A Handbook of the English Language Part 8

-- 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:--

_Ulf_ het araeran cyrice _for hanum_ and for Gunthara saula.

"Ulf bid rear the church for him and for the soul of Gunthar."

Now, in this inscription, _Ulf_, in opposition to the Anglo-Saxon _Wulf_, is a Norse form; whilst _hanum_ is a Norse dative, and by no means an Anglo-Saxon one.--Old Norse _hanum_, Swedish _honom_.

5. The use of _at_ for _to_ as the sign of the infinitive mood is Norse, not Saxon. It is the regular prefix in Icelandic, Danish, Swedish, and Feroic. It is also found in the northern dialects of the Old English, and in the particular dialect of Westmoreland at the present day.

6. The use of _sum_ for _as_; e.g.,--_swa sum_ we forgive oure detturs.

7. Isolated words in the northern dialects are Norse rather than Saxon.

_Provincial._ _Common Dialect._ _Norse._

Braid _Resemble_ Braas, _Swed._ Eldin _Firing_ Eld, _Dan._ Force _Waterfall_ Fors, _D. Swed._ Gar _Make_ Gora, _Swed._ Gill _Ravine_ Gil, _Iceland._ Greet _Weep_ Grata, _Iceland._ Ket _Carrion_ Kiod--flesh, _Dan._ Lait _Seek_ Lede, _Dan._ Lathe _Barn_ Lade, _Dan._ Lile _Little_ Lille, _Dan._

-- 74. _Roman of the second period._--Of the Latin introduced under the Christianised Saxon sovereigns, many words are extant. They relate chiefly to ecclesiastical matters, just as the Latin of the Celtic period bore upon military affairs. _Mynster_, a minster, _monasterium_; _portic_, a porch, _porticus_; _cl.u.s.ter_, a cloister, _claustrum_; _munuc_, a monk, _monachus_; _bisceop_, a bishop, _episcopus_; _arcebisceop_, archbishop, _archiepiscopus_; _sanct_, a saint, _sanctus_; _profost_, a provost, _propositus_; _pall_, a pall, _pallium_; _calic_, a chalice, _calix_; _candel_, a candle, _candela_; _psalter_, a psalter, _psalterium_; _maesse_, a ma.s.s, _missa_; _pistel_, an epistle, _epistola_; _praedic-ian_, to preach, _praedicare_; _prof-ian_, to prove, _probare_.

The following are the names of foreign plants and animals:--_camell_, a camel, _camelus_; _ylp_, elephant, _elephas_; _ficbeam_, fig-tree, _ficus_; _feferfuge_, feverfew, _febrifuga_; _peterselige_, parsley, _petroselinum_.

Others are the names of articles of foreign origin, as _pipor_, pepper, _piper_; _purpur_, purple, _purpura_; _pumicstan_, pumicestone, _pumex_.

This is the Latin of the second, or Saxon period.

-- 75. _The Anglo-Norman element._--For practical purposes we may say that the French or Anglo-Norman element appeared in our language after the battle of Hastings, A.D. 1066.

Previous, however, to that period we find notices of intercourse between the two countries.

1. The residence in England of Louis Outremer.

2. Ethelred II. married Emma, daughter of Richard Duke of Normandy, and the two children were sent to Normandy for education.

3. Edward the Confessor is particularly stated to have encouraged French manners and the French language in England.

4. Ingulphus of Croydon speaks of his own knowledge of French.

5. Harold pa.s.sed some time in Normandy.

6. The French article _la_, in the term _la Drove_, occurs in a deed of A.D. 975.

The chief Anglo-Norman elements of our language are the terms connected with the feudal system, the terms relating to war and chivalry, and a great portion of the law terms--_duke_, _count_, _baron_, _villain_, _service_, _chivalry_, _warrant_, _esquire_, _challenge_, _domain_, &c.

-- 76. When we remember that the word _Norman_ means _man of the north_, that it is a _Scandinavian_, and _not a French_ word, that it originated in the invasions of the followers of Rollo and and other _Norwegians_, and that just as part of England was overrun by Pagan buccaneers called _Danes_, part of France was occupied by similar _Northmen_, we see the likelihood of certain Norse words finding their way into the French language, where they would be superadded to its original Celtic and Roman elements.

The extent to which this is actually the case has only been partially investigated. It is certain, however, that some French words are Norse or Scandinavian. Such, for instance, are several _names of geographical localities_ either near the sea, or the river Seine, in other words, within that tract which was most especially occupied by the invaders. As is to be expected from the genius of the French language, these words are considerably altered in form. Thus,

NORSE. ENGLISH. FRENCH.

Toft Toft Tot.

Beck Beck Bec.

Flot Fleet[33] Fleur, &c.

and in these shapes they appear in the Norman names _Yvetot_, _Caudebec_, and _Harfleur_, &c.

Now any words thus introduced from the Norse of Scandinavia into the French of Normandy, might, by the Norman Conquest of England, be carried further, and so find their way into the English.

In such a case, they would const.i.tute its _indirect_ Scandinavian element.

A list of these words has not been made; indeed the question requires far more investigation than it has met with. The names, however, of the islands _Guerns-ey_, _Jers-ey_, and _Aldern-ey_, are certainly of the kind in question--since the -ey, meaning _island_, is the same as the -ey in _Orkn-ey_, and is the Norse rather than the Saxon form.

-- 77. _Latin of the third period._--This means the Latin which was introduced between the battle of Hastings and the revival of literature. It chiefly originated in the cloister, in the universities, and, to a certain extent, in the courts of law. It must be distinguished from the _indirect_ Latin introduced as part and parcel of the Anglo-Norman. It has yet to be accurately a.n.a.lyzed.

-- 78. _Latin of the fourth period._--This means the Latin which has been introduced between the revival of literature and the present time. It has originated in the writings of learned men in general, and is distinguished from that of the previous periods by:

1. Being less altered in form:

2. Preserving, with substantives, in many cases its original inflections; _axis_, _axes_; _basis_, _bases_:

3. Relating to objects and ideas for which the increase of the range of science in general has required a nomenclature.

-- 79. _Greek._--Words derived _directly_ from the Greek are in the same predicament as the Latin of the third period--_phaenomenon_, _phaenomena_; _criterion_, _criteria_, &c.; words which are only _indirectly_ of Greek origin, being considered to belong to the language from which they were immediately introduced into the English. Such are _deacon_, _priest_, &c., introduced through the Latin. Hence a word like _church_ proves no more in regard to a Greek element in English, than the word _abbot_ proves in respect to a Syrian one.

-- 80. The Latin of the fourth period and the Greek agree in retaining, in many cases, original inflexions rather than adopting the English ones; in other words, they agree in being but _imperfectly incorporated_. The phaenomenon of imperfect incorporation is reducible to the following rules:--

1. That it has a direct ratio to the date of the introduction, i.e., the more recent the word the more likely it is to retain its original inflexion.

2. That it has a relation to the number of meanings belonging to the words: thus, when a single word has two meanings, the original inflexion expresses one, the English inflexion another--_genius_, _genii_, often (_spirits_), _geniuses_ (_men of genius_).

3. That it occurs with substantives only, and that only in the expression of number. Thus, although the plural of substantives like _axis_ and _genius_ are Latin, the possessive cases are English. So also are the degrees of comparison for adjectives, like _circular_, and the tenses, &c.

for verbs, like _perambulate_.

-- 81. The following is a list of the chief Latin substantives introduced during the latter part of the fourth period; and preserving the _Latin_ plural forms--