similarity of manners and language, and by a sameness of interest. His
conquest of their countries made some inroads upon their language.
But altho the Romans had possession of these countries more than four
hundred years, during which time Roman garrisons were stationed in Gaul
and Britain, the young men of both countries were drafted into the
Roman service, and many British youth went to Rome for an education,
still the native Celtic language remained without material alteration.
It is obvious indeed that many of the higher classes of people were
acquainted with Latin, and there are traces of that language still
found among the Welsh, the descendants of the ancient Britons. But the
body of the people, either for want of opportunity to learn the Latin,
or thro an inveterate hatred of their conquerors, continued wedded to
their native tongue. This would have still been the language of France
and England, had it not suffered more violent shocks, than by the Roman
conquests.
But in the fifth century, the southern parts of Europe began to be
alarmed by the invasion of the Goths, Vandals, Huns and other fierce
barbarians from the North. For three centuries, all the fertile
provinces of the Roman empire were ravaged by these hardy invaders, the
most of whom settled in the countries which they conquered.
These nations, mixing with the natives of the country where they
settled, changed or corrupted the primitive language. From the jargon
of Celtic and Roman, blended with the language of the Franks, Normans,
Burgundians, &c. sprung the modern French. From the mixture of Latin,
with the language of the Huns, Lombards, &c. sprung the present
Italian. From a similar composition of Latin, with the language of the
Visigoths and other northern tribes, and some remains of the Moorish
language, left in Spain by the Saracens, are formed the modern Spanish
and Portuguese.
In the general desolation, occasioned by these conquests, the island of
Britain did not escape. The Saxons, a tribe of northern nations, which
inhabited the country now called Denmark, or the shores of the Baltic,
now within the Empire of Germany, invaded Britain, soon after the Roman
legions had been called home to defend the Empire against other tribes
of barbarians. It is said the Saxons were at first invited to assist
the Britons against the inroads of the Picts or Scots, and that having
defeated the invaders, they were tempted, by the fertility of the soil,
to remain in the island, and afterwards took possession of it for
themselves.
But whatever was the first cause of their leaving their native country,
it is certain, that numerous bodies of adventurers, at different times,
went over and seated themselves in the island. They did not cease
till they had possessed themselves of all the fertile and cultivated
parts of England. The universality of the conquest is demonstrated by
the total change of language; there being no more affinity between
the Saxon or English, and the ancient British, than between any two
languages of Europe.
The British however was not lost. The brave inhabitants, who survived
the liberty of their country, and could not brook the idea of living
with their conquerors, retired to the countries within the mountains
on the west of the island, now called _Wales_ and _Cornwall_, where
they maintained their independence for many centuries, and where their
language is still preserved. The Welsh and the Cornish therefore are
the purest remains of the primitive Celtic language.
To these we may add the Armoric, or language of the Bas Breton, on the
coast of France; the inhabitants of which are genuin descendants of the
old Britons. The time and occasion of this settlement in France are not
certain. Perhaps a body of Britons were driven thither by the Saxon
conquest of England; or what is more probable, as it is a tradition
among the people, the Armoricans are the posterity of some British
soldiers, who had been in the Roman army when it was called to Italy to
defend the empire, and on their return, being informed that the Saxons
had taken possession of their native country, seated themselves on the
opposite coast of France.[13]
But whatever was the cause of the settlement, the language of the
people is the old British or Celtic; for altho they must have been
separated from their countrymen about twelve or fourteen hundred years,
yet there is such an affinity still between the Welsh and the Armoric,
that the Welsh soldiers, who passed thro Brittany in a late war,[14]
could converse familiarly with the inhabitants. If any other proof than
this were necessary to convince the reader, we might mention the name
of this province, _Brittany_, and produce a long catalogue of Armoric
words, collated with the Welsh and Cornish.
One would think that the Irish, by reason of their vicinity to England,
would have spoken the same language; yet it is found that the old Irish
tongue has very little affinity with the Welsh. Sir William Temple
asserts[15] that the Erse, or Caledonian language, and the old Irish,
which are radically the same, and spoken also on the Isle of Man, have
no affinity with any other language now spoken. But the celebrated
Lluyd and others, who have been more critical in their investigations
of this subject, maintain that the Irish has a real affinity with the
Cambrian or British. They further show that many names of places in S.
Britain, the meaning of which is lost in the Welsh, can be explained
only by words now extant in the Irish and Erse. This is a sufficient
proof of a common origin.[16]
But on this point historians are divided in opinion. Some suppose that
the north of Ireland was first peopled by emigrations from Scotland,
and the sameness of their language renders this opinion probable. But
whence do the Scots derive their origin? The most probable account of
the settlement of Scotland is, that it was peopled from Norway or some
other northern country, by a tribe of those nations that went under the
general denomination of _Scythians_; for _Scot_ and _Scythian_ are from
the same root.
