Page images
PDF
EPUB

numerous diverging dialects, of which the chief were the Northern, Midland, and Southern; nor did it again receive literary culture till the beginning of the thirteenth century, from which date it steadily advanced, till, in the form of the East Midland dialect, it acquired complete and final ascendency in the hands of Chaucer and Wycliffe - the first the forerunner of English Literature, the second, of the Reformation.

This, then, was a period of confusion, alike perplexing to those who used the language and to those who wish to trace its vicissitudes,—a period in which the old was passing, through a state of ruin, into the new. The two languages, native and stranger, hitherto repellent, began slowly to melt into a harmonious whole; and the former, with a distinct and recognizable existence, though gorged with unorganized material, was fitting for a vigorous and prolific growth.

The process of disorganization and decay may be exhibited to the eye by the following extract from the Saxon Chronicle, the second column showing what the text would be if written in purer Saxon:

'Hi swencten the wrecce men of
the land mid castel weorces.
Tha the castles waren maked
tha fylden hi mid yvele men.
namen hi tha men the hi wenden
thæt ani God hefden bathe be

Tha

nightes and be dœies.'

Hi swencon tha wreccan menn of
tham lande mid castel-weorcum.
Tha tha castel waron gemacod
tha fyldon hi mid yfelon manum.
namon hi tha menn tha hi wendon
thæt ænig God hæfdon batwa be
nihte & be dæge.

Tha

It may be of interest to watch, in early versions of the Lord's Prayer, that series of mutations by which Anglo-Saxon was passing gradually into modern English:

[blocks in formation]

Gewurthe thin willa on eorthan swa swa on heofenum,

Urne dæghwamlican hlaf syle us to dæg:

And forgyf us ure gyltas, swa swa we forgifoth urum gyltendum;

[blocks in formation]

A.D. 1250.

A.D. 1250.

(East Midland.)

Thy name be halyed ever lich.

Thou bring us thy michel bliese,

Als bit in heven y doc;

Evear in yearth been it alsoe.
That holy brede that lasteth ay,
Thou send us this ilke day.
Forgive us all that we have done
As we forgive ech other one.
Ne let us fall into no founding,
Ne sheld us frym the foule thing.

Fadir ur that es in hevene,
Halud be thy nam to nevene:
Thou do us thy rich rike:
Thi will on erd be wrought elk,
Als it es wrought in heven ay:
Ur ilk day brede give us to day:
Forgive thou all us dettes urs
Als we forgive all ur detturs:
And ledde us na in na fanding,

But sculd us fra ivel thing.

Ure fadir that hart in hevene,

Halged be thi name with giftis sevene;

Samın cume thi kingdom,

Thi wille in herthe als in hevene be don;

Ure bred that lastes ai

Gyve it hus this hilke dai,

And ure misdedis thu forgyve hus,

Als we forgyve tham that misdon hus,

And leod us intol na fandinge,

Bot frels us fra alle ivele thinge. Amen.

Native Features of English.-1. Its grammar is almost exclusively Anglo-Saxon. 2. Anglo-Saxon is eminently the organ of practical action-the language of business, of the street, market, and farm. 3. The specific terms of the English tongue are Anglo-Saxon, while the generic terms are foreign-Latin, Greek, or French. Thus, we are Romans when we speak, in a general way, of moving; but Teutons when we run, walk, leap, stagger, slip, ride, slide, glide. 4. The Saxon gives us names for the greater part of natural objects; as, sun, moon, stars, rain, snow, hill, dale. 5. Those words expressive of strongest feelings are Saxon; as, home, hearth, fireside, life, death, man and wife, father and mother, brother and sister, love and hate, hope and fear, gladness and sorrow. 6. A large proportion of the language of invective, humor, satire, and colloquial pleasantry, is Saxon. 7. In short, to the Saxon belongs the vocabu

lary of common life, including our colloquialisms, idiomatic phrases, and the language of conversation. Thus we see that the essential element in English is native. Between its past and present there is only the difference that exists between the sapling and the tree, or between the boy and the man.

