As a Norwegian having spent a year in Scotland, never before have I felt more at home. The nature, the culture and people are very similar to what I'm used to back home.
That makes loads of sense. Testing our family DNA shows that there is 7% Norwegian DNA in the mix, where we always believed it was pure Irish and Scottish. It was a surprise and yet kind of not quite. They conquered, stayed, intermarried, and spread out over the country, eventually.
My brother is 100% who moved to the USA in the nineties. One day the work place decided to do a DNA test which mostly came up northern European fair enough but it also came up with some African DNA
This is fascinating! I had my DNA done through MyHeritage and the results were a total surprise to me. My Canadian maritime grandfather was of Scottish heritage. My great great grandparents came over from the inner Hebrides of Scotland. My DNA surprise result was that I have nearly 30% Norse DNA to go along with my Scottish DNA. This makes my family/clan history so much more thought provoking and interesting to me.
My grandfather (French Canadian from Quebec) worked on a freighter and his mothers maiden name was Ferguson. Some our our family has went through ancestry DNA testing reflecting northern european.
@Scot of the anarchic. I honestly had no idea! No one in my family ever discussed it. All that my brothers and sisters knew was that our ancestry came out of the Hebrides in Scotland. Now I see my ancestry in a whole new light.
My wife and I are both Danish born and bred, lived for 13 years in England and then 17 years in South West Ireland. All the time we have seen our ancestry reflected in the local populations. It's in the eyes for a start, then there are other physical features and then of course the language. In fact, when we first came to Ireland we used to play a game between ourselves called Spot the Viking, looking at magazine covers etc. In County Cork, the singsong accent made us think there were Norwegian tourists everywhere. A Norwegian friend of ours even felt insulted, thinking that the local people she conversed with were making fun of HER English accent.
My ancestry was, I always thought, split evenly between English, Irish, Swedish and German heritage. Imagine my surprise when my DNA test came back mostly Swedish and Danish. But when I looked at how they determine the origins of one's DNA (it's compared to DNA in communities around the world) it became really clear that my ancestors went a-Viking, and formed communities in places like Ireland, England, Russia, Scotland etc. Really surprised by that, let me tell you. Mind you, I'm not disappointed. Lol
The Vikings came to Normandy and stayed there, too. I also read that in Norse languages, the word "Viking" isn't a noun that describes a person, it is a verb that describes an activity: raiding up a river valley. Norsemen went Viking.
About 40 years ago I was on a Norwegian seismic boat surveying some of the island seas. We had local fishermen on board to liaise with local boats around us. I remember our Norwegian crew and the locals found they had lots of common words, especially slang terms, which supports the depiction of their history in the program.
@Je-Free Norman Aryan described people that already interbred with 2 middle eastern populations. It never described the people from north of caucuses/zagros. That's why.
I loved how surprised she was! It only illustrates how much we assume about our own families and involve our own pride in something that is completely beyond our control. Last time I checked, there wasn't a race of people on earth that weren't proud of their tough, brave, smart ancestors. I traced part of my own family back to 13th century Cheshire England; there were SO many lines died out in anonymity by then. I was struck by the fact it was easy to trace the rich ones, but the FAR more populous poor people were anonymous. What I took away at the end of that journey was how little effect those people really had on ME. Just 5 generations back, you're looking at 32 ancestors - of just that generation! You go back 500 years - and well, the connections are really meaningless. Early on I remember being pretty chuffed I was descended from Alfred the Great & Charlemagne, and slowly realizing that yeah, well, so were hundreds of thousands - probably millions of others. And that's if there was never a cuckold for 1500 years, which I highly doubt. We all have greatness in us, and whores & slaves & cowards & murderers. And lovely people who struggled mightily to feed their children & live in peace. We can no more blame them for our own failures than they can claim credit for our achievements.
Yep, Alf and Charley- me too! It is amazing at first until you sit quietly and think about it, and the numbers involved, just as you say. It still makes me smile though.
When the Norse moved to uninhabited lands like the Faeros and Iceland, they were mainly men who stopped to pick up Celtic slaves to do the work for them, and the women to also bear their children. DNA work in both these places show that the present inhabitants descend mainly from Norse men and Celtic women. In conquering a place like Islay, that already had a resident population, I suspect many would have been killed (especially adult men) but most enslaved, with much of the following generation being fathered by the Norse lords. One way that Gaelic could have been so well preserved is that as the language of the women, it would have been the first language of the children, both those fathered by Norse and those fathered by Celts. After a few generations everyone would speak Gaelic, their mother tongue, and only the few who were children of Norse wives would really get to speak Norse comfortably, and since they probably had Gaelic-speaking nursemaids, and were surrounded by Gaelic-speaking serfs and servants, were comfortable in Gaelic as well. In Iceland and the Faeroes, with no large native Celtic speaking majority, the Norse would have demanded that their slaves spoke Norse to them, so it would have eventually predominated. Note that in some other areas, in particular some of the West Indies, this process led to people that had a "women's language", that of the conquered (Arawak), and a "men's language", that of the conquerors (Carib). Men could speak both, but only spoke men's language to other men, while women and young children spoke only the women's language. Men enforced this on women, so the languages never merged, nor did one supercede the other, as it did in Islay and elsewhere. Great video, and I learned how to pronounce Islay!
This is an amazing film. Confirms a few things in my mind about Scottish / Norwegian history. I believe that our cultural history goes back much further and more peacefully than history would lead us to believe.
I'm an Aussie with a Scottish born Dad and a Norwegian born mother - as much as I love Australia, I've always felt out of place here. My loyalty to both cultures has resulted in a covering of Norse and Celtic inspired tattoos and a basic grasp of both languages.
That is awesome mate. Keep being proud of your heritage. It's exactly what they don't want us to do. I am ethnically a Scot and a Swede, but an Australian national.
@Jeff Roberts lol, a good mix. after thousands of years of migrations, wars, free settling and so fourth. its no wonder so many westerners have a smilier background. its made us who we are. Australians, New Zealaners, Americans, Canadians etc
Wales has a population of just over 3 million I usually have to draw a map because noone believes it exists. Technically someone in my distant family did a DNA search, apparently a certain relative may have been somewhat permiscuos as there is Scottish, Irish and English besides Welsh. No judgment, wasn't me.
I’m from Iceland (female) and I have 70% Norwegian DNA, rest is a mixture of Scottish, Irish, English and Welsh DNA. Always felt drawn to these countries and even though the reason I have this ancestry is not a happy story I’m proud to be connected to them.
@MJ C I got the Haplo group H5 for Hellenic AKA Greece too! They went from Greece as a small group traveling across Europe to the Baltic countries and later into Southern Norway. I described this in a note above here and that should help you too! 😊
No siphon 99% of the world wealth into their control while lying to the peasants about history, geology, volcanology, glaciology ... no one could be so evil, right?
@Emmanuel Goldspleen Go look at the maps of Iceland from the 1600's ... Notice all the cities where now you have mountain glaciers ... and then use your brain.
Pity they do not seem to have investigated the male and female genetic lines separately. In Orkney, it was shown there was almost 100% replacement of the male line when the Vikings arrived, but far less on the female line (not even a majority). So very few Norwegian women immigrated, and pretty much no aboriginal men were allowed to breed, (whether they were killed, expelled, or enslaved). The fate of first generation aboriginal women may also not have been as kind as "wives" suggests. I use the term aboriginal because it is unclear if the Orkney population of the day were Celtic or pre-Celtic people. Genetically they could have been descendents of the Skara Brae folk.
@Eric the Vikings were not that much of conquerors he just said that because he also said the Vikings tried to avoid battles , most of the time they attacked vulnerable people , movies and made up myths and embellishment is not real history
100% replacement of Male lineage? but before they arrived Island they invaded mainland England (865) n definitely they were got married with Anglo Saxon woment so it could be Possible that they came with their AS women's?
I reply to those who say that monks did not have children with a laugh, many so-called nephews of a priest, monk or bishop, were not such ... but children, DNA always tells the truth, ...Mater sempre certa est...It was not only the Duke Valentino and Lucrezia Borgia who were the pope's children, we know about them because they were more famous, but not all priests over the centuries were chaste, and even if they were often gay, The bisexuals had descendants; also calculate the fact that they entered the convent not by vocation, but because they were cadet sons, or daughters. The children of consecrated men survived for obvious reasons, a woman nun could not walk around with her belly, or they made her have an abortion or give birth and killed the baby, or they gave it. When a convent was renovated, the bones of the little ones were found in the walls. Then there is even worse, but I don't want to talk about it, for centuries the apparently Catholic clergy actually had a 'Another religion, Satanist, especially the elite clergy ...
I believe that the Vikings also arrived down in Europe as far as Italy, there was also another people the Varangas, who traveled in the East area up to the Byzantine Empire. Both the Vikings and the Varangas had warrior women, as well as men, I do not think the mixture was made only Viking man, Celtic woman, maybe they were less than men, but the viking warriors were a realithy
I have a German mum from Hamburg and an English father from St Helens in Lancashire so expected to be roughly 50% English-German but instead I'm 83% Scandinavian. My nearest DNA relative apart from my father's kin is a cousin in the US who was from my Oma's sister. She's mostly Scandinavian too. I think the vikings were more settlers than hit and run.
That does not mean munch. English are from the north sea coast from danmark all the way to belgium. Scandinavians are Germanic people who have one origin from ruffly 2500 years ago. The biggest difference between the two are one lived from seafearing the others in the european plains and how they mixed with locals when to sattle in new lands.
The danelaw territory was like half of england and was populated by Danish vikings yes settlers. Hambourg is not far from Danmark. I migth have myself little viking blood cause my great grand father name origin from Normandy. On other side my mum his ancestors in italy were from Lombardia (Bergame) italy so i could even have some Goth ancestry? XD We the french must have 5% from every european regions XD. You can see this in our face we have all eyes colors, hairs colors and skin tones, i wouldn't even know how to describe what look like the "average french". In the region i live: Brittany there was Viking occupation for two centuries and centuries before this region was settled by Britons emigrants runing aways from anglo-saxon invasion. You can find quite many blonde people with blue eyes with very nordic style, normans yes they often look like viking for some.
@Kris Justin I majored in German Studies and had to take a course in Linguistics and History of the German language, which belongs to the family of Germanic languages (German, Dutch, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish). The Migration Period (300-800 AD) was when the nordic peoples migrated south and then anywhere they could find good lands to settle. The collapse of the Roman Empire opened the gates for the Goths, Vandals, Franks and many more to wander and invade what are now England, France, Benelux, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Spain, Portugal and a bit of Northwest Africa. They assimilated into the local populations and left remnants of their roots. Names with Germanic roots... Rodrigo/Rodriguez (Roderick), Gonzalez (Guntho-Alf), Lewis/Louie/Louise/Luigi/Ludwig (Clovis), names ending in -bert like Albert (Ahdebert), Robert (Chrodobert), French region of Bourguignon (Burgundii), Italian region of Lombardi (Langobart), Franck/Francois (Frank), and the French chef Jacques Pepin (Pippin). We identify with our family and national histories which are very recent compared to pre-written history. Trade and migration were more rampant than we think we know before humans began writing and record-keeping.
How interesting! My family were Germans who left from Hamburg, but were from East Prussia and Pomerania. I was surprised how many people thought I resembled a Scandinavian until I found a Peterson (maybe Petersen originally) in the family tree! Perhaps many north Germans have DNA more similar to their northern neighbors than southern Germans? Migration is fascinating!
