A Handbook of the English Language Part 2

-- 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 Mso-Gothic.

2. The High Germanic.

3. The Low Germanic.

-- 35. It is in the Mso-Gothic that the most ancient specimen of any Gothic tongue has been preserved. It is also the Mso-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 a.s.sisted by that emperor, and settled in the Roman province of Msia.

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 Msia, 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 j.a.picx,[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 _aet_, _se_, _seo_, 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 _aet_, _se_, _seo_, 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._