There are writers, however, who contend that Ireland must have been
settled from Spain, for there are many Spanish words found in the
language of the country. But the number of these is too inconsiderable
to render the argument conclusive.
Within a few years, an attempt has been made to trace the origin of
the Irish nation, to the Carthaginians. The author of a small work,
entitled "An Essay on the Antiquities of Ireland," has examined, in
a play of Plautus, the Punic speech which has the marks of being the
genuin language of Carthage, and has collated it with the ancient
Irish. In this speech there is a surprising affinity between the
languages.[B]
But without running into a field of conjecture, it is sufficient for
my purpose to observe, that the Irish, the Erse, and the language
spoken on the Isle of Man, are indisputably the same, and must have
been very ancient: That the Welsh, the Cornish, and the Armoric are
now a distinct language, and unquestionably the remains of the Celtic,
or that language which was common to Gaul and Britain, when they were
invaded by Julius Cesar. The Irish and the British may be as distinct
as the Hebrew and the British, and yet a critical etymologist may
discover in both, common radicals enough to convince him that both are
the offspring of the same parent.
Hitherto our researches have thrown but little light upon the present
English language. For the substance of this we must look to the Saxon
branch of the Teutonic.[17]
The Teutones and Goths or Getæ were the nations that inhabited the
north of Europe. They were in a rude state and had no historical
records by which their descent could be ascertained. They however had
a class of men under the denomination of _Scalds_ or _Bards_, whose
business it was to recount in verse the illustrious actions of their
heroes, and to preserve their traditions. These _Scalds_ all agree
that their ancestors came from the east;[18] and it is well known also
that Herodotus mentions the _Germans_ as a Persian people.[19] It is
probable that they extended their settlements gradually, or were driven
from Asia by the Roman invasions under Pompey, during the reign of
Mithridates, and under the conduct of Odin, their hero and lawgiver,
established themselves on the shores of the Baltic.
From these nations proceeded those fierce and numerous warriors, who,
under different leaders invaded and subdued all the southern parts of
Europe; changed the government, the manners and the language of the
primitive inhabitants, and gave them their present complexion. The
Saxons, who inhabited the northern parts of Germany, or Denmark, were
the tribe that conquered England, and introduced a language and a form
of government, the principles of which are still existent among their
descendants, both in England and America. This happened in the fifth
and sixth centuries.
Our language is therefore derived from the same stock as the German,
the Dutch, the Danish, the Swedish, and the Swiss. Of all these
branches, the German is perhaps the principal, and that which has
suffered the least by the violence of conquest or the changes of time.
Between this and the pure English, there is a close affinity, as may be
observed by any person indifferently well acquainted with both.
From the establishment of the Saxons in England, to the Norman
conquest, the language of the country suffered but little variation.
The invasions of the Danes and their government of the kingdom, during
a short period, could not but affect the language, yet not materially,
as the island suffered a change of masters, rather than of people or
laws; and indeed the Danes themselves spoke a dialect of the Saxon
language.
But the conquest by William, the Norman, in 1066, introduced important
changes into the language, as well as the government of the English
nation. William was followed by multitudes of his countrymen;
these formed his court, and filled the rich livings, temporal and
ecclesiastical, which were forfeited or left vacant by the death of
their former possessors who were slain in the battle of Hastings.
The language of the conquerors, which was a mixture of Latin and
Norman, immediately became fashionable at Court, and was used in all
legislative and judicial proceedings. It continued to be the polite
and law language of the nation about three centuries; when, in the
thirty sixth year of Edward III.[20] an act of parliament was passed,
ordaining that in future all pleas in courts should be made in English
and recorded in Latin. In the preamble to this act, the reason assigned
for making it is, "that the people of the realm did not understand
French."[21]
This proves that the Norman French was spoken only by the nobility,
who were mostly of Norman extraction, and by the higher orders of
men in office, at court, or in the cities. The body of the people,
defendants of the Saxons, still retained their primitive tongue.[22]
During this period, when French was the polite, and Saxon the vulgar
language of the English, the Latin was also understood by the learned,
who were mostly the regular and secular clergy. On the revival of
literature in Europe, Latin was studied with classical correctness,
and the number and excellence of the Greek and Roman authors, with
the elegance of the languages, have recommended them to the attention
of succeeding generations. The records of parliament and of judicial
proceedings were kept in Latin, from the thirty sixth of Edward
III. to the fourth of George II.[23] when, by act of parliament, the
_English_ was ordered to be the language of the _English_ laws and
public records. Of these three languages, the Saxon, the Norman French
and the Latin, our present English is composed.
