A HAND-BOOK

OF

THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE,

FOR THE USE OF

STUDENTS OF THE UNIVERSITIES AND
HIGHER CLASSES OF SCHOOLS.

BY

R. G. LATHAM, M.D., F.R.S.,

LATE PROFESSOR OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE,
UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, LONDON.

NEW-YORK:

D. APPLETON & COMPANY,

443 & 445 BROADWAY.

M.DCCC.LXIV.

CONTENTS.

AN INTRODUCTION

TO THE STUDY OF

THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE.

PART I.

GENERAL ETHNOLOGICAL RELATIONS OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE.

CHAPTER I.

GERMANIC ORIGIN OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE.—DATE.

[§ 1]. The first point to be remembered in the history of the English language, is that it was not the primitive and original tongue of any of the British Islands, nor yet of any portion of them. Indeed, of the whole of Great Britain it is not the language at the present moment. Welsh is spoken in Wales, Manks in the Isle of Man, and Scotch Gaelic in the Highlands of Scotland; besides which there is the Irish Gaelic in Ireland.

[§ 2]. The next point to be considered is the real origin and the real affinities of the English language.

Its real origin is on the continent of Europe, and its real affinities are with certain languages there spoken. To speak more specifically, the native country of the

English language is Germany; and the Germanic languages are those that are the most closely connected with our own. In Germany, languages and dialects allied to each other and allied to the mother-tongue of the English have been spoken from times anterior to history; and these, for most purposes of philology, may be considered as the aboriginal languages and dialects of that country.

[§ 3]. Accredited details of the different immigrations from Germany into Britain.—Until lately the details of the different Germanic invasions of England, both in respect to the particular tribes by which they were made, and the order in which they succeeded each other, were received with but little doubt, and as little criticism.

Respecting the tribes by which they were made, the current opinion was, that they were chiefly, if not exclusively, those of the Jutes, the Saxons, and the Angles.

The particular chieftains that headed each descent were also supposed to be known, as well as the different localities upon which they descended.^[[1]] These were as follows:—

First settlement of invaders from Germany.—The account of this gives us A.D. 449 for the first permanent Germanic tribes settled in Britain. Ebbsfleet, in the Isle of Thanet, was the spot where they landed; and the particular name that these tribes gave themselves was that of Jutes. Their leaders were Hengist and Horsa. Six years after their landing they had established the kingdom of Kent; so that the county of Kent was the first district where the original British was superseded by the mother-tongue of the present English, introduced from Germany.

Second settlement of invaders from Germany.—A.D. 477 invaders from Northern Germany made the second permanent settlement in Britain. The coast of Sussex was the spot whereon they landed. The particular name that these tribes gave themselves was that of Saxons. Their leader was Ella. They established the kingdom of the South Saxons (Sussex or Suð-Seaxe); so that the county of Sussex was the second district where the original British was superseded by the mother-tongue of the present English, introduced from Germany.

Third settlement of invaders from Germany.—A.D. 495 invaders from Northern Germany made the third permanent settlement in Britain. The coast of Hampshire was the spot whereon they landed. Like the invaders last mentioned, these tribes were Saxons. Their leader was Cerdic. They established the kingdom of the West Saxons (Wessex or West-Seaxe); so that the county of Hants was the third district where the original British was superseded by the mother-tongue of the present English, introduced from Germany.

Fourth settlement of invaders from Germany.—A.D. 530, certain Saxons landed in Essex, so that the county of Essex [East-Seaxe] was the fourth district where the original British was superseded by the mother-tongue of the present English, introduced from Northern Germany.

Fifth settlement of invaders from Germany.—These were Angles in Norfolk and Suffolk. The precise date of this settlement is not known. The fifth district where the original British was superseded by the mother-tongue of the present English was the counties of Norfolk and Suffolk; the particular dialect introduced being that of the Angles.

Sixth settlement of invaders from Germany.—A.D. 547 invaders from Northern Germany made the sixth

permanent settlement in Britain. The southeastern counties of Scotland, between the rivers Tweed and Forth, were the districts where they landed. They were of the tribe of the Angles, and their leader was Ida. The south-eastern parts of Scotland constituted the sixth district where the original British was superseded by the mother-tongue of the present English, introduced from Northern Germany,

[§ 4]. It would be satisfactory if these details rested upon contemporary evidence. This, however, is far from being the case.

1. The evidence to the details just given, is not historical, but traditional.—a. Beda,^[[2]] from whom it is chiefly taken, wrote nearly 300 years after the supposed event, i.e., the landing of Hengist and Horsa, in A.D. 449.

b. The nearest approach to a contemporary author is Gildas,^[[3]] and he wrote full 100 years after it.

2. The account of Hengist's and Horsa's landing, has elements which are fictional rather than historical—a. Thus "when we find Hengist and Horsa approaching the coasts of Kent in three keels, and Ælli effecting a landing in Sussex with the same number, we are reminded of the Gothic tradition which carries a migration of Ostrogoths,^[[4]] Visigoths, and Gepidæ, also in three vessels, to the mouth of the Vistula."—Kemble, "Saxons in England."

b. The murder of the British chieftains by Hengist is told totidem verbis, by Widukind^[[5]] and others, of the Old Saxons in Thuringia.

c. Geoffry of Monmouth^[[6]] relates also, how "Hengist obtained from the Britons as much land as could be enclosed by an ox-hide; then, cutting the hide into thongs, enclosed a much larger space than the granters intended, on which he erected Thong Castle—a tale too

familiar to need illustration, and which runs throughout the mythus of many nations. Among the Old Saxons, the tradition is in reality the same, though recorded with a slight variety of detail. In their story, a lapfull of earth is purchased at a dear rate from a Thuringian; the companions of the Saxon jeer him for his imprudent bargain; but he sows the purchased earth upon a large space of ground, which he claims, and, by the aid of his comrades, ultimately wrests it from the Thuringians."—Kemble, "Saxons in England."

