CHAPTER III THE HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. § 60. FROM the views already presented of the relation of different languages, we are prepared to understand the origin of the ethnographical elements which enter more immediately into the composition of the English language, and the manner of their introduction. A full exhibition of the elements themselves will be reserved for the third part of this work. THE INTRODUCTION OF THE CELTIC ELEMENT. § 61. This element came from a race of people called Celts or Kelts, who were the earliest inhabitants of Great Britain of whom we have any knowledge. They are supposed to have migrated from Asia, probably from the Euxine, earlier than any other race, and, after having taken possession of Spain and Gaul, to have passed thence into Great Britain. It is known that Britain was inhabited before the Trojan war, more than twelve hundred years before the Christian era, as tin was then brought from Britain by the Phoenicians. The Celts were distinguished from the Gothic race, as much as the French, their descendants, are now from the Germans and Danes. They had not the light hair, nor the blue eyes, nor the lofty stature and large limbs which are characteristic of those races. They were likewise distinguished from them by their religious belief and practices. They believed in the immortality and transmigration of the soul; they offered human sacrifices in huge baskets of wicker-work, containing many individuals, who were burned together; they had a class of men called Druids, as the Gothic races had not, and they venerated the mistletoe under a name which, in their language, signifies all heal. In their schools the pupils are said to have learned by heart a large number of verses, and in this way some of their scholars passed twenty years in completing their education. The term Druid was originally generic, including three classes of persons, namely, bards, philosophers, and priests. The same individual, however, often held these three sister offices, each of which was recognized and supported by the state. The term was, however, in the process of time, limited to the priestly or der, while the bards and philosophers became distinct and independent bodies. See Bibliotheca Sacra, April, 1850. Of the Celtic family there are two branches: I. The Cambrian or Cymric. Under this division are, 1. The Welsh of Wales. 2. The Cornish of Cornwall. 3. The Armorican of Bas Bretagne. It is supposed that the old British, the ancient language of Gaul, and the Pictish, were of this branch. II. The Gaelic. Under this division are, 1. The Irish Gaelic of Ireland, or the Erse. 2. The Scotch Gaelic of the Highlands of Scotland. 3. The Manx of the Isle of Man. In all, here are six dialects, the three former of which are the relics of the language of the ancient Britons, and the latter three of that spoken by the inhabitants of Ireland. Of the two branches it is supposed the Gaelic is the oldest. CLASSIFICATION OF THE CELTIC ELEMENTS. § 62. The Celtic elements of the present English, few as they are, fall into four classes. 1. Those that are of late introduction, and can not be called original and constituent parts of the language. Such are the words flannel, crowd (a fiddle), from the Cambrian; kerne, an Irish foot-soldier, tartan, plaid, from the Gaelic branch. 2. Those that are common to both the Celtic and the Gothic; such as brathair, brother; mathair, mother. 3. Those that have come to us from the Celtic through the medium of another language; such are Druid and bard, which come to us through the Latin. 4. Those that have been retained from the original Celtic of the island, forming genuine, original, and constituent elements of our language. a. Proper names, generally of geographical localities; as The Thames, Kent, &c. b. Common names retained in the provincial dialects of England, but not retained in the current language; as, Gwethall =household stuff, and gwlanen=flannel, in Herefordshire. c. Common names retained in the current language; as basgawd, basket; botwm, button; bran, bran; ceubal (boat), cobble; crog, crook; darn, darn; greidel, grid or gridiron; hem, hem; matog, mattock; mop, mop; paeol, pail; pan, pan; rhail (fence), rail; syth (glue), size; tacl, tackle; tedda, tea. "The Welsh word orc signifies that which is extreme, a limit, a border; and Orc is the name given to the Orkney group in the Welsh Triads." Orc, Manau, Gwyth; that is, Orkney, Man, and Wight. Ramsgate is from the British word ruim, Welsh rhum, that which projects; the first syllable in Canterbury, from the Welsh caint, a plain; the first syllable in Winchester, from the Welsh word Gwent. The greater part of the names of mountains, lakes, and rivers, in both of the British islands, are to this day significant and descriptive only in some Celtic language. The appellation of these vast and permanent parts of Nature are commonly observed to continue as unchanged as themselves. Thus certain names given by the Indians to