LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE. 



121 



2, The Low GERMAN comprised the follow- 

 ing dialects : (1) A nglo-Saxon, which was cul- 

 tivated with great success in England, and in 

 which the second most ancient specimens of 

 the Germanic language are preserved. (2) The 

 Old Saxon, so called to distinguish it from the 

 Anglo-Saxon in England, formerly spoken in 

 Westphalia. (3) The Frisian, now confined 

 to a small district in Holland. (4) The Dutch, 

 the present language of Holland. (5) The 

 Flemish, spoken in many parts of Belgium. 



3. The HIGH GERMAN comprises the Old 

 High German, from the seventh to the eleventh 

 century ; the Middle High German, from the 

 twelfth century to the Reformation, and the 

 New High German, which since Luther's time 

 has been the literary language of Germany. 



The SCANDINAVIAN branch, of which the 

 most ancient language is the Old Norse, the 

 language of Norway, is represented by the Ice- 

 landic, which was carried into Iceland by 

 the Norse colonists in the ninth century and 

 which continues to be spoken on that island 

 with little alteration. On the Continent the 

 Old Norse is represented by the Swedish, 

 Danish, and Norwegian, of which the last has 

 now become a mere patois. 



The following table exhibits the relation- 

 ship of the different Teutonic languages : 



fl. MCPSO- Got hie. 

 i 2. Lent' German. 

 (i) Anglo-Saxon. 



English, 

 (ii) Old Saxon, 

 (iii) Frisian. 



I. GERMAN > ( iv ) Dutch. 



(v) Flemish. 

 3. High German. 

 (i) Old High 

 German 

 Teutonic J (ii) Middle High 



German. 

 (iii) New High 

 German. 



I 1. Old Scandimtci'Ki 

 II. SCANDINAVIAN j (i) Icelandic, 

 (ii) Ferroic. 

 Modern 



ScandinaritiH. 

 (i) Danish. 

 (In Swedish, 

 (iii) Norwegian. 



The English Language is the descend- 

 ant and representative of the Anglo-Saxon. 

 It has lost very much of the inflection and 

 very many of the words which belong to the 

 parent language ; and on the other hand it 

 has borrowed words largely, to the extent 

 even of half its vocabulary, from other lan- 

 guages, especially the French and the Latin. 

 Yet all the inflections that remain in it, and 

 most of its formative endings, the pronouns 

 and particles, and in general the words which 

 are in most frequent and familiar use, have 

 come to it from the Anglo-Saxon. All the 

 constituents of the English Language as it now 

 exists are presented in a condensed form as 

 follows : 



1st. Saxon anil Danish words, of Teutonic and Gothic 

 origin. 



2d. British or Welsh, Cornish and Armoric, of Celtic 

 origin. 



3d. Norman, a mixture of French and Gothic. 



4th. Latin. 



5th. The French, chiefly Latin corrupted. 



6th. Greek. 



7th. A few words directly from the Italian, Spanish, 

 German, and other Continental languages of Europe. 



8th. A few foreign words introduced by commerce 

 or by political and literary intercourse. 



Capital Letters. Begin with a capi- 

 tal: 



1. Every sentence and every line of poetry. 

 Examples. Forget others' faults. How bright the 



day ! What is fame? Custom forms us all. 

 " Time is the warp of life ; oh ! tell 

 The young, the fair, to weave it well." 



2. All proper nouns, and titles of office, 

 honor, and respect. 



Examples. Henry the Fowler, Emperor of Ger 

 many; Robert Roe, Esquire; His Honor the Mayor; 

 Elizabeth Barrett Browning: the Red Hiver; Union 

 Square; the Superior Court of the City of New York. 



3. All adjectives formed from proper names. 

 Examples. African, Italian, Welsh, Ciceronian. 



Also adjectives denoting a sect or religion. 

 Examples. Methodist, Puritan, Catholic. 



4. Common nouns, where personified in a 

 direct and lively manner ; not where sex is 

 merely attributed to an inanimate object. 



Examples Then War waves his ensanguined sword, 

 and fair Peace flees sighing to some happier land. But, 

 the sun pursues his tiery course; the moon sheds her 

 silvery beams. 



5. All appellations of the Deity. The per- 

 sonal pronouns Thou and He standing for His 

 name are sometimes capitalized. 



Examples. The Almighty; the King of kings; the 

 Eternal Essence; Jehovah, the Supreme Being; our 

 Father. 



In the standard editions of the Bible, the 

 pronouns, when referring to God, are never 

 capitalized, not even in forms of direct address 

 to the Deity. 



6 . The first word of a complete quoted sen- 

 tence not introduced by that, if, or any other 

 conjunction. 



Examples. Thomson says, "Success makes villains 

 honest." But, Thomson says that " success makes vil- 

 lains honest." 



7. Every noun, adjective, and verb in the 

 title of books and headings of chapters. 



Examples. Butler's "Treatise on the History of 

 Ancient Philosophy " ; Cousins' " Lectures on the True, 

 the Beautiful, and the Good." 



8. Words that denote the leading subjects 

 of chapters, articles or paragraphs. 



A word defined, for instance, may com- 

 mence with a capital. Do not introduce cap- 

 itals too freely under this rule. When in 

 doubt use a small letter. 



9. The pronoun / and the interjection 0. 



10. Words denoting great events, eras of 

 history, noted written instruments, extraordi- 

 nary physical phenomena and the like. 



Examples. The Creation ; the Confusion of Lan- 

 guages , the Restoration ; the Dark Ages ; the Declara- 

 tion f Independence ; the Aurora Borealis. 