3. There is direct evidence in favour of their having been German tribes in England anterior to A.D. 447.—a. At the close of the Marcomannic war,^[[7]] Marcus Antoninus transplanted a number of Germans into Britain.

b. Alemannic auxiliaries served along with Roman legions under Valentinian.^[[8]]

c. The Notitia utriusque Imperii,^[[9]] of which the latest date is half a century earlier than the epoch of Hengist, mentions, as an officer of state, the Comes littoris Saxonici per Britannias; his government extending along the coast from Portsmouth to the Wash.

[§ 5]. Inference.—As it is nearly certain, that 449 A.D. is not the date of the first introduction of German tribes into Britain, we must consider that the displacement of the original British began at an earlier period than the one usually admitted, and, consequently, that it was more gradual than is usually supposed.

Perhaps, if we substitute the middle of the fourth, instead of the middle of the fifth century, as the epoch of the Germanic immigrations into Britain, we shall not be far from the truth.

CHAPTER II.

GERMANIC ORIGIN OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE.—THE GERMANIC AREA OF THE PARTICULAR GERMANS WHO INTRODUCED IT.—EXTRACT FROM BEDA.

[§ 6]. Out of the numerous tribes and nations of Germany, three have been more especially mentioned as the chief, if not the exclusive, sources of the present English population of Great Britain. These are the Jutes, the Saxons, and the Angles.

[§ 7]. Now, it is by no means certain that this was the case. On the contrary, good reasons can be given for believing that the Angles and Saxons were the same people, and that no such nation as the Jutes ever left Germany to settle in Great Britain.

[§ 8]. The chief authority for the division of the German invaders into the three nations just mentioned is Beda; and the chief text is the following extract from his "Ecclesiastical History." It requires particular attention, and will form the basis of much criticism, and frequently be referred to.

"Advenerunt autem de tribus Germaniæ populis fortioribus, id est Saxonibus, Anglis, Jutis. De Jutarum origine sunt Cantuarii, et Victuarii, hoc est ea gens quæ Vectam tenet insulam et ea quæ usque hodie in provincia Occidentalium Saxonum Jutarum natio nominatur, posita contra ipsam insulam Vectam. De

Saxonibus, id est, ea regione quæ nunc Antiquorum Saxonum cognominatur, venere Orientales Saxones, Meridiani Saxones, Occidui Saxones. Porro de Anglis hoc est de illa patria quæ Angulus dicitur, et ab illo tempore usque hodie manere desertus inter provincias Jutarum et Saxonum perhibetur, Orientales Angli, Mediterranei Angli, Merci, tota Northanhymbrorum progenies, id est illarum gentium quæ ad Boream Humbri fluminis inhabitant, cæterique Anglorum populi sunt orti"—"Historia Ecclesiastica," i. 15.

[§ 9]. This was written about A.D. 731, 131 years after the introduction of Christianity, and nearly 300 after the supposed landing of Hengist and Horsa in A.D. 449.

It is the first passage which contains the names of either the Angles or the Jutes. Gildas, who wrote more than 150 years earlier, mentions only the Saxons—"ferocissimi illi nefandi nominis Saxones."

It is, also, the passage which all subsequent writers have either translated or adopted. Thus it re-appears in Alfred, and again in the Saxon Chronicle.^[[10]]

[§ 10]. A portion of these extracts will now be submitted to criticism; that portion being the statement concerning the Jutes.

The words usque hodie—Jutarum natio nominatur constitute contemporary and unexceptionable evidence to the existence of a people with a name like that of the Jutes in the time of Beda—or A.D. 731.

The exact name is not so certain. The term Jutnacyn from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is in favour of the notion that it began with the sounds of j and u, in other words that it was Jut.

But the term Geatum, which we find in Alfred, favours the form in g followed by ea.

Thirdly, the forms Wihtware, and Wihttan, suggest the likelihood of the name being Wiht.

Lastly, there is a passage in Asserius^[[11]] which gives us the form Gwith—"Mater" (of Alfred the Great) "quoque ejusdem Osburgh nominabatur, religiosa nimium fœmina, nobilis ingenio, nobilis et genere; quæ erat filia Oslac famosi pincernæ Æthelwulf regis; qui Oslac Gothus erat natione, ortus enim erat de Gothis et Jutis; de semine scilicet Stuf et Wihtgur, duorum fratrum et etiam comitum, qui acceptâ potestate Vectis insulæ ab avunculo suo Cerdic rege et Cynric filio suo, consobrino eorum, paucos Britones ejusdem insulæ accolas, quos in eâ invenire potuerant, in loco qui dicitur, Gwithgaraburgh occiderunt, cæteri enim accolæ ejusdem insulæ ante sunt occisi aut exules aufugerant."—Asserius, "De Gestis Alfredi Regis."

Now, Gwith-gara-burgh means the burg or town of the With-ware;^[[12]] these being, undoubtedly, no Germans at all, but the native Britons of the Isle of Wight (Vectis), whose designation in Latin would be Vecticolæ or Vectienses.

This being the case, how can they be descended from German or Danish Jutes? and how can we reconcile the statement of Beda with that of Asser?

[§ 11]. The answer to this will be given after another fact has been considered.

Precisely the same confusion between the sounds of w, j, g, io, eæ, u, and i, which occurs with the so-called Jutes of the Isle of Wight, occurs with the Jutlanders of the peninsula of Jutland. The common forms are Jutland, Jute, Jutones, and Jutenses, but they are not the only ones. In A.D. 952, we find "Dania cismarina quam Vitland incolæ appellant."—"Annales Saxonici."^[[13]]

[§ 12]. Putting these facts together I adopt the evidence of Asser as to the Gwithware being British, and consider them as simple Vecti-colæ, or inhabitants of the Isle of Wight. They are also the Vectuarii of Beda, the Wihtware of the Saxon Chronicle, and the Wihtsætan of Alfred.

