A Handbook of the English Language Part 5

1. The affinities of the ancient language of Gaul.

2. The affinities of the Pictish language or dialect.

-- 62. _The ancient language of Gaul Cambrian._--The evidence in favour of the ancient language of Gaul being Cambrian rather than Gaelic, lies in the following facts:--

The old Gallic glosses are more Welsh than Gaelic.

a. _Petorritum_ = _a four-wheeled carriage_, from the Welsh, _peder_ = _four_, and _rhod_ = _a wheel_. The Gaelic for _four_ is _ceathair_, and the Gaelic compound would have been different.

b. _Pempedula_, the _cinque-foil_, from the Welsh _pump_ = _five_, and _dalen_ = _a leaf_. The Gaelic for _five_ is _cuig_, and the Gaelic compound would have been different.

c. _Candetum_ = a measure of 100 feet, from the Welsh _cant_ = 100. The Gaelic for _a hundred_ is _cead_, and the Gaelic compound would have been different.

d. _Epona_ = _the G.o.ddess of horses._ In the old Armorican the root _ep_ = _horse_. The Gaelic for a horse is _each_.

e. The evidence from the names of geographical localities in Gaul, both ancient and modern, goes the same way: _Nantuates_, _Nantouin_, _Nanteuil_, are derived from the Welsh _nant_ = _a valley_, a word unknown in Gaelic.

f. The evidence of certain French provincial words, which are Welsh and Armorican rather than Erse or Gaelic.

-- 63. _The Pictish most probably Cambrian._--The evidence in favour of the Pictish being Cambrian rather than Gaelic lies in the following facts:

a. When St. Columba.n.u.s preached, whose mother-tongue was Irish Gaelic, he used an interpreter. This shows the _difference_ between the Pict and Gaelic. What follows shows the affinity between the Pict and Welsh.

b. A ma.n.u.script in the Colbertine library contains a list of Pictish kings from the fifth century downwards. These names are more Welsh than Gaelic.

_Taran_ = _thunder_ in Welsh. _Uven_ is the Welsh _Owen_. The first syllable in _Talorg_ ( = _forehead_) is the _tal_ in _Talhaiarn_ = _iron forehead_, _Taliessin_ = _splendid forehead_, Welsh names. _Wrgust_ is nearer to the Welsh _Gwrgust_ than to the Irish _Fergus_. Finally, _Drust_, _Drostan_, _Wrad_, _Necton_, closely resemble the Welsh _Trwst_, _Trwstan_, _Gwriad_, _Nwython_. _Cineod_ and _Domhnall_ (_Kenneth_ and _Donnell_) are the only true Erse forms in the list.

c. The only Pictish common name extant is the well-known compound _pen val_, which is, in the oldest MS. of Beda, _peann fahel_. This means _caput valli_, and is the name for the eastern termination of the Vallum of Antoninus. Herein _pen_ is unequivocally Welsh, meaning _head_. It is an impossible form in Gaelic. _Fal_, on the other hand, is apparently Gaelic, the Welsh for a _rampart_ being _gwall_. _Fal_, however, occurs in Welsh also, and means _inclosure_.

The evidence just indicated is rendered nearly conclusive by an interpolation, apparently of the twelfth century, of the Durham MS. of Nennius, whereby it is stated that the spot in question was called in Gaelic _Cenail_. Now Cenail is the modern name _Kinneil_, and it is also a Gaelic translation of the Pict _pen val_, since _cean_ is the Gaelic for _head_, and _fhail_ for _rampart_ or _wall_. If the older form were Gaelic, the subst.i.tution, or translation, would have been superfluous.

d. The name of the _Ochil Hills_ in Perthshire is better explained from the Pict _uchel_ = _high_, than from the Gaelic _uasal_.

e. Bryneich, the British form of the province Bernicia, is better explained by the Welsh _bryn_ = _ridge_ (_hilly country_), than by any word in Gaelic.--Garnett, in "Transactions of Philological Society."

