Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 07.djvu/124

* ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 102 ENGLISH LANGUAGE. the Low German subdivision of that being most closely allied to the Frisian (q.v.). ite of the composite character of its vocabu- lary, less than one-third of which is native, mod- ern English is still an essentially Germanic lan- -the real nature of a language being shown, by its vocabulary, but by its grammatical structure. The grammatical forms of English, its verbal system, the declension of its nouns and pronouns, the comparison of its adjectives and most of its purely relational words, such as simple adverbs, prepositions, and conjunctions, itive. All the numerals, too, except second ami those above a thousand, have always been in the language. The changes that have taken place in English grammar have been due to the level- ing of old inflections, not to the introduction of lira i oes. In tracing the growth of the English language, the history is usually divided into three leading Is: The Anglo-Saxon period (a.d. A.D. 1H"I). the Middle English (1100-1500), and the .Modern English period (1500 to the present time). Hut the name of the first period is now criticised by an increasing number of scholars, who affirm, not without reason, that English was always English, and never Anglo-Saxon; that the fact that it was inflected in the period be- b Norman Conquest, and lost most of its inflections in later time-, is no reason for speak- ing of it as if it were two different lam
 * nnl that we have no warrant in the usage of the

ted period for calling our forefathers or their speech anything but English. The term Ulglo-Saxon did not conic into use until in the seventeenth century, at the time of the revival of an interest in our earliest literature, so that the word is not only misleading, but has not even (he merit of antiquity. The term Old English, furthermore, is in keeping with the classification of the other Germanic languages. But as the tern Sjiglo-Saxon has been so long in common use and is ideally understood by all readers, whereas the in.. re exact term Old English is ipplied i" later periods, possible confusi ided by retaining the first. is early a- the fifth century, Teutonic invaders from the Continent settled in Britain and drove the original Celtic-speaking inhabitants to the north and wesl "I I he island; SO that before the of Hastings I loci;, the tongi f the con bad been spoken in England fur at least six hundred yeai /mil absorption, aftei numerous co I he i bags of Wessex, or of the , | | :.,. ■!!, ,p tarehy.' in the ninth century, wen! far to make the n peei h ot the land identical with that i " and I bmi - i he r nized cent re lominant sept. The use, besides, of as the chief instrument of ii ■ of King Hfri ing monument oi thi Ian .. than the l ime of l big literal j monarch ; pet, from North manuscripts from the i | Northum ich ex from thi I o thi Pirtl ■ Ii ist two ive been used ill the in and Ni r thumbrian. and a southern, including Kentish and West Saxon. The northern, or Anglian, was to some extent marked by Scandinavian features. This is not at all surprising if we admit that the Angles came from that corner of Schleswig still called Angeln, or indeed from any region north of the Elbe, aside from the influence of the Danes. It should be noted, too, that many works that are known to us in a West Saxon form were originally" written in Northumbrian, as Beowulf and Bede's translation of the Ecclesias- tical History of Britain. It was the custom of mediaeval scribes to use their own dialect in copying works from another. It is important to notice here that neither the Anglian nor the Saxon borrowed much from the .language of the conquered Britons. The largest single class of Celtic words in Anglo-Saxon is in connection with geographical names, such as Aberdeen, mouth of the Dee, Inchcape, island cape, and hill, meaning church, in Kihlare. Only ten common noun- burrowed from Celtic in Anglo- Saxon are given by Skeat (Principles of English Etymology), among these being bannock, cart, down, mattock. It is possible, however, that other Celtic words were in use that have not been preserved in literature. A few Latin words were evidently introduced through the Celtic. Some of these are geographical names, having different forms of the word castra, camp, as the last part ; among the others may be noted lake, mount, street, wine. A few Latin words were brought to Britain from the Continent, where the Teutons had already come into contact with Roman cul- ture. It may be inferred that all Latin deriva- tives found in Anglo-Saxon and in other early Germanic languages are pre-insular. Among these have been suggested chalk, coulter, mini. But by- far the largest borrowing of Latin words during the Anglo-Saxon period came as a result of the introduction of Christianity in Kent in 597. Not only ecclesiastical words directly connected with the new faith, but many general words found their way into the language. The total number of Latin words introduced at this time is esti- mated by Skeat at 1 10. From among these may- be taken 'the following examples: Altar, mass, priest, psalm, temple, kitchen, palm, pear, tunic. It should be noted that several of these words are of Greek origin. Xot a few Scandinavian words were borrowed, mainly as a result of the Danish invasions. Several of these occur for the first time in the accounts of the engagements between the English and the Danes given in the Anglo- Sis, hi Chronicle. Thus earl, first applied only to Danish leaders, later took the place of the Eng- lish alderman. Other words are husband, knife, take, window. Great difficulty is often experi enced in determining the Scandinavian element in Vnglo-Saxon, owing to the close resemblance be- tween Northumbrian and Norse. Tl arly part of the Middle English period, sometimes called Semi-SaxDn, is a period of transition, ami. like every transition era. it is marked by confusion. The absence of any recog- nized standard dialect added greatly to the eon fusion. The monks of the time, aeeusl .nneil to 'he use of mediarval Latin, had in a great meas ure forgotten the grammar of their native Ian . :iikI when they attempted to write it. did m badly The Chronicle, which in its latest forms comes down to 1154, and Lavanion's Brut, ■ about I It'll or 1200, exhibit I races of the