I haven’t had my DNA tested but my MacLean ancestors on my father’s side came from Isley. His grandmother came from North West Ireland and so on. Now I’m thinking I should get tested to see what it reveals. This has been an interesting video.
As I stumbled upon your comment 6 months later, I can't help but ask you: Did you get a DNA test? I'm curious to hear if your personal story confirms what this video claims
advice about DNA testing, , be prepared to learn things you may not wanna know ♡ I speak from experience on this one, and I used an anonymous name...lol maybe a tad paranoid but these days ya never know.. otherwise its fascinating info and I have no regrets but I did get a whole new family I had ZERO clue my parents were not my birth parents at 43 years old it was a HUGE midlife crisis and complete loss of identity.. and that has taken several years to come to terms with.. ♡
@Caroh As do I!!!! My McLeans went from Mull and Tired to Ireland, then my great great grandmother came to Brooklyn, NY whole most of her family settled into Canada?
Interesting. I have 50% English/Northwestern Europe, 25% Scottish, 14% Sweden/Denmark, 8% Irish, and 2% Norwegian. I know my Scottish ancestors came from Jura, right next to Islay to the North/East, which was also a Viking conquered island. I am sure the Vikings attacked Jura at the same time, if not shortly after since Jura is really close to Islay. On another ancestral website it shows my ancestral DNA as Norse-Gael ancestry. On the same site it has my DNA connection to Icelandic Gaelic-Vikings, but the strongest connection is to Danish Vikings. I thought that was interesting too. My Scottish ancestral surname is "McDougald" in America, but traditionally "Mac DubhGhaill" from Scotland. This video makes a lot of sense from what I found out about my Scottish ancestry. MacDougall is a Norse-Gael Scottish surname (Mac DubhGhaill) amongst many other Norse-Gael surnames i.e., Mac Ìomhair, Mac Amhlaibh, Mac Ìomhair, Mac Raghnall. I have heard (Mac DubhGhaill) is interpreted as "dark stranger" referring to the Norse who came to the island. I know "Mac" means (son of) "dubh" is the color black, but I haven't been able to find "Ghaill" unless it's old Gaelic that isn't used anymore, not sure. I am guessing it must have something to do with an outsider, stranger, etc. I also know the MacDougalls along with MacDonald's have an ancestral connection to Somerled, King of the Isles who repelled the Viking invaders out of the Hebrides.
Love that part of the world. The perception is a large piece of water separating Ireland from Scotland, the Scots Irish and the Norse both treated it as a highway. When in amongst it, sailing between Islay, Kintyre and Ireland, you can see all three very easily and you understand they are all very well connected ... we know how well the Norse and Celts built boats, as far south from Scandinavia as Normandy (Norseman's Land), they used the same sturdy boat designs. We live on a planet three quarters covered in water, we keep looking at it inside out.
Exactly - most lands were deeply forested in ancient times, and that meant that getting somewhere was actually easier by boat than navigating thru the tribal lands of your neighbors who might be unfriendly - hence it's no surprise that people's from the ancient Meditteranian lands also traveled the west coasts of Brittany & the islands of Britain, trading & sometimes conquering. The castle at Tintagel was a site that contained objects from the Mediterranean cultures showing that trade was normal even as far back as the Romans, who were also there ! Those ancients did get around, albeit a little slower than we can, but they spent weeks getting to where they wanted to go instead of hours ! No surprise that humans are so genetically mixed nowadays - which makes for healthy humans !
I am nodding vehemently. I had done my ancestry by paper trail and was solidly Scottish as both parents are from Argyle/Ulster/Caledonia/Dal Riata. whatever you want to call it. I was satisfied with this and figured that it would be pretty much preserved and my mother had already done a DNA test which was almost entirely Scottish. Yeah, expected. but, her Grandparents were Irish. So, I took some DNA tests to finally determine if I was Irish or Scottish, and instead found Though mostly Scottish/English I had large traces of Norwegian. Now, I had read in historical records that so many ancestors were Island people, so I answered it quickly as sensible that they were from Shetland or the Orkney's which were at times actually part of Norway. It was just a matter of time until I found a paper trail to support my theory. But, I find this video now and that suggested a whole new theory instead of reworking family trees. It is quite possible the Norwegian DNA is from already discovered Scottish roots from Argyle area. I really like this idea!
@Cire Yeldor sounds like we are related then! I too have a mix of Swedish/Danish (2nd great grandmother was born in Sweden) But, ultimately decided I was a total American mutt, and am OK with that. I wanted to belong to some ethnicity, but am solidly "Northern European" now (Ancestry updated this weekend). And though, my father is more Irish, and mom is more Scottish, which am I? I decided for myself that I am "Irish, Scottish, Dutch...don't amount to much." So, I'll just be "proud to be an American". Addendum, I found, not verified yet, Icelandic family members on my father's side who were originally Norwegian, and so far it looks legit according to DNA Haplogroups, so I have a renewed interest in the Orkneys, more specifically learning Norn or Nynorn (look it up!!! It is soooo fascinating). Sorry, I am a bit too wordy, huh?
Interesting. I pretty much have the same ancestry as yours. I have English, Scottish, Irish, and Sweden/Denmark, with a little bit of Norwegian. My research pretty much shows the same thing, my Scottish is a mix of Norse-Gael, but we also believe our Scottish and Irish are a mix of both. My Irish ancestors were from Northern Ireland and their surname (Fullerton) originated in Scotland. From my research I believe we have an ancestral connection with Dal Riata as well.
It becomes even more interesting when you look at the spread of Scandinavian DNA over time. You have things like ubiquitous presence of latent Scandi DNA through Scottish and Irish populations, the Norse Gaels... and then Covenanters bringing it twice over with them to Ireland. You've Norwegian fishing companies setting up presence in Donegal, etc in the 19th century. And then, Scots-Irish and Scandinavian Diaspora settling together in America in the same regions. Faroe Islands, Iceland... there is Norwegian and Scottish always together. They're forever together, it seems.
I'm English (or so I thought). I done one of those DNA tests. My "Nana" was Scottish, Sarah Ann Stewart. But my test came back Nordic, Scandinavian. I'm blue eyed and one of my kids. I've been learning German for six years and recently decided to learn Norwegian. I don't know if it's because I've learned a language before but Norwegian is easy and comfortable to learn. Also great fun. I've also had the pleasure to work with Scandinavian people and they are so polite and easy to get along with. I'm proud of my ancestry results. And heritage.
You have not only taken blue eyes, green in the genealogy, but the Cdr5 delta 32 mutation, in variant 64, is recessive like blue eyes, but not linked.I have hazel eyes, my Green father, my black mother, my black grandparents, first cousins among them, my green paternal grandfather, my hazelnut grandmother, but I have the Cdr5 modified by dad and mom, and I'm Italian, 🤭Iol, bye
If you have Scots heritage but “son” at the end of your name as our family does, you will find a Norse ancestor someplace in your background. Our family has Dal Riata, Celtic, AKA PICT, and Norse in our Scots DNA, but also direct Norse DNA from both our Mom’s parents. And yet I still got a Haplo group of H5 from my Mom’s mother’s side, which is very Ancient Greek ancestry from around 25,000 years back! Crazy things we learn with a DNA deep dive testing that is possible today. This group traveled across Europe to and through the Baltic Countries and then to Southern Norway. So many S. Norwegian people have black or red hair or dark brown hair and lavender blue eyes or hazel eyes with brown, and green and gold, along with a light perpetual tan! Whereas Northern Norse will likely have very blonde hair, pale complexion and bright or icy blue eyes, as my grand dad had. My grandma had jet black hair, a tan and lavender blue eyes. My mom had dark brown hair and the hazel eyes with the easily tanned skin. Her sister was very blonde and bright blue eyes, like mine. It was fun to learn how we all got such different mixes! 😊
Son as a surname prefix might just mean your family name got anglicised at some point or that your community was Inglis speaking when your ancestor first got his surname.
The Celts originated in in the East Mediterranean..migrated West Consider...Hebrides and the Hesperides the Hesperides...They are sometimes called the "Western Maidens", the "Daughters of Evening", or Erythrai, and the "Sunset Goddesses", designations all apparently tied to their imagined location in the distant west. Hesperis is appropriately the personification of the evening (as Eos is of the dawn) and the Evening Star is Hesperus.
I agree with so many posts that point out that it's hardly a revelation that the Scandinavian invaders stayed put (for the most part). I've never heard anyone who thought otherwise, although the historians and scientists on this video appear to have thought so. The title of the video is misleading, well in fact just plain wrong! It deals with one tiny island not Scotland itself. By the way, the 'Vikings' never left England, Ireland or Wales either.
There is Viking influence for sure. The Scottish history of the Lord of the Isles- Somerled, has always acknowledged it. I don’t completely buy into the notion that Islay is predominantly Norse DNA though. My ancestors were from Islay and when I look at ethnicity of my shared DNA matches on ancestry they are mostly highland Scots. Maybe 5% or less Scandinavian. If she is 80%+ Norse, that might be from one localized pocket of DNA. I would like to see more empirical evidence of the generalized claim that Norse is the dominant ancestry in Islay beyond the suppositions of her son’s DNA test.
I completely agree Sandra, as an Aussie with strong roots in Argyll. My shared DNA matches who still inhabit those parts have AncestryDNA results of: 70% - 93% of SCOTLAND. 7% - 30% IRELAND. And if there's any leftover, it tends to be listed as either NORWAY, and/or SWEDEN & DENMARK. On an earlier version/update, there was a small dollop of BASQUE. But that's about it. They are the only components showing up in any of their results that I have seen. Their results are overwhelmingly Scottish and Irish (i.e. Gael). Traces of Scandinavian, 0% - 8%. The locals of Orkney and Shetland would receive higher Scandinavian scores, though. For some locals, that'd be as high 20% - 30% probably? It's demographically impossible for this kind lady Mairead, to be majority Norse. Sure, there was genuinely a little bit of it, but turning it into the largest component of one's identity and heritage is seriously spinning quite a yarn. Either she was definitely exaggerating for narrative effect, OR it was like a MyHeritage test that gives an inferior estimate, compared with AncestryDNA, Living DNA, 23andMe and whatever. The results have been updated with much fresher and more complete data now.
Very true, I agree with you. I think there are pockets of Norse-Gaels and pockets of fully Scottish people on the islands. From my own research, the outer Hebrides, as depicted in this video were dominated by Vikings but not the whole of Scotland and the Highlands themselves. The highlands were and are predominant Gael and Gaelic culture. Jura island where my ancestors came from was known for Viking culture. Jura is right next to Islay so both were conquered by Vikings.
Really interesting. I am surprised the Islanders were surprised to find their Viking roots. Anyone who has visited York knows the Vikings did settle and established roots in Great Britain. It would strange if the only place the Vikings put down roots is in the north of England.
@Libertarian Scot The Western Isles had their DNA replaced by Norse men. DNA shows the gaels in the Isles are Norse-Gaels. Considering Ivan the Boneless armies ransacked Western Britain, it's not surprising. The Norse were adapt at assimilating into new cultures combining traditions. Orkney was a powerful Jarldom, a once important Pictish site. It came to be a powerful Norse seat in Northern Scotland, including influencing the mainland, they weren't isolated. Pictland was heavily raided and in areas settled. So much so you still have Norse place names in Eastern Scotland. If the Brythonic heritage ran deep, those areas' names won't have stuck or would have been replaced by the Scot-gaels advances. With the Picts weakening, Anglo-Saxons cut in half, Britons in the west defending on all sides the Scots took the advantage pushed out across North Britain, expanding Alba, making pacts or taking land by force. Choosing to let the Norse men intregate. Scotland, like England, was shaped by the Norse and a handful of others. It even thought now that at the height of the Viking golden age, some native to Britain sympathised with Viking traditions and decided to adopt their culture. Their's evidence of what would be now famous Scottish and English Vikings raiding other terrorities. The idea that the Norse never took land is crazy. Caladonia was an ideal, not a reality. There wasn't the power to resist. Alba wasn't even one unified nation yet. It wasn't Scotland. Also, the Northumbrain territory was taken and not reclaimed. A few hundred years of settlement for it to be captured by a noble elite not native to Britain isn't taking back land but capturing land. Without the Norse, the Picts would have resisted Scot invasion, even the Britons that lived with the Geals would have fought to keep their identity if they could.
