THE SLAVONIC FAMILY.

§ 56. The Slavonic stock of languages was spoken by those emigrating tribes which came out of Asia about 450 B.C., and who were the ancestors of the Russians, Poles, Servians, and Bohemians.

It is said that the Old Sanscrit type is more faithfully preserved in the Slavonic than in the Latin or the Greek. Like the Sanscrit, the Old Slavonic possesses three numbers, three genders, seven cases, a perfect system of prefixes and affixes, and an unlimited power of forming compound words. "Of the three sisters," says Dankovsky, "one kept faithful to her mother tongue-the Slavonic; the second gave to that common heritage the highest cultivation-the Greek; and the third mixed the mother tongue with a foreign idiom-the Latin." The author of Eothen remarks of it, "I think the Old Slavonic language, as spoken in Servia, the most perfect of the living European languages. It has quite the power and the honesty of the German language, and a philosophical grammar." Besides genuine indefinite verbs, as they call all those which have the general character of verbs in other languages, the Russian has verbs simple, frequentative, or a perfect: thus, verb indefinite, dvigat, to move; verb simple, dvinut, to move a single time; verb frequentative, dvigivat, to move repeatedly; verb perfect, sdvigat, to move completely. See Historical View of the Languages of Slavic Nations, by TALVI, p. 17, 18.

THE LITHUANIAN FAMILY.

§ 57. This family was formerly classed with the Slavonic. The researches of Bopp have given it prominence. It is spoken in Lithuania, formerly a part of Poland, but now subject to Russia, by a population which amounts to more than 2,000,000. It was formerly spoken in Prussia, but is now extinct in that country. It is at the present time spoken only by the peasantry, Polish being the language of the middle and upper classes. Thus excluded from the influences of refinement and civilization, it has preserved its peculiar structure more faithfully than most of the other languages of its stock. It has retained seven cases, three numbers, three genders; and of all the languages spoken

in Europe, it is acknowledged to approximate nearest to the Sanscrit.

THE FINNIC FAMILY.

§ 58. The Finnic languages prevail through a large portion of the Russian empire, occupying the northern part of the Scandinavian peninsula, and extending from Lapland and the Baltic beyond the Ural Mountains. It is supposed that Europe was first colonized by nations belonging to this race, and that their descendants, after having been settled in the more fertile regions of that continent, were driven to the extreme north and west, where we at present find them, by the successive tides of invaders, Celtic, Pelasgic, Gothic, and Slavonic, who subsequently passed from Asia into Europe.

The MAGYAR language spoken in Hungary shows clearly its connection with the Finnic family. It is surpassingly beautiful in uniformity of character and melody of sound.

The BASQUE language was originally spoken by the Iberi, a people generally regarded as the earliest settlers in Spain. It exhibits remarkable traits of analogy with the Finnic and with several languages spoken in the north of Europe and Asia. It is spoken in three provinces of Spain on the north of the Bay of Biscay, and in the southwestern extremity of France, with certain dialectical differences, indicated by the terms Spanish Basque and French Basque.

The TURKISH language, though not generally classed with the Indo-European, may be noticed in this connection. In its numerous dialects it is more or less diffused through the vast regions which extend from the Mediterranean to the frontiers of China, and from the shores of the Frozen Ocean to Hindostan. "Rich, dignified, and melodious, in delicacy and nicety of expression it is not, perhaps, surpassed by any language; and in grandeur, beauty, and elegance, it is almost unequaled."

THE ARMENIAN FAMILY.

§ 59. The ancient Armenian language is no longer vernacular, yet it is generally studied by Armenian Christian scholars. It is a harsh language, and is remarkable for having no distinctions of gender even in the pronouns. Modern Armenian is di

vided into two branches, the eastern and the western, of which the eastern is the purest. The total number of the Armenian nation has been estimated to be 2,000,000.

From the classification and brief description of languages in this chapter, we can the better understand the position of the English language in its relation to the languages spoken by the human race, and more especially in its relations to the Indo-European languages. We have seen that it belongs to the Indo-European stock; to the Gothic family; to the Teutonic branch; to the Low Germanic division. We are thus prepared to enter on the consideration of its proximate affinities in the next chapter.

QUESTIONS UNDER CHAPTER II.

1. How far can a classification of languages be made?

2. Exhibit Schlegel's classification.

3. State the classification adopted in this work.

4. Describe the Chinese stock of languages.

5. How many kinds of written symbols are there in this language?

6. Enumerate and describe the Shemitic stock of languages.

7. What are the three principal divisions?

8. What are the peculiarities of the Shemitic stock of languages?

9. Give the classification of the Indo-European stock.

10. State the difference between the synthetic and the analytic languages.

11. Give the general characteristics of the European stock of languages.

12. Describe the Sanscrit family of languages.

13. Describe the Iranian family of languages.

14. Enumerate the several members of the Latin family of languages. 15. Describe the Italian, the Spanish, the French, the Portuguese, the Wallachian, the Provençal, and the Norman French.

16. Enumerate the Greek family of languages.

17. Enumerate and describe the Celtic family of languages.

18. Name the two great branches of the Gothic family.

19. Describe the Moso-Gothic division.

20. Describe the High Germanic division.

21. Name the subdivisions of the Low Germanic division.

22. Describe the Frisian subdivision; the modern Dutch; the Platt Deutsch. 23. Name the divisions of the Scandinavian branch of the Gothic family. 24. Describe the Icelandic division of the Scandinavian branch of the Gothic

family.

25. Describe the Slavonic family of languages.

26. Describe the Lithuanian family of languages.

27. Describe the Finnic family of languages, and also the Magyar, the Basque, and the Turkish languages.

28. Describe the Armenian family of languages.

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 schoole 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 order, 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.