A Brief History of the English Language and Literature, Vol. 2 | Page 2

the rules of, or general statements about, a foreign language-- such as Latin, French, or German.
It is earnestly hoped that the slight sketches of the History of our Language and of its Literature may not only enable the young student to pass his examinations with success, but may also throw him into the attitude of mind of Oliver Twist, and induce him to "ask for more."
The Index will be found useful in preparing the parts of each subject; as all the separate paragraphs about the same subject will be found there grouped together.
J. M. D. M.

CONTENTS.

PART III.
Page The English Language, and the Family to which it belongs 193 The Periods of English 198 History of the Vocabulary 202 History of the Grammar 239 Specimens of English of Different Periods 250 Modern English 258 Landmarks in the History of the English Language 266

PART IV.
History of English Literature 271 Tables of English Literature 367
Index 381


PART III.
THE HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

INTRODUCTION.
1. +Tongue, Speech, Language.+-- We speak of the "English tongue" or of the "French language"; and we say of two nations that they "do not understand each other's speech." The existence of these three words-- +speech+, +tongue+, +language+-- proves to us that a language is something +spoken+,-- that it is a number of +sounds+; and that the writing or printing of it upon paper is a quite secondary matter. Language, rightly considered, then, is an +organised set of sounds+. These sounds convey a meaning from the mind of the speaker to the mind of the hearer, and thus serve to connect man with man.
2. +Written Language.+-- It took many hundreds of years-- perhaps thousands-- before human beings were able to invent a mode of writing upon paper-- that is, of representing +sounds+ by +signs+. These signs are called +letters+; and the whole set of them goes by the name of the +Alphabet+-- from the two first letters of the Greek alphabet, which are called alpha, beta. There are languages that have never been put upon paper at all, such as many of the African languages, many in the South Sea Islands, and other parts of the globe. But in all cases, every language that we know anything about-- English, Latin, French, German-- existed for hundreds of years before any one thought of writing it down on paper.
3. +A Language Grows.+-- A language is an +organism+ or +organic existence+. Now every organism lives; and, if it lives, it grows; and, if it grows, it also dies. Our language grows; it is growing still; and it has been growing for many hundreds of years. As it grows it loses something, and it gains something else; it alters its appearance; changes take place in this part of it and in that part,-- until at length its appearance in age is something almost entirely different from what it was in its early youth. If we had the photograph of a man of forty, and the photograph of the same person when he was a child of one, we should find, on comparing them, that it was almost impossible to point to the smallest trace of likeness in the features of the two photographs. And yet the two pictures represent the same person. And so it is with the English language. The oldest English, which is usually called Anglo-Saxon, is as different from our modern English as if they were two distinct languages; and yet they are not two languages, but really and fundamentally one and the same. Modern English differs from the oldest English as a giant oak does from a small oak sapling, or a broad stalwart man of forty does from a feeble infant of a few months old.
4. +The English Language.+-- The English language is the speech spoken by the Anglo-Saxon race in England, in most parts of Scotland, in the larger part of Ireland, in the United States, in Canada, in Australia and New Zealand, in South Africa, and in many other parts of the world. In the middle of the +fifth+ century it was spoken by a few thousand men who had lately landed in England from the Continent: it is now spoken by more than one hundred millions of people. In the course of the next sixty years, it will probably be the speech of two hundred millions.
5. +English on the Continent.+-- In the middle of the fifth century it was spoken in the north-west corner of Europe-- between the mouths of the Rhine, the Weser, and the Elbe; and in Schleswig there is a small district which is called +Angeln+ to this day. But it was not then called +English+; it was more probably called +Teutish+, or +Teutsch+, or +Deutsch+-- all words connected with a generic word which covers many families and languages-- +Teutonic+. It was a rough guttural