THE
HISTORY
OF THE
ENGLISH LANGUAGE.
Though the Britains or Welſh were the firſt poſſeſſors of this iſiand, whoſe names are recorded, and are therefore in civil hiſtory always conſidered as the predeceſſors of the preſent inhabitants; yet the deduction of the Engliſh language, from the earlieſt times of which we have any knowledge to its preſent ſtate, requires no mention of them: for we have ſo few words, which can, with any probability, be refered to Britiſh roots, that we juſtly regard the Saxons and Welſh, as nations totally diſtinct. It has been conjectured, that when the Saxons ſeized this country, they ſuffered the Britains to live among them in a ſtate of vaſſalage, employed in the culture of the ground, and other laborious and ignoble ſervices. But it is ſcarcely poſſible, that a nation, however depreſſed, ſhould have been mixed in conſiderable numbers with the Saxons without ſome communication of their tongue, and therefore it may, with great reaſon, be imagined, that thoſe, who were not ſheltered in the mountains, periſhed by the ſword.
The whole fabrick and ſcheme of the Engliſh language is Gothick or Teutonick: it is a dialect of that tongue, which prevails over all the northern countries of Europe, except thoſe where the Sclavonian is ſpoken. Of theſe languages Dr. Hickes has thus exhibited the genealogy.
| GOTHICK, | ||
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 |
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| Anglo-Saxon, | Francick, | Cimbrick, |
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| Dutch, | German. | Iſlandick, |
| Friſick, | Norwegian, | |
| Engliſh. | Swediſh. | |
| Daniſh. | ||
Of the Gothick, the only monument remaining is a copy of the goſpels ſomewhat mutilated, which, from the ſilver with which the characters are adorned, is called the ſilver book. It is now preſerved at Upſal, and has been twice publiſhed. Whether the diction of this venerable manuſcript be purely Gothick, has been doubted; it ſeems however to exhibit the moſt ancient dialect now to be found of the Teutonick race, and the Saxon, which is the original of the preſent Engliſh, was either derived from it, or both deſcended from ſome common parent.
What was the form of the Saxon language, when, about the year 450, they firſt entred Britain, cannot now be known. They ſeem to have been a people without learning, and very probably without an alphabet; their ſpeech therefore, having been always curſory and extemporaneous, muſt have been artleſs and unconnected, without any modes of tranſition or involution of clauſes; which abruptneſs and inconnection may be obſerved even in their later writings. This barbarity may be ſuppoſed to have continued during their wars with the Britains, which for a time left them no leiſure for ſofter ſtudies; nor is there any reaſon for ſuppoſing it abated, till the year 570, when Auguſtine came from Rome to convert them to Chriſtianity. The Chriſtian religion always implies or produces a certain degree of civility and learning; they then became by degrees acquainted with the Roman language, and ſo gained, from time to time, ſome knowledge and elegance, till in three centuries they had formed a language capable of expreſſing all the ſentiments of a civiliſed people, as appears by king Alfred's paraphraſe or imitation of Boethius, and his ſhort preface, which I have ſelected as the firſt ſpecimen of ancient Engliſh.
CAP. I.
On ðære tide þe Gotan of Siððiu mægþe wiþ Romana rice gewin up ahofon. & miþ heora cyningum. Rædgota & Eallerica wæron hatne. Romane burig abræcon. and eall Italia rice ꝥ is betwux þam muntum & Sicilia ðam ealonde in anwald gerehton. & þa æfter þam foresprecenan cyningum Ðeodric feng to þam ilcan rice. se Đeodric wæf Amulinga. he wæs Cristen. þeah he on þam Arrianiscan gedwolan ðurhwunode. Đe gehet Romanum his freondscipe. swa ꝥ hi mostan heora ealdrihta wyrðe beon. Ac he þa gehat swiðe yfele gelæste. & swiðe wraþe geendode mid manegum mane. ꝥ wæs to eacan oþrum unarimedum yflum. ꝥ he Iohannes þone papan het ofslean. Đa wæs sum consul. ꝥ we heretoha hataþ. Boetius wæs haten. se wæs in boccræftum & on woruld þeawum se rihtwisesta. Se ða ongeat þa manigfealdan yfel þe se cyning Đeodric wiþ þam Cristenandome & wiþ þam Romaniscum witum dyde. he þa gemunde ðara eþnessa & þara ealdrihta. ðe hi under ðam Caserum hæfdon heora ealdhlafordum. Đa ongan he smeagan & leornigan on him selfum hu he ꝥ rice ðam unrihtwisan cyninge aferran mihte. & on ryht geleaffulra and on rihtwisra anwald gebringan. Sende þa digellice ærendgewritu to þam Casere to Constantinopolim. þær is Creca heah burg & heora cynestol. for þam se Casere wæs heora ealdhlaford cynnes. bædon hine þæt he him to heora Cristendome & to heora ealdrihtum gefultụmede. Đa ꝥ ongeat se wælhreowa cyning Đeodric. ða het he hine gebringan on carcerne & þær inne belucan. Đa hit ða gelomp ꝥ se arwyrða wæs on swa micelre nearanesse becom. þa wæs he swa micle swiðor on his Mode gedrefed. swa his Mod ær swiðor to þam woruld sæiþum ungewod wæs. & he ða nanre frofre be innan þam carcerne ne gemunde. ac he gefeoll niwol of dune on þa fior. & hine astrehte swiþe unrot. and ormod hine selfne ongan wepan & þus singende cwæþ.
