The First Book Printed in Swedish. 3- 



;/ounyer polisht and orthodox but intricate and artificial and difficult man- 

 darin-dialect of the »classical)) Icelandic in the 14"' century. This again 

 is unlike modern living Icelandic in mau}^ important particulars, besides 

 which even in Iceland we have distinct local dialects, notwithstanding 

 the smallness of the population. 



I have again and again protested against the modern German me- 

 chanical school, which handles all ancient speech after the fashion of 

 living »languages». Nov we certainly have a »language», — a sham and 

 convention, a gradually growing artificial »book-dialect» which we agree 

 to use, and which, thanks to our tremendous Centralization and to the 

 Press and Railways and Folk-schools and Cultus-ministers and Policemen, 

 is rapidly killing all the old local tungs. But in olden times it was not 

 so. There has indeed always been the conventional talk of the Chief 

 or King and his Chancery, and of the Priests and the Cloister, even 

 from Egypt and Babylon downward, largely determined by the province 

 where the ruling power was throned. But there /ras not, and could not 

 be, that centralized official iron uniformity in all the many folk-lands 

 which we now call the Book-language. The great folk-land tungs were 

 then living mightily, and sometimes suddenly rose up as state-dialects, 

 when violent changes took place or the political capital or victorious 

 clan-seat was flitted from one speech-land to another. Thus they might 

 at any time re-appear, simply or mixt, when the official dialect was broken 

 or interrupted. We will take a patent and documented example, the 

 changes in English (the usual Book-English) after the fall of that dialect, 

 the Mercian or West-south-English, thro the Norman invasion. During 

 a very long period England after the Conquest had in reality no Book- 

 lanr/imffe, only Mss. in Shiretalks. 



In fact so firmly fixt were the dialects in all Europe, that in some 

 countries (such as Germany, Italy, France, Spain etc.) they are still enor- 

 mously powerful. As might be expected, even the Printing-press did 

 not annihilate them. Many, more or less, wrote and printed as they had 

 been accustomed to talk. Accordingly our oldest European printed books, 

 down to the 17*'' century and later, are a mine of wealth for speech- 

 lore all Europe over. In Scandinavia this hoard has as yet been scarce- 

 ly toucht. But the philologer may dig out most valuable material, 

 things old and new, provincial peculiarities, even things written in distinct 

 dialects, and varying words and constructions and genders etc. without 

 end — if he will study old printed flysheets and songs and satires and 

 grave-verses and marriage-lays and psalms and sermons and medical 



