CHAPTER II.

GERMANIC ORIGIN OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE.--THE IMMIGRANT TRIBES, AND THEIR RELATIONS TO EACH OTHER.

s. 15. By referring to ss. 3-12, it may be seen that out of the numerous tribes and nations of Germany, _three_ in particular have been considered as the chief, if not the exclusive, sources of the present English, viz.: the Angles, the Saxons and the Jutes.

To criticise the evidence which derives the _English_ in general from the _Angles_, the particular inhabitants of _Sussex_, _Essex_, _Middlesex_ and _Wessex_, from the _Saxons_, and the _Anglo-Saxon_ language from the _Angle_ and _Saxon_ would be superfluous; whilst to doubt the truth of the main facts which it attests would exhibit an unnecessary and unhealthy scepticism. That the Angles and Saxons formed at least seven-tenths of the Germanic invaders may be safely admitted. The _Jute_ element, however, requires further notice.

s. 16. The _Jutes_.--Were any of the German immigrants _Jutes_? If so, what were their relations to the other German tribes?

_a._ Were there Jutes in England? That there was a Jute element in England is to be maintained, not upon the _tradition_ that one of the three ships of Hengist and Horsa was manned by Jutes, but from the following extract from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle:--

"Of Jotum comon Cantware and Wihtware, thaet is seo maeiadh, the n['u] eardath on Wiht, and thaet cynn on West-Sexum dhe man gyt haet I['u]tnacynn. Of Eald-Seaxum comon E['a]st-Seaxan, and Sudh-Seaxan, and West-Seaxan. Of Angle comon {11} (se ['a] sidhdhan st['o]d westig betwix I['u]tum and Seaxum) E['a]st-Engle, Middel-Angle, Mearce, and ealle Nordhymbra."

From the Jutes came the inhabitants of Kent and of Wight, that is, the race that now dwells in Wight, and that tribe amongst the West-Saxons which is yet called the Jute tribe. From the Old-Saxons came the East-Saxons, and South-Saxons, and West-Saxons. From the Angles Land (which has since always stood waste betwixt the Jutes and Saxons) came the East-Angles, Middle-Angles, Mercians, and all the Northumbrians.

Here the words _gyt haet I['u]tnacynn_ constitute cotemporary evidence.

Still there is a flaw in it; since it is quite possible that the term _I['u]tnacynn_ may have been no true denomination of a section of the Germans of England, but only the synonym of a different word, _Wiht-saetan_. Alfred writes--comon hi of thrym folcum tham strangestan Germaniae; thaet of _Seaxum_, and of _Angle_, and of _Geatum_. Of Geatum fruman sindon Cantware and _Wiht-saetan_, thaet is seo the['o]d se Wiht thaet ealond on eardadh--_they came of three folk, the strongest of Germany; that of_ Saxons _and of_ Angles, _and of_ Geats. _Of_ Geats _originally are_ the Kent people _and_ Wiht-set; _that is the people which_ Wiht _the Island live on_.

This changes the reasoning, and leads us to the following facts.

_a._ The word in question is a compound=_Wight_=_the name of the isle_, + _saetan_=_people_; as Somer-_set_, and Dor-_set_.

_b._ The peninsula _Jut_-land was also called _Vit_-land, or _With_-land.

_c._ The _wiht_- in _Wiht_-saetan is, undoubtedly, no such element as the _vit_- in _Vit_-land=_Jut-land_; since it represents the older Celtic term, known to us in the Romanized form _Vectis_.

Putting all this together, it becomes possible (nay probable) that the whole doctrine of a _Jute_ element in the Anglo-Saxon migration may have arisen out of the fact of there being a portion of the people of Southern England neighbours of the Saxons, and bearing the name _Wiht_-saetan; a fact which, taken along with the juxtaposition of the _Vit_-landers (_Jut_-landers) and Saxons on the Continent, suggested to the writers of a long later age the doctrine of a Jute migration.

s. 17. As this last objection impugns the evidence rather than the fact, the following question finds place:-- {12}

What were the Jutes of Germany? At present they are the natives of Jutland, and their language is Danish rather than German.

