Page:General History of Europe 1921.djvu/363

 Books and Science in the Middle Ages 265 433. The Germanic Languages. Those German peoples who had continued to live outside of the Roman Empire naturally clung to the language they had always used ; namely, the particular Germanic dialect which their forefathers had spoken for untold generations. From the various languages used by the German barbarians modern English, Dutch, German, Swedish, Norwegian, and Danish are largely derived. 434. The Romance Languages. The second group of lan- guages developed within the territory which had formed a part of the Roman Empire, and includes modern French, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese. It has now been proved that these Romance languages were one and all derived from the spoken Latin, employed by the soldiers, merchants, and people at large. This differed considerably from the written Latin which was used, for example, by Cicero and Caesar. It was undoubtedly much simpler in its grammar and varied a good deal in different regions ; a Gaul, for instance, could not pronounce the words like a Roman. Moreover, in conversation people did not always use the same words as those employed in books. As time went on, the spoken language diverged farther and farther from the written. Yet several centuries elapsed after the German invasions before there was anything written in this conversational language. 435. Ancient English, or Anglo-Saxon. The oldest form of English is called Anglo-Saxon and is so different from the lan- guage which we use that, in order to be read, it must be learned like a foreign language. This old form of our language prevailed until after the Norman Conquest ; the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, which does not close until 1154, is written in Anglo-Saxon. Here is an example : "Here on thissum geare Willelm cyng geaf Rodberde eorle thone eorldom on Northymbraland. Da komon tha landes menn togeanes him & hine ofslogen, & ix hund manna mid him." In modern English this reads: "In this year King William gave the Earl Robert the earldom of Northumberland. Then came the men of the country against him and slew him, and nine hundred men with him."