GOTHIC LANGUAGE. 



the North of Afia, as they rnuft ftill have been defcendants 

 of the fame primitive family, which, according to Mofes, 

 peopled the world. Thus the Celtic and the Gothic or 

 Teutonic muft have been, in their origin, the fume or hilcr 

 tongues. 



But further, while the ancient Celts and Goths continued 

 in the darknefs for which they became proverbial, the inha- 

 bitants of Greece rapidly improved in laws and the arts of 

 'ife. In tViis improved ftate, Greece became, in regard to the 

 'efs favoured inhabitants of the North and Weft, what Afia 

 '>ad hitherto been in refpeCl to Greece; a frelh fource of ci- 

 ^'li/.ation and letters. Its language, growing m.ore cojiaus 

 •ind refined with the people, diffufed itfelf with the 

 ^leffings of knowledge and fociety, which their exam- 

 Pie or inftruftion imparted to the Northern and Weftern 

 i'^habitants of Europe. Thus Greek, with the arts of 

 Greece imported into Italy, gave birth to the Latin 

 I'JnTue; and tllis at a later period necclTarlly affected the 

 Celtic language, in confequence of the viftories which the 

 'Roman arms atchieved in Gaul and ia Britain. This revolu- 

 tion greatly widened the line of diftinition which for ages had 

 been extending between the Celtic and the Gothic tongues; 

 the former being afllniilated to the Latin, the latter to the 

 Greek, bv a copious influx of new terms. It were indeed 

 matter of great curiofity if fome records of the Celtic and 

 Gothic toagues had been preferved before they were yet 

 modified by the afeendant languages of Greece and Rome ; 

 but no fuch records unfortunately have furvived the wrecks 

 of time. And we can jvidge of tlie ancient Celtic only from 

 the Welfh, its acknowledged daughter ; while we are left 

 to form our judgment of the prima:val Gothic from the rem- 

 nants of a verfion of tlie New Teftament, effected by Ulphi- 

 la.s, into the dialeA ufed by the Goths in Mcefia, and hence 

 called Moefo-Gothic. 



Having made this preface to Ihew that the Celtic and Go- 

 tluc had one common bafis, -viz. the primordial tongue im- 

 ported from Afia, we proceed to prove, as far as we are able 

 from their refpeftive offspring, that they had in common 

 many Afiatic words, and were modified by a great portion 

 of Latin and Greek terms : and that from thefe two caufes 

 they effentially refembled each other. The Lord's prayer 

 is thus rendered in the ancient Gothic of Ulphilas. 



1 Atta unfar thu in himi- 

 nam 



2 Veilmai namo thein 



3 Quimai thiudinaffus the- 

 ias 



4 Vairthai Vilga theius fiie 



in hlmina, gah ana air- 

 LJiai 



5 Klaif unferana thana fein- 

 t,inan glf uns himmidaga 



6 Gah afiet uns thatei fcu- 

 lans figaima, fiui fue gah 

 veis atletam. tham fculam 

 unferam 



7 Gail t\i brmgais uns in 

 fraillubngai 



S Ak lautei uns aflharama 

 ubilin. Amen. 



Literal tranflation : 



Father our thou in hea- 

 ven 



Be fanftihed thy name 

 Come thy kingdom 



4 Be done thy will fo in 

 heaven, alfo on earth 



5 Give us this day the 

 bread eternal 



6 And forgive us that we 

 are debtors, as alfo we 

 forgive thofe our debt- 

 ors 



7 And bring us not into 

 temptation 



S But deliver, us from evil, 

 Amen. 



1 Ein Taad, yr h>vn wyt 

 yn y Nefoeth 



2 Santeiddier dy enw 



3 Dcved dy dcyrnas 



4 Bydded dy Ew)llys ar 

 y ddaiar megis y mae 

 yn y nevoeth 



5 Dyro i ni heddyw ein 

 bara beynyddiol 



6 A madde i ni ein Dy- 

 ledion fel y maddenwn 

 ni ein dvledwyr 



7 Ag nae arv.«aiu ni i 

 brofedigaeth 



8 Eithr gwared ni rhag 

 drwg, Amen. 



