CHAPTER ONE.

ORIGIN OF THE ENGLISH NATION AND
LANGUAGE.

6. The People. It is supposed that the early inhabitants of England came originally from the far East, probably from Western Asia. One wave of emigration followed another, until in the course of many. generations the foremost of them was crowded westward to the shores of the Atlantic. From the coast of what is now France and Spain some of these people, known as the Kelts, found their way to the British Isles, and were there called Britons. These ancient Keltic Britons were in two divisions, the Kimry and the Gaels. The Gaelic Kelts spread into Scotland, and were afterward known as Picts and Scots.

About sixty years before Christ, the Romans, under Cæsar, conquered the Britons, and held possession of Southeastern England for more than four hundred years. Meantime, another branch, belonging to the same great family as the Kelts, had - in the course of centuries made their way by degrees across the continent, and settled in Northwestern Europe. These Teutons, as they were called, were bold and warlike in temper, quite unlike the more peaceful and beauty-loving Kelts. After the Romans left England, the adventurous Teutons made their way into that country, and also took possession of Northern France. Some of the Teutons who gained a foothold in England were known as Angles, and from

them the country took its name - Angle-land, or England. The people of England were at this time very rude in their manner of living, and seemed to be fond of war for its own sake. Other bands of Teutons, from time to time, came across the North Sea from the Continent, especially from Denmark, and formed colonies on the east coast of England. Those already in possession of the country resisted these encroachments, and for many years there was almost continual fighting. At one time the country was divided into six or eight petty kingdoms. These were finally united under the good King Alfred, and during his wise reign the country grew rapidly in wealth and intelligence.

The Teutons who had invaded France received the name there of Northmen (Normans) since they came from the North- and their country was called Normandy. The French, known at that time as Gauls, were even then an affable people, more polite and better educated than the Teutons. The Normans associated freely with the French, adopted their language almost wholly, and became more refined by the intercourse. In the eleventh century, Normandy was ruled by a bold, ambitious prince, afterward known as William the Conqueror. In the year 1066 he invaded England, won the battle of Hastings, and established himself as ruler of the country. For many years there was mutual hatred between the conquerors and the conquered. But when wars arose that threatened the safety of England, they united in defense of their common country, fought side by side, and were afterward better friends. Thus it was that the Kelts, Teutons, and Norman French combined, intermarried, and formed the English people.

7. The Language. — The English language, like the people who speak it, is composite. It was formed from the diverse elements furnished by the different peoples who united to form the nation. These elements, however, were in very unequal proportion.

As the Teutons were the dominant people in forming the nation, so the Teutonic element constituted the basis of the language known as First-English, or Anglo-Saxon. The term "Anglo-Saxon" does not, however, imply a commingling of two different languages; for the speech of the Angles and that of the Saxons was essentially

the same.

For nearly a thousand years, this First-English was the prevailing language in England. The Kelts resisted the encroachments of the Teutons with great bravery; but, being a milder people, they were subdued, and finally mingled and intermarried with their more hardy neighbors. Thus, as the slow centuries rolled by, the Keltic tongue gradually fell into disuse. At the present time, scarcely a trace of it can be discovered in modern English writings, though it still characterizes the vernacular of the common people in Wales, Ireland, the Isle of Man, and the adjacent parts of England and Scotland.

The Roman occupation of England affected the language but little, and that mainly in the names of a few places. The Danes who formed colonies on the eastern coast of England also left traces of their language in the names of places.

When the Normans, under William, took possession of England, they became the ruling people. Their language, the Norman-French, was the only one allowed at court or in legal proceedings, and soon became the fash

ionable speech in polite circles. For a long time the two languages remained distinct; but as succeeding generations forgot the animosities of their fathers, there came a fusion of the languages as well as of the people.

The language spoken by the French people at this time was called a Romanz tongue, because it was derived from the Latin, the language used in Rome. The Romanz tongues were composed mainly of Latin words; but many of the words had been changed, in their orthography as well as in their pronunciation. This imperfect Latin was still further corrupted by the Normans, and was then called Norman-French. This was

the language which was brought into England by the Normans, and which has given our modern English so many Latinized words.

The Old-English words (now called Saxon) are shorter and stronger than the words derived from Latin, and constitute the greater part of the speech of our common people, especially in naming utensils that are in constant use, and in talking of domestic or other ordinary affairs of life. The Latinized words give a smoother flow to language, and are quite freely used in scientific and technical works, as well as in other writings where scrupulous exactness and close discrimination are required.

These different elements give our language greater facility, and by furnishing two or more words of the same meaning enable us to avoid unpleasant repetitions. The following paragraph is quoted from Chambers's Cyclopedia of English Literature:

The great bulk of our laws and social institutions, the grammatical structure of our language, our most familiar and habitual expressions in common life, are derived from our rude northern