It is a language of considerable antiquity, and although at present it is spoken by the country-people only, it possesses a considerable literature. There is the Middle Frisian of Gysbert Japicx,[17] and the Old Frisian of the Frisian Laws.[18] The older the specimen of the Frisian language the more closely does it show its affinity to the English; hence the earliest Frisian and the Anglo-Saxon are exceedingly alike. Nevertheless they differ.
§ 19. The Frisian was once spoken over a far greater area than at present. It was the original language of almost all Holland. It was the language of East Friesland to a late period. It was, probably, the language of the ancient Chauci. At the present time (besides Friesland) it survives in Heligoland, in the islands between the Ems and Weser, in part of Sleswick, and in a few localities in Oldenburg and Westphalia.
Hence it is probable that the original Frisian, extending to an uncertain and irregular distance inland, lay between the Saxons and the sea, and stretched from the Zuyder Zee to the Elbe; a fact which would leave to the latter nation the lower Elbe and the Weser as their water-system: the extent to which they were in direct contact with the ocean being less than we are prepared to expect from their subsequent history.
On the other hand the a priori probabilities of there being Frisians as well as Anglo-Saxons amongst the conquerors of Great Britain are considerable.—See §§ 55, 56.
§ 20. The Anglo-Saxon area coincided—
1. Politically.—With the kingdom of Hanover, the duchy of Oldenburg, and parts of Westphalia and Holstein.
2. Physically.—With the basin of the Weser.
It was certainly from the Anglo-Saxon, and probably from a part of the Frisian area that Great Britain was first invaded.
This is as much as it is safe to say at present. The preceding chapter investigated the date of the Germanic migration into Britain; the present has determined the area from which it went forth.
CHAPTER III.
OF THE DIALECTS OF THE SAXON AREA, AND OF THE SO-CALLED OLD SAXON.
§ 21. 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.
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.
§ 22. 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.
§ 23. 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.[19]
§ 24. 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,[20] (2) Hildubrand and Hathubrant,[21] (3) the Carolinian Psalms.[22]
§ 25. 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.
| THE SAXON OF THE CONTINENT MAY BE CALLED | THE SAXON OF ENGLAND MAY BE CALLED |
| 1. Continental Saxon. | Insular Saxon. |
| 2. German Saxon. | English Saxon. |
| 3. Westphalian Saxon. | Hanoverian Saxon. |
| 4. South Saxon. | North Saxon. |
| 5. Cheruscan Saxon. | Angle Saxon. |
| 6. Saxon of the Heliand. | Saxon of Beowulf.[23] |
§ 26. The Saxon of England is called Anglo-Saxon; a term against which no exception can be raised.
§ 27. The Saxon of the Continent used to be called Dano-Saxon, and is called Old Saxon.
§ 28. Why called Dano-Saxon.—When the poem called Heliand was first discovered in an English library, the difference in language between it and the common Anglo-Saxon composition was accounted for by the assumption of a Danish intermixture.
§ 29. Why called Old Saxon. When the Continental origin of the Heliand was recognised, the language was called Old Saxon, because it represented the Saxon of the mother-country, the natives of which were called Old Saxons by the Anglo-Saxons themselves. Still the term is exceptionable; as the Saxon of the Heliand is probably a sister-dialect of the Anglo-Saxon, rather than the Anglo-Saxon itself in a Continental locality. Exceptionable, however, as it is, it will be employed.
CHAPTER IV.
AFFINITIES OF THE ENGLISH WITH THE LANGUAGES OF GERMANY AND SCANDINAVIA.
§ 30. Over and above those languages of Germany and Holland which were akin to the dialects of the Anglo-Saxons, cognate languages were spoken in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, and the Feroe isles, i.e., in Scandinavia.
§ 31. The general collective designation for the Germanic tongues of Germany and Holland, and for the Scandinavian languages of Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, and the Feroe Isles, is taken from the name of those German tribes who, during the decline of the Roman Empire, were best known to the Romans as the Goths; the term Gothic for the Scandinavian and Germanic languages, collectively, being both current and convenient.
§ 32. Of this great stock of languages the Scandinavian is one branch; the Germanic, called also Teutonic, another.
§ 33. The Scandinavian branch of the Gothic stock comprehends, 1. The dialects of Scandinavia Proper, i.e., of Norway and Sweden; 2. of the Danish isles and Jutland; 3. of Iceland; 4. of the Feroe Isles.
§ 34. The Teutonic branch falls into three divisions:—
1. The Mœso-Gothic.
2. The High Germanic.
3. The Low Germanic.
§ 35. It is in the Mœso-Gothic that the most ancient specimen of any Gothic tongue has been preserved. It is also