mountains, lakes, and rivers, like Alleghany, Huron, Potomac, seem destined to survive, though the race themselves have passed away before the Anglo-Saxon, just as the Celts did in our mother land. THE INTRODUCTION OF THE LATIN ELEMENT. § 63. Urged on by curiosity and ambition, Julius Cæsar invaded Britain in the year 55 B.C. Though the Britons met him even in the waves with a determined resistance, yet their impetuous valor could not withstand Roman discipline. And in subsequent years, though they fought for independence under the brave Caractacus and the heroine Boadicea, the Roman legions still triumphed. Agricola completed the conquest of the island. Pursuing a liberal policy, he seems to have directed all the energies of his mind to civilize and improve the fierce natives. He assisted them to build temples; he inspired them with a love of education; and he persuaded some of their chiefs to study letters. Roman dress, and language, and literature, spread among the natives. "Roman law and magistracies were every where established, and British lawyers as well as British ladies have obtained the panegyrics of the Roman classics." As the Latin language was spoken by those who presided over the civil and military affairs of the country, and by a portion of those who were active in spreading the Christian religion in the island, as Roman colonies were established in different places, and as there was constantly more or less intercourse between Rome and England, we can easily believe that the language of the ancient Britons was somewhat modified by the introduction of Latin words and phrases. Only a few of these remain, and these are somewhat changed. Thus strata is changed to street, colonia into coln, as in Lincoln Lindi colonia; castra into chester and cester, as Winchester, Gloucester, which latter was originally written Gleva Castra. Corinium was called Corinii Castra, then Cyrenceaster, then Cirencester, pronounced Cicester. It is remarkable that Roman Britain did not produce a single literary name, nor a single work from which we might form an estimate as to what degree the Latin language was used. The Latin element was, for the most part, not introduced during the five hundred years the Romans had possession of the island, but afterward, by the teachers of religion, and by the teachers and admirers of the Roman classics. The Latin of the Saxon period comprises words relating chiefly to ecclesiastical matters, just as the Latin of the Celtic period relates to military affairs; as, mynster, a minster, monasterium; portic, a porch, porticus; cluster, a cloister, claustrum; munuc, a monk, monachus; bisceop, a bishop, episcopus; sanct, a saint, sanctus; profost, a provost, propositus; pistel, an epistle, epistola. The following are names of foreign plants and animals: Camell, a camel, camelus; ylp, elephant, elephas; fic-beam, fig-tree, ficus; pipor, pepper, piper; purpur, purple, purpura; pumic-stan, pumice-stone, pumex. See GUEST's English Rhythms. Since the battle of Hastings, a great number of Latin words have been introduced, first by monks, and since by learned men, especially terms relating to theology and science in general. Many of them are changed in form, in accordance with Norman analogies, when received through the Norman-French, or with English analogies, when received directly from Roman authors. See § 397. Terms of science introduced into the language frequently remain unchanged in form in both numbers. See § 253. THE INTRODUCTION OF THE ANGLO-SAXON ELEMENT. § 64. After holding possession of Britain nearly five hundred years from the time Cæsar first landed on its shores, the Romans, pressed by enemies from without, and torn by intestine divisions, found themselves obliged to retire from the island. The Britons, thus left to enjoy their liberty, found themselves unfitted, by their long subjugation to the Romans, to defend themselves against the Picts and the Scots, who poured in upon them from the northern part of the island. Being thus hard pressed, Vortigern, the most powerful of the British kings, in A.D. 449 invited Hengist and Horsa, with their followers, to fight his battles. "Then, sad relief, from the bleak coast that hears The German Ocean roar, deep-blooming, strong, Saxon, a term derived from a short, crooked sword, called seax, carried under their loose garments by the warriors of the nation, was a general term given to the adventurers led by those chieftains, though they belonged to three tribes, namely, the Angles, the Saxons, and the Jutes. These belonged to the Gothic race, which composed the second great stream issuing from Asia, and spreading itself over the northern and western part of Europe. The branch to which they belonged was the Teutonic or Germanic, which occupied the part of Europe now occupied by the Germans, and by the southern part of the Danish nation. CHARACTER OF THE ANGLO-SAXONS. § 65. The Saxons were a fierce race of pirates, reckless of life, who traversed the German Ocean in osier boats, covered |