@Al S Factually incorrect, if you're referring to the scarcely populated isles, sure, but the mainland of Scotland was not something the Vikings from Danes or the Norse could take. • the Danes were slaughtered in Dun Echtaine and the Picts reoccupied that land to the South, reducing the size of Northumbria, which is how the Scottish border between Scotland and England would come to be. • The Norse for a short period occupied the Western Highlands and were defeated by the Picts and Scottii who united to form the Kingdom of Alba. It would be complete fiction to claim that the Norse came here and somehow took our land, the Picts land was Caledonia, Caledonia was never conquered. The idea that the Norse claimed the North East is also fiction, the mainland was occupied by the Scottii and Picts, the only thing the Norse occupied then was the Orkney Islands and Western Isles. That's it.
@brontew cat The Danes only occupied a small part of Scotland, it would soon be reclaimed by the Picts as the Picts slaughtered them at the Battle of Dun Echtaine.
Interesting video. I have paternal great great grandparents from Islay, and have done some research into the family history. Along the way have been in touch with some very distant relations in all parts of the world. We are all rather proud of the Islay connection, and feel a close connection with the island even though most of our ancestors left well over a century ago,
The Norse-Gaels of both the inner & outer Hebrides were the fiercest & scariest warriors of their post Viking era (1150-1450), the Western European equivalent of Japanese Samurais. Basically they possessed the skill & dexterity of an experienced Samurai yet the size, strength & toughness of their Norse Viking antecedents, with the ferocity of both. Terrifying!
It’s a wonderful, personalised and detailed example, but I don’t think this is news. It’s long been known that a hybrid culture, the “Norse-Gaels” developed in the Hebrides (outer and inner) and western mainland of Scotland which reached its zenith under the last “Lord of the Isles” - Somerled - in the 12th c. - and I believe that Islay was Somerled’s main base. Somerled’s sons divided his territories and their descendants were the founders of some of the major clans of the west and north, including Clan Ranald (McDonald) and McLeod. Their origin legends claimed Somerled as a Gaelic hero who fought the Vikings - but he was himself of part Norse, part Gael descent and married to Ragnhild the daughter the Norse King of Man. The clans nowadays acknowledge their links to Norse ancestry and DNA tests of men in Scotland of the relevant clan names have shown evidence of those origins. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somerled Incidentally, one of Prince Charles’ titles in Scotland is “Lord of the Isles” - and features on its ancient coat of arms two galleys - the “birlinn” warship of the medieval Gaels, modelled on the Viking longship.
Good comment. Was thinking the same thing. Many gael-galls came to Ireland as gallowglasses (gall oglaigh) foreign mercenaries who fought for local Irish chiefs particularly in the North. Many settled and stayed. Some Irish surnames reflect their origins.
Files documents And repositories I have R1a Y-DNA but I'm mainly Celtic overall with DNA matches across Scotland and Ireland. This was expected as I'm descended from Somerled. The Vikings settled down and married into Gaelic clans
I have 6 different countries in my background, mostly Germanic. My family kept good records. However I have often wondered how much if which I have but being a true Scots/Irish lass, (from my Grandmothers) I hesitate to spend my brass to pay to find out! This was very a very good presentation. Thank you.
Fascinating. I wonder whether it may similarly be the case that there are still Danes in Lincolnshire? After all, it was part of the Danelaw, and so many of our towns and villages have names derived from Old Norse, and many roads (e.g. in Lincoln and also in the village where I live) have names that end in "gate" (meaning "street").
My father, grandfather, and great grandfather were all born in Cuba. (I did genetic testing.) Before that, his line was in the Azores (Portugal), before that, loads of genetic ties to Great Britain. Before that, a direct male ancestor, was discovered to have been buried in the 900's, in Ribe, Denmark (and by direct i mean: he's literally a great grand, but like 20 generations back..). Apparently, they never stopped liking the islands.. Guess it's in their blood. . Some, in my family likened my dad to that old Hemingway tale, 'The Old Man and the Sea', interestingly, about an old Cuban fisherman. Vikings settled everywhere their boats could take them. . We all have a bit. . But, it was nice to confirm, such an interesting journey. . There have been many a McDonald, or McCullen's, and 'Thompsons' in ancestry chat rooms who have ignored, and flat out critiqued my being there. Then along came this study, circa 2017, with 100%, documented genetic proof of direct ties to Viking era burial, in a viking hometown: ... And there i am, with the most Latin sounding surname in the room... 👁️👅👁️ ...lol 🤷🏻♂️😆
I did a DNA test ages ago and my mother's side is heavily scots roots and it indicated 1% Norwegian and with her, Swedish. It roughly I guess, knows what part of the world that traces to. We also found a Swedish relative as a 3rd of 4th cousin.
As an Australian with a surname that a town in Scotland is named after, and strong Norwegian Viking DNA it is nice to see dots connected that weren't before. Often it is indicated that Vikings avoided Scotland due to its fierce resistance and raids there are settling is hardly mentioned
My ancestry from the last 500 years is well documented. I have German, English, Scottish, Dutch, French, Spanish and Italian. But my DNA says I am 40% Scandinavian. Those Vikings got around!
I found out in the last 5 years that I have ancestry from southwest Scottland. Remember, "if it's not Scottish, it's crap!" -SNL Mike Myers I grew up believing my father's side was Swedish. In the end, I am still a Viking.
This doesn't surprise me. In the Middle Ages the Gallowglass, Galloglaigh in Gaelic meaning foreign warriors, came from the Scottish islands to Ireland. They were Gaelic-Norse warriors hired by the leading clans in Ireland for protection. Many Irish surnames today have a Gallowglass origin. McCabes were Gallowglass protecting the O'Rourke clan. The Sweenys were Gallowglass for the O'Donnell clan and became a prominent clan themselves.
Great video. I am from the Appalachian Highlands, USA (where the states of Tennessee, North Carolina & Virginia meet), my DNA break down: England/Northwestern Europe 40%, Scotland 40%, Wales 9%, Ireland 6% & Sweden/Denmark 5%.
I'm from rural Australia. I got:- *54% Scotland *25% Welsh *13% England Northwestern Europe *5% Ireland *3% Norway I'm very much a human vanilla milkshake!🤠👍
A lot of English from the borders ,Scots, lowland and highland spent a few generations in Ulster and left for the new world.These people are my ancestors and I also have 6% Norwegian or Scandinavian blood from God knows where.Areas of England were in the Danelaw and many have Danish ancestors in those areas.Has to be extremely difficult to achieve exact percentages,my DNA on ancestry has changed 5 times.
What a gem to find on youtube. Thanks. I discovered a year ago via DNA that I am part viking and flemish. However I still consider myself 50% Scot!! Grandfather was from Uig (Isle of Skye). I am now in Aust.
My mother is a Graham descendent from Islay... specifically from Kilchoman and Conisby (one of the farms with a Norse origin to the name). This video was an exciting find!
My grandmother was rightly proud of her Scottish roots, so you can imagine my shock when I did a DNA test and found I have almost no Celtic blood.... (although nearly 40% Norse).
@Goo Boo Interesting thank you for the response, that makes sense, sadly my mother passed many years ago, but my dad has had a DNA test so I can kind of fill in the blanks from what he hasn't given me, if you follow me.
Yorkshire & Linsey the heart of Danelaw has tonnes of evidence in places. So much so only in the North, our Valleys are called Dales and mountains Fells. The Northern English language became more Germanic because of how the Vikings integrated with Angles. I've got DNA from all Nordic nations because of it.
So accurate and affirming. Retired reads would be wonderful: relationships including family, finances, creativity, focus issues, spiritual direction and connections.
American here, funny on the surface we we had a huge scottish bloodline. However, when a relative did our genealogy it revealed allot more Norwegian then we excepted. Also, Swedish.
Im definitely of the viking stock my mother grandmother and generations before were all from faroe islands and in 1946 my scottish grandfather who was working on the whaling with the merchant navy Married my granny Hansa petrea Mortensen and headed back to Edinburgh Scotland with his pregnant wife and the story of their lifes starts with 7 children and a happy 59yrs Married. Both have passed and sorely missed .love you Granny and Grandad Williamson.
So interesting. My DNA overlaps this area of Scotland and I'm 37% Scottish according to Ancestry. The rest English & Welsh. My mom's family was Stallings which is Danish originally. I'm wondering about any Viking heritage in our blood? My brother & family have been in Scotland tracing this ancestry just this month!
This is very interesting. My family origin is from Ayrshire, which is right near Islay but on the mainland. When i got my DNA results i found that I was equally Scottish and Norse. When you look at the Donald clan origins it makes sense given the Isles were ruled by Viking King of the isles.
My fathers ancestry is from Norway and Denmark, and my mother's is from Scotland. My DNA test showed overwhelmingly Scandi ancestry. Makes sense that my whole lineage came from Scandinavia.
As a native Highlander with, I assume, very little Scandinavian anscestory, her accent sounds almost identical to Orkney, which in itself speaks of Norwegian influence.
I Just realised two things here, which i cannot fathom i have not seen before: The norwegian "nes" or "næss" is a protrution into the ocean/water and hence the same word as in "Loch ness" with the same meaning. - And "loch" is a bit alike the norwegian word "lukke". "Lukke" means "to close". And "loch" is actually "sea that is closed in" aka Water/sea etc. So "Loch Ness" actually means "Water/sea with a/plural ness/Næss in it". "Loch Ness" is actually a norse name!!!
Lock, lake, loch etc are all related words that come from a common word thousands of years ago. As for Ness, that's a false friend, Ness is the name of an Irish water goddess. The river Ness is named for her as is Loch Ness and by extension Inverness. In the Ulster Cycle, one of the major mythologies of Ireland, the king of Ulster is Conchobar mac Nessa. Matronymics appear occasionally in the Irish mythologies.
My family is from near a Viking settlement in England and I have still have about 15% Danish/Norway, I even got linked to specific area of Norway known for Viking Raiders and settlers. I also did a family tree as far back as I could both sides came from the same area of England, so no recent ancestry could be found except both sides had married scots at different points. It's crazy how these things can still be there after so many generations.
I hate to break it to you but it's impossible to have a genetic community from that long ago, the vikings came over a thousand years ago and there has never been any sort of major Scandinavian influx into Britain since then. If you do have a Norwegian genetic community it'd have to come from an ancestor no further back than 150 years MAX, otherwise we'd all have thousands of genetic communities that's simply not how it works.
Both my parents are from Scotland and our family tree goes back hundreds of years there but somehow my DNA is 5% welsh, 60% Norwegian, 30% Scottish and 5% Prussian
As a descendent of primarily northern England and Scottish people I wasn’t surprised when my DNA test came back 35% Scottish, 30% English and 20% Norwegian (plus some Welsh and Irish).