The incorporation of the Roman and other foreign tongues with the
English, took place principally under the first Norman kings. It was
attended with some difficulty, and Chaucer has been censured by his
cotemporaries for introducing cartloads of French words into his
writings.[24]
Language is the effect of necessity, and when a nation has a language
which is competent to all their purposes of communicating ideas, they
will not embrace new words and phrases. This is the reason why the
yeomanry of the English nation have never adopted the improvements of
the English tongue. The Saxon was competent to most of the purposes
of an agricultural people; and the class of men who have not advanced
beyond that state, which in fact makes the body of the nation, at least
in America, seldom use any words except those of Saxon original.
But as men proceed in the progress of society, their ideas multiply,
and new words are necessary to express them. They must therefore either
invent words, or combine those before used into compounds, or borrow
words of suitable import from a foreign language. The latter method was
principally pursued by the English. The learned of the nation spoke
and wrote Latin, which had been the language of a polite and improved
nation, and consequently abounds with terms in the various arts and
sciences. When the English found their native tongue deficient, they
had recourse to the Roman or Greek, where they were immediately
supplied with words, expressive of their new ideas, and easily
conforming to the genius of the English language.
The English retained its Saxon appearance till the twelfth century.[C]
From this period to Chaucer, who wrote in the reign of Edward III.
about the year 1360 or 70, the changes were slow and gradual. Chaucer
was a man of a very liberal education; well versed in the Greek and
Roman authors; and his mind had been improved by his travels. His
genius and acquirements led him to stray from the common stile of
writing, and enrich his verse with the elegance of the _Provençal_
language, at that time the most polished in Europe.[25] His abilities,
his reputation and his influence at court, enabled him, in opposition
to his adversaries, to introduce many beauties and much energy into our
language.[D]
From Chaucer to Addison our language was progressively refined, and
enriched with a variety of words, adequate to all its uses among a
people highly improved. The French language has furnished us with
military terms; the Dutch with sea phrases; the Greek and Roman with
words proper to form and polish the poetical, historical and rhetorical
stiles, and with terms in mathematics, philosophy and physic; the
modern Italian has supplied us with terms in music, painting and
sculpture; and in the Saxon, the ground-work of the whole, the yeomanry
find all the words for which they have any use in domestic life or in
the agricultural and most simple mechanical employments.
In this progress, the language has not only been enriched with a
copious supply of words, but the accent of words has generally been
established in such a manner as to render pronunciation melodious.
The spoken language is also softened, by an omission of the harsh and
guttural sounds which originally belonged to the language, and which
are still retained by the Germans, Scotch and Dutch. At the same time,
it is not, like the French, enervated by a loss of consonants. It holds
a mean between the harshness of the German, and the feebleness of the
French. It has more smoothness and fluency than the northern languages,
and less music in its vocal sounds, than the Spanish and Italian. As
the English have attempted every branch of science, and generally
proceeded farther in their improvements than other nations, so their
language is proportionably copious and expressive.
REMARKS.
Having given this general history and the present state of the
language, I proceed to some remarks that naturally result from the
subject.
1. The primitive language of the English nation was the Saxon, and
the words derived from that, now constitute the ground-work of modern
English. Hence all the rules of inflection, and most of the rules
of construction, are Saxon. The plural terminations of nouns, the
variations of the pronouns, the endings which mark the comparison of
adjectives, and the inflections of the verbs, are wholly of Teutonic
origin. For this reason, the rules of grammatical construction and the
propriety of particular phrases, can be ascertained only by the ancient
Saxon, and the modern English writings. The Greek and Roman languages
were constructed on different principles, which circumstance has not
been sufficiently attended to, by those who have attempted to compile
English Grammars. The consequence is, that false principles have been
introduced and taught as the rules of the English language, by which
means very eminent writers have been led into mistakes.
2. It has been remarked that the common people, descendants of the
Saxons, use principally words derived from the native language of their
ancestors, with few derivatives from the foreign tongues, for which
they have no occasion. This fact suggests the impropriety of writing
sermons, or other discourses designed for general use, in the elevated
English stile. To adapt a stile to common capacities, the language
should consist, as much as possible, of Saxon words, or of Latin and
French derivatives which are introduced into familiar discourse. The
modern taste for introducing uncommon words into writings, for rounding
periods, and rising into what is falsely called the elegant and sublime
stile, has had an unhappy effect in rendering language obscure or
unintelligible.[26]
3. The number and perfection of the languages from which the English
is collected, must account for its copiousness and the multitude of
synonimous words with which it abounds.
A primitive unmixed language rarely contains two words of the same
signification. On the contrary, rude nations often use one word to
express several ideas, which have some resemblance or analogy to each
other, in the constitution of things.
