40 
Transactions Texas Academy of Science. 
was such that the melodious Latin and Greek words were easily as- 
similated. Yet Bishop Ulfila created numberless genuine expressions 
for foreign ideas that the older dialects did not possess, both for 
things of ordinary and social life, and for state and church, which 
foreign influence later suppressed and for which loan words were 
substituted. For instance Ulfila used waddjus (wall), augo-dauro 
(window), etc., for the modern matter, fenster, both of Latin origin. 
Numberless examples might be added, but these must suffice. 
When the Germans first fell under the influence of the superior 
Boman culture and felt the need of enlarging their vocabulary, they 
adopted two different methods for enriching their language. For 
material things of life they accepted loan words, but for the intel- 
lectual life they formed words from their own language to express 
the new idea in thought and feeling. The effect of this proceedure 
may be seen in the Middle High German which is symmetrical and 
has a rich development in a series of immortal works. Compared 
with the earlier language of the Hildebrandslied the Muspili, the 
Gothic translation of the bible and the Old High German monuments, 
the Middle High German shows a flexibility and expressiveness that 
make it superior to any stage of German except the present. 
After their conversion and assimilation into the church the priests 
destroyed the old German songs and music and wrote church songs 
like the Latin church songs and adopted the church music. Thus we 
have Olfried’s Evangelienbuch, the Heiland and other church poems. 
We have also laws and profane writings where the older thoughts 
and feelings are giving way to the new. 
During the Middle Ages the native German was under the ban. 
Latin reigned supreme in church and science, in cloister, school and 
university. It was not until the renaissance that the Latin became a 
dead language. Thus no chance was given in this early period for the 
further development of the native dialect. For Latin was spoken by 
all but the lowest caste. All documents were in Latin. Church and 
state suppressed the so-called vulgar speech. Not till 1238 do we 
find public documents in the German language and from this time 
on the German gains ground slowly but surely. In 1274 German 
becomes the official language for public documents, but Latin still 
remained in the church and at court. The church insisted on Latin 
as the universal language of intercommunication. Germany felt the 
need of using its own language and succeeded in introducing it into 
a part of the church service. But the Latin had dominated the mother 
tongue so long that a new language had to be formed. Morover the 
upper classes had used the universal language (Latin) as an elegant 
and noble language and had considered it the only language proper 