It’s funny how much of an influence the vikings and Scandinavia actually has on Scotland. Orkney and Shetland were wedding gifts to the Scottish royals and even the Scots language mainly consists of old Norse and some Middle English.
I am a Mathieson living in Inverness. We are an old Highland Clan with Viking roots. There are many Mathesons in Norway and locals there have called us Vikings when we visited Norway 🇳🇴
No surprise here. It is suspected for a long time that the Scottish identity is a merge of Gaelic and Norse culture. Having said that - ,my own understanding grew much more since I did a DNA test. Norse people popped up and stayed in many unexpected places we didn´t know before. I expected a rather boring (mostly German) result and got the exact opposite. And I´m very happy about that.
I have always felt Scottish in my blood. . My maiden name Dixon, is an early Scottish clan. My Dad was a warrior and I always felt he was somewhat of Viking. It turns out my DNA points to Norway…as well as Northern European.
I am from the North of England with Welsh, Scottish, Northern English and some Jewish from Eastern Europe DNA. I am married to a Swede who is Scandinavian through and through, my children are mostly Scandinavian. Fascinating what DNA, place names and other indications can tell us about our past.
I'm western Norwegian, also an islander, that can trace my family back to the first written sources, and everyone in my family that have gotten DNA tests, are mostly Norse with traces of Gaelic. This is the same as in most of Iceland. Dublin (meaning "black pool") was founded as a slave colony, trading the slaves all the way to Muslim North Africa and the grand markets in central Asia. So the Gaels that was not finished off by Cæsar, was not having a much better time after the fall of Rome. Brutal times...
The Norse Viking were travellers and settlers and farmers.Their influence also extended down the east coast of England . Their influence in Scotland and especially the Orkneys Hebrides and North East Scotland can be seen and read in places names to this day. Its likely there was assimilation with local populations with Celtic , possibly Pict culture. .Shetland and Orkney were part of the Norse Kingdoms
Wow, this is brilliant ! Im Scottish on my fathers side (Inverness) English/ Irish ( Ballycastle) on mothers side, my DNA tests im 70% Scottish 20% Irish 10% Norwegian/ Icelandic. Im guessing because the West top part of Scotland was inhabited by the Irish originally there will be a blend in there somehwere. Id love to try to learn some Gaelic does anyone recommend a beginners guide ?
They didnt kill the locals, what mostly happen is that they killed most of the men to take their lands (making the few men left slaves) and marrying by force the local women. Some women probably were also sold in the slave trade to places like Iceland etc... In fact, places like the Western Scotish Isles, Orkey, Shetland, Feroe Iceland etc have a predominant female celtic DNA from the British Isles, while having predominant Viking male heritage.
Not all the men owned lands - maybe the majority. It takes a lot of ordinary men and women to support one noble family/ landowning family when it is a pre industrial society where everything is made by hand, even the shiny things hit and run raiders liked to steal!
My maiden name is Norwegian. But my ancestors migrated to the Netherlands. They were land Barons for many years. So this was probably done in a lot of places.
Has anyone considered the possibility that people could have traveled between Scotland and Denmark, Norway and a lesser extent Sweden for centuries before the Viking era?
I imagine that it happened quite often, especially in places such as Aberdeenshire, Yorkshire, Orkney and Shetland. Scotland’s north coast was probably also used as a middle point for travelling to Iceland
@Nature of Sweden Bear in mind that Doggerland disappeared under the North sea a few thousand years ago so the UK mainland was contiguous with northern Europe.
I have read that during the bronze age people traveled all over Europe maritime to trade with bronze. I doubt though that many people stayed and mixed, it seems throughout history that most people have kept to themselves, even in Europe.
At least Britain. The same kind of helmet found at Sutton Hoe, have been found in Sweden, north of Stockholm. Only there. Approximately 540-790 AD. So there was definitely some kind of contact. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vendel_Period
I was born in Newcastle and my first time meeting a Dane who spoke excellent English with a strong Danish accent found him to sound very Geordie. It was so strange....
My surname is 'Fraser 'and apparently the name didn't appear in Scottish records until just after 1066 so it's thought it came over with the Norman invasion and was derived from 'fraise' (strawberry). Quite a feat to end up with their own Clan, seeing as it was derived from invaders.
My head is spinning l love how people got about so much of the world more than we probably know. I would love for people to check Bruce Fume on scottish history he is fascinating and great to listen to .watching from Scotland peace and love to all
I had my DNA tested. I got 88%English/Welsh, 7%Scottish/Irish, 5%Scandinavian. Infact I have researched my family tree and know that I am of Prussian, French and Dutch ancestry, yet none of this showed up. Don't think that they are just taking people's money and telling then making it up, why would they want to do that🤔
We only get to keep half of each parents DNA, we lose the other half each generation all the way back. Part of my line goes all the way back to Jamestown Colony. I am fairly sure that I am 1/64 American Indian. It's very likely that I have african ancestry as well but that could be 1/128 or 1/256. Only the DNA that got passed down shows up. I doubt anything fascinating will turn up but you never know.
I have British and Irish of 37.6%, Scandinavian 2.1%, Finnish 1.4% (not much on those two), German of 33.3%, French of 21.9%, and .6% Bedouin. I live in Italy, but I’m from Texas… I’m a natural wonderer for sure
It's all interesting stuff. I read an Oxford University study that found that 73% of Scots are descended from Celts. I found it surprising that 64% of the English are also descended from Celts. In fact there are way more Celtic descendants (by numbers) in England that Scotland, Wales and Ireland combined. My test found 20% of my DNA was Nordic.
Most of the male lines are Viking in origin while the female lines are Celtic. But not all male lines were extinct and since the Norse came from different regions, most of the language people spoke was Gaelic so they adapted.
Vikings integrated women and slaves into the community and massacred most, not all in most cases. I highly doubt that they massacred every last soul on islay and the whole community still converted to gael
I am surprised by the surprise in the video. It has been known for many years that while Vikings did sometimes raid, they were first and foremost settlers, so naturally they stayed. I guess the romantic image of fierce warriors carrying off the monastery treasures is more interesting than people settling in and starting to farm the lands.
My DNA puts me 50% in/around Argyllshire. Interestingly another 15% is Swedish and 10% Norwegian . I had always known we were not indigenous Gaelic Scottish. And let’s just also note that I am a tall, stout, strong weatherproof woman. I’m not genetically made for the misery of Texas lol My family are American colonists of the early 1700’s and original Southern settlers of Mississippi. I had traced my lineage before taking the DNA test but to see the genetic proof continues to blow my mind. What a wonderful world.
I spent some months in both Sweden and northern UK. Used to the lilting musicality of swedish speech, I thought northern english sounded very similar even if the words were different.
my name is moffatt - it is said by the moffat clan historians that the town of moffat was founded when a couple from norway travelled to scotland and eventually settled where moffat is today - there were strong links between normandy and scandinavia and it is said one norwegian named movat married the youngest daughter of andlaw of norway then travelled to scotland in the year 950ad
This happened to me. I thought I was Scottish and English. DNA 🧬 proved I am Orcadian; Orkney mixture of Picts and Norwegian: H4, which today is closest to a woman in SW Norway. I was shocked
@Beth&793 Interesting! Thanks! My family heritage also comes historically from the Shetlands. I am going to check my Nat Geo haplo group. I have always been super healthy with exception of ginormous infected tonsils as a child😂
Hey, I got some Orkney & Shetland DNA too, but I wasn't shocked cos my Mum's done our family history comprehensively & we have ancestors from Shetland. I also have H-haplotype mtDNA, but it's not surprising cos 45% of people with European ancestry do- it's due to an evolutionary advantage, it increases your ability to fight off infection!
The Old Norse language, being nearly unpronounceable, was abandoned in favor of Gaelic, which is no easy language either. But it had fewer weird consonant combinations.
This area is Norse/Gaelic as i understand it and was colonized by Norwegian Vikings. I think you have to do multiple DNA tests and then take an average mean to get a true analysis as results vary. The lady does look part Nordic though. I also have roots in Islay from 1800s and have small Scandinavian percentage DNA across multiple tests, not sure of origin though as i also have links to south & east side of England.
As a Norwegian having spent a year in Scotland, never before have I felt more at home. The nature, the culture and people are very similar to what I'm used to back home.
I agree! Fellow norwegian here
I'm not surprised about the similarities. It's clear the Vikings left a fair load of their genetic material in Scotland a long time ago.
What to used to back home is it that you milk cows ?
@Bill Bailey It's the Latin root; not Spain.
That makes loads of sense. Testing our family DNA shows that there is 7% Norwegian DNA in the mix, where we always believed it was pure Irish and Scottish. It was a surprise and yet kind of not quite. They conquered, stayed, intermarried, and spread out over the country, eventually.
My brother is 100% who moved to the USA in the nineties.
One day the work place decided to do a DNA test which mostly came up northern European fair enough but it also came up with some African DNA
This is fascinating! I had my DNA done through MyHeritage and the results were a total surprise to me. My Canadian maritime grandfather was of Scottish heritage. My great great grandparents came over from the inner Hebrides of Scotland. My DNA surprise result was that I have nearly 30% Norse DNA to go along with my Scottish DNA. This makes my family/clan history so much more thought provoking and interesting to me.
My grandfather (French Canadian from Quebec) worked on a freighter and his mothers maiden name was Ferguson.
Some our our family has went through ancestry DNA testing reflecting northern european.
@Scot of the anarchic. I honestly had no idea! No one in my family ever discussed it. All that my brothers and sisters knew was that our ancestry came out of the Hebrides in Scotland. Now I see my ancestry in a whole new light.
It was a surprise when your surname is McLean ?
My wife and I are both Danish born and bred, lived for 13 years in England and then 17 years in South West Ireland. All the time we have seen our ancestry reflected in the local populations. It's in the eyes for a start, then there are other physical features and then of course the language. In fact, when we first came to Ireland we used to play a game between ourselves called Spot the Viking, looking at magazine covers etc. In County Cork, the singsong accent made us think there were Norwegian tourists everywhere. A Norwegian friend of ours even felt insulted, thinking that the local people she conversed with were making fun of HER English accent.
@counselthyself Okay. Thanks for your input.
@Johanna Holmgren those tests are a goofy waste of time. the germanic tribes migrated off the russian steppe to begin with.
My ancestry was, I always thought, split evenly between English, Irish, Swedish and German heritage. Imagine my surprise when my DNA test came back mostly Swedish and Danish. But when I looked at how they determine the origins of one's DNA (it's compared to DNA in communities around the world) it became really clear that my ancestors went a-Viking, and formed communities in places like Ireland, England, Russia, Scotland etc. Really surprised by that, let me tell you. Mind you, I'm not disappointed. Lol
@89Wrathchild Dublin was a Viking colony and major centre for slave trade which is rarely discussed
The Vikings came to Normandy and stayed there, too. I also read that in Norse languages, the word "Viking" isn't a noun that describes a person, it is a verb that describes an activity: raiding up a river valley. Norsemen went Viking.
@Esteban Outeiral Dias no they weren't.
@Paddy Pipe conkered by beating them at conkers? 😉 It's conquered, as in a conquest.
@Paddy Pipe dont forget Sicily.
@Stephen Wright Normans came from King Rollo actually
Norman = Northman
About 40 years ago I was on a Norwegian seismic boat surveying some of the island seas. We had local fishermen on board to liaise with local boats around us. I remember our Norwegian crew and the locals found they had lots of common words, especially slang terms, which supports the depiction of their history in the program.
@Orphan Of Orbit We ned to be sure
Please let go of your religous beliefs and learn the truth
I highly doubt that.
@Je-Free Norman The harp is a middle eastern invention.
What people think is "Celtic " isn't.
@Je-Free Norman Aryan described people that already interbred with 2 middle eastern populations. It never described the people from north of caucuses/zagros. That's why.
@claudia xander it specifies nothing to you but, youre confused and that was the point of the change.
Good luck !
I loved how surprised she was! It only illustrates how much we assume about our own families and involve our own pride in something that is completely beyond our control. Last time I checked, there wasn't a race of people on earth that weren't proud of their tough, brave, smart ancestors.
I traced part of my own family back to 13th century Cheshire England; there were SO many lines died out in anonymity by then. I was struck by the fact it was easy to trace the rich ones, but the FAR more populous poor people were anonymous.
What I took away at the end of that journey was how little effect those people really had on ME. Just 5 generations back, you're looking at 32 ancestors - of just that generation! You go back 500 years - and well, the connections are really meaningless. Early on I remember being pretty chuffed I was descended from Alfred the Great & Charlemagne, and slowly realizing that yeah, well, so were hundreds of thousands - probably millions of others. And that's if there was never a cuckold for 1500 years, which I highly doubt.
We all have greatness in us, and whores & slaves & cowards & murderers. And lovely people who struggled mightily to feed their children & live in peace. We can no more blame them for our own failures than they can claim credit for our achievements.
How on earth did you trace your ancestry back so far
History rembers only names not blood, but blood does not lie.
Yep, Alf and Charley- me too! It is amazing at first until you sit quietly and think about it, and the numbers involved, just as you say. It still makes me smile though.
When the Norse moved to uninhabited lands like the Faeros and Iceland, they were mainly men who stopped to pick up Celtic slaves to do the work for them, and the women to also bear their children. DNA work in both these places show that the present inhabitants descend mainly from Norse men and Celtic women. In conquering a place like Islay, that already had a resident population, I suspect many would have been killed (especially adult men) but most enslaved, with much of the following generation being fathered by the Norse lords. One way that Gaelic could have been so well preserved is that as the language of the women, it would have been the first language of the children, both those fathered by Norse and those fathered by Celts. After a few generations everyone would speak Gaelic, their mother tongue, and only the few who were children of Norse wives would really get to speak Norse comfortably, and since they probably had Gaelic-speaking nursemaids, and were surrounded by Gaelic-speaking serfs and servants, were comfortable in Gaelic as well.
In Iceland and the Faeroes, with no large native Celtic speaking majority, the Norse would have demanded that their slaves spoke Norse to them, so it would have eventually predominated.
Note that in some other areas, in particular some of the West Indies, this process led to people that had a "women's language", that of the conquered (Arawak), and a "men's language", that of the conquerors (Carib). Men could speak both, but only spoke men's language to other men, while women and young children spoke only the women's language. Men enforced this on women, so the languages never merged, nor did one supercede the other, as it did in Islay and elsewhere.
Great video, and I learned how to pronounce Islay!
@Jeff Brunswick I like your thought process , and honesty. It's cute 😁
@Jeff Brunswick .files , documents and repositories
@sourav sarkar. The Persians never lost their language. It is still Farsi
@Jeff Brunswick DNA proof is NOT conjecture!
How did they “pick up” women from “uninhabited” islands?
This is an amazing film. Confirms a few things in my mind about Scottish / Norwegian history. I believe that our cultural history goes back much further and more peacefully than history would lead us to believe.
Not so sure about peacefully, certainly not at the beginning.
I'm an Aussie with a Scottish born Dad and a Norwegian born mother - as much as I love Australia, I've always felt out of place here. My loyalty to both cultures has resulted in a covering of Norse and Celtic inspired tattoos and a basic grasp of both languages.
That is awesome mate. Keep being proud of your heritage. It's exactly what they don't want us to do.
I am ethnically a Scot and a Swede, but an Australian national.
@Jeff Roberts lol, a good mix. after thousands of years of migrations, wars, free settling and so fourth. its no wonder so many westerners have a smilier background. its made us who we are. Australians, New Zealaners, Americans, Canadians etc
@Jeff Roberts Yes, the Raven. Smart little creatures and obviously a popular symbol in Norse and Celtic mythology
Wales has a population of just over 3 million I usually have to draw a map because noone believes it exists. Technically someone in my distant family did a DNA search, apparently a certain relative may have been somewhat permiscuos as there is Scottish, Irish and English besides Welsh. No judgment, wasn't me.
I’m from Iceland (female) and I have 70% Norwegian DNA, rest is a mixture of Scottish, Irish, English and Welsh DNA. Always felt drawn to these countries and even though the reason I have this ancestry is not a happy story I’m proud to be connected to them.
@William Robinson Couple of million years? 😅🤣😂
@MJ C I got the Haplo group H5 for Hellenic AKA Greece too! They went from Greece as a small group traveling across Europe to the Baltic countries and later into Southern Norway. I described this in a note above here and that should help you too! 😊
No siphon 99% of the world wealth into their control while lying to the peasants about history, geology, volcanology, glaciology ... no one could be so evil, right?
@Emmanuel Goldspleen Go look at the maps of Iceland from the 1600's ... Notice all the cities where now you have mountain glaciers ... and then use your brain.
Pity they do not seem to have investigated the male and female genetic lines separately. In Orkney, it was shown there was almost 100% replacement of the male line when the Vikings arrived, but far less on the female line (not even a majority). So very few Norwegian women immigrated, and pretty much no aboriginal men were allowed to breed, (whether they were killed, expelled, or enslaved). The fate of first generation aboriginal women may also not have been as kind as "wives" suggests.
I use the term aboriginal because it is unclear if the Orkney population of the day were Celtic or pre-Celtic people. Genetically they could have been descendents of the Skara Brae folk.
@hani karam attacked vulnerable? They were mad Warlords.
@Eric the Vikings were not that much of conquerors he just said that because he also said the Vikings tried to avoid battles , most of the time they attacked vulnerable people , movies and made up myths and embellishment is not real history
100% replacement of Male lineage? but before they arrived Island they invaded mainland England (865) n definitely they were got married with Anglo Saxon woment so it could be Possible that they came with their AS women's?
I reply to those who say that monks did not have children with a laugh, many so-called nephews of a priest, monk or bishop, were not such ... but children, DNA always tells the truth, ...Mater sempre certa est...It was not only the Duke Valentino and Lucrezia Borgia who were the pope's children, we know about them because they were more famous, but not all priests over the centuries were chaste, and even if they were often gay, The bisexuals had descendants; also calculate the fact that they entered the convent not by vocation, but because they were cadet sons, or daughters. The children of consecrated men survived for obvious reasons, a woman nun could not walk around with her belly, or they made her have an abortion or give birth and killed the baby, or they gave it. When a convent was renovated, the bones of the little ones were found in the walls. Then there is even worse, but I don't want to talk about it, for centuries the apparently Catholic clergy actually had a 'Another religion, Satanist, especially the elite clergy ...
I believe that the Vikings also arrived down in Europe as far as Italy, there was also another people the Varangas, who traveled in the East area up to the Byzantine Empire. Both the Vikings and the Varangas had warrior women, as well as men, I do not think the mixture was made only Viking man, Celtic woman, maybe they were less than men, but the viking warriors were a realithy
I have a German mum from Hamburg and an English father from St Helens in Lancashire so expected to be roughly 50% English-German but instead I'm 83% Scandinavian. My nearest DNA relative apart from my father's kin is a cousin in the US who was from my Oma's sister. She's mostly Scandinavian too. I think the vikings were more settlers than hit and run.
That does not mean munch. English are from the north sea coast from danmark all the way to belgium. Scandinavians are Germanic people who have one origin from ruffly 2500 years ago. The biggest difference between the two are one lived from seafearing the others in the european plains and how they mixed with locals when to sattle in new lands.
The danelaw territory was like half of england and was populated by Danish vikings yes settlers. Hambourg is not far from Danmark. I migth have myself little viking blood cause my great grand father name origin from Normandy. On other side my mum his ancestors in italy were from Lombardia (Bergame) italy so i could even have some Goth ancestry? XD We the french must have 5% from every european regions XD. You can see this in our face we have all eyes colors, hairs colors and skin tones, i wouldn't even know how to describe what look like the "average french". In the region i live: Brittany there was Viking occupation for two centuries and centuries before this region was settled by Britons emigrants runing aways from anglo-saxon invasion. You can find quite many blonde people with blue eyes with very nordic style, normans yes they often look like viking for some.
@dezafinado That’s an interesting link between Germanic and Latin people groups. Enjoyed reading your post. Thank you.
@Kris Justin I majored in German Studies and had to take a course in Linguistics and History of the German language, which belongs to the family of Germanic languages (German, Dutch, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish). The Migration Period (300-800 AD) was when the nordic peoples migrated south and then anywhere they could find good lands to settle. The collapse of the Roman Empire opened the gates for the Goths, Vandals, Franks and many more to wander and invade what are now England, France, Benelux, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Spain, Portugal and a bit of Northwest Africa. They assimilated into the local populations and left remnants of their roots. Names with Germanic roots... Rodrigo/Rodriguez (Roderick), Gonzalez (Guntho-Alf), Lewis/Louie/Louise/Luigi/Ludwig (Clovis), names ending in -bert like Albert (Ahdebert), Robert (Chrodobert), French region of Bourguignon (Burgundii), Italian region of Lombardi (Langobart), Franck/Francois (Frank), and the French chef Jacques Pepin (Pippin). We identify with our family and national histories which are very recent compared to pre-written history. Trade and migration were more rampant than we think we know before humans began writing and record-keeping.
How interesting! My family were Germans who left from Hamburg, but were from East Prussia and Pomerania. I was surprised how many people thought I resembled a Scandinavian until I found a Peterson (maybe Petersen originally) in the family tree! Perhaps many north Germans have DNA more similar to their northern neighbors than southern Germans? Migration is fascinating!
I haven’t had my DNA tested but my MacLean ancestors on my father’s side came from Isley. His grandmother came from North West Ireland and so on. Now I’m thinking I should get tested to see what it reveals. This has been an interesting video.
As I stumbled upon your comment 6 months later, I can't help but ask you: Did you get a DNA test? I'm curious to hear if your personal story confirms what this video claims
advice about DNA testing, , be prepared to learn things you may not wanna know ♡ I speak from experience on this one, and I used an anonymous name...lol maybe a tad paranoid but these days ya never know.. otherwise its fascinating info and I have no regrets but I did get a whole new family I had ZERO clue my parents were not my birth parents at 43 years old it was a HUGE midlife crisis and complete loss of identity.. and that has taken several years to come to terms with.. ♡
@Diana Vanderclute Interesting. I am Australian - my ancestors emigrated to Australia in the 1830s.
@Caroh As do I!!!! My McLeans went from Mull and Tired to Ireland, then my great great grandmother came to Brooklyn, NY whole most of her family settled into Canada?
I'm Macdonald and McKean. Also from Islay and the ardnamurchan area
Interesting. I have 50% English/Northwestern Europe, 25% Scottish, 14% Sweden/Denmark, 8% Irish, and 2% Norwegian. I know my Scottish ancestors came from Jura, right next to Islay to the North/East, which was also a Viking conquered island. I am sure the Vikings attacked Jura at the same time, if not shortly after since Jura is really close to Islay. On another ancestral website it shows my ancestral DNA as Norse-Gael ancestry. On the same site it has my DNA connection to Icelandic Gaelic-Vikings, but the strongest connection is to Danish Vikings. I thought that was interesting too.
My Scottish ancestral surname is "McDougald" in America, but traditionally "Mac DubhGhaill" from Scotland. This video makes a lot of sense from what I found out about my Scottish ancestry. MacDougall is a Norse-Gael Scottish surname (Mac DubhGhaill) amongst many other Norse-Gael surnames i.e., Mac Ìomhair, Mac Amhlaibh, Mac Ìomhair, Mac Raghnall. I have heard (Mac DubhGhaill) is interpreted as "dark stranger" referring to the Norse who came to the island. I know "Mac" means (son of) "dubh" is the color black, but I haven't been able to find "Ghaill" unless it's old Gaelic that isn't used anymore, not sure. I am guessing it must have something to do with an outsider, stranger, etc. I also know the MacDougalls along with MacDonald's have an ancestral connection to Somerled, King of the Isles who repelled the Viking invaders out of the Hebrides.
Love that part of the world. The perception is a large piece of water separating Ireland from Scotland, the Scots Irish and the Norse both treated it as a highway. When in amongst it, sailing between Islay, Kintyre and Ireland, you can see all three very easily and you understand they are all very well connected ... we know how well the Norse and Celts built boats, as far south from Scandinavia as Normandy (Norseman's Land), they used the same sturdy boat designs. We live on a planet three quarters covered in water, we keep looking at it inside out.
Exactly - most lands were deeply forested in ancient times, and that meant that getting somewhere was actually easier by boat than navigating thru the tribal lands of your neighbors who might be unfriendly - hence it's no surprise that people's from the ancient Meditteranian lands also traveled the west coasts of Brittany & the islands of Britain, trading & sometimes conquering. The castle at Tintagel was a site that contained objects from the Mediterranean cultures showing that trade was normal even as far back as the Romans, who were also there !
Those ancients did get around, albeit a little slower than we can, but they spent weeks getting to where they wanted to go instead of hours ! No surprise that humans are so genetically mixed nowadays - which makes for healthy humans !
I am nodding vehemently. I had done my ancestry by paper trail and was solidly Scottish as both parents are from Argyle/Ulster/Caledonia/Dal Riata. whatever you want to call it. I was satisfied with this and figured that it would be pretty much preserved and my mother had already done a DNA test which was almost entirely Scottish. Yeah, expected. but, her Grandparents were Irish. So, I took some DNA tests to finally determine if I was Irish or Scottish, and instead found Though mostly Scottish/English I had large traces of Norwegian. Now, I had read in historical records that so many ancestors were Island people, so I answered it quickly as sensible that they were from Shetland or the Orkney's which were at times actually part of Norway. It was just a matter of time until I found a paper trail to support my theory. But, I find this video now and that suggested a whole new theory instead of reworking family trees. It is quite possible the Norwegian DNA is from already discovered Scottish roots from Argyle area. I really like this idea!
@Cire Yeldor sounds like we are related then! I too have a mix of Swedish/Danish (2nd great grandmother was born in Sweden) But, ultimately decided I was a total American mutt, and am OK with that. I wanted to belong to some ethnicity, but am solidly "Northern European" now (Ancestry updated this weekend). And though, my father is more Irish, and mom is more Scottish, which am I? I decided for myself that I am "Irish, Scottish, Dutch...don't amount to much." So, I'll just be "proud to be an American".
Addendum, I found, not verified yet, Icelandic family members on my father's side who were originally Norwegian, and so far it looks legit according to DNA Haplogroups, so I have a renewed interest in the Orkneys, more specifically learning Norn or Nynorn (look it up!!! It is soooo fascinating).
Sorry, I am a bit too wordy, huh?
Interesting. I pretty much have the same ancestry as yours. I have English, Scottish, Irish, and Sweden/Denmark, with a little bit of Norwegian. My research pretty much shows the same thing, my Scottish is a mix of Norse-Gael, but we also believe our Scottish and Irish are a mix of both. My Irish ancestors were from Northern Ireland and their surname (Fullerton) originated in Scotland. From my research I believe we have an ancestral connection with Dal Riata as well.
It becomes even more interesting when you look at the spread of Scandinavian DNA over time. You have things like ubiquitous presence of latent Scandi DNA through Scottish and Irish populations, the Norse Gaels... and then Covenanters bringing it twice over with them to Ireland. You've Norwegian fishing companies setting up presence in Donegal, etc in the 19th century. And then, Scots-Irish and Scandinavian Diaspora settling together in America in the same regions. Faroe Islands, Iceland... there is Norwegian and Scottish always together. They're forever together, it seems.
That we are! 😊
@Sigve 💙❤️
As we say in Norway: "Like barn leker best". Translates to: "Children who are alike play best together"/Birds of a feather flock together :)
I'm English (or so I thought).
I done one of those DNA tests.
My "Nana" was Scottish, Sarah Ann Stewart. But my test came back Nordic, Scandinavian.
I'm blue eyed and one of my kids.
I've been learning German for six years and recently decided to learn Norwegian.
I don't know if it's because I've learned a language before but Norwegian is easy and comfortable to learn. Also great fun.
I've also had the pleasure to work with Scandinavian people and they are so polite and easy to get along with.
I'm proud of my ancestry results.
And heritage.
You have not only taken blue eyes, green in the genealogy, but the Cdr5 delta 32 mutation, in variant 64, is recessive like blue eyes, but not linked.I have hazel eyes, my Green father, my black mother, my black grandparents, first cousins among them, my green paternal grandfather, my hazelnut grandmother, but I have the Cdr5 modified by dad and mom, and I'm Italian, 🤭Iol, bye
If you have Scots heritage but “son” at the end of your name as our family does, you will find a Norse ancestor someplace in your background. Our family has Dal Riata, Celtic, AKA PICT, and Norse in our Scots DNA, but also direct Norse DNA from both our Mom’s parents. And yet I still got a Haplo group of H5 from my Mom’s mother’s side, which is very Ancient Greek ancestry from around 25,000 years back! Crazy things we learn with a DNA deep dive testing that is possible today. This group traveled across Europe to and through the Baltic Countries and then to Southern Norway. So many S. Norwegian people have black or red hair or dark brown hair and lavender blue eyes or hazel eyes with brown, and green and gold, along with a light perpetual tan! Whereas Northern Norse will likely have very blonde hair, pale complexion and bright or icy blue eyes, as my grand dad had. My grandma had jet black hair, a tan and lavender blue eyes. My mom had dark brown hair and the hazel eyes with the easily tanned skin. Her sister was very blonde and bright blue eyes, like mine. It was fun to learn how we all got such different mixes! 😊
@Alan O'Neill The earliest spelling is Hebudes/Ebudes and may refer to the Epidii (horse) tribe of Argyll.
Son as a surname prefix might just mean your family name got anglicised at some point or that your community was Inglis speaking when your ancestor first got his surname.
The Celts originated in in the East Mediterranean..migrated West
Consider...Hebrides and the Hesperides
the Hesperides...They are sometimes called the "Western Maidens", the "Daughters of Evening", or Erythrai, and the "Sunset Goddesses", designations all apparently tied to their imagined location in the distant west. Hesperis is appropriately the personification of the evening (as Eos is of the dawn) and the Evening Star is Hesperus.
I agree with so many posts that point out that it's hardly a revelation that the Scandinavian invaders stayed put (for the most part). I've never heard anyone who thought otherwise, although the historians and scientists on this video appear to have thought so. The title of the video is misleading, well in fact just plain wrong! It deals with one tiny island not Scotland itself. By the way, the 'Vikings' never left England, Ireland or Wales either.
There is Viking influence for sure. The Scottish history of the Lord of the Isles- Somerled, has always acknowledged it. I don’t completely buy into the notion that Islay is predominantly Norse DNA though. My ancestors were from Islay and when I look at ethnicity of my shared DNA matches on ancestry they are mostly highland Scots. Maybe 5% or less Scandinavian. If she is 80%+ Norse, that might be from one localized pocket of DNA. I would like to see more empirical evidence of the generalized claim that Norse is the dominant ancestry in Islay beyond the suppositions of her son’s DNA test.
I completely agree Sandra, as an Aussie with strong roots in Argyll.
My shared DNA matches who still inhabit those parts have AncestryDNA results of:
70% - 93% of SCOTLAND.
7% - 30% IRELAND.
And if there's any leftover, it tends to be listed as either NORWAY, and/or SWEDEN & DENMARK.
On an earlier version/update, there was a small dollop of BASQUE.
But that's about it. They are the only components showing up in any of their results that I have seen.
Their results are overwhelmingly Scottish and Irish (i.e. Gael). Traces of Scandinavian, 0% - 8%.
The locals of Orkney and Shetland would receive higher Scandinavian scores, though.
For some locals, that'd be as high 20% - 30% probably?
It's demographically impossible for this kind lady Mairead, to be majority Norse.
Sure, there was genuinely a little bit of it, but turning it into the largest component of one's identity and heritage is seriously spinning quite a yarn.
Either she was definitely exaggerating for narrative effect, OR it was like a MyHeritage test that gives an inferior estimate, compared with AncestryDNA, Living DNA, 23andMe and whatever. The results have been updated with much fresher and more complete data now.
Very true, I agree with you. I think there are pockets of Norse-Gaels and pockets of fully Scottish people on the islands. From my own research, the outer Hebrides, as depicted in this video were dominated by Vikings but not the whole of Scotland and the Highlands themselves. The highlands were and are predominant Gael and Gaelic culture. Jura island where my ancestors came from was known for Viking culture. Jura is right next to Islay so both were conquered by Vikings.
Really interesting.
I am surprised the Islanders were surprised to find their Viking roots. Anyone who has visited York knows the Vikings did settle and established roots in Great Britain. It would strange if the only place the Vikings put down roots is in the north of England.
@Libertarian Scot The Western Isles had their DNA replaced by Norse men. DNA shows the gaels in the Isles are Norse-Gaels. Considering Ivan the Boneless armies ransacked Western Britain, it's not surprising. The Norse were adapt at assimilating into new cultures combining traditions.
Orkney was a powerful Jarldom, a once important Pictish site. It came to be a powerful Norse seat in Northern Scotland, including influencing the mainland, they weren't isolated.
Pictland was heavily raided and in areas settled. So much so you still have Norse place names in Eastern Scotland. If the Brythonic heritage ran deep, those areas' names won't have stuck or would have been replaced by the Scot-gaels advances.
With the Picts weakening, Anglo-Saxons cut in half, Britons in the west defending on all sides the Scots took the advantage pushed out across North Britain, expanding Alba, making pacts or taking land by force. Choosing to let the Norse men intregate. Scotland, like England, was shaped by the Norse and a handful of others. It even thought now that at the height of the Viking golden age, some native to Britain sympathised with Viking traditions and decided to adopt their culture. Their's evidence of what would be now famous Scottish and English Vikings raiding other terrorities.
The idea that the Norse never took land is crazy. Caladonia was an ideal, not a reality. There wasn't the power to resist. Alba wasn't even one unified nation yet. It wasn't Scotland.
Also, the Northumbrain territory was taken and not reclaimed. A few hundred years of settlement for it to be captured by a noble elite not native to Britain isn't taking back land but capturing land.
Without the Norse, the Picts would have resisted Scot invasion, even the Britons that lived with the Geals would have fought to keep their identity if they could.
@Al S Factually incorrect, if you're referring to the scarcely populated isles, sure, but the mainland of Scotland was not something the Vikings from Danes or the Norse could take.
• the Danes were slaughtered in Dun Echtaine and the Picts reoccupied that land to the South, reducing the size of Northumbria, which is how the Scottish border between Scotland and England would come to be.
