Early Britain by Grant Allen (books recommended by bts TXT) 📕

b. f. | t. d. th. | k. g. ch. | -----------------+------------+---------------+---------------+ Gothic, English, | | | | Low Dutch | f. p. b. | th. t. d. | ch. k. g. | -----------------+------------+---------------+---------------+ | | | | High German | b. f. p. | d. th. t. | g. ch. k. | -----------------+------------+---------------+---------------+

In practice, several modifications arise; for example, the law is only true for old High German, and that only approximately, but its general truth may be accepted as governing most individual cases.

Judged by this standard, English forms a dialect of the Low Dutch branch of the Aryan language, together with Frisian, modern Dutch, and the Scandinavian tongues. Within the group thus restricted its affinities are closest with Frisian and old Dutch, less close with Icelandic and Danish. While the English still lived on the shores of the Baltic, it is probable that their language was perfectly intelligible to the ancestors of the people who now inhabit Holland, and who then spoke very slightly different local dialects. In other words, a single Low Dutch speech then apparently prevailed from the mouth of the Elbe to that of the Scheldt, with small local variations; and from this speech the Anglo-Saxon and the modern English have developed in one direction, while the Dutch has developed in another, the Frisian dialect long remaining intermediate between them. Scandinavian ceased, perhaps, to be intelligible to Englishmen at an earlier date, the old Icelandic being already marked off from Anglo-Saxon by strong peculiarities, while modern Danish differs even more widely from the spoken English of the present day.

The relation of Anglo-Saxon to modern English is that of direct parentage, it might almost be said of absolute identity. The language of _Beowulf_ and of Ælfred is not, as many people still imagine, a different language from our own; it is simply English in its earliest and most unmixed form. What we commonly call Anglo-Saxon, indeed, is more English than what we commonly call English at the present day. The first is truly English, not only in its structure and grammar, but also in the whole of its vocabulary: the second, though also truly English in its structure and grammar, contains a large number of Latin, Greek, and Romance elements in its vocabulary. Nevertheless, no break separates us from the original Low Dutch tongue spoken in the marsh lands of Sleswick. The English of _Beowulf_ grows slowly into the English of Ælfred, into the English of Chaucer, into the English of Shakespeare and Milton, and into the English of Macaulay and Tennyson.

Old words drop out from time to time, old grammatical forms die away or become obliterated, new names and verbs are borrowed, first from the Norman-French at the Conquest, then from the classical Greek and Latin at the Renaissance; but the continuity of the language remains unbroken, and its substance is still essentially the same as at the beginning. The Cornish, the Irish, and to some extent the Welsh, have left off speaking their native tongues, and adopted the language of the dominant Teuton; but there never was a time when Englishmen left off speaking Anglo-Saxon and took to English, Norman-French, or any other form of speech whatsoever.

An illustration may serve to render clearer this fundamental and important distinction. If at the present day a body of Englishmen were to settle in China, they might learn and use the Chinese names for many native plants, animals, and manufactured articles; but however many of such words they adopted into their vocabulary, their language would still remain essentially English. A visitor from England would have to learn a number of unfamiliar words, but he would not have to learn a new language. If, on the other hand, a body of Frenchmen were to settle in a neighbouring Chinese province, and to adopt exactly the same Chinese words, their language would still remain essentially French. The dialects of the two settlements would contain many words in common, but neither of them would be a Chinese dialect on that account. Just so, English since the Norman Conquest has grafted many foreign words upon the native stock; but it still remains at bottom the same language as in the days of Eadgar.

Nevertheless, Anglo-Saxon differs so far in externals from modern English, that it is now necessary to learn it systematically with grammar and dictionary, in somewhat the same manner as one would learn a foreign tongue. Most of the words, indeed, are more or less familiar, at least so far as their roots are concerned; but the inflexions of the nouns and verbs are far more complicated than those now in use: and many obsolete forms occur even in the vocabulary. On the other hand the idioms closely resemble those still in use; and even where a root has now dropped out of use, its meaning is often immediately suggested by the cognate High German word, or by some archaic form preserved for us in Chaucer, Shakespeare, or Milton, as well as by occasional survival in the Lowland Scotch and other local dialects.

English in its early form was an inflexional language; that is to say, the mutual relations of nouns and of verbs were chiefly expressed, not by means of particles, such as _of_, _to_, _by_, and so forth, but by means of modifications either in the termination or in the body of the root itself. The nouns were declined much as in Greek and Latin; the verbs were conjugated in somewhat the same way as in modern French. Every noun had gender expressed in its form.

The following examples will give a sufficient idea of the commoner forms of declension in the classical West Saxon of the time of Ælfred. The pronunciation has already been briefly explained in the preface.

SING. PLUR.


(1.) _Nom._ stan (_a stone_). _Nom._ stanas.
(2.) _Gen._ stanes. _Gen._ stana.
(3.) _Dat._ stane. _Dat._ stanum.
(4.) _Acc._ stan. _Acc._ stanas.

This is the commonest declension for masculine nouns, and it has fixed the normal plural for the modern English.

SING. PLUR.

(2.) _Nom._ fot (_a foot_). _Nom._ fet.
_Gen._ fotes. _Gen._ fota.
_Dat._ fet. _Dat._ fotum.
_Acc._ fot. _Acc._ fet.

Hence our modified plurals, such as _feet_, _teeth_, and _men_.

SING. PLUR.

(3.) _Nom._ wudu (_a wood_). _Nom._ wuda.
_Gen._ wuda. _Gen._ wuda.
_Dat._ wuda. _Dat._ wudum.
_Acc._ wudu. _Acc._ wuda.

All these are for masculine nouns.

The commonest feminine declension is as follows:–

SING. PLUR.

(5.) _Nom._ gifu (_a gift_). _Nom._ gifa.
(6.) _Gen._ gife. _Gen._ gifena.
(7.) _Dat._ gife. _Dat._ gifum.
(8.) _Acc._ gife. _Acc._ gifa.

Less frequent is the modified form:

SING. PLUR.

(5.) _Nom._ boc (_a book_). _Nom._ bec.
_Gen._ bec. _Gen._ boca.
_Dat._ bec. _Dat._ bocum.
_Acc._ boc. _Acc._ bec.

Of neuters there are two principal declensions. The first has the plural in _u_; the second leaves it unchanged.

SING. PLUR.

(6.) _Nom._ scip (_a ship_). _Nom._ scipu.
_Gen._ scipes. _Gen._ scipa.
_Dat._ scipe. _Dat._ scipum.
_Acc._ scip. _Acc._ scipu.

SING. PLUR.

(7.) _Nom._ hus (_a house_). _Nom._ hus.
_Gen._ huses. _Gen._ husa.
_Dat._ huse. _Dat._ husum.
_Acc._ hus. _Acc._ hus.

Hence our "collective" plurals, such as _fish_, _deer_, _sheep_, and _trout_.

There is also a weak declension, much the same for all three genders, of which the masculine form runs as follows:–

SING. PLUR.

_Nom._ guma (_a man_). _Nom._ guman.
_Gen._ guman.