Neither is there reason to suppose that during the third and fourth centuries it was otherwise.

s. 18. This last circumstance detracts from the likelihood of the _fact_; since in no part of Kent, Sussex, Hants, nor even in the Isle of Wight--a likely place for a language to remain unchanged--have any traces of the old Jute been found.

s. 19. On the other hand the fact of Jutes, _even though Danes_, being members of a Germanic confederation is not only probable, but such was actually the case; at least for continental wars--_subactis, cum Saxonibus, Euciis_ (Eutiis), _qui se nobis_ (_i.e._, the Franks), _propri[^a] voluntate tradiderunt ... usque in Oceani littoribus dominio nostro porrigitur_.--Theodebert to the Emperor Justinian.--

"Quem _Geta_, Vasco tremunt, Danus, Eutheo,[1] Saxo, Britannus, Cum patre quos acie te domitasse patet."

Venantius Fortunatus ad Chilpericum regem.[2]

s. 20. _Inference._--Of the three following views--(1.) that the Jutes of Jutland in the fourth and fifth centuries spoke Saxon; (2.) that they spoke Danish at home, but lost their language after three or four centuries' residence in England; and (3.) that a later historian was induced by the similarity between the term _Wiht-saetan_, as applied to the _people of the Isle of Wight_, and _Wit-land_, as applied to _Jutland_, combined with the real probability of the fact supposed, to assume a Jute origin for the Saxons of the parts in question, the third is, in the mind of the present writer, the most probable.

s. 21. It has already been stated that concerning the Angles and Saxons, no reasonable man will put the question which was put in respect to the Jutes, _viz._, had they any real place among the Germanic invaders of England? Respecting, however, their relations to each other, and their respective geographical localities whilst occupants of Germany, anterior to {13} their immigration into Britain, there is much that requires investigation. What were the Saxons of Germany--what the Angles?

s. 22. _Difficulties respecting the identification of the Saxons._--There are two senses of the word _Saxon_, one of which causes difficulty by being too limited; the other by being too wide.

_a._ _The limited sense of the word Saxon._--This is what we get from Ptolemy, the first author who names the Saxons, and who gives them a limited locality at the mouth of the Elbe, bounded by the Sigulones, the Sabalingi, the Kobandi, the Chali, the Phundusii, the Harudes, and other tribes of the Cimbric Peninsula, of which the Saxons just occupied the neck, and three small islands opposite--probably Fohr, Sylt, and Nordstand.

Now a sense of the word _Saxon_ thus limited, would restrict the joint conquerors of Britain to the small area comprized between the Elbe and Eyder, of which they do not seem even to have held the whole.

_b._ _The wide sense of the word Saxon._--The reader need scarcely be reminded that the present kingdom of Saxony is as far inland as the northern frontier of Bohemia. Laying this, however, out of the question, as the effect of an extension subsequent to the invasion of Britain, we still find Saxons in ancient Hanover, ancient Oldenburg, ancient Westphalia, and (speaking roughly) over the greater part of the country drained by the Weser, and of the area inclosed by the eastern feeders of the Lower Rhine, the Elbe, and the range of the Hartz.

Now as it is not likely that the limited Saxon area of Ptolemy should have supplied the whole of our Saxon population, so on the other hand, it is certain, that of a considerable portion of the Saxon area in its _wider_ extent tribes other than the Saxons of England, were occupants.

s. 23. _Difficulties respecting the word Angle._--The reader is referred to an extract from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, in s. 16, where it is stated, that "from the Angles' land (which has since always stood waste betwixt the Jutes and the {14} Saxons) came the East-Angles, Middle-Angles, Mercians, and all the Northumbrians."

Thus to bring the great Angle population from an area no larger than the county of Rutland, is an objection--but it is not the chief one.

The chief objection to the Angles of England being derived from the little district of Anglen, in Sleswick, lies in the fact of there being mention of _Angli_ in another part of Germany.

s. 24. This exposition of the elements of uncertainty will be followed by an enumeration of--

1. Those portions of the Germanic populations, which from their geographical position, are the likeliest, _[`a] priori_, to have helped to people England.

