The English Language Part 3

The name Chamavi is still preserved in that of the district of _Hameland_, near Deventer.--D.N. and G.D.S.

The Bructeri, Sigambri, and Ripuarian Franks bring us to the Franks of the Middle Rhine, a portion of the division which it is not necessary to follow.

-- 37. _The Thuringians._--First mentioned in the beginning of the fourth century. Locality, between the Hartz, the Werra a feeder of the Weser, and the Sala a feeder of the Elbe. As early as the sixth century the Thuringians and Saxons are conterminous, and members of the same confederation against the Franks.--D.N.

-- 38. _The Catti._--Locality, the valley of the Fulda, forming part of the Upper Weser. Conterminous with the Thuringi (from whom they were separated by the river Werra) on the east, and the Franks on the west. The modern form of the word _Catti_ is _Hesse_, and the princ.i.p.ality of Hesse is their old locality.--G.D.S.

-- 39._ Geographical conditions of the Saxon area._--_Southern and northern limits._--The Saxons were in league with the Thuringians and Jutes against the Franks.

By the Jutes they were limited on the north, by the Thuringians on the south-east, and by the Franks on the south-west; the middle portion of the southern frontier being formed by the Catti between the Franks and Thuringians. {19}

This gives us a _southern_ and a _northern_ limit.

_Western limit._--This is formed by the Batavians and Frisians of the sea-coast, _i.e._, by the Batavians of Holland, Guelderland, and Overyssel, and, afterwards, by the Frisians of West and East Friesland, and of Oldenburg.

Here, however, the breadth of the non-Saxon area is uncertain. Generally speaking, it is broadest in the southern, and narrowest in the northern portion. The Frisian line is narrower than the Batavian, whilst when we reach the Elbe the Saxons appear on the sea-coast. Perhaps they do so on the Weser as well.

-- 40. _Eastern limit._--_Preliminary remark._--Before the eastern limit of the Saxons is investigated, it will be well to indicate the extent to which it differs from the southern.

_a._ The Thuringians, Catti (or Hessians), and Franks, on the southern boundary of the Saxon area were _Germans_. Hence the line of demarcation between their language was no broad and definite line, like that between the English and the Welsh, but rather one representing a difference of dialect, like that between the Yorks.h.i.+re and the Lowland Scotch. Hence, too, we ought not only not to be surprised, if we find dialects intermediate to the Frank and Saxon, the Saxon and Thuringian, &c., but we must expect to find them.

_b._ The same is the case with the Batavian and Frisian frontier.--We really find specimens of language which some writers call Saxon, and others Dutch (Batavian).

The eastern frontier, however, will be like the frontier between England and Wales, where the line of demarcation is broad and definite, where there are no intermediate and transitional dialects, and where the two contiguous languages belong to different philological cla.s.ses.--_The languages to the east of the Saxon area will be allied to the languages of Russia, Poland, and Bohemia;_ i.e., _they will be not Germanic but Slavonic._

_Note._--The northern frontier of the Saxon area is intermediate in character to the western and southern on one hand, and to the eastern on the other; the Danish of the Cimbric Peninsula being--though not German--Gothic. {20}

We begin at the northern portion of the Saxon area, _i.e._, the south-eastern corner of the Cimbric Peninsula, and the parts about the Town of Lubeck; where the Dutchies of Mecklenburg Schwerin and Holstein join.

The attention of the reader is particularly directed to the dates.

-- 41. _Slavonians of Holstein, Mecklenburg, and Lauenburg._--The _Polabi_--From _po_=_on_, and _Labe_=_the Elbe_. Name Slavonic. Germanized by the addition of the termination--_ing_, and so become _Po-lab-ing-i_; just as in _Kent_ we find the _Kent-ing-s_. Conterminous with the Nordalbingian _Stormarii_, from whom they are divided by the river _Bille_, a small confluent of the Elbe. Capital Ratzeburg. First mentioned by writers subsequent to the time of Charlemagne.--D.N.

