The English Language Part 6

Thes uuirdit uuorolt sinu zi euuidon blidu, Joh al giscaft thiu in uuorolti thesa erdun ist ouh dretenti Niuuui boran habet thiz lant then himilisgon Heilant; The ist Druhtin Krist guater fon iungeru muater.

In Bethleem thiue kuninga thie uuarun alle thanana, Fon in uuard ouh giboran iu sin muater magad sconu.

Sagen ih iu, guate man, uuio ir nan sculut findan, Zeichen ouh gizami thuruh thaz seltsani.

Zi theru burgi faret hinana, ir findet, so ih iu sageta, Kind niuuui boranaz in kripphun gilegitaz.

Tho quam unz er zin tho sprah engilo heriscaf, Himilisgu menigi, sus alle singenti-- In himilriches hohi si Gote guallichi; Si in erdu fridu ouh allen thie fol sin guates uuillen

{36}

_The Same, in English._

Then there was in the land herdsmen feeding: Of their cattle they made watch against foes.

To them came a messenger fair, an angel shining, And they became lit with heavenly light.

They feared, suddenly as on him they looked; And followed much the words of G.o.d's messenger: Spake there G.o.d's messenger strait, "I shall to you say wonders.

To you shall there be from G.o.d health; fear nothing at all.

I shall to you say a message, the bidding of the heavenly G.o.d: Also there is none who has heard so glad an errand.

Therefore becomes his world for ever blythe, And all creatures that in the world are treading this earth.

Newly borne has this land the heavenly Savior, Who is the Lord Christ, good, from a young mother.

In Bethleem, of the kings they were all thence-- From them was also born his mother, a maid fair.

I say to you, good men, how ye him shall find, A sign and token, through this wonder.

To your burgh fare hence, ye find, so as I to you said, A child, new born, in a crib lying."

Then came, while he to them spake, of angels an host, A heavenly retinue, thus all singing: "In the heavenly kingdom's highth be to G.o.d glory; Be on earth peace also to all who are full of G.o.d's will."

The Middle High German ranges from the thirteenth Century to the Reformation.

-- 78. 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.

-- 79. _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:-- {37}

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 for 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.

-- 80. 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.

-- 81. In respect to its stages, we have the Old Frisian of the Asega-bog, the Middle Frisian of Gysbert j.a.picx, and the Modern Frisian of the present Frieslanders, Westphalians, and Heligolanders.

_Asega-bog_, i. 3. p. 13, 14. (_Ed. Wiarda._)

Thet is thiu thredde liodkest and thes Kynig Kerles ieft, theter allera monna ek ana sina eyna G.o.de besitte umberavat. Hit ne se thet ma hine urwinne mith tele and mith rethe and mith riuchta thingate, sa hebbere alsam sin Asega dema and dele to lioda londriuchte. Ther ne hach nen Asega nenne dom to delande hit ne se thet hi to fara tha Keysere fon Rume esweren hebbe and thet hi fon da liodon ekeren se. Sa hoch hi thenne to demande and to delande tha fiande alsare friounde, thruch des ethes willa, ther hi to fara tha Keysere fon Rume esweren heth, tho demande and to delande widuon and weson, waluberon and alle werlosa liodon, like to helpande and sine threa knilinge. Alsa thi Asega nimth tha unriuchta mida and tha urlouada panninga, and ma hini urtinga mi mith twam sine juenethon an thes Kyninges bonne, sa ne hoch hi nenne dom mar to delande, truch thet thi Asega thi biteknath thene prestere, hwande hia send siande and hia skilun wesa agon there heliga Kerstenede, hia skilun helpa alle tham ther hiam seluon nauwet helpa ne muge.

{38}

_The Same, in English._

That is the third determination and concession of King Charles, that of all men each one possess his own goods (house?) unrobbed. It may not be that any man overcome him with charge (tales), and with summons (rede), and with legal action. So let him hold as his Asega (judge) dooms and deals according to the land-right of the people. There shall no Asega deal a doom unless it be that before the Caesar of Rome he shall have sworn, and that he shall have been by the people chosen. He has then to doom and deal to foes as to friends, through the force (will) of the oath which he before the Caesar of Rome has sworn, to doom and to deal to widows and orphans, to wayfarers and all defenceless people, to help them as his own kind in the third degree. If the Asega take an illegal reward, or pledged money, and a man convict him before two of his colleagues in the King's Court, he has no more to doom, since it is the Asega that betokens the priest, and they are seeing, and they should be the eyes of the Holy Christendom, they should help all those who may nought help themselves.

-- 82. _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 will be henceforth called by their continental name of _Platt-Deutsch_; which although foreign, is convenient.

-- 83. The points of likeness and difference between two languages belonging to different branches of the same Gothic stock may be partially collected from the following comparison between certain Icelandic, Norse or Scandinavian, and certain Anglo-Saxon or Germanic inflections.

Declension of substantives ending with a _vowel_.

_Saxon._ _Icelandic._

_Neuter._ _Neuter._

_Sing. Nom._ Eage (_an eye_). Auga (_an eye_).

_Acc._ Eage Auga.

_Dat._ Eagan Auga.

_Gen._ Eagan Auga.

{39} _Plur. Nom._ Eagan Augu.

_Acc._ Eagan Augu.

_Dat._ Eagan Augum.

_Gen._ Eagan Augna.

_Masculine._ _Masculine._

_Sing. Nom._ Nama (_a name_). Bogi (_a bow_).

_Acc._ Naman Boga.

_Dat._ Naman Boga.

_Gen._ Naman Boga.

_Plur. Nom._ Naman Bogar.

_Acc._ Naman Boga.

_Dat._ Namum Bogum.

_Gen._ Namena Boga.