36 



THE POPULAR EDUCATOR. 



and in rural districts. This vernacular tongue would be regarded 

 by the Roman purists as a corrupted form of the Latin. Cor- 

 rupt, doubtless, it was, for it contained many words of merely 

 local prevalence, of low origin, and of no authority. Neverthe- 

 less, in it were preserved both terms and forms which, being of 

 a very early origin, like our English dialects, belonged to the 

 very substance of the language. 



Already in the bloom of the Roman power, the Latin language 

 had received a very large infusion of foreign elements from the 

 several nations which lay around it as a centre, and over which 

 it had established its sway the countries which we now term 

 France, Italy, Spain, and Portugal. Though the original popu- 

 lation of these wide districts had, in common with the Romans, 

 a Celtic basis for their language, yet, from locality and diverse 

 culture, they had each for themselves formed a different tongue ; 

 and these diversities, when the Roman authority became supreme, 

 and the Roman language was introduced under the wing of that 

 authority, readily blended themselves with the more refined 

 diction of the metropolis and of the great Roman writers. 

 Causes of diversity did not fail to appear on the establishment, 

 in a land, of the Roman despotism. Those causes went on in 

 their operation. At last a new cause, a cause of tremendous 

 power, came into play the invasion of the northern Barbarians. 

 The blow broke the Roman empire in pieces. Out of the conse- 

 quent ruins arose new forms of government the forms of our 

 present European kingdoms. With the formation of new centres 

 of political power and social influences, new languages were 

 formed the French, the Italian, the Spanish, the Portuguese ; 

 at least, these are the main branches that shot forth from the 

 old trunk and grew, until in separate literatures they each pro- 

 duced fruit. Our English was not without an influence from 

 the general shock ; but chiefly from the Romance languages, 

 when they had received each its individual form and character, 

 did the Saxon basis of the English tongue receive additions 

 and incorporate elements. Latin came to us in the conquering 

 train of William of Normandy. His Norman-French, a Romance 

 tongue, like his bold barons, and generally his superior culture, 

 made war on the old Saxon element of our land, defeated it, took 

 it prisoner, and went far to make it do its own bidding. So 

 overpowering was the influence of the court, and so imperious 

 was the sway of fashion, that the first accents of our English 

 literature were compelled to take a Gallic shape and tone, 

 retaining their mother Saxon as best they might, and uttering 

 the native sounds " with 'bated breath." 



The Italian branch of the Romance language inoculated our 

 English through the medium of the Roman Catholic Church, 

 whose Latin, of universal prevalence, was a sort of medium, 

 and as a medium, so a stepping-stone, between the classic purity 

 of the old Latin language and the new languages of mediaeval 

 Europe ; and whose forms, ceremonies, officers, laws, and courts 

 combined to infuse into English a copious and pervading Latin 

 element. 



As the Spaniards and Portuguese made their conquests in 

 foreign climes, and, becoming masters of the ocean, held com- 

 merce in their hands, so they, in conducting their maritime and 

 commercial transactions, gave to all modern languages words 

 belonging to their tongue, and the names by which, with more 

 or less accuracy, they denominated the articles of foreign pro- 

 duce which formed the staple of their trade. 



At later periods, too, the Romance languages have exerted an 

 influence over the English, and left bequests which remained 

 after the source of that influence had ceased to exist. I, may 

 instance the reign of the profligate Charles II., when, with a 

 Portuguese princess for his queen, that monarch, dependent on 

 French bounty, allowed French writers and French tailors to set 

 the fashion in England, and the language of high life, and partly 

 of books, became a mongrel of bad French and worse English. 



Abbreviation is one of the forms through which languages 

 pass in their natural development. By abbreviation has the 

 Latin passed into the Romance languages. The abbreviation 

 has not been in the structure of sentences ; for in the structure 

 of sentences expansion has taken place, and fulness ensued, so 

 that it is difficult to render by the same number of words a 

 passa.ge from a Latin classic into a Romance tongue. The ab- 

 breviation has been in the forms of the words : the inflexions 

 have been curtailed ; case-endings and person-endings, even to 

 some extent tense and mood-endings, have been diminished or 

 done away. The words thus set free from bonds have followed 



new impulses of development, and given birth to new modes 

 of utterance conformably with the progress of bur modern 

 civilisation ; and even produced new languages, any one of 

 which would not suffer in comparison with classic Latin. 



