TO THE STUDY OF
THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE.
PART I.
GENERAL ETHNOLOGICAL RELATIONS OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE.
CHAPTER I.
GERMANIC ORIGIN OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE.—DATE.
[§ 1]. The first point to be remembered in the history of the English language, is that it was not the primitive and original tongue of any of the British Islands, nor yet of any portion of them. Indeed, of the whole of Great Britain it is not the language at the present moment. Welsh is spoken in Wales, Manks in the Isle of Man, and Scotch Gaelic in the Highlands of Scotland; besides which there is the Irish Gaelic in Ireland.
[§ 2]. The next point to be considered is the real origin and the real affinities of the English language.