From the poverty of a language proceed repetitions of the same word, to
express an idea with particular force, or in the superlative degree.
Hence the Hebraisms, as they are called, of the Bible; to _rejoice_
with _joy_; to _fear_ with great _fear_. This mode of speaking is
frequent among all nations whose languages are imperfect.
But the English, on the other hand, abounds with synonimous terms, so
that a repetition of _words_ is generally unnecessary, even when there
is a necessity of repeating the _idea_ in the same sentence.
This copiousness, while it affords great advantages to a judicious
writer, may also be abused, and become the cause of a prolix verbose
stile. Instances of this fault occur in almost every author; it is one
of the greatest, as well as most frequent faults in writing, and yet
has scarcely been censured by critics.[27]
There are indeed but few instances in which two or three words express
_precisely_ the same idea; but there are many instances of words
conveying _nearly_ the same sense, which are thrown together by
careless writers without the least occasion. Take for example a passage
of Mr. Addison's Cato:
"So the _pure_, _limpid_ stream, when _foul_ with _stains_
Of rushing torrents and descending rains,
_Works_ itself _clear_ and as it runs _refines_,
Till by degrees the floating mirror shines."
_Pure_ and _limpid_ are here too nearly synonimous to be applied
to the same object. The same objection lies to the use of "_foul_
with _stains_." Between _working clear_ and _refining_, there is
perhaps no difference in idea: And the arrangement in the second line
is objectionable, for the consequence is placed before the cause;
_rushing torrents_ being the consequence of _descending rains_. Such
an assemblage of synonimous words clogs and enfeebles the expression,
and fatigues the mind of the reader. Writers of an inferior class
are particularly fond of crowding together epithets. If they would
describe a man they hate, he is a _low_, _vile_, _mean_, _despicable_,
_contemptible_ fellow. If they would describe a man of an amiable
character, he is the most _kind_, _humane_, _loving_, _tender_,
_affectionate_ being imaginable. Epithets, so liberally bestowed,
confuse our ideas and leave the mind without any distinct knowlege of
the character.[E]
To a copiousness of language, on the other hand, may be ascribed
the decline of action in speaking, and the want of animation. When
nations have but few words to express their ideas, they have recourse
to figures, to significant tones, looks and gestures, to supply the
defect. Hence the figurative language of the Orientals of antiquity;
hence the imagery of the Caledonian Bard;[28] the bold metaphorical
language of the American natives, and the expressive tones and
gesticulations that attend their speaking.
To this cause also must we ascribe the music of the Greek language, and
the action which accompanied the rehearsals on the stage. What was the
effect of necessity at first, became afterwards a matter of art. This
was the origin of the pantomime. Modern operas are also an imitation of
the ancient musical rehearsals of the theater.[29]
But as languages become rich and furnish words for communicating every
idea, action must naturally cease. Men will not give themselves the
pain of exerting their limbs and body to make themselves understood,
when a bare opening of their lips will answer the purpose. This may be
assigned as one principal cause of the decline of eloquence in modern
ages, particularly among the English.
To the same cause, in part, may we ascribe the difference in the French
and English manner of speaking. It is a common observation, that the
French use more action and are more animated in conversation, than the
English. The cause usually assigned, is, the natural vivacity of the
French nation; which appears to me not satisfactory; for the Germans,
who resemble the French, in some degree, in their manner of speaking,
are nevertheless a more grave people than the English.
I suspect that the difference may in part be thus accounted for. The
French, tho by no means a barren language, wants words to express many
ideas, for which the English is provided. For example, the English
has two forms for the future tense of verbs; _shall_ and _will_;
each of which has a distinct meaning. _Shall_ expresses event in the
first person, and promise, command or threatning in the second and
third. _Will_, in the first person, promises; in the second and third,
foretells. The French has no such distinction. The phrase _je lui
payerai_, the only form of the future, cannot convey such distinct
meanings, as _promise_ and _event_, unless accompanied with some
expressive tone or gesture. A Frenchman therefore, to express the
force of the English, _I will pay_, must supply the want of a distinct
word by action, or have recourse to a circumlocution. The same remark
holds with respect to _would_ and _should_, which, in a variety of
combinations, retain distinct significations.
The French has properly but one word, _plume_, for the three English
words, _feather, en_ and _quill_. Its verbs have not such a variety of
combinations to express the precise time of an action as the English.
_J'ecris_ is the only phrase for the English, _I write_ and _I am
writing_, which have distinct uses; and I do not know whether there
is any phrase used in French which will exactly correspond with the
English phrases answering to the inceptive verb of the Romans, _I am
going to write_, or, _am about writing_.[30]