I have already intimated that the Saxon did not receive any 

 very large inheritance immediately from the confused mass of 

 words and tongues which ensued from the social collision of the 

 North and the South. Yet do we owe to the Romance languages 

 so much, that I am not at liberty to pass on until I have given 

 some particulars, the rather that without the facts that ensue, a 

 knowledge of the English lacks an important element. 



Out of an original Latin term two or more English words 

 were formed, either by some change in the body of the word, or 

 some change in its termination. Of those newly-coined words, 

 one will be found to bear a close resemblance to its original ; 

 another will have departed from it in form and in meaning to a 

 greater or less extent : the former is the older, probably the 

 more scholar-like ; the latter is the more recent and the more 

 popular. I subjoin a few instances, annexing contractions to 

 show whence the terms have come to us, thus : Fr. shows that 

 the word is derived directly from the French ; It. from the 

 Italian ; and Sp. from the Spanish. When the English word 

 seems to come to us immediately from the Latin the contraction 

 Lat . is prefixed : 



Caput, a head, 



Causa, a cause, 

 Charta, paper, 

 Clamare, to s?iout, 

 Commendare, to entrust, 

 Comparare, to yet together, 

 Consuetude, custom, 

 Diviuus, divine, 



Dominus, a master, 



Dubitare, to doubt, 

 Dubius, uncertain, 

 Douum, a gift, 



Fr. to blaspheme, blame. 

 Fr. to calcine, calcination. 

 Fr. to calculate, calculous 

 Fr. camp, champaign. 

 Fr. canal, channel, kennel. 

 Fr. chant, enchant, canticle. 



captain. 



Blaspheuiare, to revile, 

 Calx, limestone, 

 Calculus, a pebble, 

 Campus, a plain, 

 Canalis, a pipe, 



{Fr. chap, chapter, cap, 

 capital, chief. 



Fr. cause, causation, accuse. 

 Fr. chart, charter. 

 Fr. claim, exclaim, reclaim. 

 Sp. commend, recommend. 

 Sp. compare, prepare. 

 Fr. costume, custom. 

 Fr. divine, a divine, a diviner. 



{Sp. don, duenna; 

 Fr. dominate, dominion. 

 ( It. doubt ; 

 \ Fr. dubitation. 



Lat. dubious, dubiety. 

 JSp. donation; 

 (Fr. donative. 

 ( a leading ; ) Fr. duchy ; 



tus ' t Med. Lat. a duchy / It. duke, doge. 

 Factio, a matin;/, Fr. faction, fashion. 



Fragilis, easily broken, Fr. fragile, frail. 



Gravis, heavy, Fr. grave, gravity, gravitate. 



Hospes, a host, Fr. hospital, spital, hospitable. 



(It. implicate ; 

 Imphcare, to fold in, -j Fr> imply> implicit . 



f Sp. ingenious j 

 Ingenium, geiuus, ^ Fr engine . 



Magister, master, Sp. mister, mistress, master. 



Major, greater, Fr. major, majority, mayor. 



( Fr. operate, operator, operation ; 

 Opera, worlc, j It opera 



Pietas, piety, Fr. piety, pity. 



Potio, drinfc, Fr. potion, poison. 



Redimo, to buy off, Fr. redeemed, redemption. 



Romanus, Boman, Fr. Roman, Romance. 



Securitas, security, Fr. security, surety. 



Senior, older, Fr. sire, sir. 



Salvo, I save, Fr. save, safe, salutary. 



Separo, I put apart, Fr. separate, sever. 



Servio, I serve, Fr. serve, servant, serf. 



( Sp. 'specie, species ; 



Species, a kind, j Fr special) especially . 



Superficies, a surface, Fr. surface, superficies, super- 



ficial. 



This list pretends to nothing more than to give instances in 

 which two or more words accrued froia one Latin term. In some 

 instances it is not easy to determine whether our English word 

 came immediately from the Latin, or through some one of the 

 Romance languages. If, however, the facts above set forth are 

 1 correct in the main, then we learn how much our language has 

 been enriched by the Romance tongues, and that we are chiefly 

 under obligations to the French. 



Were this the place to enter into a statement and comparison 

 , of the words and forms in the Romance languages borrowed 