The Jutes of Hampshire—i.e., the "Jutarum natio—posita contra ipsam insulam Vectam," and the Jutnacyn, I consider to have been the same; except that they had left the Isle of Wight to settle on the opposite coast; probably flying before their German conquerors, in which case they would be the exules of Asser.

The statement of Beda, so opposed to that of Asser, I explain by supposing that it arose out of an inaccurate inference drawn from the similarity of the names of the Isle of Wight and the peninsula of Jutland, since we have seen that in both cases, there was a similar confusion between the syllables Jut- and Vit-. This is an error into which even a careful writer might fall. That Beda had no authentic historical accounts of the conquest of Britain, we know from his own statements in the Preface to his Ecclesiastical History,^[[14]] and that he

partially tried to make up for the want of them by inference is exceedingly likely. If so, what would be more natural than for him to conclude that Jutes as well as Angles helped to subdue the country. The fact itself was probable; besides which he saw at one and the same time, in England Vitæ (called also Jutæ), in immediate contact with Saxons,[^[26]] and on the continent Jutæ (called also Vitæ) in the neighborhood of Angles[^[27]] and Saxons. Is it surprising that he should connect them?

[§ 13]. If the inhabitants of the Isle of Wight were really Jutes from Jutland, it is strange that there should be no traces of the difference which existed, then as now, between them and the proper Anglo-Saxons—a difference which was neither inconsiderable nor of a fleeting nature.

The present Jutlanders are not Germans but Danes, and the Jutes of the time of Beda were most probably the same. Those of the 11th century were certainly so, "Primi ad ostium Baltici Sinus in australi ripa versus nos Dani, quos Juthas appellant, usque ad Sliam lacum habitant." Adamus Bremensis,^[[15]] "De Situ Daniæ" c. 221. Also, "Et prima pars Daniæ, quæ Jutland dicitur, ad Egdoram[^[28]] in Boream longitudine pretenditur ... in eum angulum qui Windila dicitur, ubi Jutland finem habet," c. 208.

At the time of Beda they must, according to the received traditions, have been nearly 300 years in possession of the Isle of Wight, a locality as favourable for the preservation of their peculiar manners and customs as any in Great Britain, and a locality wherein we have no evidence of their ever having been disturbed. Nevertheless, neither trace nor shadow of a trace, either

in early or modern times, has ever been discovered of their separate nationality and language; a fact which stands in remarkable contrast with the very numerous traces which the Danes of the 9th and 10th century left behind them as evidence of their occupancy.

[§ 14]. The words England and English are derived from the Angles of Beda. The words Sussex, Essex, Middlesex and Wessex, from his Saxons. No objection lies against this; indeed to deny that populations called Angle and Saxon occupied England and spoke the Anglo-Saxon language would display an unnecessary and unhealthy scepticism. The real question concerning these two words consists in the relation which the populations to which they were applied bore to each other. And this question is a difficult one. Did the Angles speak one language, whilst the Saxons spoke another? or did they both speak dialects of the same tongue? Were these dialects slightly or widely different? Can we find traces of the difference in any of the present provincial dialects? Are the idioms of one country of Angle, whilst those of another are of Saxon origin? Was the Angle more like the Danish language, whilst the Saxon approached the Dutch? None of these questions can be answered at present. They have, however, been asked for the sake of exhibiting the nature of the subject.

[§ 15]. The extract from Beda requires further remarks.

The Angles of Beda.—The statement of Beda respecting the Angles, like his statement concerning the Jutes, reappears in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, and in Alfred.

Ethelweard^[[16]] also adopts it:—"Anglia vetus sita est inter Saxones et Giotos, habens oppidum capitale quod

sermone Saxonico Sleswic nuncupatur, secundum vero Danos Hathaby."

Nevertheless, it is exceptionable and unsatisfactory; and like the previous one, in all probability, an incorrect inference founded upon the misinterpretation of a name.

In the eighth century there was, and at the present moment there is, a portion of the duchy of Sleswick called Anglen or the corner. It is really what its name denotes, a triangle of irregular shape, formed by the Slie, the firth of Flensborg, and a line drawn from Flensborg to Sleswick. It is just as Danish as the rest of the peninsula, and cannot be shown to have been occupied by a Germanic population at all. Its area is less than that of the county of Rutland, and by no means likely to have supplied such a population as that of the Angles of England. The fact of its being a desert at the time of Beda is credible; since it formed a sort of March or Debatable Ground between the Saxons and Slavonians of Holstein, and the Danes of Jutland.

Now if we suppose that the real Angles of Germany were either so reduced in numbers as to have become an obscure tribe, or so incorporated with other populations as to have lost their independent existence, we can easily see how the similarity of name, combined with the geographical contiguity of Anglen to the Saxon frontier, might mislead even so good a writer as Beda, into the notion that he had found the country of the Angles in the Angulus (Anglen) of Sleswick.

The true Angles were the descendants of the Angli of Tacitus. Who these were will be investigated in §§ [47]-[54].

[§ 16]. The Saxons of Beda.—The Saxons of Beda reached from the country of the Old Saxons[^[29]] on the

Lippe, in Westphalia, to that of the Nordalbingian[^[30]] Saxons between the Elbe and Eyder; and nearly, but not quite, coincided with the present countries of Hanover, Oldenburg, Westphalia, and part of Holstein. This we may call the Saxon, or (as reasons will be given for considering that it nearly coincided with the country of the Angles) the Anglo-Saxon area.

[§ 17]. River-system and sea-board of the Anglo-Saxon area.—As the invasion of England took place by sea, we must expect to find in the invaders a maritime population. This leads to the consideration of the physical character of that part of Germany which they occupied. And here comes a remarkable and unexpected fact. The line of coast between the Rhine and Elbe, the line which in reasoning a priori, we should fix upon as the most likely tract for the bold seamen who wrested so large an island as Great Britain from its original occupants (changing it from Britain to England), to have proceeded from, is not the country of the Anglo-Saxons. On the contrary, it is the country of a similar but different section of the Germanic population, a section which has not received the attention from the English historian which it deserves. The country in question is the area of—

[§ 18]. The Frisians.—At the present moment the language of the Dutch province of Friesland is materially different from that of the other parts of the kingdom of Holland. In other words it is not Dutch. Neither is it German—although, of course, it resembles both languages. On the other hand, it is more like the English than any other language or dialect in Germany is.

