-
THE STUDY
OF THE
SAXON AND GERMAN
LANGUAGES COMBINED,
PROPOSED
BY
A. FREITAG, LL.D.
From the university of Goettingen
TEACHER OF MODERN LANGUAGES IN THE CENTRAL HIGH
SCHOOL OF BALTIMORE, AND PROFESSOR OF GERMAN
IN ST. MARY's college.
'Αριστοτελης ἔφη, της παιδειας τας μεν ριζάς είναι πικρας, γλυκείς
δε τους καρπους.
Aristoteles dicebat, literarum radices esse amaras, fructus autem
dulces.
ALERE FLAMMAN
820,7
F87


BALTIMORE:
METROPOLITAN PRESS.
1846.
Dor M
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EVER since there were different languages, it must
frequently have occurred to the reflecting mind, that
learning a new language makes us a new man. Aulus
Gellius, in his Attic nights 1. 16. c. 17, relates that
Ennius used to say that he had three hearts, because
he could speak Greek, Oscian and Latin (tria corda sese
habere dicebat, quod loqui Græce, Osce et Latine
sciret). The English language, a combination as it
were of all other tongues, invites of itself to the study
of the several languages of which it is composed. Indeed,
comparative philology, embracing and illustrating the
whole history of the past, is the only means by which
a complete knowledge of English can be acquired.
Formerly most linguists considered the classic lan-
guages, Latin and Greek, as the chief component parts
of English, deriving the Anglo-Saxon and other Teutonic
languages, which are its very groundwork, from them
or even from Hebrew. It is only in modern times that
the true relation in which the classic and Teutonic lan-
guages stand to each other, has been duly appreciated.
The Sanscrit of Asia is the common mother of both.
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The sisters wandered at different times into Europe,
after their eldest, the Celtic, had long before-nobody
can tell, how many thousand years ago-led the way.
Whatever changes they have undergone in their travels
and new homes, a comparison still shows the close
analogy of their grammatical structure; many words,
particularly pronominal and verbal roots, are the same
in all. Of the Romanic languages, as Italian, French
Spanish and Portuguese, the two former have principally
given words to the English. But as their own founda-
tion is Latin and Teutonic, the greatest interest lies
not so much in the words as in the observation of the
various forms, which they adopt in their transition from
one language into another: Greek: 'GKOTOS, It. vescovo,
Fr. évêque, Sp. obispo, E. bishop. Lat. exitus, It.
uscita, Fr. issue, E. issue, Lat. flagellum, E. flail, Fr.
fléau, Lat. scutifer, E. esquire, Fr. écuyer, Sp. escudero,
Gr. sporn, E. spur, It. sprone, Fr. éperon, Sp. espolon,
espuela, Lat. senior, Fr. seigneur, It. signore, contrac-
ted ser, E. sir, E. curmudgeon, from the Fr. cœur
méchant, Lat. via strata, It. strada, E. street. Some-
times even Latin and Teutonic words coalesce: It. ba-
luardo, Sp. baluarte, Fr. boulevard, E. bulwark, from
Latin ballista, and Teutonic ward, werk.
Among the Teutonic languages the German holds the
first place. It blooms still in its native purity and fresh-
ness, not inferior to Latin and Greek in their brightest
days. It is so copious and its grammar so comprehen-
sive, that its thorough study not only gives the key to the
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kindred living languages, as Dutch, Danish, Swedish
and Nordish, but throws new light upon Latin and
Greek themselves. Its literature pressing all the sweets
from all the flowers, is like a beehive, from which
many foreign nations gather honey.-Its oldest and
most intimate companion, the Saxon, did not share
so favorable a lot. By the Franks, their deadly enemies,
the Saxons were scattered over Europe. Many valua-
ble documents of this noble language, particularly in
Anglo-Saxon, are, however, preserved; and in some
parts of the north of Germany the Saxon is still spoken
by the people, though no longer taught in the schools,
nor used for writing books or public records. Full two
thirds of the English language are taken from Saxon.
