Page:Studies in Lowland Scots - Colville - 1909.djvu/31

Rh Our own language, that is to say, English and Lowland Scots—for the latter is but the Northern or Northumbrian variety of the former—is more nearly related to Gothic than any other Indo-European speech, brought as it was to our shores by the English folk, those Low-German tribes that had spread westwards to the dreary Frisian shores when their brothers, the Goths, roamed towards the banks of the blue Donau, to waste their strength in a life-long struggle with the mighty power of Rome. The study of these Gothic remains therefore constitutes not merely a unique field of linguistic research, but is of practical value in helping to a right appreciation of the history of our own tongue in its English, much more in its Scottish aspect.

In all probability Wulfila reduced his native Gothic to writing for the first time, and for this purpose constructed his alphabet on a basis of Runic, Greek and Latin characters. As to which of the three formed the primary basis, scholars are not agreed. German writers, whose views are endorsed by Mr. Douse, assign this position to the Runic alphabet, while Prof. Skeat discusses the whole point without the slightest reference to Runes. The question is a difficult, but not very momentous one. Written symbols of every kind are peculiarly liable to change. We all use the same conventional set of cursive characters, and yet in practice these assume endless varieties of form. Further, it is more than likely that both Runic and Greek, i.e. Phoenician characters, diverged from a common source. Runes form an undoubted relic of Teutonic antiquity. Widely diffused over northern and western Europe, they acquired a mystic force from their extensive use in charms and divination. They have not come down to us in connection with literary remains, but merely in incised inscriptions on stones, crosses, weapons, &c. The word rune (Go. runi and A.-S. rûn) means a mystery, not a letter, for which Wulfila uses boka (cp. Ger. Buchstabe). In O.Eng. and Sc. the verb to roun or round means to whisper, and its cognate Lat. rumor properly means a whisper, while in its Sanskrit form—bru—the word means to speak, and is very commonly used. It may here be noted that Runic letters are formed almost entirely of combinations of straight lines, generally in threes. All writing is