_High Dutch and Low Dutch_ (Vol. viii., p. 413.).--Considerable
misapprehension appears to have arisen with regard to these expressions,
from the fact of the German word _Deutsch_ being sometimes erroneously
understood to mean Dutch. But German scholars very well know that in
Germany nothing is more common than to speak of _Hoch Deutsch_ and _Nieder
Deutsch_ (High German and Low German), as applied respectively to that
language when grammatically spoken and correctly pronounced, and to the bad
grammar and worse pronunciation indulged in by many of the provincials, and
also by the lower class of people in some of the towns where High German is
supposed to prevail. Thus, for examples Dresden is regarded as the
head-quarters of _Hoch Deutsch_, because there the language is spoken and
pronounced with the most purity: Berlin, also, as regards the well-educated
classes, boasts of the _Hoch Deutsch_; but the common people (das Volk) of
the Prussian capital indulge in a dialect called _Nieder Deutsch_, and
speak and pronounce the language as though they were natives of some remote
province. Now, the instance of Berlin I take to be a striking illustration
of the meaning of these expressions, as both examples are comprised in the
case of this city.
The German word for "German" is _Deutsch_; for "Dutch" the German is
_Hollaendisch_; and I presume it is from the similarity of _Deutsch_ and
_Dutch_ that this common error is so frequently committed. For the future
let it be remembered, that _Dutch_ is a term which has no relation whatever
to German; and that "High German" is that language spoken and written in
its purity, "Low German" all the dialects and mispronunciations which do
not come up to the standard of correctness.