• The Norse for a short period occupied the Western Highlands and were defeated by the Picts and Scottii who united to form the Kingdom of Alba.
It would be complete fiction to claim that the Norse came here and somehow took our land, the Picts land was Caledonia, Caledonia was never conquered. The idea that the Norse claimed the North East is also fiction, the mainland was occupied by the Scottii and Picts, the only thing the Norse occupied then was the Orkney Islands and Western Isles. That's it.
@brontew cat The Danes only occupied a small part of Scotland, it would soon be reclaimed by the Picts as the Picts slaughtered them at the Battle of Dun Echtaine.
@A W
Not true - which Viking Kingdoms?
@Reginald Mercer Thank you. That is interesting. I suppose it is true that many countries are like this - the people have very mixed ancestry.
Interesting video. I have paternal great great grandparents from Islay, and have done some research into the family history. Along the way have been in touch with some very distant relations in all parts of the world. We are all rather proud of the Islay connection, and feel a close connection with the island even though most of our ancestors left well over a century ago,
The scots are our kin to some extend. Much love from Denmark 🙂
@GODS Child i do not belive in the Christian God. 🤷♀️🤷♀️
Agree from a dane, that just discovered i have 41% Scott dna ❤️❤️❤️
@Christian Fischer. THE TRIBE 👩🏻🦳🧑🏻🦳👩🏻🦳🧑🏻🦳👩🏻🦳✝️🐑❤️💋OF DAN SHALL BE THE JUDGE
The Norse-Gaels of both the inner & outer Hebrides were the fiercest & scariest warriors of their post Viking era (1150-1450), the Western European equivalent of Japanese Samurais. Basically they possessed the skill & dexterity of an experienced Samurai yet the size, strength & toughness of their Norse Viking antecedents, with the ferocity of both. Terrifying!
It’s a wonderful, personalised and detailed example, but I don’t think this is news. It’s long been known that a hybrid culture, the “Norse-Gaels” developed in the Hebrides (outer and inner) and western mainland of Scotland which reached its zenith under the last “Lord of the Isles” - Somerled - in the 12th c. - and I believe that Islay was Somerled’s main base. Somerled’s sons divided his territories and their descendants were the founders of some of the major clans of the west and north, including Clan Ranald (McDonald) and McLeod.
Their origin legends claimed Somerled as a Gaelic hero who fought the Vikings - but he was himself of part Norse, part Gael descent and married to Ragnhild the daughter the Norse King of Man. The clans nowadays acknowledge their links to Norse ancestry and DNA tests of men in Scotland of the relevant clan names have shown evidence of those origins.
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somerled
Incidentally, one of Prince Charles’ titles in Scotland is “Lord of the Isles” - and features on its ancient coat of arms two galleys - the “birlinn” warship of the medieval Gaels, modelled on the Viking longship.
Good comment. Was thinking the same thing. Many gael-galls came to Ireland as gallowglasses (gall oglaigh) foreign mercenaries who fought for local Irish chiefs particularly in the North. Many settled and stayed. Some Irish surnames reflect their origins.
Files documents And repositories I have R1a Y-DNA but I'm mainly Celtic overall with DNA matches across Scotland and Ireland. This was expected as I'm descended from Somerled. The Vikings settled down and married into Gaelic clans
É o DNA vikingue que está nos habitantes da escócia , que faz deles os guerreiros que sempre foram .
I have 6 different countries in my background, mostly Germanic. My family kept good records. However I have often wondered how much if which I have but being a true Scots/Irish lass, (from my Grandmothers) I hesitate to spend my brass to pay to find out! This was very a very good presentation. Thank you.
Fascinating. I wonder whether it may similarly be the case that there are still Danes in Lincolnshire? After all, it was part of the Danelaw, and so many of our towns and villages have names derived from Old Norse, and many roads (e.g. in Lincoln and also in the village where I live) have names that end in "gate" (meaning "street").
My father, grandfather, and great grandfather were all born in Cuba.
(I did genetic testing.)
Before that, his line was in the Azores (Portugal), before that, loads of genetic ties to Great Britain.
Before that, a direct male ancestor, was discovered to have been buried in the 900's, in Ribe, Denmark (and by direct i mean: he's literally a great grand, but like 20 generations back..).
Apparently, they never stopped liking the islands..
Guess it's in their blood.
.
Some, in my family likened my dad to that old Hemingway tale, 'The Old Man and the Sea', interestingly, about an old Cuban fisherman.
Vikings settled everywhere their boats could take them.
.
We all have a bit.
.
But, it was nice to confirm, such an interesting journey.
.
There have been many a McDonald, or McCullen's, and 'Thompsons' in ancestry chat rooms who have ignored, and flat out critiqued my being there.
Then along came this study, circa 2017, with 100%, documented genetic proof of direct ties to Viking era burial, in a viking hometown:
... And there i am, with the most Latin sounding surname in the room...
👁️👅👁️
...lol 🤷🏻♂️😆
I love it!
Iberian Peninsula.
Islay looks like a place full of history. Would love to visit some day. :)
Thank you for sharing! Very fascinating! I had my DNA tested through Ancestry and have 18% Scotland 2% Norway.
I did a DNA test ages ago and my mother's side is heavily scots roots and it indicated 1% Norwegian and with her, Swedish. It roughly I guess, knows what part of the world that traces to. We also found a Swedish relative as a 3rd of 4th cousin.
I also had Norwegian DNA when I was tested. We originated in the isles, with more Gaelic. I had no idea Norway was in my background. Fascinating.
As an Australian with a surname that a town in Scotland is named after, and strong Norwegian Viking DNA it is nice to see dots connected that weren't before. Often it is indicated that Vikings avoided Scotland due to its fierce resistance and raids there are settling is hardly mentioned
My ancestry from the last 500 years is well documented. I have German, English, Scottish, Dutch, French, Spanish and Italian. But my DNA says I am 40% Scandinavian. Those Vikings got around!
Which test was that?
@Annica Esplund Correct.
@Yo2 The tests are still not great at differentiating this. They are improving, but it's hard because they're quite similar.
@Annica Esplund While they were out and about, they were, a-vikeing, thus Vikings
Norse, not "viking", they went viking (exploring, trading and so on).
I found out in the last 5 years that I have ancestry from southwest Scottland. Remember, "if it's not Scottish, it's crap!" -SNL Mike Myers
I grew up believing my father's side was Swedish. In the end, I am still a Viking.
This doesn't surprise me. In the Middle Ages the Gallowglass, Galloglaigh in Gaelic meaning foreign warriors, came from the Scottish islands to Ireland. They were Gaelic-Norse warriors hired by the leading clans in Ireland for protection. Many Irish surnames today have a Gallowglass origin. McCabes were Gallowglass protecting the O'Rourke clan. The Sweenys were Gallowglass for the O'Donnell clan and became a prominent clan themselves.
I am a McCabe from Australia .I have Norwegian, Swedish/ Danish in my dna.Yet no known Scandinavian ancestors
.
Great video. I am from the Appalachian Highlands, USA (where the states of Tennessee, North Carolina & Virginia meet), my DNA break down: England/Northwestern Europe 40%, Scotland 40%, Wales 9%, Ireland 6% & Sweden/Denmark 5%.
I'm from rural Australia.
I got:-
*54% Scotland
*25% Welsh
*13% England Northwestern Europe
*5% Ireland
*3% Norway
I'm very much a human vanilla milkshake!🤠👍
A lot of English from the borders ,Scots, lowland and highland spent a few generations in Ulster and left for the new world.These people are my ancestors and I also have 6% Norwegian or Scandinavian blood from God knows where.Areas of England were in the Danelaw and many have Danish ancestors in those areas.Has to be extremely difficult to achieve exact percentages,my DNA on ancestry has changed 5 times.
What a gem to find on youtube. Thanks.
I discovered a year ago via DNA that I am part viking and flemish. However I still consider myself 50% Scot!! Grandfather was from Uig (Isle of Skye). I am now in Aust.
My mother is a Graham descendent from Islay... specifically from Kilchoman and Conisby (one of the farms with a Norse origin to the name). This video was an exciting find!
My grandmother was rightly proud of her Scottish roots, so you can imagine my shock when I did a DNA test and found I have almost no Celtic blood.... (although nearly 40% Norse).
It's not 100% anyway mate ....
@Emmanuel Goldspleen Oddly I got your question and my DNA matches in my mailbox at the same time..... my test was with MyHeritage
Which test was that, by the way?
@Goo Boo Interesting thank you for the response, that makes sense, sadly my mother passed many years ago, but my dad has had a DNA test so I can kind of fill in the blanks from what he hasn't given me, if you follow me.
to a Danish viewer like me this is super interesting, there are lots of similar place names in my country (cities ending in "-dal" or "-by")
Yorkshire & Linsey the heart of Danelaw has tonnes of evidence in places. So much so only in the North, our Valleys are called Dales and mountains Fells. The Northern English language became more Germanic because of how the Vikings integrated with Angles. I've got DNA from all Nordic nations because of it.
So accurate and affirming. Retired reads would be wonderful: relationships including family, finances, creativity, focus issues, spiritual direction and connections.
American here, funny on the surface we we had a huge scottish bloodline. However, when a relative did our genealogy it revealed allot more Norwegian then we excepted. Also, Swedish.
Im definitely of the viking stock my mother grandmother and generations before were all from faroe islands and in 1946 my scottish grandfather who was working on the whaling with the merchant navy Married my granny Hansa petrea Mortensen and headed back to Edinburgh Scotland with his pregnant wife and the story of their lifes starts with 7 children and a happy 59yrs Married. Both have passed and sorely missed .love you Granny and Grandad Williamson.
So interesting. My DNA overlaps this area of Scotland and I'm 37% Scottish according to Ancestry. The rest English & Welsh. My mom's family was Stallings which is Danish originally. I'm wondering about any Viking heritage in our blood? My brother & family have been in Scotland tracing this ancestry just this month!
Scotland looks like Newfoundland & Nova Scotia , Canada. Beautiful Island in our beautiful Atlantic.
This is very interesting. My family origin is from Ayrshire, which is right near Islay but on the mainland. When i got my DNA results i found that I was equally Scottish and Norse. When you look at the Donald clan origins it makes sense given the Isles were ruled by Viking King of the isles.
My fathers ancestry is from Norway and Denmark, and my mother's is from Scotland. My DNA test showed overwhelmingly Scandi ancestry. Makes sense that my whole lineage came from Scandinavia.
I know it's easy just to say but as a Scandinavian I wouldn't doubt she was Norwegian if someone told me
As a native Highlander with, I assume, very little Scandinavian anscestory, her accent sounds almost identical to Orkney, which in itself speaks of Norwegian influence.
I Just realised two things here, which i cannot fathom i have not seen before: The norwegian "nes" or "næss" is a protrution into the ocean/water and hence the same word as in "Loch ness" with the same meaning. - And "loch" is a bit alike the norwegian word "lukke". "Lukke" means "to close". And "loch" is actually "sea that is closed in" aka Water/sea etc. So "Loch Ness" actually means "Water/sea with a/plural ness/Næss in it". "Loch Ness" is actually a norse name!!!
Lock, lake, loch etc are all related words that come from a common word thousands of years ago. As for Ness, that's a false friend, Ness is the name of an Irish water goddess. The river Ness is named for her as is Loch Ness and by extension Inverness. In the Ulster Cycle, one of the major mythologies of Ireland, the king of Ulster is Conchobar mac Nessa. Matronymics appear occasionally in the Irish mythologies.
Yes, the connected ae and double s’s give it away as a Norse word for sure!😊
Godt sett!
