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 express duty: Jeg har at sige Dem, I have to say (to) you. The Danish has more varieties of circumlocution than the English, and its auxiliaries are less irregular. The syntax resembles that of the English. The definite article may be omitted, but it is sometimes used where the English omits it; thus: Natur-en, nature; Liv-et, life, &c. The noun which governs a genitive precedes the nominative, and usually without the article; e.g.: Verdens Alder, the age of the world; et Legemes (body) Tyngde, the gravity of a body; mange Vandes Lyd, of the sound of many waters. The preposition af is omitted with quantities, as en Mængde Mennesker, a crowd of people; unless the thing measured be definite, as en Skieppe af den ny Hvede, a bushel of the new wheat. Adjectives follow only surnames, as Knud den Store, Canute the Great. De, they, when used to address a single person, takes the singular of the verb, as Gaaer De paa Komedie? Do you go to the theatre? The active participle in nde final is never used as a gerund, but mostly as an adjective, and the English participle in ing must often be rendered by the infinitive; thus: det er neppe værd at see, it is scarcely worth (to see) seeing. Prepositions sometimes must be translated by other words; thus: i, in; i Gaar Aftes (in yester eve's), last evening; i Morges, this morning; i Aar, this year; i Morgen, to-morrow, &c. They are also written as adverbs: igaar, yesterday, igaaraftes, last night, &c. Paa, on, upon: paa Søndag, next Sunday. Ad, to, up, of: ad Aare, next year. Om, for, about: 5 Rigsbankdaler om Maaneden, $5 a month, &c. We subjoin a specimen of Danish construction:

For a thorough study of the Danish language the following works may be consulted: Peder Syv, Simbriske Sprog (1663), the Cimbric being the basis of the Danish orthography; E. Pontoppidan, Grammatica Danica (1668); Otho Sperling, De Danicæ Linguæ Antiqua Gloria (1694); J. Baden, Roma Danica, sive Harmonia Linguæ Danicæ cum Latina (1699); J. H. Schlegel on the advantages and defects of the Danish language (in Danish, 1763); Rask's grammar for Englishmen (1830 and 1846); Fradersdorff's “Practical Introduction to Danish” (London, 1860). Dictionaries: H. van Alphelen, “Royal Dictionary” (in Danish, 1764-'72), and Dictionnaire français-danois et danois-français (3 vols., 1772-'6); Dansk Ordbog (“Danish Wordbook”), under the direction of the society of sciences, by Möller, Viborg, Thorlachus, Müller, &c. (5 vols., 1793-1825); Björn Halderson's lexicon, Icelandic,

Latin, and Danish, edited by Rask in 1814, and Danish-English, by Ferral, in 1845-'54; Hornbeck's “Danish-English and English-Danish Dictionary” (2 vols., Copenhagen, 1863).—The literature of Denmark is for the most part of recent growth. Mediæval Danish writings belong to the general literature of Scandinavia. The most important of them are the codes of the ancient kings, which belong to the 12th century, and the songs and ballads, partly derived from the Scandinavian sagas, which have been preserved by being sung by the people. The Faroe islanders still sing them, and dance to their accompaniment. The historian Saxo Grammaticus (died about 1204) wrote in Latin. He was one of the first scholars of his time, and his Historia Danica has been thought worthy of a modern translation into Danish and of much scholarly comment. During the union of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway under one government, from 1397 to 1523, there was not much literary progress. Learning was confined to the clergy, who wrote mostly in Latin and on scholastic themes. Even the poems and dramas of the time were scholastic or mystical allegories. The general revival of letters, however, at the time of the reformation was felt in Denmark. Pedersen's translation of the New Testament and the Psalms was incorporated into the official translation of the whole Bible made in 1550, and its influence upon the national language and literature can hardly be overestimated. Pedersen also wrote some popular histories which were widely read. Unhappily the majority of writers in the 16th and 17th centuries were confined to dogmatic and ecclesiastical discussions, and the government, having adopted the Lutheran faith, persecuted any deviation from it; yet the eminent names of Tycho Brahe, the great astronomer, and Thomas Bartholin, the first anatomist of his day, with a number of others, including Christian Longomontanus and Ole Römer, placed Denmark in the first rank of scientific progress. In this period there were also several students of earlier Scandinavian history, Arent Berndtsen (died in 1680) being the most eminent of them, whose writings are of great value to the modern student; while the collection of the early popular songs, especially the work of A. S. Vedel (1591), gave a strong impulse to national poetry. It is said that Sophia, queen of Frederick II., when on a visit to Tycho Brahe, was detained several days by stormy weather; the astronomer beguiled the time by reading to her from Vedel's collection, and the queen was so delighted with the work that she provided for its publication. Vedel was followed a century later, and his collection enlarged, by Peder Syv. The 17th century also produced some original poets, three of whom should be named: Anders Arreboe (1587-1637), whose Hexameron describes the six days of creation; Anders Bording (1619-1677), who by royal privilege edited the “Danish Mercury,” a political sheet published