CHAPTER VII.

THE ANGLO-NORMAN, AND THE LANGUAGES OF THE CLa.s.sICAL STOCK.

-- 64. The languages of Greece and Rome belong to one and the same stock.

The Greek and its dialects, both ancient and modern, const.i.tute the Greek of the Cla.s.sical stock.

The Latin in all its dialects, the old Italian languages allied to it, and the modern tongues derived from the Roman, const.i.tute the Latin branch of the Cla.s.sical stock.

Now, although the Greek dialects are of only secondary importance in the ill.u.s.tration of the history of the English language, the Latin elements require a special consideration.

This is because the Norman French, introduced into England by the battle of Hastings, is a language derived from the Roman, and consequently a language of the Latin branch of the Cla.s.sical stock.

-- 65. The Latin language overspread the greater part of the Roman empire.

It supplanted a multiplicity of aboriginal languages; just as the English of North America _has_ supplanted the aboriginal tongues of the native Indians, and just as the Russian _is_ supplanting those of Siberia and Kamskatka.

Sometimes the war that the Romans carried on against the old inhabitants was a war of extermination. In this case the original language was superseded _at once_. In other cases their influence was introduced gradually. In this case the influence of the original language was greater and more permanent.

Just as in the United States the English came in contact with an American, whilst in New Holland it comes in contact with an Australian language, so was the Latin language of Rome engrafted, sometimes on a Celtic, sometimes on a Gothic, and sometimes on some other stock. The nature of the original language must always be borne in mind.

From Italy, its original seat, the Latin was extended in the following chronological order:--

1. To the Spanish Peninsula; where it overlaid or was engrafted on languages allied to the present Biscayan.

2. To Gaul, or France, where it overlaid or was engrafted on languages of the Celtic stock.

3. To Dacia and Pannonia where it overlaid or was engrafted on a language the stock whereof is undetermined, but which was, probably, Sarmatian. The introduction of the Latin into Dacia and Pannonia took place in the time of Trajan.

-- 66. From these different introductions of the Latin into different countries we have the following modern languages--1st Italian, 2nd Spanish and Portuguese, 3rd French, 4th Wallachian; to which must be added a 5th, the Romanese of part of Switzerland.

_Specimen of the Romanese._

_Luke_ xv. 11.

11. un Hum veva dus Filgs:

12. Ad ilg juveu da quels schet alg Bab, "Bab mi dai la Part de la Rauba c' aud' a mi:" ad el parche or ad els la Rauba.

13. A bucca bears Gis suenter, cur ilg Filg juven vet tut mess ansemel, scha tila 'l navent en unna Terra dalunsch: a lou sfiget el tut sia Rauba cun viver senza spargn.

14. A cur el vet tut sfaig, scha vangit ei en quella Terra un grond Fumaz: ad el antschavet a ver basengs.

15. Ad el ma, a: sa plide enn un Burgeis da quella Terra; a quel ilg tarmatet or sin ses Beins a parchirar ils Porcs.

16. Ad el grigiava dad amplanir sieu Venter cun las Criscas ch' ils Porcs malgiavan; mo nagin lgi deva.

17. Mo el ma en sasez a schet: "Quonts Fumelgs da mieu Bab han budonza da Pann, a jou miei d' fom!"

18. "Jou vi lavar si, ad ir tier mieu Bab, e vi gir a lgi: 'Bab, jou hai faig puccau anc.u.n.ter ilg Tschiel ad avont tei;

19. "'A sunt bucca pli vangonts da vangir numnaus tieu Filg; fai mei esser sco un da tes Fumelgs.'"

_Specimen of the Wallachian._

_Luke_ xv. 11.

11. Un om evea doi fec ori.

12. Shi a zis c'el mai tinr din ei tatlui su: tat, dmi partea c'e mi se kade de avucie: shi de a imprcit lor avuciea.