My family is from near a Viking settlement in England and I have still have about 15% Danish/Norway, I even got linked to specific area of Norway known for Viking Raiders and settlers. I also did a family tree as far back as I could both sides came from the same area of England, so no recent ancestry could be found except both sides had married scots at different points. It's crazy how these things can still be there after so many generations.
@Aussie Dream One of my Scottish ancestors came the Hebrides so it could be from them.
I hate to break it to you but it's impossible to have a genetic community from that long ago, the vikings came over a thousand years ago and there has never been any sort of major Scandinavian influx into Britain since then. If you do have a Norwegian genetic community it'd have to come from an ancestor no further back than 150 years MAX, otherwise we'd all have thousands of genetic communities that's simply not how it works.
Both my parents are from Scotland and our family tree goes back hundreds of years there but somehow my DNA is 5% welsh, 60% Norwegian, 30% Scottish and 5% Prussian
Really well done, thank you.
As a descendent of primarily northern England and Scottish people I wasn’t surprised when my DNA test came back 35% Scottish, 30% English and 20% Norwegian (plus some Welsh and Irish).
It’s funny how much of an influence the vikings and Scandinavia actually has on Scotland. Orkney and Shetland were wedding gifts to the Scottish royals and even the Scots language mainly consists of old Norse and some Middle English.
I am a Mathieson living in Inverness.
We are an old Highland Clan with Viking roots. There are many Mathesons in Norway and locals there have called us Vikings when we visited Norway 🇳🇴
All scottish clans're beatiful, with a wonderful history behind
No surprise here. It is suspected for a long time that the Scottish identity is a merge of Gaelic and Norse culture.
Having said that - ,my own understanding grew much more since I did a DNA test.
Norse people popped up and stayed in many unexpected places we didn´t know before.
I expected a rather boring (mostly German) result and got the exact opposite. And I´m very happy about that.
I have always felt Scottish in my blood. . My maiden name Dixon, is an early Scottish clan. My Dad was a warrior and I always felt he was somewhat of Viking. It turns out my DNA points to Norway…as well as Northern European.
I always suspected many ancient Nordic traditions, art and folklore seeped into what's now understood to be Celtic. You can draw so many similarities.
Makes sense. A lot of people I know with Scottish ancestry have some viking or Norwegian in their dna when they explore it.
This was beautifully filmed!
I am from the North of England with Welsh, Scottish, Northern English and some Jewish from Eastern Europe DNA. I am married to a Swede who is Scandinavian through and through, my children are mostly Scandinavian. Fascinating what DNA, place names and other indications can tell us about our past.
Very well done and thoughtful.
I’m 100% Norwegian by recent lineage, however my haplogroup is Irish and western Scotland
Which one? R1b? R1a?
The story I heard was that Vikings in Scotland spoke a mixture of old Norse and Gaelic so even Viking named places could be in Gaelic.
I'm western Norwegian, also an islander, that can trace my family back to the first written sources, and everyone in my family that have gotten DNA tests, are mostly Norse with traces of Gaelic. This is the same as in most of Iceland. Dublin (meaning "black pool") was founded as a slave colony, trading the slaves all the way to Muslim North Africa and the grand markets in central Asia. So the Gaels that was not finished off by Cæsar, was not having a much better time after the fall of Rome. Brutal times...
The Norse Viking were travellers and settlers and farmers.Their influence also extended down the east coast of England .
Their influence in Scotland and especially the Orkneys Hebrides and North East Scotland can be seen and read in places names to this day.
Its likely there was assimilation with local populations with Celtic , possibly Pict culture.
.Shetland and Orkney were part of the Norse Kingdoms
I wish there was a way to know every ancestor you’ve ever had
Wow, this is brilliant ! Im Scottish on my fathers side (Inverness) English/ Irish ( Ballycastle) on mothers side, my DNA tests im 70% Scottish 20% Irish 10% Norwegian/ Icelandic. Im guessing because the West top part of Scotland was inhabited by the Irish originally there will be a blend in there somehwere. Id love to try to learn some Gaelic does anyone recommend a beginners guide ?
They didnt kill the locals, what mostly happen is that they killed most of the men to take their lands (making the few men left slaves) and marrying by force the local women. Some women probably were also sold in the slave trade to places like Iceland etc... In fact, places like the Western Scotish Isles, Orkey, Shetland, Feroe Iceland etc have a predominant female celtic DNA from the British Isles, while having predominant Viking male heritage.
Not all the men owned lands - maybe the majority. It takes a lot of ordinary men and women to support one noble family/ landowning family when it is a pre industrial society where everything is made by hand, even the shiny things hit and run raiders liked to steal!
Marrying by force? Now there is a pretty euphemism!
My maiden name is Norwegian. But my ancestors migrated to the Netherlands. They were land Barons for many years. So this was probably done in a lot of places.
My grandad came from Scotland we were proud of this then found our surname was from a viking who ruled on the isle of sky
Has anyone considered the possibility that people could have traveled between Scotland and Denmark, Norway and a lesser extent Sweden for centuries before the Viking era?
☺️yes some must have 😲
I imagine that it happened quite often, especially in places such as Aberdeenshire, Yorkshire, Orkney and Shetland. Scotland’s north coast was probably also used as a middle point for travelling to Iceland
@Nature of Sweden Bear in mind that Doggerland disappeared under the North sea a few thousand years ago so the UK mainland was contiguous with northern Europe.
I have read that during the bronze age people traveled all over Europe maritime to trade with bronze. I doubt though that many people stayed and mixed, it seems throughout history that most people have kept to themselves, even in Europe.
At least Britain. The same kind of helmet found at Sutton Hoe, have been found in Sweden, north of Stockholm. Only there. Approximately 540-790 AD. So there was definitely some kind of contact. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vendel_Period
I was born in Newcastle and my first time meeting a Dane who spoke excellent English with a strong Danish accent found him to sound very Geordie. It was so strange....
My surname is 'Fraser 'and apparently the name didn't appear in Scottish records until just after 1066 so it's thought it came over with the Norman invasion and was derived from 'fraise' (strawberry). Quite a feat to end up with their own Clan, seeing as it was derived from invaders.
@Catherine Wilson Yes, I'd read somewhere that the Normans were thought to be settled Vikings?
Interesting! You know that the Vikings were in Normandy too though? My grandmother was from Scotland, also with a historically Norman name. (Hosie)
My head is spinning l love how people got about so much of the world more than we probably know. I would love for people to check Bruce Fume on scottish history he is fascinating and great to listen to .watching from Scotland peace and love to all
Yes! Bruce Fummey is the best! Everyone check out his channel, Scotland History Tours!
Similar story in our family. We thought Mom was entirely Scots/Irish and turns out her DNA is 50% from Scandinavia!
Yep. I'm Scots-Irish, but I'm also 23% Scandinavian. Somewhere along the long road of my people there was a Viking or two in the wood-pile!
It happens to the best of family's these days
I had my DNA tested. I got 88%English/Welsh, 7%Scottish/Irish, 5%Scandinavian. Infact I have researched my family tree and know that I am of Prussian, French and Dutch ancestry, yet none of this showed up. Don't think that they are just taking people's money and telling then making it up, why would they want to do that🤔
We only get to keep half of each parents DNA, we lose the other half each generation all the way back. Part of my line goes all the way back to Jamestown Colony. I am fairly sure that I am 1/64 American Indian. It's very likely that I have african ancestry as well but that could be 1/128 or 1/256. Only the DNA that got passed down shows up. I doubt anything fascinating will turn up but you never know.
I have British and Irish of 37.6%, Scandinavian 2.1%, Finnish 1.4% (not much on those two), German of 33.3%, French of 21.9%, and .6% Bedouin. I live in Italy, but I’m from Texas… I’m a natural wonderer for sure
I'm from new Zealand and have about 60% Polynesian ancestry and 40% scots Irish English french and scandanavian.
It's all interesting stuff. I read an Oxford University study that found that 73% of Scots are descended from Celts. I found it surprising that 64% of the English are also descended from Celts. In fact there are way more Celtic descendants (by numbers) in England that Scotland, Wales and Ireland combined. My test found 20% of my DNA was Nordic.
It is a very similar story with Lewis...all the place names are Norse but the language is Gaelic... 😁
Most of the male lines are Viking in origin while the female lines are Celtic. But not all male lines were extinct and since the Norse came from different regions, most of the language people spoke was Gaelic so they adapted.
Ireland had Viking influence too. "Finnigan" is an Irish family name meaning "son of the fair- haired stranger".
That is NOT true - why did you make it up? It is the name of several Irish clans.
The viking influence on Ireland was comparable to Scotland
A dane here with scottish blood in me. The scots and danes are very similar in many ways. So this makes sense 😀
Vikings integrated women and slaves into the community and massacred most, not all in most cases. I highly doubt that they massacred every last soul on islay and the whole community still converted to gael
South of the the Scottish borders there was a certain chunk of land called 'Danelaw' East Anglia where I was raised came under it's jurisdiction.
My family have been in England for over 900years and we're still testing at atleast 10% Scandinavian.
I am surprised by the surprise in the video. It has been known for many years that while Vikings did sometimes raid, they were first and foremost settlers, so naturally they stayed. I guess the romantic image of fierce warriors carrying off the monastery treasures is more interesting than people settling in and starting to farm the lands.
My DNA puts me 50% in/around Argyllshire. Interestingly another 15% is Swedish and 10% Norwegian . I had always known we were not indigenous Gaelic Scottish. And let’s just also note that I am a tall, stout, strong weatherproof woman. I’m not genetically made for the misery of Texas lol
My family are American colonists of the early 1700’s and original Southern settlers of Mississippi. I had traced my lineage before taking the DNA test but to see the genetic proof continues to blow my mind.
What a wonderful world.
I spent some months in both Sweden and northern UK. Used to the lilting musicality of swedish speech, I thought northern english sounded very similar even if the words were different.
my name is moffatt - it is said by the moffat clan historians that the town of moffat was founded when a couple from norway travelled to scotland and eventually settled where moffat is today - there were strong links between normandy and scandinavia and it is said one norwegian named movat married the youngest daughter of andlaw of norway then travelled to scotland in the year 950ad
my mum and dad are Scottish.had my DNA tested and we have Dane in us .. my last name is Old Norse
we have been in Scotland a long time
This happened to me. I thought I was Scottish and English. DNA 🧬 proved I am Orcadian; Orkney mixture of Picts and Norwegian: H4, which today is closest to a woman in SW Norway. I was shocked
@Beth&793 Interesting! Thanks! My family heritage also comes historically from the Shetlands. I am going to check my Nat Geo haplo group. I have always been super healthy with exception of ginormous infected tonsils as a child😂
Hey, I got some Orkney & Shetland DNA too, but I wasn't shocked cos my Mum's done our family history comprehensively & we have ancestors from Shetland. I also have H-haplotype mtDNA, but it's not surprising cos 45% of people with European ancestry do- it's due to an evolutionary advantage, it increases your ability to fight off infection!
Yes this was always known good to see it is coming to be more larger audience .
The Old Norse language, being nearly unpronounceable, was abandoned in favor of Gaelic, which is no easy language either. But it had fewer weird consonant combinations.
This area is Norse/Gaelic as i understand it and was colonized by Norwegian Vikings. I think you have to do multiple DNA tests and then take an average mean to get a true analysis as results vary. The lady does look part Nordic though. I also have roots in Islay from 1800s and have small Scandinavian percentage DNA across multiple tests, not sure of origin though as i also have links to south & east side of England.