A Handbook of the English Language Part 3

_Sing. Nom._ Augat Boginn Tungan.

_Acc._ Augat Boginn Tunguna.

_Dat._ Auganu Boganum Tungunni.

_Gen._ Augans Bogans Tungunnar.

_Plur. Nom._ Augun Bogarnir Tungurnar.

_Acc._ Augun Bogana Tungurnar.

_Dat._ Augunum Bogunum Tungunum.

_Gen._ Augnanna Boganna Tungnanna.

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 ident.i.ty 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 _pa.s.sive_ form, or a _pa.s.sive_ voice, ending in -st:--_ek_, _u_, _hann brennist_ = _I am_, _thou art_, _he is burnt_; _ver brennumst_ = _we are burnt_; _er brennizt_ = _ye are burnt_; _eir brennast_ = _they are burnt_. Past tense, _ek_, _u_, _hann brendist_; _ver brendumst_, _er brenduzt_, _eir brendust_. Imperat.: _brenstu_ = _be thou burnt_.

Infinit.: _brennast_ = _to be burnt_.

In the modern Danish and Swedish, the pa.s.sive 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 p.r.o.noun _sik_. With these phenomena the Scandinavian languages give us the evolution and development of a pa.s.sive voice; wherein we have the following series of changes:--1. the reflective p.r.o.noun 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 pa.s.ses into a pa.s.sive one; 3. t is dropped from the end of the word, and the expression that was once reflective then becomes strictly pa.s.sive.

Now the Saxons have no pa.s.sive voice at all. That they should have one _originating_ like that of the Scandinavians was impossible, inasmuch as they had no reflective p.r.o.noun, and, consequently, nothing to evolve it from.

CHAPTER V.

a.n.a.lYSIS 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 a.n.a.lysis, 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.

Welsh _Saxon_.

Armorican _Soson_.

Gaelic _Sa.s.senach_.

-- 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 _Saxoniae transmarinae_, 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 n.o.bilitat: plurimis ac valentissimis nationibus cincti, non per obsequium sed prliis et peric.l.i.tando 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 multa c.u.m veneratione prosequitur. Laeti tunc dies, festa loca, quaec.u.mque adventu hospitioque dignatur. Non bella ineunt, non arma sumunt, clausum omne ferrum; pax et quies tunc tantum nota, tunc tantum 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.

Arca.n.u.s hinc terror, sanctaque ignorantia, quid sit id, quod tantum perituri vident."[32]

_Extract from Ptolemy._--This connects the Angles with the _Suevi_, and _Langobardi_, and places them on the Middle Elbe.--??t?? ?a? es??e???

????? ???sta ?? ?st? t? te t?? S????? t?? ???e????, ?? e?s??

??at?????te??? t?? ?a?????d??, ??ate????te? p??? t?? ???t??? ???? t??

?s?? t?? ????? p?ta??.

_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 a.s.signed to them.

The exact Germanic affinities of the Angles are, how ever, difficult to ascertain, since the tribes with which they are cla.s.sed are differently cla.s.sed. 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 Mso-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 Mso-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, ???????) with either the High-German, or the Mso-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 Msia 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:--???tt?a? d? t?? ??s?? ???? t??a p???a????p?tata ????s?, as??e?? te e?? a?t?? ???st? ?f?st??e?, ???ata d?

?e?ta? t??? ???es? t??t??? ??????? te ?a? F??ss??e? ?a? ?? t? ??s? ??????

???tt??e?. ??sa?t? d? ? t??de t?? ????? p???a????p?a fa??eta? ??sa ?ste ???

p?? ?t?? ?at? p?????? ?????de eta??st?e??? ??? ???a??? ?a? pa?s?? ??

F??????? ?????s??.--Procop. B. G. iv. 20.