2. Those portions of the Germanic population, which although not supposed to have contributed in any notable degree to the population of Britain, had such continental relations to the Angles and Saxons, as to help in fixing their localities.

These two scenes of facts, give us what may be called our preliminary _apparatus criticus_.

s. 25. Between the northern limits of the Celtic populations of Gaul and the southern boundary of the Scandinavians of Jutland, we find the area which is most likely to have given origin to the Germans of England. This is best considered under two heads.

_a._ That of the proper _seaboard_, or the _coast_ from the Rhine to the Eyder.

_b._ That of the _rivers_, _i.e._, the communications between the ocean and the inland country.

This double division is _sufficient_, since it is not likely that Britain was peopled by any tribes which were not either maritime, or the occupants of a river.

On the other hand, it is _necessary_, since although the _[`a] priori_ view is in favour of the _coast_ having supplied the British immigration, the chances of its having proceeded from the interior by the way of the large rivers Rhine, Weser, and Elbe, must also be taken into consideration. {15}

The importance of this latter alternative, will soon be seen.

s. 26. _The Menapians._--Locality, from the country of the Morini on the French side of the Straits of Dover, to the Scheldt. It is generally considered that these were not Germans but Celts. The fact, however, is by no means ascertained. If Germans, the Menapians were the tribes nearest to Britain. Again, supposing that the present Flemings of Belgium are the oldest inhabitants of the country, their origin is either wholly, or in part, Menapian. Mentioned by Caesar.

s. 27. _The Batavians._--Mentioned by Caesar; locality, from the Maas to the Zuyder Zee. Conterminous with the Menapians on the south, and with the Frisians on the north. If the present Dutch of Holland be the inhabitants of the country from the time of Caesar downwards, their origin is Batavian.

s. 28. _The Frisians._--First known to the Romans during the campaign of Drusus--"tributum _Frisiis_ transrhenano populo--Drusus jusserat modicum;"[3] Tacitus, Ann. iv. 72. Extended, according to Ptolemy, as far north as the Ems--[Greek: ten de parokeanitin katechousin ... hoi Phrissioi, mechri tou Amisiou potamou].

Now, as the dialect of the modern province of Friesland differs in many important points from the Dutch of Holland and Flanders; and as there is every reason to believe that the same, or greater difference, existed between the old Frisians and the old Batavians, assuming each to have been the mother-tongues of the present Frisian and Dutch respectively, we may consider that in reaching the parts to the north of the Zuyder-Zee, we have come to a second sub-division of the Germanic dialects; nevertheless, it is not the division to which either the Angles or the Saxons belong, as may be ascertained by the difference of dialect, or rather language.

s. 29. _The Chauci._--Connected with the Frisii.--Falling into two divisions--the lesser (?) Chauci, from the Ems to the Weser; the greater (?) Chauci from the Weser to the Elbe--[Greek: meta de toutous] (the Frisians), {16} [Greek: Kauchoi hoi mikroi mechri tou Ouisourgios potamou, eita Kauchoi hoi meizous, mechri tou Albios potamou.]

Tacitus describes the Chauci thus:--"Tam immensum terrarum spatium non tenent tantum Chauci, sed et implent; populus inter Germanos nobilissimus."

The Frisians, as has been stated, represent a separate subdivision of the German dialects, as opposed to the ancient Batavian, and the modern Dutch and Flemish. Did the Chauci represent a third, or were they part of the Frisian division?

The latter is the more likely, and that for the following reasons--Vestiges of Frisian dialects are to be found on the Continent, in Oldenburgh, and also in the island of Heligoland.

More important still is the North-Frisian dialect. _North of the Elbe_, in the Dutchy of Sleswick, and from the Eyder to Tondern, we find a tract of land called, by Saxo Grammaticus, _Frisia Minor_, and by other writers, _Frisia Eydorensis_.

