Languages of Britain.
Having thus analysed the legends of the four races, it becomes necessary, before we attempt to draw any deductions from them, to inquire into the relation of their languages to each other. Bede gives us a list of the languages used in Britain in his day. He tells us that at that time in Britain the knowledge of the same divine truth and true sublimity was confessed and studied in the languages of five nations—viz., that of the Angles, the Britons, the Scots, the Picts, and the Latins, which latter language, from the study of the Scriptures, has become common to all.[[230]] None of these languages, of course, represent that of the Iberians. For it we must look to the south of France and Spain, where the Euskara, or Basque, appears to represent it. It is a peculiar language, and has no relation to any of the languages belonging to the Arian family. Putting it and the Latin aside, we have here the languages of the four nations, the Angles, Britons, Scots, and Picts, who succeeded the Iberians, and whose legends we have just analysed, distinguished from each other. There can be no doubt of the race and language to which the first three belonged. We have the remains of their languages still spoken among us, and each possesses a literature which enables us to trace the progress of the language from its older forms to the present day.
Anglic language.
The language of the Angles was a Low German dialect, resembling most nearly the Frisian; and in its earlier form consisted of three varieties, the southern, midland, and northern English.
British language.
The language of the Britons is still spoken in Wales, but not now in Cornwall, though it lingered there till the middle of last century. We possess, however, written remains of the Cornish language, sufficient to show that the Cornish and Welsh form two varieties of the British language in the island, differing but slightly from each other, and showing a dialectic difference somewhat resembling that between Low and High German.
Language of the Scots.
The language of the Scots was undoubtedly the Irish language still spoken there, and which is identic with the Gaelic of the Scotch Highlands and the Manx of the Isle of Man. They form indeed but one language, which may be called Gaelic, and show no greater variety among each other than those which characterise the vernacular speech of different provinces of the same nation.
These two languages—the British and Scottish—belong to the same family, and are usually, for convenience sake, classed together as forming the Celtic language of the British Isles; but the difference between them is marked and wide, and they must be viewed as two distinct branches of the Celtic language, possessing vital peculiarities of form and structure which distinguish them from each other, and the people by whom they were spoken, as forming two distinct races—cognate, indeed, as belonging to the same Celtic family, but clearly separated by national and linguistic differences. These two races are known in Irish as Breatan and Gaedheal, and in Welsh as Brython or Cymry and Gwyddyl. To the one belong the Welsh and the people of Cornwall and Bretagne, speaking three different dialectic varieties of the same language. To the other belong the Irish, the Scotch Highlanders, and the Manx, who all call their language Gaelic.
The Pictish language.