbar (1450-1513 or 1530) wrote in Scots. It’s a Germanic language, but to me, the tongue doesn’t appear as a distinct language but as an obvious, unmistakable variety of English.

In fact, it’s striking how similar Dunbar’s language is to modern English, What remains to me is unclear is how exactly Scots managed to displace Middle Irish or Middle Gaelic first at the Scottish court and then in Scotland.

Let me translate or rather “re-spell” some of Dunbar’s English, this excerpt is from his Gracia Plena. 

Hale, sterne superne, hale in eterne,
In Godis sicht to schyne!
Lucerne in derne for to discerne
Be glory and grace devyne;

Hail, Supreme Star, Hail in Eternity
In God’s Own Sight to shine
A Lamp in Darkness to discern
By Glory and Grace Divine

As you can see, odd spelling aside, practically all the words are the same as they are in modern English. The only exceptions are the words sterne and sicht. I speak German as well, and if you are even a little familiar with German, you would recognize right away that stern(e) means (a) star and sicht is sight.  Lucerne – from luce or lux which means light can either be translated as either a lamp, like a lantern, or just an abstract source of light.

What else, for me, Dunbar’s poetry has been a discovery. Though nominally the language he wrote in is not even exactly English (though I’d say that to me it sounds like English. It passes the duck test: If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck) his verse is comprehensible (probably even more and definitely not less than Shakespeare’s), rich, beautiful and enjoyable to read.