GERMANY. (LANGUAGE) 



425 



Rhine. With the exception of some fortresses, the 

 French power was everywhere annihilated in Ger- 

 many. Neither the kingdom of Westphalia nor the 

 grand duchy of Berg any longer existed. Through- 

 out Germany, immense preparations were made for 

 the preservation of the recovered independence. 

 Harmony prevailed between the people and the 

 princes, increased by the promises, made by the 

 princes, of conferring liberal constitutions on their 

 subjects. The victorious armies passed the Rhine 

 on the first days of the following year, and all the 

 territory which the French had conquered from Ger- 

 many since 1793 was regained and secured by the 

 events of the campaign in France and the peace of 

 Paris, May 30. France restored all her acquisitions, 

 with the exception of Montbelliard and some smaller 

 districts ; but the circle of Burgundy, with Liege, 

 was annexed to the new kingdom of the Netherlands. 

 It was stipulated, by the articles of this peace, that 

 the German states should be independent, but con- 

 nected together by a federative system. This pro- 

 vision of the treaty was carried into effect by the con- 

 gress of Vienna, Nov. 1, 1814, and by the statutes of 

 the Germanic confederation, June 8, 1815. The 

 German empire was not revived, but was superseded 

 by a confederation of equal and sovereign states. 

 The return of Napoleon kindled a new war, the re- 

 sults of which were unexpectedly rapid and fortunate 

 for the allies. The treaty of November 20, 1815, re- 

 stored to Germany, besides Montbelliard and some 

 territories in Lorraine, all the former possessions 

 which had remained in the hands of France, with 

 the addition of Landau and the territory appertaining 

 to it. Nov. 5, 1816, the diet of the new Germanic 

 confederation was opened. (See German Confedera- 

 tion, German Empire, and Russian-German War, 

 1812 15.*) Since that time, the German confedera- 

 tion has done little but prosecute liberal ideas (see 

 Congress), adopt, in the diet, resolutions which have 

 never been executed, and organize an army of the 

 confederacy, which, from its very organization, would 

 be little worthy of reliance. May Germany soon 

 work out her own freedom and union, and may she 

 escape all unnecessary suffering in the struggle 

 through which she must pass to attain them ; for bit- 

 ter enough has been the cup of this unhappy country, 

 always the theatre of foreign aggression, domestic 

 convulsion, and political oppression. 



German Language ; a branch of the old Teutonic 

 language, which the German tribes carried with them 

 over the greater part of Europe. In France, it was 

 lost in the mixture of Roman and Gallic languages, 

 from which sprang the modern French. In Spain, 

 it left but few traces. In England, it united with the 

 Latin and French to form the present English. Its 

 modifications, not more dissimilar to each other than 

 different dialects, have remained written and spoken 

 languages in Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands, in 

 Germany Proper, and hi the greater part of Switzer- 

 land. The Germans call their language Teutsche, or 

 Deutsche, from the Teutones, or from their ancestor, 

 Teut. The word is sometimes derived from the word 

 Theut,f>r Deut (from which comes the modern diet}, 

 signifying people. Its origin has been a subject of 

 many learned discussions. A number of similar words 

 in the Sanscrit, Persian, and other kindred tongues, 

 have convinced some that it is derived from the 

 Indian and old Persian languages, or isof the same ori- 

 gin with them. Others, on account of the resemblance 

 of its words and forms, have derived it from the Greek, 

 or even the Greek from the elder German. Accord- 



* Consult Posselt'* Geschichte der Deutscken, continued 

 by Politz (Leipgic, 1919,4 void.); Schmiilt'g Geschichte der 

 Deutschen, continued by Millbiller and Dresch ; Heinrich'a 

 J-h-utsche Reichsgachichte (Leipsic, 180. r i, 9 vols.). 



ing to ancient tradition, the early Grecians received 

 their civilization, with the worship of Bacchus and 

 the muses, from the northern Thrace ; and history 

 mentions, in Thrace or Scythia, a Teutonic tribe of 

 Goths on the Black sea, who, although they had 

 been separated more than a thousano years from 

 their native country, showed a striking resemblance, 

 in the forms of their language, to the Greek. This, 

 at least, seems certain, that, in accordance with the 

 traditions of the nations who spoke it, it was of 

 Asiatic origin, and was brought by those nations to 

 Europe. The changes of the language can be 

 historically traced no farther back than the middle 

 of the fourth century, when Ulphilas introduced the 

 art of writing it, and made a translation of the 

 Gospels. The language of this version is a mixture 

 of High German and Low German with some 

 foreign, perhaps Thracian, words, and does not 

 essentially differ from most of the present German 

 dialects in its grammatical forms. It has, also, a 

 dual number, like the Greek. The first of the fol- 

 lowing lines is a specimen of it. The second is from 

 Luther's translation of the Bible, Matthew, c. 26. 



Mit aitha swarands thalei ni kimn thana mannen. 

 Mit (einem] Eide schworend, dass ich nicM kenne den Mann. 

 With (an) oath swearing, that I know not that man. 



Charlemagne began a German grammar, and made 

 great efforts for improving the language, and pro- 

 moting the progress of poetry and literature. A 

 comparison between the language of this time and 

 the present, may be given hi a few words : Kescrip 

 (GescAreioe, writing) ; Kesc/irifti (Schrift, something 

 written) ; Scap, Scaf (Schaf, sheep) ; erkipit (ergibt, 

 renders) ; chaldan (halten, to hold) ; Unchuschida 

 ( Unkeuscheit, unchastity) ; aikan (eigen, own) ; 

 piscamtohe (beschauen, to view) ; scuunto (schauend, 

 viewing) ; Fiur (Feuer, fire). As an example of the 

 declension : Singular, Weg, JVeges, Wege and 

 JVega, JVeg; plural, nom. ffega, gen. Wego, dat. 

 IVegum and Wegon, ace. JVega. The verbs present 

 similar modifications ; the formation of the preterite, 

 by means of the auxiliary haben, was then entirely 

 unknown. This Franconian dialect gave way to 

 the Alemannic or Suabian, which was cultivated 

 particularly under the emperors of the family of 

 Hohenstaufen. A great number of full sounding 

 vowels give the language of the Minnesinger a certain 

 melody. It has many expletives, particles, prefixes, 

 ellipses ; it readily forms derivatives and diminutives 

 and compound words. The grammatical construc- 

 tion in the celebrated epic poem, the Niebelungen- 

 lied (q. v.), is simple and highly finished. The use 

 of the particles, and the liberty of varying the position 

 of the adjective, contribute much to the ease and 

 beauty of the diction. The High G erman (which had, 

 however, been previously formed as a written lan- 

 guage, equally distant from the Low and from the 

 Upper German), as it is used at the present day, with 

 some slight modifications in the forms of the verbs and 

 in the orthography, became the general written 

 language of Germany, through Luther's translation 

 of the Bible. In the sixteenth and the beginning of 

 the seventeenth centuries, it was mixed with many 

 foreign words, particularly French, which, how- 

 ever, on account of the characteristic peculiarities of 

 the German, could not coalesce with its roots and 

 forms. Hence it was not difficult, even at the time 

 in which Frederic the Great, and the German courts 

 in general, displayed their contempt for their native 

 language, for Lessing, Gottsched and others, by pre- 

 cept and example, to purify it from its foreign addi- 

 tions. The German language at present exists under 

 the following forms ; on the northern coast, through 

 a great part of Lower Saxony and Westphalia, the 

 German is spoken among the lower classes, and 



