A Handbook of the English Language by Robert Gordon Latham (cat reading book txt) 📕

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).

  a.
  Neut. Masc. Fem. Sing. Nom. Hitt Hinn Hin. Acc. Hitt Hinn Hina. Dat. Hinu Hinum Hinni. Gen. Hins Hins Hinnar. Plur. Nom. Hin Hinir Hinar. Acc. Hin Hina Hinar. Dat. Hinum Hinum Hinum. Gen. Hinna Hinna Hinna.  
b.
Sing. Nom. -it -inn -in. Acc. -it -inn -ina (-na). Dat. -nu -num -inni (-nni). Gen. -ins -ins -innar (-nnar). Plur. Nom. -in -nir -nar. Acc. -in -na -nar. Dat. -num -num -num. Gen. -nna -nna -nna.

Whence, as an affix, in composition,

  Neut. Masc. Fem. Sing. Nom. Augat Boginn Túngan. Acc. Augat Boginn Túnguna. Dat. Auganu Boganum Túngunni. Gen. Augans Bogans Túngunnar. Plur. Nom. Augun Bogarnir Túngurnar. Acc. Augun Bogana Túngurnar. Dat. Augunum Bogunum Túngunum. Gen. Augnanna Boganna Túngnanna.

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