It is a language of considerable antiquity, and

although at present it is spoken by the country-people only, it possesses a considerable literature. There is the Middle Frisian of Gysbert Japicx,^[[17]] and the Old Frisian of the Frisian Laws.^[[18]] The older the specimen of the Frisian language the more closely does it show its affinity to the English; hence the earliest Frisian and the Anglo-Saxon are exceedingly alike. Nevertheless they differ.

[§ 19]. The Frisian was once spoken over a far greater area than at present. It was the original language of almost all Holland. It was the language of East Friesland to a late period. It was, probably, the language of the ancient Chauci. At the present time (besides Friesland) it survives in Heligoland, in the islands between the Ems and Weser, in part of Sleswick, and in a few localities in Oldenburg and Westphalia.

Hence it is probable that the original Frisian, extending to an uncertain and irregular distance inland, lay between the Saxons and the sea, and stretched from the Zuyder Zee to the Elbe; a fact which would leave to the latter nation the lower Elbe and the Weser as their water-system: the extent to which they were in direct contact with the ocean being less than we are prepared to expect from their subsequent history.

On the other hand the a priori probabilities of there being Frisians as well as Anglo-Saxons amongst the conquerors of Great Britain are considerable.—See §§ [55], [56].

[§ 20]. The Anglo-Saxon area coincided—

1. Politically.—With the kingdom of Hanover, the duchy of Oldenburg, and parts of Westphalia and Holstein.

2. Physically.—With the basin of the Weser.

It was certainly from the Anglo-Saxon, and probably

from a part of the Frisian area that Great Britain was first invaded.

This is as much as it is safe to say at present. The preceding chapter investigated the date of the Germanic migration into Britain; the present has determined the area from which it went forth.

CHAPTER III.

OF THE DIALECTS OF THE SAXON AREA, AND OF THE SO-CALLED OLD SAXON.

[§ 21]. The area occupied by the Saxons of Germany has been investigated; and it now remains to ask, how far the language of the occupants was absolutely identical throughout, or how far it fell into dialects or sub-dialects.

There were at least two divisions of the Saxon; (1st) the Saxon of which the extant specimens are of English origin, and (2nd), the Saxon of which the extant specimens are of Continental origin. We will call these at present the Saxon of England, and the Saxon of the Continent.

[§ 22]. Respecting the Saxon of England and the Saxon of the Continent, there is good reason for believing that the first was spoken in the northern, the second in the southern portion of the Saxon area, i.e., the one in Hanover and the other in Westphalia, the probable boundaries between them being the line of highlands between Osnaburg and Paderborn.

[§ 23]. Respecting the Saxon of England and the Saxon of the Continent, there is good reason for believing that, whilst the former was the mother-tongue of the Angles and the conquerors of England, the latter was that of the Cherusci of Arminius, the conquerors and the annihilators of the legions of Varus.^[[19]]

[§ 24]. Respecting the Saxon of England and the

Saxon of the Continent, it is a fact that, whilst we have a full literature in the former, we have but fragmentary specimens of the latter—these being chiefly the following: (1) the Heliand,^[[20]] (2) Hildubrand and Hathubrant,^[[21]] (3) the Carolinian Psalms.^[[22]]

[§ 25]. The preceding points have been predicated respecting the difference between the two ascertained Saxon dialects, for the sake of preparing the reader for the names by which they are known.

[§ 26]. The Saxon of England is called Anglo-Saxon; a term against which no exception can be raised.

[§ 27]. The Saxon of the Continent used to be called Dano-Saxon, and is called Old Saxon.

[§ 28]. Why called Dano-Saxon.—When the poem called Heliand was first discovered in an English library, the difference in language between it and the common Anglo-Saxon composition was accounted for by the assumption of a Danish intermixture.

[§ 29]. Why called Old Saxon. When the Continental origin of the Heliand was recognised, the language was called Old Saxon, because it represented the Saxon of the mother-country, the natives of which were called Old Saxons by the Anglo-Saxons themselves. Still the term is exceptionable; as the Saxon of the Heliand is probably a sister-dialect of the Anglo-Saxon, rather than the Anglo-Saxon itself in a Continental locality. Exceptionable, however, as it is, it will be employed.

CHAPTER IV.

AFFINITIES OF THE ENGLISH WITH THE LANGUAGES OF GERMANY AND SCANDINAVIA.

[§ 30]. Over and above those languages of Germany and Holland which were akin to the dialects of the Anglo-Saxons, cognate languages were spoken in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, and the Feroe isles, i.e., in Scandinavia.

[§ 31]. The general collective designation for the Germanic tongues of Germany and Holland, and for the Scandinavian languages of Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, and the Feroe Isles, is taken from the name of those German tribes who, during the decline of the Roman Empire, were best known to the Romans as the Goths; the term Gothic for the Scandinavian and Germanic languages, collectively, being both current and convenient.

[§ 32]. Of this great stock of languages the Scandinavian is one branch; the Germanic, called also Teutonic, another.

[§ 33]. The Scandinavian branch of the Gothic stock comprehends, 1. The dialects of Scandinavia Proper, i.e., of Norway and Sweden; 2. of the Danish isles and Jutland; 3. of Iceland; 4. of the Feroe Isles.

[§ 34]. The Teutonic branch falls into three divisions:—

1. The Mœso-Gothic.

2. The High Germanic.

3. The Low Germanic.

[§ 35]. It is in the Mœso-Gothic that the most ancient specimen of any Gothic tongue has been preserved. It is also the Mœso-Gothic that was spoken by the conquerors of ancient Rome; by the subjects of Hermanric, Alaric, Theodoric, Euric, Athanaric, and Totila.