-- 42. The _Wagrians_.--North of the Polabi, and within the Cimbric Peninsula, divided from the Danes by the Eyder, from the Non-Danish Nordalbingians by the Trave. Capital Oldenburg. The Isle of Femern was Wagrian. Authorities--chiefly writers of and subsequent to the time of Charlemagne. In one of these we learn that the town of _Haum_ (Sleswick) lies between the Angles, the Saxons, and the _Wends_.

Now, _Wend_ is the German designation of the _Slavonians_; so that there must have been Slavonians in the Cimbric Peninsula at least as early as the ninth century.--D.N.

-- 43. _Obotriti_, written also _Obotritae_, _Abotriti_, _Abotridi_; _Apodritae_, _Abatareni_, _Apdrede_, _Afdrege_, and for the sake of distinction from a people of the same name, _Nort-Obtrezi_, occupants of the western part of Mecklenburg, and extended as far east as the Warnow, as far south as Schwerin. Called by Adam of Bremen, _Reregi_. The Obotrites were allies of the Franks against the Saxons, and after the defeat and partial removal of the latter, were transplanted to some of their localities.--"Saxones transtulit" (_i.e._, Charlemagne), "in Franciam et pagos transalbianos Abodritis dedit."--Eginhart Ann. A.D. 804.--D.N.

-- 44. The _Lini_--Slavonians on the left bank of the Elbe, and the first met with on that side of the river. Occupants of Danneburg, Luchow and Wustrow, in Luneburg. By the {21} writers subsequent to the time of Charlemagne the _Smeldengi_ (a German designation), and the _Bethenici_ are mentioned along with the Lini (or Linones). Of this Slavonic a Paternoster may be seen in the Mithridates representing the dialect of the neighbourhood in Luchow in A.D. 1691. It is much mixed with the German.

About the middle of the last century this (Cis-Albian Slavonic) dialect became extinct.--D.N.

-- 45. The _Warnabi_ or _Warnavi_.--Locality. Parts about Grabow, Valley of the Elbe. This is the locality of the _Varini_ of Tacitus, the [Greek: Ouirounoi] of Ptolemy, and the _Werini_ of later writers, a tribe connected with the Angli, and generally considered as Germanic.--D.N.

-- 46. _Morizani._--The district round the Moritz Lake.--D.N.

-- 47. _Doxani._--Locality; the valley of the Dosse.--D.N.

-- 48. _Hevelli._--Locality; the valley of the Hevel. These are the Slavonians of Brandenburg and Mittelmark.--D.N.

-- 49. _Slavonians of Altmark._--In Altmark, as in Lunenburg, though on the German side of the Elbe we find the names of the places Slavonic, _e.g._, Klotze, Wrepke, Solpke, Blatz, Regatz, Colbitz, &c.; so that Altmark, like Lunenburg, was originally a _Cis_-Albian Slavonic locality.

-- 50. South of the Hevel we meet with the _Sorabian_, or _Sorb_ Slavonians, the descendants of whom form at the present time part of the population of Lusatia and Silesia. It is not, however, necessary to follow these further, since the German frontier now begins to be Thuringian rather than Saxon.

-- 51. _Saxon area._--From the preceding investigations we determine the area occupied by the Saxons of Germany to be nearly as follows:

_a._--_Ethnologically considered._--Tract bounded on the north by the North Frisian Germans and Jute Danes of Sleswick; on the north and north-east by the Slavonians of the Elbe, sometimes _Trans_-Albian like the Wagrians and Obotrites; sometimes _Cis_-Albian, like the Linones and the Slaves of Altmark; on the south by the Thuringians, Catti, and Franks; on the west by the Franks, Batavians, and Frisians.

_b._ _Considered in relation to the ancient population that it {22} comprised._--The country of the Saxons of Ptolemy; the Angli of Tacitus; the Langobardi of Tacitus; the Angrivarii; the Dulgubini; the Ampsivarii (?); the Bructeri Minores (?); the Fosi, and Cherusci; and probably part of the Cauci. Of populations mentioned by the later writers (_i.e._ of those between the seventh and eleventh centuries), the following belong to this area--the Stormarii, Thietmarsi, Hotsati (=the Nordalbingii, or Nordleudi), the Ostfali, (Osterluidi), Westfali, Angarii, and Eald-Seaxan (Old Saxons).

