was established in Britain. The invaders being Germanic tribes, speaking dialects of the Plat Deutsch, or Low German. It is however asserted, that the Jutes were a mere fraction of the invaders. This we think is fully answered, by the fact, that they were not only the earliest of the Saxon tribes who invaded Britain, but that they established the first kingdom of the Octarchy, possessed the whole of Kent, the Isle of Wight, and the southern part of Hampshire; which latter even in Bede's time was called the nation of the Jutes, "Jutarum natio nominatur." But the clearest and most satisfactory proof, that the Jutes were a Saxon, not a Scandinavian tribe, is afforded by a comparison of languages. The language of a people is the most unerring mark of origin and descent. "The Germanic or Teutonic Languages (the Anglo-Saxon, Friesic, old Saxon, Moso-Gothic, Alemanic, and Francic) are easily distinguished from the Scandinavian tongues, (the Icelandic, Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish). The Germanic languages have no passive voice, and have only one definite article, which is always placed before the noun or adjective. But the Scandinavians have now, and have had from the earliest times, a passive form of the verb, and two definite articles, one placed before nouns, and the other affixed to them."19 The definite article 'the' both in Danish and Icelandick 20 is placed after the noun, and made to coalesce with it, while in the Anglo-Saxon and the kindred tongues it is always set before the nouns, thus, This peculiarity of the Danish idiom is not to be found in the dialect of the Jutes." 21 That the reader may more clearly see the marked distinction between the Jutish and Scandinavian dialects, we 19 Bosworth, A.-S. Dictionary, preface, p. xi. 20 It should be observed that the Icelandic is the purest specimen of the old Danish (Danska-Túnga) and Scandinavian (Norrona). 21 M. Halbertsma, on the Friesic, ut ante. add the most ancient specimens which have reached our times of each of those venerable languages. For the Jutish, we have selected the laws of ÆDELBERCT, the Jutish K. of Kent, who was converted to the Christian faith circ. A.D. 600; these laws are by some considered to be the earliest A.-S. composition. XVII. LiF man in manneɲ tun ærest zeirneð. vi. rcıllınzum zebete. se pe æfter irneð. ш. scillingas. гþþan zehpýlc rcilling.. XXII. Lip man mannan offlæhð æt openum zɲæfe. xx. rcillinga. Forzelde. in. XL. nihta ealne leod forgelde :· LXXVII. Lif man mægð zebized ceapi zeceapod sý. gif hit unfacne is. gif hit þonne is eft þær æt ham zebɲenze. J him man hir ɲcæt agere:· LXXVIII. Li hio cpic beann zebyneð. healyne cæτ age. дIF ceonl æn rрýlτeð:· THESE ARE THE DOOMS WHICH KING THELBIRHT ESTABLISHED IN AUGUSTINE'S DAYS. I. The property of God and of the church, twelvefold; a bishop's property, elevenfold; a priest's property, ninefold; a deacon's property, sixfold; a clerk's property, threefold; church-frith, two-fold; M... frith, twofold. IX. If a freeman steal from a freeman, let him make threefold bōt, and let the king have the wite and all the chattels. XVII. If any one be the first to make an inroad into a man's 'tun,' let him make bōt with VI shillings; let him who follows with III shillings; after each a shilling. XXII. If a man slay another at an open grave, let him pay xx shillings, and pay the whole 'leod' within XL days. LXXVII. If a man buy a maiden with cattle, let the bargain stand if it be without guile; but if there be guile, let him bring her home again, and let his property be restored to him. LXXVIII. If she bear a live child, let her have half the property, if the husband die first. As specimens of the Danska-Tunga, or Norrona, the Old Danish or Scandinavian, we have selected the following: 22 OLD DANISH. BEFORE A.D. 645. pann hefi ek manna mennskra fundit hring heyjanda brammastan at affli. LITERAL ENGLISH. Him have I among men Of the human race, Among warriors, found The strongest of body. From the celebrated Death Song of Ragnar-Lodbrok, between A.D. 862-867. OLD DANISH. Hjuggu vèr með hjórvi! hörð kom hrið á skjöldu nár fell niðr til jarðar á Norðimbralandi; varat um eina ottu öldum þörf at fry'ja Hildar leik, þar er hvassir hjalmstofn bitu skjomar; böðmána sá ek bresta, brá því fira lifi. LITERAL ENGLISH. We hewed with swords! Hard came the storm on our shields, The glittering sword split the steelcapt skull, The moon-round shield saw I broken. And thus men's lives were lost. We may conclude our notice of the language of our ancestors with a tabular view of the several races and languages from the earliest periods of our history. 22 Dr. Bosworth's A.-S. Dictionary, Pref. pp. 150-152. From these tables (taken chiefly from Dr. Bosworth's A.-S. Dictionary), we ascertain the various tribes and languages, antient and modern, of the British Isles, and their relative connection with the other nations, languages, and tongues of Celtic and Teutonic origin. The northern invaders of England, in the latter period of the Anglo-Saxon monarchy, were of Scandinavian origin, and had some influence, particularly in the northern counties, upon the A.-S. language. Our Norman conquerors, who were also of Scandinavian origin, had entirely lost their Scandinavian or Norræna Túnga, long previous to their conquest of England (A.D. 1066), and had adopted a corrupt Latin dialect, usually denominated Norman French, which they introduced into England, and which continued to be the language of the court, of the laws, and of the polite, for many centuries after the Norman conquest. The Anglo-Saxon, which had always continued to be the common language of the people, began to resume its ascendancy in the time of K. Henry III, and we continue to use it at the present day in its refined state of modern English.23 During the prevalence of the Anglo-Norman language, our laws were written either in Norman-French or in Latin, without any apparently fixed rule. And the Custumale Cantianum is accordingly handed down to us in the former language. Upon the whole, we consider that (in the absence of all proof to the contrary) we have adduced satisfactory historical 23 The radical part of modern English is of Gothic origin.. If we examine the most simple specimens of our written language, or that which is used in our colloquial intercourse with each other on ordinary occasions, we shall find the average Saxon words to be not less than eight out of ten, or on the most moderate computation fifteen out of twenty. Of fifty-eight words of which the Lord's Prayer is composed, not more than three words are of Gallo-Norman introduction, and those too are corruptions from the Latin. The remaining fifty-five are immediately and originally derived from the AngloSaxon. (See Bosworth's Elements of A.-S. Grammar, p. xi, and the authorities there cited.) |