[6.] LOW-GERMAN.—The languages which belong to this division are spoken in the plains of Germany, especially along the lower courses of the rivers, in Holland, in part of Belgium, in England, Scotland, and Ireland, and the British Colonies, and in the United States of North America. The Low-German spoken in Holland is called Dutch; the Low-German spoken in Belgium is called Flemish; the Low-German spoken in Friesland—a wealthy province of Holland—is called Frisian; and the Low-German spoken in England is called English. (But, as we shall soon see, English contains many thousands of words in addition to those which are purely Low-German.) The language on the continent which is most like English is the Frisian language. There is indeed a well-known couplet, every word in which is said to be both Frisian and English. It runs thus:
Good butter and good cheese
Is good English and good Fries.
The following are the chief subdivisions of
| LOW-GERMAN. | |||
| | | |||
| | | | | | | | |
| Dutch | Flemish | Frisian | English |
| (Spoken in Holland). | (in Flanders). | (in Friesland). | (in England, etc.). |
[7.] SCANDINAVIAN.—Scandinavian is the general name given to the different kinds of Teutonic speech which are employed in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Iceland. The oldest and purest kind of Scandinavian speech is that spoken in the far-off country in the middle of the North Atlantic, called Iceland; and it is the purest, because for many centuries there has been very little communication with that country. Indeed, the Icelandic of the 12th century differs very little from the Icelandic of to-day. But the English of the twelfth century differs so much from the English of the nineteenth century, that we should at first sight hardly know them for the same speech.—One peculiar mark of a Scandinavian speech is the preference for hard consonants—the preference, for example, of a k over a ch or sh. Thus the Danes say Dansk for Danish; and it is Danish influence that has given to Scotchmen and to the north of England the form kirk instead of church.
[8.] THE THREE CHIEF TEUTONIC LANGUAGES.—The three most important languages belonging to the great Teutonic stock are English, Dutch, and German. If we look at the words used in these languages, we shall at once see that they are sister-languages. If we look at the way in which their words are changed—or at their inflections—we shall also see that they are very closely related. Thus the commonest words appear in these three languages in the following shape:
| English | Three. | Mother. | Brother. | Have (inf.). |
| Dutch | Drie. | Moeder. | Broeder. | Hebben. |
| German | Drei. | Mutter.[1] | Bruder.[2] | Haben. |
Again, the inflections of these three languages are very similar—are in fact, different shapes of the same changes. Thus the possessive case of nouns in all three languages ends in s or es[3] or ’s. The second person singular of verbs in all three ends in st; and the ending of the past participle in all three is generally en. We know, then, both from history and from a comparison of the actual facts in the present state of the languages, that all three are sister-tongues.
[9.] WHERE THE ENGLISH CAME FROM.—Those Teutons who brought over the English tongue to this island, came from the north-west of Europe—most of them from that part of the German coast which lies between the river Elbe and the river Weser. The kind of Low-German spoken by them is much the same as that still spoken in the lowlands of Hanover, Holstein, and Schleswig. There is in Holstein—upon the west coast—a small district which is called Angeln—that is, England—to this day. The Teutons who came over to Britain belonged to three tribes. They were Jutes and Angles and Saxons. The Jutes came from Jutland.[4] The Angles came from Schleswig and Holstein. The Saxons came from Hanover and the land to the west of it. The Jutes settled in Kent and the Isle of Wight. The Saxons settled in Essex (or East Sex), Wessex[5] (or West Sex), Sussex (or South Sex), and Middlesex; and the ending sex is an indication of the fact. The Angles settled chiefly in the north and east. One of the kingdoms founded by them was called East Anglia; and the northern and southern settlers in it gave their names to the two counties of Norfolk and Suffolk, which are only later forms of the words North folk and South folk. These three tribes all spoke different dialects of the same speech. The early predominance of the Angles, especially as the Angles in Northumbria were the first to have a literature, gave to the language the name of English, though the Keltic people still call it Saxon or Sassenach. The country also in time acquired, from the same cause, the name of Engla-land, or the land of the English. The first landing of Teutons took place in the year 449; and for about a hundred years afterwards, bands of strong young warriors and colonists continued to arrive at short intervals.
[10.] THE PERIODS OF ENGLISH.—The language brought over to Britain by these three tribes has grown very much since the fifth century. It has been growing for fourteen hundred years. It has therefore altered very much in every way; its appearance has changed; and we have to learn the English of the fifth, or the eighth, or the eleventh century, almost as if it were a foreign language. There are four chief periods in the history of the English language. These are: