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Book II.

Language and Literature.

Language and Literature.

LITERATURE,

In the general sense of the word, comprises the entire results of knowledge, and mental activity, expressed in writing; but in a narrower sense, it is used to denote the department of elegant letters, excluding works of abstract science and mere erudition. In this limited view it comprehends languages, particularly Greek and Latin, grammar, etymology, logic, rhetoric, poetry, history, criticism, bibliography, and a description of the attainments of the human mind in every sphere of research and invention. The history of literature represents the development and successive changes of civilization, so far as these are exhibited in written works, and embraces the history of the literature of special ages or countries, and of the separate branches of literature, as poetry, rhetoric, philology, and so forth.

LANGUAGES.

The classification of the different languages of the earth into a few great families is due to the science of comparative philology, and is of recent origin. Till the latter end of the last century the preference as to the antiquity of language was usually given to the Hebrew, but a striking improvement of linguistic study is dated from the discovery of the Sanskrit, the ancient language of the northern parts of Hindustan, in the latter part of the last century. A belief in an affinity in languages and a separation of them into certain great groups or families then arose.

The languages of the world are divided into four great branches; viz., the ARYAN, or IndoEuropean, the most important; the SEMITIC, the TURANIAN, and the DRAVIDIAN.

The TURANIAN family, called also the Tataric or Altaic, includes the numerous and widely different languages of the Manchoos, the Mongols, the Turks (in Asia and Europe), the Magyars (in Hungary), the Finns (in Russia), and a multitude of other tribes.

The DRAVIDIAN includes the Tamil and the dialects in Ceylon and the islands off Asia, etc. The SEMITIC includes the Hebrew, Syriac, Arctic and Ethiopic, Basque (in the Pyrenees),

etc.

Mahratti, and the other numerous dialects of modern India.

II. The Medo-Persic branch, at the head of which is the Zend, in which the Zend-Avesta is composed, and the cuneiform inscriptions of Cyrus, Darius, and Xerxes. Next follow the Pehlevi, of the Sarsanian dynasty; the Parsee, in which the national poem of Ferdusi is written (A. D. 1000), and lastly the modern Persian.

III. The Celtic branch, divided into two dialects, the Gaelic and the Cymric; the former comprising the Irish or Erse, the Scottish Gaelic or Highland-Scotch, and the Manx of the Isle of Man; and the latter Welsh, the Cornish (now extinct) and the Armorican of Britanny.

IV. The Græco-Latin branch, comprising the two ancient classical languages, and the so-called Romanic languages, derived from the Latin, which are six in number; namely, the French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Wallachian, and the Roumanish or Romanese spoken in the Grisons in Switzerland.

V. The Teutonic branch, which comprises all the different German and Scandinavian dialects.

VI. The Slavonic branch, divided into three principal classes: 1. The Lettic, comprising the Lithuanian, the Old Prussian (now extinct), and the Lettish, the language of Kurland and Livonia. 2. The Western Slavonic, comprising the Polish; the Bohemian or Tchechian, spoken in Bohemia; the Slovakian, spoken by the Slovaks in Hungary, and the Wendian, spoken in Lusatia. 3. The Eastern Slavonic, comprising the Old Slavonic, preserved in the translations of the Bible made by Cyrillus in the ninth century, and its derivate dialect, the Bulgarian ; the Russian, Servian, Croatian, and Slovinian.

The Teutonic branch of the Indo-European family of languages is divided into two great branches, the German and Scandinavian.

The GERMAN is divisible into three principal dialects, the Moso-Gothic, the Low German, and the High German, the two latter being so called because the Low German is spoken by the inhabitants of the low or flat country near the shores of the German Ocean, while the High German belongs to the higher country in

The INDO-EUROPEAN, to which extensive family the English language belongs, is divided, the interior. into six principal branches.

I. The Indian branch, represented by the Sanskrit, which has now ceased to be spoken, but is the mother of the Hindustani, Bengali,

1. The Maso-GOTHIC, the most easterly of all the German dialects, has long ceased to be spoken, but is preserved in the translation of the gospels by Ulfilas.

2. The Low GERMAN comprised the following dialects: (1) Anglo-Saxon, which was cultivated with great success in England, and in which the second most ancient specimens of the Germanic language are preserved. (2) The Old Saxon, so called to distinguish it from the Anglo-Saxon in England, formerly spoken in Westphalia. (3) The Frisian, now confined to a small district in Holland. (4) The Dutch, the present language of Holland. (5) The Flemish, spoken in many parts of Belgium.

3. The HIGH GERMAN comprises the Old High German, from the seventh to the eleventh century; the Middle High German, from the twelfth century to the Reformation, and the New High German, which since Luther's time has been the literary language of Germany.

The SCANDINAVIAN branch, of which the most ancient language is the Old Norse, the language of Norway, is represented by the Icelandic, which was carried into Iceland by the Norse colonists in the ninth century and which continues to be spoken on that island with little alteration. On the Continent the

Old Norse is represented by the Swedish, Danish, and Norwegian, of which the last has now become a mere patois.

The following table exhibits the relationship of the different Teutonic languages:

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Scandinavian.

(i) Danish.
(ii) Swedish.
(iii) Norwegian.

The English Language is the descendant and representative of the Anglo-Saxon. It has lost very much of the inflection and very many of the words which belong to the parent language; and on the other hand it has borrowed words largely, to the extent even of half its vocabulary, from other languages, especially the French and the Latin. Yet all the inflections that remain in it, and most of its formative endings, the pronouns and particles, and in general the words which are in most frequent and familiar use, have come to it from the Anglo-Saxon. All the constituents of the English Language as it now exists are presented in a condensed form as follows:

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1. Every sentence and every line of poetry. Examples. Forget others' faults. How bright the day! What is fame? Custom forms us all. "Time is the warp of life; oh! tell

The young, the fair, to weave it well." 2. All proper nouns, and titles of office, honor, and respect.

Examples. Henry the Fowler, Emperor of Ger many; Robert Roe, Esquire; His Honor the Mayor; Square; the Superior Court of the City of New York. Elizabeth Barrett Browning; the Red River; Union 3. All adjectives formed from proper names.

Examples.-African, Italian, Welsh, Ciceronian. Also adjectives denoting a sect or religion. Examples.- Methodist, Puritan, Catholic.

4. Common nouns, where personified in a direct and lively manner; not where sex is merely attributed to an inanimate object.

Examples-Then War waves his ensanguined sword, and fair Peace flees sighing to some happier land. But, the sun pursues his fiery course; the moon sheds her silvery beams.

5. All appellations of the Deity. The personal pronouns Thou and He standing for His name are sometimes capitalized.

Examples.-The Almighty; the King of kings; the Eternal Essence; Jehovah; the Supreme Being; our Father.

In the standard editions of the Bible, the pronouns, when referring to God, are never capitalized, not even in forms of direct address to the Deity.

6. The first word of a complete quoted sentence not introduced by that, if, or any other conjunction.

Examples.-Thomson says, "Success makes villams But, Thomson says that "success makes vil

honest.' lains honest."

7. Every noun, adjective, and verb in the title of books and headings of chapters. Ancient Philosophy"; Cousins' Lectures on the True, Examples.-Butler's "Treatise on the History of the Beautiful, and the Good."

8. Words that denote the leading subjects of chapters, articles or paragraphs.

A word defined, for instance, may commence with a capital. Do not introduce capitals too freely under this rule. When in doubt use a small letter.

9. The pronoun I and the interjection 0. 10. Words denoting great events, eras of history, noted written instruments, extraordinary physical phenomena and the like.

Examples.- The Creation; the Confusion of Languages, the Restoration; the Dark Ages, the Declaration f Independence; the Aurora Borealis.

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