LETTIC-SLAVIC GROUP.

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Provençal, the other on the headwaters of the Inn, and more mixed with Italian. The dialect possesses but a small literature; the oldest book dates back to 1551.

Lettic-Slavic Group.-It was for some time the custom to consider the two branches which form this group, the Lettic and the Slavic, one and the same language, an opinion strongly supported by the great resemblance which they bear to each other. Recent researches have, however, brought to light radical differences which show distinctly their early separation and independent development. The Lithuanian, for instance, has been found in some parts to be much older than the Slavic, having no neuter, hardly any inflection of the noun, and no distinction between the third person of the dual of the singular and those of the plural, whilst the Slavic has the same advantage over the Lithuanian in the inflection of the verb. To represent the Lettic idioms as the result of a mixture of Germanic and Slavic elements was another, formerly very popular impression. It is true that the Lettic is closely connected with the German by the exclusive community of numerous roots and certain peculiarities of inflection. But the Slavic, since it is better known, has been found to have at least as much in common with the German, and such a resemblance could, at best. only prove an early community of descent, but in no way the derivation of one from the other or subsequent amalgamation.

CHAPTER LI.

LETTIC-SLAVIC GROUP.

Lettic-Lithuanian-Prussian-Lettic proper.

(a.) Lettic. This branch is mainly known through that language which, on account of its antique and well-preserved structure, is commonly considered the oldest of this group not only, but the most ancient and most important of all now existing Indo-German Languages. This is

The Lithuanian, in comparison with which the two cognate dialects, the Prussian and the Lettic proper, appear as much younger idioms. It has alone preserved the characteristic seven cases and the dual of Indo-German languages, and among the former some so well preserved that they are even now identically the same as those of the Sanscrit. On the other hand, it has kept entirely free from those remarkable modifications of sounds, which are a characteristic feature of the other languages of this group, and which arise especially from the peculiar influence which the letter i here exercises on the preceding consonant.

The Lithuanian is of especial importance for the understanding of the cognate idioms, especially the Slavic; it is, as it were, the connecting link between these numerous younger

idioms and the other Indo-European languages, and occupies the same position among Slavic tongues that the Gothic holds, as the oldest and least corrupted of Germanic languages in the German family. It is not a little remarkable that such an ancient language, so little changed and mixed, can be found at all among the now living idioms-a circumstance which the political insignificance and the undisturbed isolation of the people of Lithuania alone can explain. The Icelandic is the only similar instance among the German tongues.

The Lithuanian has, however, undergone such changes as every language suffers in the course of centuries. Thus it has lost all the oldest modes of expressing relation by reduplication, change of radical vowels and augment, besides many inflections of noun and verb, for which quite modern and peculiar substitutes have been introduced. It forms the passive by the aid of the auxiliary to be (esmi, essi, esti), and possesses a Medium by means of the addition of the pronoun of the third person, s or si to all persons of the verb.

A literature cannot properly be said to exist in this remarkable idiom; besides popular songs which have been collected but recently and a longer poem on the seasons by Donaleitis, there exist only translations of religious writings. This, combined with historical revolutions in that part of Europe where the Lithuanian is spoken, threaten a speedy extinction of this noble language. It is now in use only among the common people of some portions of the province called Eastern Prussia, around the towns of Memel, Tilsit, Ragnit, Labiau, and Insterburg. Here also a strong infusion of German race and tongue has been more or less fatal to the Lithuanian, which prevails

pure and unmixed only on the eastern frontier of Prussia and in the neighborhood of Memel. The last division of Poland gave to Prussia some additional territory to the east of Old Prussia, in which the same idiom is spoken, so that it counts now, altogether, probably over 200,000 Lithuanian subjects. Schaffarik counts in Russia about 1,282,000 inhabitants of the same race, but in both countries their number diminishes and their language disappears more rapidly even than the Welsh of England.

The Lithuanian is written with German or Latin letters, slightly modified after the manner of the Polish, so as to be able to express such sounds as were not originally represented in these alphabets.

1

The Prussian has unfortunately suffered already the sad fate which now threatens the Lithuanian. It was originally spoken along the coast of the Baltic, beginning east of the Vistula and extending as far as Memel. It was, however, early and permanently injured, whilst under the iron rule of the Teutonic Order, whose masters destroyed their Prussian, then mostly Pagan, subjects with fierce cruelty. It is true that the last of the Masters of this Order, Albert of Brandenburg, treated them better and even caused the catechism to be translated into their language, thus bequeathing to posterity the only written document of this idiom which we now possess. The latter, however, did not long survive, and, towards the middle of the seventeenth century, it had already become extinct as a national tongue. As a language spoken by nearly two millions of men, it retains, at least, a certain historical interest; the absence of literature impairs, of course, its linguistic value as one of the Lettic idioms.

The Lettic proper is the popular language of Courland, the greater part of Livonia and the peninsula which separates the Curische Sea from the Baltic. It stands very nearly in the same relation to the Lithuanian as the Italian to the Latin. It has an article, which the older language did not require, weakened inflections, and a large admixture of sounds and forms derived from the Slaves that surround it on all sides. Still, it is not written with Slavic but with German letters, and even possesses the German sign h; to represent the sounds which the Lettic alone possesses, diacritical marks are added to those German letters, whose sounds most resemble their own. The bulk of words is the same as that of the Lithuanian, the laws of euphony alone differ, and a moderate number of German and Russian words have been admitted. Its literature does not extend beyond translations of the Bible and religious writings, for which the purest of its many dialects has been employed. A few printed national and popular songs are uncommonly beautiful and interesting also by their mythological allusions. The Lettic is written with German letters, of which even the h has been admitted, and those sounds for which the German alphabet had no signs, are expressed by diacritical marks.