Anglo-Norman History in English.-Supposing all other records to have perished, we could still trace the reciprocal relations of the Saxon and Norman occupants of England in their contributions to the language which they have jointly bequeathed us. Thus we should conclude that the Norman was the ruling race from the noticeable fact that nearly all the words of state descend to us from them,-sovereign, throne, crown, sceptre, realm, royalty, prince, chancellor, treasurer. Norman aristocracy transmits us duke, baron, peer, esquire, count, palace, castle, hall, mansion. Common articles of dress are Saxon,-shirt, shoes, hat, breeches, cloak; but other articles, subject to changes of fashion, are of Norman origin,-gown, coat, boots, mantle, cap, bonnet, etc. Room and kitchen are Saxon; chambers, parlors, galleries, pantries, and laundries are Norman. The Saxon's stool, bench, bed, and board—often probably it was no more— are less luxurious than the table, chair, and couch of his Norman lord. The boor whose sturdy arms turned the soil, opened wide his eyes at the Norman carpet and curtain. While luxury, chivalry, adornment, are Norman, the instruments used in cultivating the earth, as well as its main products, are Saxon,plough, share, rake, scythe, harrow, sickle, spade, wheat, rye, oats, grass, hay, flax.

Thus are words, when we remove the veil which custom and familiarity have thrown over them, seen to be illustrative of national life. As the earth has its strata and deposits from which the geologist is able to arrive at a knowledge of the successive physical changes through which a region has passed, so language has its alluvium and drift from which the linguist may disinter, in fossil form, the social condition, the imaginations and feelings, of a period - a period far more remote than any suggested.

[ocr errors]

here

Superiority of Saxon English.-The special reasons assignable for this are:

[ocr errors]

1. Early association.-A child's vocabulary is almost wholly Saxon. He calls a thing nice or nasty, not pleasant or disagreeable. Words acquired later in life are less familiar-less organically connected with his ideas, and hence less rapidly suggestive. 2. Brevity. The fewer the words, the more effective the idea,―as, to point to the door is more expressive than to say, 'Leave the room.' On the same principle, the fewer the syllables, the stronger the impression produced,-less time and effort are required to read the sign and perceive the thing signified. Hence the shortness of Saxon words becomes a cause of their greater force. One qualification must be made. When great power or intensity is to be suggested, an expansive and sonorous word, allowing the consciousness a longer time to dwell on the quality predicated, may be an advantage. A devout and poetic soul gazing, in stilly night, into stellar spaces,-what verb will express its emotion? See, look, think?-only the Latin contemplate. The noise going to and returning from hill to hill,- what word will describe it? Sound, boom, roar, echo, are all too tame; only reverberate tells the whole. Hence the value of the Latin element in contributing to copiousness and strength of expression. It is a pleasing study to observe how, in all the best writers, the long and short are harmoniously combined, as in these lines from Macbeth:

'Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood

Clean from my hand? No! this, my hand, will rather
The multitudinous seas incarnadine,

Making the green one red.'

3. Definiteness.- Well-being arises from well-doing,' is Saxon. 'Felicity attends virtue,' is Latin. How inferior is the second, because less definite than the first. The more concrete the terms, the brighter the picture, as wagon and cart are more vivid than vehicle.

Therefore, though many words of Latin origin are equally simple and clear, those of Saxon origin are, as a whole, more so, and should be preferred. This is the current maxim of composition, most happily enforced in the following lines:

Think not that strength lies in the big, round word,

Or that the brief and plain must needs be weak.
To whom can this be true who once has heard
The cry for help, the tongue that all men speak,
When want, or fear, or woe, is in the throat.

So that each word gasped out is like a shriek
Pressed from the sore heart, or a strange, wild note,
Sung by some fay or fiend? There is a strength,
Which dies if stretched too far, or spun too fine,

Which has more height than breadth, more depth than length.
Let but this force of thought and speech be mine,

And he that will, may take the sleek, fat phrase,
Which glows, but burns not, though it beam and shine,
Light, but no heat,- a flash, but not a blaze."

Results. So does the English language combine, to an extent unequalled by any other living tongue, the classic (Latin) and the Teutonic,- the euphony, sonorousness, and harmony of the first; the strength, tenderness, and simplicity of the second; a happy medium between French and German,— more grave than the former, less harsh and cumbersome than the latter, grammatically simpler than either. From its composite char

acter come that wealth and compass, that rich and varied music, which have made English Literature the crown and glory of the works of man. It has an abode, far and wide, in the islands of the earth; gives greeting on the shores of the Pacific, as of the Atlantic. Fixed in multitudes of standard works and endeared to the increasing millions who read and speak it, the natural growth of population, the love of conquest and colonization which has distinguished the Saxon race since they traversed the German Ocean in their frail barks, will help to extend and perpetuate its empire.

1 Dr. J. A. Alexander.

« PreviousContinue »