It differs from German no more than the several Greek
dialects differ from each other; as a comparison of Ger-
man words with Saxon words of the same signification
preserved in English will show: E. light Gr. licht,
E. doughty Gr. tuchtig, E. toll Gr. zoll, E. worm Gr.
wurm, E. dwarf Gr. zwerg, E. stay Gr. stag, E. knee
Gr. knie, E. to knead, Gr. kneten, E. knot Gr. knote,
E. loam Gr. lehm, E. to loan Gr. lehnen, E. night Gr.
nacht, E. hay Gr. heu, E. tile Gr. ziegel (Fr. tuile), E.
clock Gr. glocke (Fr. cloche, clocher), E. brown Gr.
braun (It. and Sp. bruno, Fr. brun), derived from the
verb: Gr. brennen, gebrannt, brannte (Fr. bruler, It.
bruciare), E. to burn, originally also: to distill, whence:
brandy, Gr. branntwein etc.-Still worse was the fate of
the Gothic language, of which we possess nothing but
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fragments of a translation of the Bible, made by bishop
Ulfilas from the year 365 to 380: the most ancient and
precious remnant of all Teutonic languages, from which
we may see, how many traces of their language the
Goths have left behind them in their peregrination from
the Black sea to Spain.
Who, under such circumstances, can wonder, that
the Study of the Teutonic languages not only in England,
but also in France and Italy has become the delight of
the learned, of the dilettanti, of every body who aspires
to a refined education? The Anglo-Americans have
a still more imperative motive for this study, as more
than one fifth of them are Germans, and as from year
to year the immigrations of people that speak kindred
languages, increase. The study of languages, which
is nowhere so necessary and useful as in Anglo-America,
the happy asylum of mankind, where so many tongues
that are spoken on earth, meet-would reach its
perfection, if, at least, the two last years of the scholas-
tic course were also devoted to Teutonic, especially
Saxo-German, along with which, according to the pro-
ficiency of the scholar, the classic and Romanic lan-
guages might be compared and rehearsed. Some results
of such a study it may not be out of place to adduce
here.
We learn a law pervading all Sanscrit languages,
called guna by the Indian grammarians, by which it is
explained, why we say: man pl. men, tooth pl. teeth,
mouse pl. mice, old comp. elder, find imp. found.-We
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discover the principle upon which the difference of: to
set up from to upset, to look over from to overlook, etc.
rests. We become familiar with the forms which the
deep guttural sound, preserved in German, Dutch and
Spanish, has adopted in English and French: Gr. chauen
(kauen), E. to chew, Fr. chiquer.—So we obtain a rule,
showing in which words the Fr. h is mute or aspirate,
viz. la halle, from Teutonic, l'homme, from Latin.
The word ink, D. inkt, Fr. encre, Sp. tinta, Gr. tinte,
Ital. inchiostro, all from the Latin tinctum ostro, includes
the whole history of our present manner of writing.
The word slave, Gr. sclav, It. schiavo, Fr. and Sp.
esclave, exhibits the antipathies of the German and
Sclavonian nations, how it was transferred into the
Romanic languages, and why the Latin, servus, could
not prevail. In like manner the conquerors kept their
own Teutonic word signifying war: It. and Sp. guerra,
Fr. guerre.
pg g
The Romans speak much of Teuto, Teutonicus, they
experienced some furorem Teutonicum. Now we hear
every day the word Dutch, partly used as a nickname,
partly abhorred by the Germans, without any one re-
garding its true meaning. It was the generic appella-
tion, which the Germans, as they were called by the
Romans, gave themselves, and which the Germans of
to-day still retain at home. The root is in Gothic:
thiuda, old Saxon: dhiod, dhioda, old German: diot,
diota, people, thiudisc, popular. Well were they entitled
to call themselves the people, who gave to the social
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and political institutions of Europe and America their
present features; perhaps more than the Hebrews, to call
themselves the people of Jehova. The disrepute of the
word originated with Charlemagne, passed to Holland,
and settled down in England.
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∞
From my early youth languages were my favorite
study. For the last nine years I have been continually
engaged in this city in teaching ancient and modern
languages. Docendo discimus. After such a prepara-
tion I confidently offer myself to give lessons in Saxo-
German in the above extent.
Baltimore, November, 1846.
A. FREITAG.
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