The Frisian is the most unmixed, and typical portion of the Gothic population. It is also transitional between the Teutons and the—
b.
SCANDINAVIANS.
Area.—Denmark and Scandinavia.
Languages.—With a middle voice, and with the definite article incorporated with, and appended to, its noun. (Thus, whilst sol=sun and bord=table, hin=the for the masculine, and hitt=the for the neuter gender, sol-en=the sun, and bord-et=the table.)
Divisions more or less artificial.—1. Icelander. 2. Feroe Islanders. 3. Norwegians. 4. Swedes. 5. Danes.
What is the import of the differences just indicated between the Scandinavian tongues and the Teutonic; are they of such slow growth as to denote a very early separation of the Dane and Swede from the Northern German, or might they be evolved in a comparatively short space of time? The answer to this involves the question as to date of the Scandinavian migration into the parts north of the Eyder.
My own opinion is that a common mother-tongue might, within the space of a few centuries, develop itself into the languages represented by the present Frisian on the South, and the Scandinavian dialects on the North respectively. If so, the Gothic occupation of the Scandinavian area need not amount to any very remote antiquity. Probably, I am singular in this opinion. It will be noticed again within a few pages.[188]
2.
SARMATIANS.
As this class comprises the Lithuanic as well as Slavonic members of the so-called Indo-European class, the term Sarmatian has been preferred to either of the more sectional denominations.
Physical conformation.—According to Retzius, brakhykephalic rather than dolikhokephalic, Indo-Germans. In many cases approaching the Turanian type.