In the reign of Valens, when pressed by intestine wars, and by the movements of the Huns, the Goths were assisted by that emperor, and settled in the Roman province of Mœsia.

Furthermore, they were converted to Christianity; and the Bible was translated into their language by their Bishop Ulphilas.

Fragments of this translation, chiefly from the Gospels, have come down to the present time; and the Bible translation of the Arian Bishop Ulphilas, in the language of the Goths of Mœsia, during the reign of Valens, exhibits the earliest sample of any Gothic tongue.

[§ 36]. The Old High German, called also Francic^[[24]] and Alemannic,^[[25]] was spoken in the ninth, tenth, and eleventh centuries, in Suabia, Bavaria, and Franconia.

The Middle High German ranges from the thirteenth century to the Reformation.

[§ 37]. The low Germanic division, to which the Anglo-Saxon belongs, is currently said to comprise six languages, or rather four languages in different stages.

I. II.—The Anglo-Saxon and Modern English.

III. The Old Saxon.

IV. V.—The Old Frisian and Modern Dutch.

VI.—The Platt-Deutsch, or Low German.

[§ 38]. The Frisian and Dutch.—It is a current statement that the Old Frisian bears the same relation to the Modern Dutch of Holland that the Anglo-Saxon does to the English.

The truer view of the question is as follows:—

1. That a single language, spoken in two dialects, was originally common to both Holland and Friesland.

2. That from the northern of these dialects we have the Modern Frisian of Friesland.

3. From the southern, the Modern Dutch of Holland.

The reason of this refinement is as follows:—

The Modern Dutch has certain grammatical forms older than those of the old Frisian; e.g., the Dutch infinitives and the Dutch weak substantives, in their oblique cases, end in -en; those of the Old Frisian in -a: the form in -en being the older.

The true Frisian is spoken in few and isolated localities. There is—

1. The Frisian of the Dutch state called Friesland.

2. The Frisian of the parish of Saterland, in Westphalia.

3. The Frisian of Heligoland.

4. The North Frisian, spoken in a few villages of Sleswick. One of the characters of the North Frisian is the possession of a dual number.

In respect to its stages, we have the Old Frisian of the Asega-bog, the Middle Frisian of Gysbert Japicx,[^[31]] and the Modern Frisian of the present Frieslanders, Westphalians, and Heligolanders.

[§ 39]. The Low German and Platt-Deutsch.—The words Low-German are not only lax in their application, but they are equivocal; since the term has two meanings, a general meaning when it signifies a division of the Germanic languages, comprising English, Dutch, Anglo-Saxon, Old Saxon, and Frisian, and a limited one when it means the particular dialects of the Ems, the Weser, and the Elbe. To avoid this the dialects in question

are conveniently called by their continental name of Platt-Deutsch, just as in England we say Broad Scotch.

[§ 40]. The most characteristic difference between the Saxon and Icelandic (indeed between the Teutonic and Scandinavian tongues) lies in the peculiar position of the definite article in the latter. In Saxon, the article corresponding with the modern word the, is þæt, se, seó, for the neuter, masculine, and feminine genders respectively; and these words, regularly declined, are prefixed to the words with which they agree, just as is the case with the English and with the majority of languages. In Icelandic, however, the article instead of preceding, follows its noun, with which it coalesces, having previously suffered a change in form. The Icelandic article corresponding to þæt, se, seó, is hitt, hinn, hin: from this the h is ejected, so that, instead of the regular inflection (a), we have the forms (b).

Whence, as an affix, in composition,

In the Swedish, Norwegian, and Danish this peculiarity in the position of the definite article is preserved. Its origin, however, is concealed; and an accidental identity with the indefinite article has led to false notions respecting its nature. In the languages in point the i is changed into e, so that what in Icelandic is it and in, is in Danish et and en. En, however, as a separate word, is the numeral one, and also the indefinite article a; whilst in the neuter gender it is et—en sol, a sun; et bord, a table: solon, the sun; bordet, the table. From modern forms like those just quoted, it has been imagined that the definite is merely the indefinite article transposed. This it is not.

To apply an expression of Mr. Cobbet's, en = a, and -en = the, are the same combination of letters, but not the same word.

[§ 41]. Another characteristic of the Scandinavian language is the possession of a passive form, or a passive voice, ending in -st:—ek, þu, hann brennist = I am, thou art, he is burnt; ver brennumst = we are burnt; þér brennizt = ye are burnt; þeir brennast = they are burnt. Past tense, ek, þu, hann brendist; ver brendumst, þér brenduzt, þeir brendust. Imperat.: brenstu = be thou burnt. Infinit.: brennast = to be burnt.

In the modern Danish and Swedish, the passive is still preserved, but without the final t. In the older stages of Icelandic, on the other hand, the termination was not -st but -sc; which -sc grew out of the reflective pronoun sik. With these phenomena the Scandinavian languages give us the evolution and development of a passive voice; wherein we have the following series of changes:—1. the reflective pronoun coalesces with the verb, whilst the sense changes from that of a reflective to that of a middle verb; 2. the c changes to t, whilst the middle sense passes into a passive one; 3. t is dropped from the end of the word, and the expression that was once reflective then becomes strictly passive.

Now the Saxons have no passive voice at all. That they should have one originating like that of the Scandinavians was impossible, inasmuch as they had no reflective pronoun, and, consequently, nothing to evolve it from.

CHAPTER V.

ANALYSIS OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE.—GERMANIC ELEMENTS.—THE ANGLES.

[§ 42]. The language of England has been formed out of three elements.

a. Elements referable to the original British population, and derived from times anterior to the Anglo-Saxon invasion.

b. Anglo-Saxon, Germanic, or imported elements.

c. Elements introduced since the Anglo-Saxon conquest.

[§ 43]. Each of these requires a special analysis, but that of the second will be taken first, and form the contents of the present chapter.