_c._ _Considered in relation to its modern population._--Here it coincides most closely with the kingdom of Hanover, _plus_ parts of the Dutchies of Holstein and Oldenburg, and parts of Altmark? Brunswick? and Westphalia, and _minus_ the Frisian portion of East Friesland, and the Slavonic part of Luneburg.

d. _River system._--By extending the Saxons of Westphalia as far as Cleves (which has been done by competent judges) we carry the western limit to the neighbourhood of the Rhine. This, however, is as far as it can safely be carried. In the respect to the Upper Ems, it was probably Saxon, the lower part being Frisian. The Weser is pre-eminently the river of the Saxons, with the water-system of which their area coincides more closely than with any other physical division. The Elbe was much in the same relation to the Germans and Slavonians, as the Rhine was to the Germans and the Gauls.

Roughly speaking, it is the frontier--the _Cis_-Albian Slaves (the Linones and the Slavonians of Altmark) being quite as numerous as the _Trans_-Albian Germans, (the people of Stormar, Ditmarsh, and Holstein).

The Eyder was perhaps equally Danish, Frisian, and Saxon.

_e._ _Mountains._--The watershed of the Weser on the one side, and of the Ruhr and Lippe on the other, is the chief high land _contained_ within the Saxon area, and is noticed as being the line most likely to form a subdivision of the Saxon population, either in the way of dialect or political relations--_in case such a subdivision exists_, a point which will be considered in the next chapter.

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CHAPTER III.

OF THE DIALECTS OF THE SAXON AREA, AND OF THE SO-CALLED, OLD SAXON.

-- 52. The area occupied by the Saxons of Germany has been investigated; and it now remains to ask, how far the language of the occupants was absolutely identical throughout, or how far it fell into dialects or sub-dialects. In doing this, it may as well be asked, First, what we expect, _a priori_; Second, what we really find.

-- 53. To the Saxon area in Germany, there are five philological frontiers, the Slavonic, the Frisian, the Batavian, the Frank, and the Thuringian, to which may probably be added the Hessian; in each of which, except the Slavonic, we may expect that the philological phenomenon of intermixture and transition will occur. Thus--

_a._ The Saxon of Holstein may be expected to approach the Jute and Frisian.

_b._ That of South Oldenburg and East Friesland, the Frisian and Batavian.

_c._ That of Westphalia, the Batavian and Frank.

_d_, e. That of the Hessian and Thuringian frontiers, the Hessian and Thuringian.

Finally, the Saxon of the centre of the area is expected to be the Saxon of the most typical character.

-- 54. Such is what we expect. How far it was the fact is not known for want of _data_. What is known, however, is as follows.--There were at least _two_ divisions of the Saxon; (1st) the Saxon of which the extant specimens are of English origin, and (2nd), the Saxon of which the extant specimens are of continental origin. We will call these at present the Saxon of England, and the Saxon of the Continent. {24}

-- 55. Respecting the Saxon of England and the Saxon of the Continent, there is good reason for believing that the first was spoken in the northern, the second in the southern portion of the Saxon area, _i.e._, the one in Hanover and the other in Westphalia, the probable boundaries between them being the line of highlands between Osnaburg and Paderborn.

-- 56. Respecting the Saxon of England and the Saxon of the Continent, there is good reason for believing that, whilst the former was the mother-tongue of the Angles and the conquerors of England, the latter was that of the Cherusci of Arminius, the conquerors and the annihilators of the legions of Varus.

-- 57. Respecting the Saxon of England and the Saxon of the Continent, it is a fact that whilst we have a full literature in the former, we have but fragmentary specimens of the latter--these being chiefly the following: (1) the Heliand, (2) Hildubrand and Hathubrant, (3) the Carolinian Psalms.

-- 58. The preceding points have been predicated respecting the difference between the two ascertained Saxon dialects, for the sake of preparing the reader for the names by which they are known. Supposing the nomenclature to be based upon any of the preceding facts, we might have the following nomenclature:--