A Handbook of the English Language Part 4

3. In the Saxon Chronicle we find the following pa.s.sage:--"That same year, the armies from among the East-Anglians, and from among the North-Humbrians, hara.s.sed the land of the West-Saxons chiefly, most of all by their 'aescs,' which they had built many years before. Then king Alfred commanded long ships to be built to oppose the aescs; they were full-nigh twice as long as the others; some had sixty oars, and some had more; they were both swifter and steadier, and also higher than the others. They were shapen neither like the _Frisian_ nor the Danish, but so as it seemed to him that they would be most efficient. Then some time in the same year, there came six ships to Wight, and there did much harm, as well as in Devon, and elsewhere along the sea coast. Then the king commanded nine of the new ships to go thither, and they obstructed their pa.s.sage from the port towards the outer sea. Then went they with three of their ships out against them; and three lay in the upper part of the port in the dry; the men were gone from them ash.o.r.e. Then took they two of the three ships at the outer part of the port, and killed the men, and the other ship escaped; in that also the men were killed except five; they got away because the other ships were aground. They also were aground very disadvantageously, three lay aground on that side of the deep on which the Danish ships were aground, and all the rest upon the other side, so that no one of them could get to the others. But when, the water had ebbed many furlongs from the ships, then the Danish men went from their three ships to the other three which were left by the tide on their side, and then they there fought against them. There was slain Luc.u.mon the king's reeve, and Wulfheard the _Frisian_, and aebbe the _Frisian_, and aethelhere the _Frisian_, and aethelferth the king's 'geneat,' and of all the men, _Frisians_ and English, seventy-two; and of the Danish men one hundred and twenty."

-- 56. I believe then, that, so far from the current accounts being absolutely correct, in respect to the Germanic elements of the English population, the _Jutes_, as mentioned by Beda, formed _no_ part of it, whilst the _Frisians_, _not_ so mentioned, _were a real const.i.tuent therein_; besides which, there may, very easily, have been other Germanic tribes, though in smaller proportions.

CHAPTER VI.

THE CELTIC STOCK OF LANGUAGES, AND THEIR RELATIONS TO THE ENGLISH.

-- 57. The languages of Great Britain at the invasion of Julius Caesar were of the Celtic stock.

Of the Celtic stock there are two branches.

1. The British or Cambrian branch, represented by the present Welsh, and containing, besides, the Cornish of Cornwall (lately extinct), and the Armorican of the French province of Brittany. It is almost certain that the old British, the ancient language of Gaul, and the Pictish were of this branch.

2. The Gaelic or Erse branch, represented by the present Irish Gaelic, and containing, besides, the Gaelic of the Highlands of Scotland and the Manks of the Isle of Man.

-- 58. Taken altogether the Celtic tongues form a very remarkable cla.s.s. As compared with those of the Gothic stock they are marked by the following characteristics:--

_The scantiness of the declension of Celtic nouns._--In Irish there is a peculiar form for the dative plural, as _cos_ = _foot_, _cos-aibh_ = _to feet_ (ped-ibus); and beyond this there is nothing else whatever in the way of _case_, as found in the German, Latin, Greek, and other tongues. Even the isolated form in question is not found in the Welsh and Breton. Hence the Celtic tongues are pre-eminently uninflected in the way of _declension_.

-- 59. The _agglutinate character of their verbal inflections_.--In Welsh the p.r.o.nouns for _we_, _ye_, and _they_, are _ni_, _chwyi_, and _hwynt_ _respectively_. In Welsh also the root = _love_ is _car_. As conjugated in the plural number this is--

car-wn = am-amus.

car-ych = am-atis.

car-ant = am-ant.

Now the -wn, -ych, and -ant, of the persons of the verbs are the personal p.r.o.nouns, so that the inflection is really a verb and a p.r.o.noun in a state of _agglutination_; i.e., in a state where the original separate existence of the two sorts of words is still manifest. This is probably the case with languages in general. The Celtic, however, has the peculiarity of exhibiting it in an unmistakable manner; showing, as it were, an inflection in the process of formation, and (as such) exhibiting an early stage of language.

-- 60. _The system of initial mutations._--The Celtic, as has been seen, is deficient in the ordinary means of expressing case. How does it make up for this? Even thus. The noun changes its initial letter according to its relation to the other words of the sentence. Of course this is subject to rule. As, however, I am only writing for the sake of ill.u.s.trating in a general way the peculiarities of the Celtic tongues, the following table, from Prichard's "Eastern Origin of the Celtic Nations," is sufficient.

Car, _a kinsman_.

1. _form_, Car agos, _a near kinsman_.

2. Ei gar, _his kinsman_.

3. Ei char, _her kinsman_.

4. Vy nghar, _my kinsman_.

Tad, _a father_.

1. _form_, Tad y plentyn, _the child's father_.

2. Ei dad, _his father_.

3. Ei thad, _her father_.

4. Vy nhad, _my father_.

Pen, _a head_.

1. _form_, Pen gwr, _the head of a man_.

2. Ei ben, _his head_.

3. Ei phen, _her head_.

4. Vy mhen, _my head_.

Gwas, _a servant_.

1. _form_, Gwas fydhlon, _a faithful servant_.

2. Ei was, _his servant_.

3. Vy ngwas, _my servant_.

Duw, _a G.o.d_.

1. _form_, Duw trugarog, _a merciful G.o.d_.

2. Ei dhuw, _his G.o.d_.

3. Vy nuw, _my G.o.d_.

Bara, _bread_.

1. _form_, Bara cann, _white bread_.

2. Ei vara, _his bread_.

3. Vy mara, _my bread_.

Lhaw, _a hand_.

1. _form_, Lhaw wenn, _a white hand_.

2. Ei law, _his hand_.

Mam, _a mother_.

1. _form_, Mam dirion, _a tender mother_.

2. Ei vam, _his mother_.

Rhwyd, _a net_.

1. _form_, Rhwyd lawn, _a full net_.

2. Ei rwyd, _his net_.

From the Erse.

Suil, _an eye_.

1. _form_, Suil.

2. A huil, his eye.

Slainte, _health_.

2. _form_, Do hlainte, _your health_.

-- 61. The Celtic tongues have lately received especial ill.u.s.tration from the researches of Mr. Garnett. Amongst others, the two following points are particularly investigated by him:--