All that we have at present learned concerning the Germanic invaders of England, is the geographical area which they originally occupied. How far, however, it was simple Saxons who conquered England single-handed, or how far the particular Saxon Germans were portions of a complex population, requires further investigation. Were the Saxons one division of the German population, whilst the Angles were another? or were the Angles a section of the Saxons, so that the latter was a generic term including the former? Again, although the Saxon invasion may be the one which has had the greatest influence, and drawn the most attention, why may there not have been separate and independent migrations, the

effects and record of which have, in the lapse of time, become fused with those of the more important divisions?

[§ 44]. The Angles; who were they? and what was their relation to the Saxons?—The first answer to this question embodies a great fact in the way of internal evidence, viz., that they were the people from whom England derives the name it bears = Angle land, i.e., land of the Angles. Our language too is English, i.e., Angle. Whatever, then, they may have been on the Continent, they were a leading section of the invaders here. Why then has their position in our inquiries been hitherto so subordinate to that of the Saxons? It is because their importance and preponderance are not so manifest in Germany as we infer them to have been in Britain. Nay more, their historical place amongst the nations of Germany, is both insignificant and uncertain; indeed, it will be seen from the sequel, that in and of themselves we know next to nothing about them, knowing them only in their relations, i.e., to ourselves and to the Saxons.

[§ 45]. Although they are the section of the immigration which gave the name to England, and, as such, the preponderating element in the eyes of the present English, they were not so in the eyes of the original British; who neither knew at the time of the Conquest, nor know now, of any other name for their German enemies but Saxon. And Saxon is the name by which the present English are known to the Welsh, Armorican, and Gaelic Celts.

[§ 46]. Although they are the section of the immigration which gave the name to England, &c., they were quite as little Angles as Saxons in the eyes of foreign

cotemporary writers; since the expression Saxoniæ transmarinæ, occurs as applied to England.

[§ 47]. Who were the Angles?—Although they are the section of the immigration which gave the name to England, &c., the notices of them as Germans in Germany, are extremely limited.

Extract from Tacitus.—This merely connects them with certain other tribes, and affirms the existence of certain religious ordinances common to them:—

"Contra Langobardos paucitas nobilitat: plurimis ac valentissimis nationibus cincti, non per obsequium sed prœliis et periclitando tuti sunt. Reudigni deinde, et Aviones, et Angli, et Varini, et Eudoses, et Suardones, et Nuithones, fluminibus aut silvis muniuntur: nec quidquam notabile in singulis, nisi quod in commune Herthum, id est, Terram matrem colunt, eamque intervenire rebus hominum, invehi populis, arbitrantur. Est in insula Oceani Castum nemus, dicatumque in eo vehiculum, veste contectum, attingere uni sacerdoti concessum. Is adesse penetrali deam intelligit, vectamque bobus feminis multâ cum veneratione prosequitur. Læti tunc dies, festa loca, quæcumque adventu hospitioque dignatur. Non bella ineunt, non arma sumunt, clausum omne ferrum; pax et quies tunc tantùm nota, tunc tantùm amata, donec idem sacerdos satiatam conversatione mortalium deam templo reddat; mox vehiculum et vestes, et, si credere velis, numen ipsum secreto lacu abluitur. Servi ministrant, quos statim idem lacus haurit. Arcanus hinc terror, sanctaque ignorantia, quid sit id, quod tantùm perituri vident."[^[32]]

Extract from Ptolemy.—This connects the Angles with the Suevi, and Langobardi, and places them on the Middle

Elbe.—Ἐντὸς καὶ μεσογείων ἐθνῶν μέγιστα μέν ἐστι τό τε τῶν Σουήβων τῶν Ἀγγειλῶν, οἵ εἰσιν ἀνατολικώτεροι τῶν Λαγγοβάρδων, ἀνατείνοντες πρὸς τὰς ἄρκτους μέχρι τῶν μέσων τοῦ Ἄλβιος ποταμοῦ.

Extract from Procopius.—For this see § [55].

Heading of a law referred to the age of Charlemagne.—This connects them with the Werini (Varni) and the Thuringians—"Incipit lex Angliorum et Werinorum hoc est Thuringorum."

[§ 48]. These notices agree in giving the Angles a German locality, and in connecting them ethnologically, and philologically with the Germans of Germany. And such was, undoubtedly, the case. Nevertheless, it may be seen from § [15] that a Danish origin has been assigned to them.

The exact Germanic affinities of the Angles are, how ever, difficult to ascertain, since the tribes with which they are classed are differently classed. This we shall see by asking the following questions:—

[§ 49]. What were the Langobardi, with whom the Angles were connected by Tacitus? The most important fact to be known concerning them is, that the general opinion is in favour of their having belonged to either the High-German, or Mœso-Gothic division, rather than to the Low.

[§ 50]. What were the Suevi, with whom the Angles were connected by Tacitus? The most important fact to be known concerning them is, that the general opinion is in favour of their having belonged to either the High-German or Mœso-Gothic division rather than to the Low.

[§ 51]. What were the Werini, with whom the Angles were connected in the Leges Anglorum et Werinorum? Without having any particular data for connecting the Werini (Varni, Οὐάρνοι) with either the High-German, or

the Mœso-Gothic divisions, there are certain facts in favour of their being Slavonic.

[§ 52]. What were the Thuringians, with whom the Angles are connected in the Leges Anglorum? Germanic in locality, and most probably allied to the Goths of Mœsia in language. If not, High-Germans.

[§ 53]. Of the Reudigni, Eudoses, Nuithones, Suardones, and Aviones, too little is known in detail to make the details an inquiry of importance.

[§ 54]. The reader has now got a general view of the extent to which the position of the Angles, as a German tribe, is complicated by conflicting statements; statements which connect them with (probably) High-German Thuringians, Suevi, and Langobardi, and with (probably) Slavonic Werini, or Varni; whereas in England, they are scarcely distinguishable from the Low-German Saxons. In the present state of our knowledge, the only safe fact seems to be, that of the common relation of both Angles and Saxons to the present English of England.

This brings the two sections within a very close degree of affinity, and makes it probable, that, just as at present, descendants of the Saxons are English (Angle) in Britain, so, in the third and fourth centuries, ancestors of the Angles were Saxons in Germany. Why, however, the one name preponderated on the Continent, and the other in England is difficult to ascertain.

[§ 55]. The Frisians have been mentioned as a Germanic population likely to have joined in the invasion of Britain; the presumption in favor of their having done so arising from their geographical position.

There is, however, something more than mere presumption upon this point.

Archbishop Usher, amongst the earlier historians, and

Mr. Kemble amongst those of the present day, as well as other intermediate investigators, have drawn attention to certain important notices of them.

The main facts bearing upon this question are the following:—

1. Hengist, according to some traditions, was a Frisian hero.

2. Procopius wrote as follows:—Βριττίαν δὲ τὴν νῆσον ἔθνη τρία πολυανθρωπότατα ἔχουσι, βασιλεύς τε εἶς αὐτῶν ἑκάστῳ ἐφέστηκεν, ὀνόματα δὲ κεῖται τοῖς ἔθνεσι τούτοις Ἀγγίλοι τε καὶ Φρίσσονες καὶ οἱ τῂ νήσῳ ὁμώνυμοι Βρίττωνες. Τοσαύτη δὲ ἡ τῶνδε τῶν ἐθνῶν πολυανθρωπία φαίνεται οὖσα ὥστε ἀνὰ πᾶν ἔτος κατὰ πολλοὺς ἐνθένδε μετανιστάμενοι ξὺν γυναιξὶ καὶ παισὶν ἐς Φράγγους χώρουσιν.—Procop. B. G. iv. 20.

3. In the Saxon Chronicle we find the following passage:—"That same year, the armies from among the East-Anglians, and from among the North-Humbrians, harassed the land of the West-Saxons chiefly, most of all by their 'æscs,' which they had built many years before. Then king Alfred commanded long ships to be built to oppose the æscs; they were full-nigh twice as long as the others; some had sixty oars, and some had more; they were both swifter and steadier, and also higher than the others. They were shapen neither like the Frisian nor the Danish, but so as it seemed to him that they would be most efficient. Then some time in the same year, there came six ships to Wight, and there did much harm, as well as in Devon, and elsewhere along the sea coast. Then the king commanded nine of the new ships to go thither, and they obstructed their passage from the port towards the outer sea. Then went they with three of their ships out against them; and three lay in the upper part of the port in the dry; the men were gone

from them ashore. Then took they two of the three ships at the outer part of the port, and killed the men, and the other ship escaped; in that also the men were killed except five; they got away because the other ships were aground. They also were aground very disadvantageously, three lay aground on that side of the deep on which the Danish ships were aground, and all the rest upon the other side, so that no one of them could get to the others. But when, the water had ebbed many furlongs from the ships, then the Danish men went from their three ships to the other three which were left by the tide on their side, and then they there fought against them. There was slain Lucumon the king's reeve, and Wulfheard the Frisian, and Æbbe the Frisian, and Æthelhere the Frisian, and Æthelferth the king's 'geneat,' and of all the men, Frisians and English, seventy-two; and of the Danish men one hundred and twenty."

[§ 56]. I believe then, that, so far from the current accounts being absolutely correct, in respect to the Germanic elements of the English population, the Jutes, as mentioned by Beda, formed no part of it, whilst the Frisians, not so mentioned, were a real constituent therein; besides which, there may, very easily, have been other Germanic tribes, though in smaller proportions.

CHAPTER VI.

THE CELTIC STOCK OF LANGUAGES, AND THEIR RELATIONS TO THE ENGLISH.

[§ 57]. The languages of Great Britain at the invasion of Julius Cæsar were of the Celtic stock.

Of the Celtic stock there are two branches.

1. The British or Cambrian branch, represented by the present Welsh, and containing, besides, the Cornish of Cornwall (lately extinct), and the Armorican of the French province of Brittany. It is almost certain that the old British, the ancient language of Gaul, and the Pictish were of this branch.

2. The Gaelic or Erse branch, represented by the present Irish Gaelic, and containing, besides, the Gaelic of the Highlands of Scotland and the Manks of the Isle of Man.

[§ 58]. Taken altogether the Celtic tongues form a very remarkable class. As compared with those of the Gothic stock they are marked by the following characteristics:—

The scantiness of the declension of Celtic nouns.—In Irish there is a peculiar form for the dative plural, as cos = foot, cos-aibh = to feet (ped-ibus); and beyond this there is nothing else whatever in the way of case, as found in the German, Latin, Greek, and other tongues. Even the isolated form in question is not found in the

Welsh and Breton. Hence the Celtic tongues are pre-eminently uninflected in the way of declension.

[§ 59]. The agglutinate character of their verbal inflections.—In Welsh the pronouns for we, ye, and they, are ni, chwyi, and hwynt respectively. In Welsh also the root = love is car. As conjugated in the plural number this is—

car-wn = am-amus.

car-ych = am-atis.

car-ant = am-ant.

Now the -wn, -ych, and -ant, of the persons of the verbs are the personal pronouns, so that the inflection is really a verb and a pronoun in a state of agglutination; i.e., in a state where the original separate existence of the two sorts of words is still manifest. This is probably the case with languages in general. The Celtic, however, has the peculiarity of exhibiting it in an unmistakable manner; showing, as it were, an inflection in the process of formation, and (as such) exhibiting an early stage of language.

[§ 60]. The system of initial mutations.—The Celtic, as has been seen, is deficient in the ordinary means of expressing case. How does it make up for this? Even thus. The noun changes its initial letter according to its relation to the other words of the sentence. Of course this is subject to rule. As, however, I am only writing for the sake of illustrating in a general way the peculiarities of the Celtic tongues, the following table, from Prichard's "Eastern Origin of the Celtic Nations," is sufficient.

