Page:The Sources of Standard English.djvu/30



THE

SOURCES OF STANDARD ENGLISH

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CHAPTER I.

are many places, scattered over the world, that are hallowed ground in the eyes of Englishmen; but the most sacred of all would be the spot (could we only know it) where our forefathers dwelt in common with the ancestors of the Hindoos, Persians, Greeks, Latins, Slavonians, and Celts — a spot not far from the Oxus. By the unmistakable witness of language we can frame for ourselves a pedigree more truthful than any heraldic tree boasted by Veres or Montmorencies, by Guzmans or Colonnas. Thanks to the same evidence, we can gain some insight into the daily life of the great Aryan clan, whence spring all the above-named nations.

The word ‘Arya’ seems to come from a time-honoured term for ploughing, traces of which term are found in