178 



♦ KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



[April 1, 1886. 



Styria, aud Oarniola) dating back as far as the tenth century. 

 Russian and Little Russian (a distinct dialect) can be veri- 

 fied as far back as the eleventh century. Those are the 

 Eastern Slavonic dialects. The Western are the Polish, 

 Czech or Older Bohemian, Modern Bohemian, and Sorabian 

 or Wendish. 



Eighthly, the Lithuanian group. The oldest records of 

 the Lithuanian language date no further back than the 

 middle of the sixteenth century. Old Prussian, which was 

 nearly related to Lithuanian, is now dead, having been re- 

 placed in the latter half of the seventeenth century by German. 

 Lithuanian is dying out south of the Niemen, where it is 

 called High Lithuanian ; but Low Lithuanian, north of the 

 Niemen, remains. Lettic, spoken in Courland and Livonia, 

 is a younger form of Lithuanian. 



Lastly, we have the group to which our own language 

 belongs — the Teutonic languages. The original form of the 

 Teutonic language cannot now be ascertained, Gothic being 

 the nearest representative of that language of which records 

 remain. 



" Of all the Teutonic languages," remark our authors, 

 " the Gothic, speaking generally, presents the most ancient 

 characteristics, and in fact approaches most closely to the 

 original Teutonic language. The Gothic language enables 

 us to draw the most trustworthy conclusions as to this 

 original language. Of all Teutonic languages it alone still 

 retains the medio-passive forms common to the Greeks, the 

 Indians, and the Eranians, forms which the Letts and the 

 Slavs have completely lost. Again, it alone has preserved 

 in its entirety the perfect reduplication, and it alone still 

 maintains in their least crippled form the grammatical ter- 

 minations of the old language. But true as Gothic has in 

 the main been to the primitive type, it has still lost many 

 forms which other German stocks, notably the Old High 

 German and Old Norse, still possess — a sufficient proof, 

 among others which might be cited, that neither German 

 nor Norse can possibly be descended from Gothic ; both of 

 these languages have retained single heirlooms, inherited 

 from the common mother, in a greater state of perfection 

 than the Gothic heiress-in-ehief." Almost our sole know- 

 ledge of Gothic is derived from the translation of the Bible 

 by the Gothic Bishop Vulfila, better known by the Greek 

 form of his name Ulfilas. He lived from 311 to 381 .\.d. 

 A few scanty fragments of Gothic exist outside that work. 

 The Gothic language died and left no issue, so that it is in 

 a truer sense dead than Latin and Greek. As is well known, 

 the Goths employed the Runic alphabet, which was derived 

 from the Roman. 



Old Norse is known not only by the written literature 

 which has existed since the twelfth century, but by ancient 

 Runic inscriptions. A peculiarity of the Norse shows itself 

 in the earliest inscriptions^the change namely of final .s 

 (voiced, or z) into r. Thus, in the " Golden Horn," we find 

 for gastiz, Gothic gasts, a "guest," the form gustir. In 

 1397 Danish became the language of the better sort in 

 Norway, and Norse split up into many dialects. 



Old Saxon exists in the " Heljand," an alliterative poem 

 about C'hri.st, and in some unimportant records. The Frisian, 

 Franconian, and High German are the nearest neighbours 

 to the Old Saxon. Middle Low German is found in many 

 writings, but has no literature. New Low German, or 

 Plattdeutsch, possesses a literature of modern date only. 

 Of Low Franconian, spoken on the Lower Rhine, tlie oldest 

 record is found in the Franconian glosses on the Salic code, 

 written in Latin in the Malberg (Mahal-berg, or " Mount of 

 Justice "). Then we have High Dutch, Middle Dutch, New 

 Dutch (including Dutch Proper, Brabantian, and Vlamisch), 

 the Frisian, the Anglo-Saxon (Old and New), and lastly 

 English. 



Our authors treat specially, of course, of the High German' 

 language, respecting who.se history they give many curious 

 particulars. (The chapter on popular and forgotten ety- 

 mologies is singularly interesting.) Every one who cares 

 for the philology of languages as compared with mere 

 grammar and vocabulai-ies will enjoy this work immen.sely. 



' candidature." 

 A narrow passage cut by 



AMERICANISMS. 



{Alphabetically arranijrd.) 



By Richard A. Proctor. 



Caboodle. See " Boodle." 



Caboose. The last car of an American luggage-train. 

 Sometimes used for Calaboose. 



Cache. A hole in the ground for hiding provisions. 

 (French.) 



Caclnmk, or Kerchunk. With a noise or thump. 

 Calaboose. The common gaol. 



Calculate. Used like " guess," especially in New England. 

 I have occasionally heard " cal'late," as in the " Biglow 

 Papers." 



Camp-ineethig. See Big meeting. An American way of 

 advertising religious character. 

 Candidacy. Bad English for 

 Canon. (Sp. ; pron. Canyon.) 

 rivers between precipices. 

 Canuck. A Canadian. 



Canvas Back. A wild duck, found chiefly in Chesapeake 

 Bay, of excellent flavour, but somewhat overpraised in 

 America. 



Car. A railroad carriage. 



Carpet Baggers. Unprincipled adventurers, who went 

 south after the war between the North and South to feed on 

 the substance of a prostrate people. General Wade 

 Hampton correctly employed the synonym " thief." 



Carry Guts to a Bear. An expression much used in 

 America to express worthlessness. But it is of early English 

 origin. " He said you wern't fit to carri/ guts to a bear," 

 said an English servant (long before the Irishman) to his 

 master. " Well, and what did you say 1 " angrily asked his 

 master. " I said you were," indignantly replied the man. 



Catawamptious. Fiercely eager. A ludicrous monstrosity, 

 says Mr. Bartlett, of the South- Western States. Probably 

 a gift from the coloured folk. 



Catch on to. Verb. To catch on to a plot or plan is to 

 seize the idea of it. 



Catfish. A favourite fish in America, oflensively called 

 a Siluroid by Euro])ean naturalists. It is called also the 

 Horned Pout, Bullhead, Minister (1), and .sometimes simply 

 the Cat. It is not beautiful. 



Gauois. A private meeting of the leaders of a party, 

 usually for some rascality, so that the term has an unplaasant 

 sound in American ears. 



Caution. Noun. A very striking warning. A " caution 

 to sinners " means something appalling. We also often hear 

 of a " caution to snakes," which sounds idiotic. 

 Cave. To " cave in " is to give way. 



Cavort. Verb. To prance. Corruption from " curvet." 

 Most American expressions of the sort are corruptions. 



Chav\ To " chaw up " is to demolish. Probably derived 

 from the American system of rough-and-tumble fighting, 

 which includes biting or chawing as a legitimate way of 

 discomfiting an adversary. 



Checkers. The game of draughts. 



Checks. ■ Counters used to represent money or other kind 

 of property. As in gambling a man passes in his checks at 