Câr, a kinsman.

Tâd, a father.

Pen, a head.

Gwas, a servant.

Duw, a god.

Bara, bread.

Lhaw, a hand.

Mam, a mother.

Rhwyd, a net.

From the Erse.

Súil, an eye.

Sláinte, health.

[§ 61]. The Celtic tongues have lately received especial illustration from the researches of Mr. Garnett. Amongst others, the two following points are particularly investigated by him:—

1. The affinities of the ancient language of Gaul.

2. The affinities of the Pictish language or dialect.

[§ 62]. The ancient language of Gaul Cambrian.—The evidence in favour of the ancient language of Gaul being Cambrian rather than Gaelic, lies in the following facts:—

The old Gallic glosses are more Welsh than Gaelic.

a. Petorritum = a four-wheeled carriage, from the Welsh, peder = four, and rhod = a wheel. The Gaelic

for four is ceathair, and the Gaelic compound would have been different.

b. Pempedula, the cinque-foil, from the Welsh pump = five, and dalen = a leaf. The Gaelic for five is cuig, and the Gaelic compound would have been different.

c. Candetum = a measure of 100 feet, from the Welsh cant = 100. The Gaelic for a hundred is cead, and the Gaelic compound would have been different.

d. Epona = the goddess of horses. In the old Armorican the root ep = horse. The Gaelic for a horse is each.

e. The evidence from the names of geographical localities in Gaul, both ancient and modern, goes the same way: Nantuates, Nantouin, Nanteuil, are derived from the Welsh nant = a valley, a word unknown in Gaelic.

f. The evidence of certain French provincial words, which are Welsh and Armorican rather than Erse or Gaelic.

[§ 63]. The Pictish most probably Cambrian.—The evidence in favour of the Pictish being Cambrian rather than Gaelic lies in the following facts:

a. When St. Columbanus preached, whose mother-tongue was Irish Gaelic, he used an interpreter. This shows the difference between the Pict and Gaelic. What follows shows the affinity between the Pict and Welsh.

b. A manuscript in the Colbertine library contains a list of Pictish kings from the fifth century downwards. These names are more Welsh than Gaelic. Taran = thunder in Welsh. Uven is the Welsh Owen. The first syllable in Talorg ( = forehead) is the tal in Talhaiarn = iron forehead, Taliessin = splendid forehead, Welsh names. Wrgust is nearer to the Welsh Gwrgust than to the Irish Fergus. Finally, Drust, Drostan, Wrad, Necton, closely resemble the Welsh Trwst,

Trwstan, Gwriad, Nwython. Cineod and Domhnall (Kenneth and Donnell) are the only true Erse forms in the list.

c. The only Pictish common name extant is the well-known compound pen val, which is, in the oldest MS. of Beda, peann fahel. This means caput valli, and is the name for the eastern termination of the Vallum of Antoninus. Herein pen is unequivocally Welsh, meaning head. It is an impossible form in Gaelic. Fal, on the other hand, is apparently Gaelic, the Welsh for a rampart being gwall. Fal, however, occurs in Welsh also, and means inclosure.

The evidence just indicated is rendered nearly conclusive by an interpolation, apparently of the twelfth century, of the Durham MS. of Nennius, whereby it is stated that the spot in question was called in Gaelic Cenail. Now Cenail is the modern name Kinneil, and it is also a Gaelic translation of the Pict pen val, since cean is the Gaelic for head, and fhail for rampart or wall. If the older form were Gaelic, the substitution, or translation, would have been superfluous.

d. The name of the Ochil Hills in Perthshire is better explained from the Pict uchel = high, than from the Gaelic uasal.

e. Bryneich, the British form of the province Bernicia, is better explained by the Welsh bryn = ridge (hilly country), than by any word in Gaelic.—Garnett, in "Transactions of Philological Society."

CHAPTER VII.

THE ANGLO-NORMAN, AND THE LANGUAGES OF THE CLASSICAL STOCK.

[§ 64]. The languages of Greece and Rome belong to one and the same stock.

The Greek and its dialects, both ancient and modern, constitute the Greek of the Classical stock.

The Latin in all its dialects, the old Italian languages allied to it, and the modern tongues derived from the Roman, constitute the Latin branch of the Classical stock.

Now, although the Greek dialects are of only secondary importance in the illustration of the history of the English language, the Latin elements require a special consideration.

This is because the Norman French, introduced into England by the battle of Hastings, is a language derived from the Roman, and consequently a language of the Latin branch of the Classical stock.

[§ 65]. The Latin language overspread the greater part of the Roman empire. It supplanted a multiplicity of aboriginal languages; just as the English of North America has supplanted the aboriginal tongues of the native Indians, and just as the Russian is supplanting those of Siberia and Kamskatka.

Sometimes the war that the Romans carried on against the old inhabitants was a war of extermination. In this case the original language was superseded at once. In

other cases their influence was introduced gradually. In this case the influence of the original language was greater and more permanent.

Just as in the United States the English came in contact with an American, whilst in New Holland it comes in contact with an Australian language, so was the Latin language of Rome engrafted, sometimes on a Celtic, sometimes on a Gothic, and sometimes on some other stock. The nature of the original language must always be borne in mind.

From Italy, its original seat, the Latin was extended in the following chronological order:—

1. To the Spanish Peninsula; where it overlaid or was engrafted on languages allied to the present Biscayan.

2. To Gaul, or France, where it overlaid or was engrafted on languages of the Celtic stock.

3. To Dacia and Pannonia where it overlaid or was engrafted on a language the stock whereof is undetermined, but which was, probably, Sarmatian. The introduction of the Latin into Dacia and Pannonia took place in the time of Trajan.

[§ 66]. From these different introductions of the Latin into different countries we have the following modern languages—1st Italian, 2nd Spanish and Portuguese, 3rd French, 4th Wallachian; to which must be added a 5th, the Romanese of part of Switzerland.