1 Ourfathcr, tlie one who 

 art in heaven 



2 Be hallowed thy name 



3 Come thy kingdom 



4 Be thy will on the earth 

 as it is in the heaven 



5 Give to us this day ovr 

 daily bread 



6 And remit to us our 

 debts as that we remit 

 to our debtors 



7 And lead us not into 

 trial 



8 But deliver us fi-om evil. 

 Amen. 



The following is a fpecimen of the Celtic, as exifting in 

 the Wellh tongue : 



We propofe next to lay before our readers a brief analyfis 

 of thefetwo fpecimens, which it is prefumed wilj fhewthatthe 

 two lang\iages in quellion have much nearer refemblance to 

 each other, than Dr. Percy, or any pcrfon who has not a 

 thorough knowledge of both, could poifibly imagine. The 

 Hebrew -\~\,M, pronounced with an initial and cluilng vowel, 

 is aMn, and fignifies k'hvcd, and this is the fource of the 

 Gothic a/ta, and the Greek i;-;Tx, with the utnioCt propriety 

 apphed to a parent as the dearcil objeft of love. The fame 

 wordin Hebrew is written "1 ^1, doo^l, ;md is no other than the 

 Celtic iaatl, under a difference of char.'.fter. In the Cornilh 

 it is /(7s, in the Frific huUn, in the Lapland alLi, and the old 

 Cantabrian or Bifcayan c'lt a, father, Unfar is the Greek r,^.'.- 

 •7!;o;, thus ftrangely corrupted, mjxt:;, iintar, jmfar ; , and 

 hence the Englifli our. In the fame manner, l^^i; has dege- 

 nerated into iitiu, uns, us. The Celtic ni is the Hebrew and 

 Arabic pronoun 'J;-^, ani, which, founded witli only the 

 clofing vewel, is //.', us, and with only the initial ein, our.- 

 The Gothic in and the Welfh yn have originated in the 

 Greek !■•-, or the Latin in ; but- it is obfervable that both 

 thefe languages ufe this prepofition as it is ufed in Latin, 

 when followed by an accufative noun in the fenfe of into, 

 unto, or to : thus in frtttftubngai, into temptation ; inni, or 

 i ni, to us. The Welfli language is remarkable for the atten- 

 tion paid to harmony in the arrangcuxnt of its terms. To 

 produce this effect the termination of a preceding word, in 

 order to coalefce with the fucceeding one, is foTnewhat 

 changed, and thus made to unite both into one. Thusr/i'ii'fr 

 is yr itzun, the one, where r or r/j (afplrated after the manner 

 of the Greek f) is prefixed to -zfn, the Latin unus, or the An- 

 glo-Saxon an. Wyt, moreover, is a coalition of ii<y ly, art 

 thou, or thou art ; ivy being the fubftantive Greek verb iii or 

 ti/ji, whence the Goths derived their im, and tlie Englhli 

 our am. The Greek x;i,uir, tempefl or chuds, by foftening 

 the guttural into an afpirate, of which we fhall prefently 

 give fome more examples, has in the Gothic degenerated into 

 /.'(W«, the place where the tempefls or clouds refide, I'.am.ely, 

 \}.\zfhy or heaven. In the Franco-Theotifc the fame word is 

 htuiil, and in the Cimbric Amw/. Itexi'.ls alfo in the Celtic ; 

 but there it has retained its original found and fenfe, under 

 tlie form of cwmivl, a cloud. It is finguiar that the fame 

 affociation of ideas, founded on the nature cf things, has tranf- 

 ferred the Greek vjjo,-, or the Latin nube^, to figuify in Wcllh 

 ht\Tven, under the fllape ointof or nefoidd. 



2. Veihuai is the verb of leiha or vtihs, hoh, which is but 

 the Greek atm:, with the labial -u fubllitulcd for the afpi- 

 rate, as the old Latins have done in numerous inftances, fome 

 of which we fliall prefently .produce. On the other hand, 

 fantiddier is fanSui, converted bv the AVelfli into a verb ; w hile 



dy 



