Page:Ralcy H. Bell - The Mystery of Words (1924).pdf/231

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Historic Periods, etc.

ment and of pursuit. It probably was during this time that words for sea, salt, fish, etc., began to appear in Europe.

A movement among the European tribes carried the ancestors of the Teutons and the Slavs northward through the forests of Germany, those of the Greeks and the Romans toward the Mediterranean. Evidence of early associations between the progenitors of the Celts and the Latins, the Slavs and the Teutons, is found in their languages; but the ancestors of the Greeks apparently separated themselves from the other groups.

The next period, seen through the Teutonic group of tongues, is marked by an advance in civilization. Agriculture already had become a recognized industry. Civic organization had advanced. Commerce had been established; and the sea-faring life had well begun along the northwestern coasts. Natural phenomena were observed, named, and studied. At least all this would seem to be true, if we can judge by words of that time—for it has

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