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

Un jur fu Karléun al Seint-Denis muster,

Reout prise sa corune, en croiz seignat sun chef;

E ad ceinte sa espée: li pons fud d'or mer.

Dux i out e dermeines e baruns e chevalers.

Li emperères reguardet la reine sa muillers.

Ele fut ben corunée al plus bel e as meuz.

Il la prist par le poin desuz un oliver,

De sa pleine parole la prist à reisuner:

"Dame, véistes unkes hume nul de desuz ceil

Tant ben séist espée no la corone el chef!

Uncore cunquerrei-jo citez ot mun espeez."

Cele ne fud pas sage, folement respondeit:

"Emperere," dist-ele, trop vus poez preiser.

"Uncore en sa-jo un ki plus se fait léger,

Quant il porte corune entre ses chevalers;

Kaunt il met sur sa teste, plus belement lui set"

In the northern French we must recognise not only a Celtic and a Classical, but also a Gothic element: since Clovis and Charlemagne were no Frenchmen, but Germans. The Germanic element in French has still to be determined.

In the northern French of Normandy there is a second Gothic element, viz., a Scandinavian element. See § 76.

QUESTIONS.

1. What are the present languages of Wales, the Isle of Man, the Scotch Highlands, and Ireland?

2. What are the present languages of Germany and Holland? How are they related to the present language of England? How to the original language of England?

3. Enumerate the chief supposed migrations from Germany to England, giving (when possible) the date of each, the particular German tribe by which each was undertaken, and the parts of Great Britain where the different landings were made. Why do I say supposed migrations? Criticise, in detail, the evidence by which they are supported, and state the extent to which it is exceptionable. Who was Beda? What were the sources of his information?

4. Give reasons for believing the existence of Germans in England anterior to A.D. 447.

5. Who are the present Jutlanders of Jutland? Who the inhabitants of the district called Anglen in Sleswick? What are the reasons for connecting these with the Jutes and Angles of Beda? What those for denying such a connection?

6. What is the meaning of the termination -uarii in Cant-uarii and Vect-uarii? What was the Anglo-Saxon translation of Antiqui Saxones, Occidentales Saxones, Orientates Saxones, Meridionales Saxones? What are the known variations in the form of the word Vectis, meaning the Isle of Wight? What those of the root Jut- as the name of the inhabitants of the peninsula of Jutland?

7. Translate Cantware, Wihtware, into Latin. How does Alfred translate Jutæ? How does the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle? What is the derivation of the name Carisbrook, a town in the Isle of Wight?

8. Take exception to the opinions that Jutes, from Jutland, formed part of the Germanic invasion of England; or, rather, take exceptions to the evidence upon which that opinion is based.

9. From what part of Germany were the Angles derived? What is Beda's? what Ethelweard's statement concerning them? Who were the Angli of Tacitus?

10. What is the derivation of the word Mercia?

11. Give the localities of the Old Saxons, and the Northalbingians. Investigate the area occupied by the Anglo-Saxons.

12. What is the present population of the Dutch province of Friesland? What its language? What the dialects and stages of that language?

13. What was the language of the Asega-bog, the Heliand, Beowulf, Hildubrand and Hathubrant, the Carolinian Psalms, the Gospels of Ulphilas, and the poems of Gysbert Japicx?

14. Make a map of Ancient Germany and Scandinavia according to languages and dialects of those two areas. Exhibit, in a tabular form, the languages of the Gothic stock. Explain the meaning of the words Gothic, and Mœso-Gothic, and Platt-Deutsch.

15. Analyze the Scandinavian forms Solen, Bordet, and brennast.

16. Exhibit the difference between the logical and the historical analysis of a language.

17. What are the Celtic names for the English language?

18. Enumerate the chief Germanic populations connected by ancient writers with the Angles, stating the Ethnological relations of each, and noticing the extent to which they coincide with those of the Angles.

19. What are the reasons for believing that there is a Frisian element in the population of England?

20. Exhibit, in a tabular form, the languages and dialects of the Celtic stock. To which division did the Gallic of ancient Gaul, and the Pict belong? Support the answer by reasons. What were the relations of the Picts to the Gaelic inhabitants of Scotland? What to the Lowland Scotch? What to the Belgæ?

21. Explain the following words—petorritum, pempedula, candetum, Epona, Nantuates, peann fahel and Bernicia. What inferences do you draw from the derivation of them?

