Language and Literature. 



LITERATURE, 



In the general sense of the word, comprises 

 the entire results of knowledge, and mental 

 activity, expressed in writing ; but in a nar- 

 rower sense, it is used to denote the depart- 

 ment of elegant letters, excluding works of 

 abstract science and mere erudition. In this 

 limited view it comprehends languages, par- 

 ticularly Greek and Latin, grammar, etymol- 

 ogy, logic, rhetoric, poetry, history, criticism, 

 bibliography, and a description of the attain- 

 ments of the human mind in every sphere of 

 research and invention. The history of liter- 

 ature represents the development and success- 

 ive changes of civilization, so far as these are 

 exhibited in written works, and embraces the 

 history of the literature of special ages or 

 countries, and of the separate branches of lit- 

 erature, as poetry, rhetoric, philology, and so 

 forth. 



LANGUAGES. 



The classification of the different languages 

 of the earth into a few great families is due to 

 the science of comparative philology, and is of 

 recent origin. Till the latter end of the last 

 century the preference as to the antiquity of 

 language was usually given to the Hebrew, but 

 a striking improvement of linguistic study is 

 dated from the discovery of the Sanskrit, the 

 ancient language of the northern parts of Hin- 

 dustan, in the latter part of the last century. 

 A belief in an affinity in languages and a sep- 

 aration of them into certain great groups or 

 families then arose. 



The languages of the world are divided into 

 four great branches ; viz., the ARYAN, or Indo- 

 European, the most important ; the SEMITIC, 

 the TURANIAN, and the DRAVIDIAN. 



The TURANIAN family, called also the Ta- 

 tar ic or Altaic, includes the numerous artl 

 widely different languages of the Manchoos, 

 the Mongols, the Turks (in Asia and Europe), 

 the Magyars (in Hungary), the Finns (in Rus- 

 sia), and a multitude of other tribes. 



The DRAVIDIAN includes the Tamil and the 

 dialects in Ceylon and the islands off Asia, etc. 



The SEMITIC includes the Hebrew, Syriac, 

 Arctic and Ethiopic, Basque (in the Pyrenees), 

 ete. 



The iNno-KfRopEAN. to which extensive 

 family the English language belongs, is divided 

 into six principal branches. 



I. The Indian branch, represented by the 

 Sanskrit, which has now ceased to be spoken, 

 but is the mother of the Hindustani, Bengali, 



; Mahratti, and the other numerous dialects of 

 "modern India. 



II. The Mfdo-Persic branch, at the head 

 of which isthe Zend, in which the Zend-Avesta 

 is composed, and the cuneiform inscriptions of 



| Cyrus, Darius, and Xerxes. Next follow the 

 j Pehlevi, of the Sarsanian dynasty ; the Parsee, 

 in which the national poem of Ferdusi is writ- 

 ten (A. D. 1000), and lastly the modern Per- 

 sian. 



III. The Celtic branch, divided into two 

 dialects, the Gaelic and the Cymric ; the former 



, comprising the Irish or Erse, the Scottish 

 ! Gaelic or Highland-Scotch, and the Manx of 

 I the Isle of Man ; and the latter Welsh, the 



Cornish (now extinct) and the Armorican of 



Britanny. 



IV. The Gm co-Latin branch, comprising 

 the two ancient classical languages, and the 

 so-called Romanic languages, derived from the 

 Latin, which are six in number; namely, the 

 French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Walla- 

 chian, and the Roumanish or Romanese spoken 

 in the Grisons in Switzerland. 



V. The Teutonic branch, which comprises all 

 the different German and Scandinavian dia- 

 lects. 



VI. The Slavonic branch, divided into three 

 principal classes : 1 . The Lettic, comprising 

 the Lithuanian, the Old Prussian (now extinct ). 

 and the Lettish, the language of Kurland and 

 Livonia. 2. The Western Slavonic, compris- 

 ing the Polish ; the Bohemian or Tchechian. 

 spoken in Bohemia : the Slovakian, spoken by 

 the Slovaks in Hungary, and the Wendian, 

 spoken in Lusatia. 3. The Eastern Slavonic, 



j comprising the Old Slavonic, preserved in the 

 translations of the Bible made by Cyrillus in 

 the ninth century, and its derivate dialect, the 

 Bulgarian ; the Russian, Servian, Croatian. and 

 Slovinian. 



The Teutonic branch of the Indo-European 

 family of languages is divided into two great 

 branches, the German and Scandinavian. 



The GERMAN is divisible into three principal 

 dialects, the Moeso-Gothic, the Low German, 

 and the High German, the two latter being so 

 called because the Low German is spoken by 

 the inhabitants of the low or flat country near 

 the shores of ll'c German Ocean, while the 

 High German belongs to the higher count ry in 

 the interior. 



1. The MCESO-GOTHIC, the most easterly of 

 all the German dialects, has long ceased to be 

 spoken, but is preserved in the translation of 

 the gospels by Ulfilas. 



