On the Continent the Anglo-Saxon has disappeared; distinct traces of its older forms may, however, still be found in the so-called Low-German dialects.

The Frisian is probably most nearly related to the Scandinavian and Anglo-Saxon; it differs, like these, much from other Low-German dialects. It is especially by means of its older forms, well known through numerous literary documents of the age of the middle High-German, that we can judge of its great antiquity as a language. Under the name of Western, Northern and Eastern Frisian, it was once spoken all over the vast territory along the northern coast of Germany, between the Rhine and the Elbe, and north of the mouth of the latter. Since these lands have become parts of Holland, Germany or Denmark, the Frisian has ceased to be a national tongue and to be used for literary purposes. It lives still as a popular idiom in the above-mentioned countries, and has been preserved in greatest purity in Western Frisia or Friesland. Eastern Frisia and the neighboring islands, Heligoland, as well as the parish of Saterland in Westphalia, use it still almost exclusively; but in Northern Frisia on the western coast of Slesvig and the islands, it is rapidly disappearing before the encroaching German. The last-mentioned dialect alone had preserved the old forms of the

dual.

The remaining idioms, which belong to the older or Gothic branch of Germanic tongues, may be designated as Low-German, originally the collective name of this whole branch, but now limited to the Dutch, in Holland called "nederduitsch" (Lower German), and to the Low-German proper, as far as it is not spoken in Holland and Belgium.

DUTCH-PLATT-DEUTSCH.

365

The Dutch contains two principal dialects, the Dutch proper and the Flemish, the former occupying its part of the Netherlands to the exclusion of all other idioms, the latter struggling with the increasing power of the French. Dutch and Flemish are, however, essentially the same language, the difference extending hardly beyond the manner of writing the two dialects. The Dutch as a spoken language is not soft and musical, but sonorous, dignified, and emphatic. For purposes of comparative philology, its great power of composition is especially important. Almost all technical terms, for which the English and even the German borrow words from exotic sources, are in Dutch composed from their own roots. The principal dialects, as well as the Dutch itself, have a literature only since a comparatively late period of their existence; the Dutch, however, far more numerous and valuable writings than is commonly known or appreciated.

The popular language of the countries between the Rhine and Weser, and the Weser and Elbe, where it is not Dutch or Frisian, belongs to the old Saxon. Approaching closely the Dutch, the Platt-Deutsch differs essentially from the Anglo-Saxon. Old Saxon, Middle-Low-German and Low-German (Platt-Deutsch), are thus not so much contemporary varieties as different forms of the same idiom, belonging to successive periods. The PlattDeutsch is more soft and flowing than the High-German; it changes the sch of the latter into s; the harsh sz or z into t, and delights in pure, full vowels. Possessing a moderate literature of its own, it is spoken all along the northern coast of Germany, and extends even beyond into the provinces that were originally and are still in part at least Slavic, as far as the interior of Courland and Livonia.

CHAPTER LV.

High-German.

ESSENTIALLY differing in forms and laws of euphony from these dialects is the High-German, a language which had already an independent existence and a high degree of perfection at a time when the Gothic was still a national tongue. Of those distant days and ancient forms it bears even now unmistakable marks, as, for instance, in the carefully-preserved Instrumentalis. Its most characteristic feature, the commutation of sounds, seems, however, not to have been observed before the eighth or ninth century. From the Low-German it differs especially in sounds, as, for instance, in the introduction of z and s for the t of the latter, not to speak of a thorough change of the simple vowels, which it exchanges for long vowels or diphthongs. Rich in literary documents from the very earliest times, and thoroughly known through the researches of eminent scholars, it is commonly divided into three principal dialects, the Suabian, Bavaro-Austrian, and the Frankish. This division is already observed in the old High-German, which was spoken and written from the seventh to the eleventh century, as well as in the middle High-German, which prevailed until the days of Luther. The Reformation and the Bible-translation of the great Reformer gave the new High-German, the dialect of a single

province, inhabited by Slaves, the supremacy over all rival dialects. The town of Meissen, the central place of that province, belonged then, as it partly does now, to the Sorabian district; and Slavic writers point with pride to the fact that modern High-German owes its supremacy, as they believe, to the admirable pliancy of Slavic organs of speech applied to the pronunciation of a Germanic idiom. It is well known that in like manner the most highly-prized Italian is the Tuscan dialect spoken by Romans, lingua Toscana in bocca Romana. The German has preserved much more of ancient grammar and inflection than the English, Dutch or Danish; still, it has lost many full and pure vowels, which it has a tendency to change into c, and is, in this respect especially, far inferior to the fullsounding, euphonious Swedish. The Low-German, as well as all former dialects of the High-German, still continue as provincial or local idioms, which occasionally appear, for specific purposes, even in literature, and serve as an inexhaustible mine of old and precious forms for the increase and development of the written language. It is fortunate that Germany, so fatally divided in a political point of view, and possessing so many radically different dialects, has at least succeeded, by the aid of a sacred cause and its noble standard-bearer, to unite its numerous parts by the strong tie of a common language for all the higher purposes of life. The German has, moreover, since it has thus become the language of the Church, the learned and the press, increased in perfection as it has advanced in extent, and is now one of the most cultivated and extensive of all Germanic dialects. It is not only spoken in Germany proper, but also in parts of Switzerland, Hungary, and Transylvania, in

Slesvig and Southern Jutland, and to the east, mixed with LowGerman, beyond the limits of Courland. The irrational orthography of the German and the continued use of certain peculiarities, as, for instance, the employment of capital initials for all nouns, will, it is hoped, soon yield to the increasing reluctance to continue them merely because they have existed for ages, and the influence of examples set by such men as Grimm and his pupils. The latter object, for similar reasons, to the use of the peculiar letters of the German, which they qualify as merely corrupt and disfigured imitations of Latin letters, and instead of which they employ the usual Roman characters.

CHAPTER LVI.

CELTIC GROUP.

Cymric-Welsh-Cornish-Breton (Armorican) —Gaelic-Irish-Manx Gaelic proper.

For a long time the Celtic was considered as a language that had no connection with the Indo-European family; many saw in it a relic of the original inhabitants of Europe, and some even maintained its relationship with the Basque. It has since been established, and, thanks to the admirable works of Prichard, generally admitted, that the Celtic belongs to the same IndoEuropean family, of which we have mentioned the principal members, and that it has no connection whatever with the Basque.