22. Exhibit, in a tabular form, the languages and dialects of the Classical stock.

23. What is the bearing of the statements of Tacitus and other ancient writers respecting the following Germanic populations upon the ethnological relations of the Angles,—Aviones, Reudigni, Suevi, Langobardi, Frisii, Varini?

24. What is meant by the following terms, Provençal, Langue d'Oc, Langue d'Oyl, Limousin, and Norman-French?

25. What languages, besides the Celtic and Latin, enter into the composition of the French?

PART II.

HISTORY AND ANALYSIS OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE.

CHAPTER I.

HISTORICAL AND LOGICAL ELEMENTS OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE.

§ 70. The Celtic elements of the present English fall into five classes.

1. Those that are of late introduction, and cannot be called original and constituent parts of the language. Some of such are the words flannel, crowd (a fiddle), from the Cambrian; and kerne (an Irish foot-soldier), galore (enough), tartan, plaid, &c., from the Gaelic branch.

2. Those that are originally common to both the Celtic and Gothic stocks. Some of such are brother, mother, in Celtic brathair, mathair; the numerals, &c.

3. Those that have come to us from the Celtic, but have come to us through the medium of another language. Some of such are druid and bard, whose immediate source is, not the Celtic but the Latin.

4. Celtic elements of the Anglo-Norman, introduced into England after the Conquest, and occurring in that language as remains of the original Celtic of Gaul.

5. Those that have been retained from the original Celtic of the island, and which form genuine constituents of our language. These fall into three subdivisions.

a. Proper names—generally of geographical localities; as the Thames, Kent, &c.

b. Common names retained in the provincial dialects of England, but not retained in the current language; as gwethall = household stuff, and gwlanen = flannel in Herefordshire.

c. Common names retained in the current language.—The following list is Mr. Garnett's:—

Welsh. English. Welsh. English. Basgawd Basket. Gefyn (fetter) Gyve. Berfa Barrow. Greidell Grid in Gridiron. Botwm Button. Grual Gruel. Bràn Bran. Gwald (hem, border) Welt. Clwt Clout, Rag. Gwiced (little door) Wicket. Crochan Crockery. Gwn Gown. Crog Crook, Hook. Gwyfr Wire. Cwch Cock, in Cock-boat. Masg (stitch in netting) Mesh. Cwysed Gusset. Mattog Mattock. Cyl, Cyln Kiln (Kill, provinc.). Mop Mop. Dantaeth Dainty. Rhail (fence) Rail. Darn Darn. Rhashg (slice) Rasher. Deentur Tenter, in Tenterhook. Rhuwch Rug. Fflaim Fleam, Cattle-lancet. Sawduriaw Solder. Fflaw Flaw. Syth (glue) Size. Ffynnell (air-hole) Funnel. Tacl Tackle.

§ 71. Latin of the first period.—Of the Latin introduced by Cæsar and his successors, the few words remaining are those that relate to military affairs; viz. street (strata); -coln (as in Lincoln = Lindi colonia); -cest- (as in Gloucester = glevæ castra) from castra. The Latin words introduced between the time of Cæsar and Hengist may be called the Latin of the first period, or the Latin of the Celtic period.

§ 72. The Anglo-Saxon.—This is not noticed here, because, from being the staple of the present language, it is more or less the subject of the book throughout.

§ 73. The Danish, or Norse.—The pirates that pillaged Britain, under the name of Danes, were not exclusively the inhabitants of Denmark. Of the three Scandinavian nations, the Swedes took the least share, the Norwegians the greatest, in these invasions.

The language of the three nations was the same; the differences being differences of dialect. It was that which is now spoken in Iceland, having been once common to Scandinavia and Denmark.

The Danish that became incorporated with our language, under the reign of Canute and his sons, may be called the direct Danish element, in contradistinction to the indirect Danish of § 76.

The determination of the amount of Danish in English is difficult. It is not difficult to prove a word Scandinavian; but, then, we must also show that it is not German as well. A few years back the current opinion was against the doctrine that there was much Danish in England. At present, the tendency is rather the other way. The following facts are from Mr. Garnett.—"Phil. Trans." vol. i.

1. The Saxon name of the present town of Whitby in Yorkshire was Streoneshalch. The present name Whitby, Hvitby, or Whitetown, is Danish.

2. The Saxon name of the capital of Derbyshire was Northweortheg. The present name is Danish.

3. The termination -by = town is Norse.

4. On a monument in Aldburgh church, Holdernesse, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, referred to the age of Edward the Confessor, is found the following inscription:—