Now, as there are no grounds for considering these _North_ Frisians as other than indigenous to the tract in question, we get an additional reason for looking upon the intermediate line of coast as Frisian rather than either Angle or Saxon--or, at least, such parts of it as are not expressly stated to be otherwise.

s. 30. _Inference._--As the whole coast south of the Elbe seems to have been occupied by tribes speaking either Frisian or Batavian dialects, and as neither of these sub-divisions represents the language of the Angles and Saxons, the original localities of those invaders must be sought for either north of the Elbe, or inland, along the course of the rivers, _i.e._--inland.

s. 31. _The Saxons and Nordalbingians._--North of the Elbe, and south of the Eyder (as stated in s. 22), we meet the Saxons of Ptolemy; but that in a very circumscribed locality.

In the ninth century, the tribes of these parts are divided into three divisions:--

_a._ The _Holtsati_=the people of Holstein. Here _holt_=_wood_, whilst _sat_ is the _-set_ in Somer-_set_ and Dor-_set_. {17}

_b._ The _Thiedmarsi_=_the people of Ditmarsh_.

_c._ The _Stormarii_=_the people of Stormar_.

Besides the names of these three particular divisions the tribes between the Elbe and Eyder were called by the _general_ name of _Nordalbingii_=_i.e. people to the north of the Elbe_.

s. 32. _The people of Anglen_--North of the Nordalbingii; Anglen being the name of a _district_ between the Schlie and Flensburg.

s. 33. _The Jutes._--In _Jut_-land, north of the Angles and the Northfrisians.

s. 34. _The Saxons of Holstein, how large their area?_--There is no reason for considering the Nordalbingian _Holtsati_, _Thiedmarsi_ and _Stormarii_ as other than Saxons; although the fact of the Northfrisians to the north, and of the Frisians of Hanover to the south of them, is a slight complication of the _prim[^a] facie_ view.

Neither is it necessary to identify the two divisions, and to consider the Saxons as Frisians, or the Frisians as Saxons, as is done by some authors.

It is only necessary to perceive the complication which the existence of the Northfrisians introduces, and to recognise the improbability of _parts_ of the present dutchies of Holstein and Sleswick having constituted the _whole_ of the Anglo-Saxon area.

In other words, we have to ascertain in what direction the Germanic population represented by the Saxons at the mouth of the Elbe extended itself--for some further extension there undoubtedly must have been.

s. 35. This brings us to the other series of preliminary facts, viz.: the consideration of the more important tribes of the middle and lower courses of the three great rivers, the Rhine, the Weser, and the Elbe.

s. 36. _The Germans of the Middle Rhine._--Of the Germans of the Lower and Middle Rhine, it is only necessary to mention one--

_The Franks._--We shall see that, taking the two terms in their widest sense, the _Franks_ and the _Saxons_ were in contact, a fact which makes it necessary to notice at least some portion of the Frank area. {18}

_a._ _Salian Franks._--If the element _Sal-_ represent the _-sel_, in the name of the Dutch river _Y-ssel_, the locality of the Salian Franks was Overyssel and Guelderland, whilst their ethnological relations were most probably with the Batavians.

_b._ _Chamavi._--In the Tabula Peutingeriana we find--Chamavi qui _Elpranci_ (_leg. et Franci_). They were conterminous with the Salii--[Greek: Hupedexamen men moiran tou Salion ethnous, Chamabous de exelasa].--Julian, Op. p. 280.--D.N.

The following extract is more important, as it shows that a Roman communication _at least_ took place between the Rhine and Britain: [Greek: Chamabon gar me bouleuomenon, adunaton estin ten tes Bretannikes nesou sitopompian epi ta Rhomaika phrouria diapempesthai].--Eunap. in Except. leg. ed., Bonn, p. 42.--D.N.

The name Chamavi is still preserved in that of the district of _Hameland_, near Deventer.--D.N. and G.D.S.

The Bructeri, Sigambri, and Ripuarian Franks bring us to the Franks of the Middle Rhine, a portion of the division which it is not necessary to follow.

s. 37. _The Thuringians._--First mentioned in the beginning of the fourth century. Locality, between the Hartz, the Werra a feeder of the Weser, and the Sala a feeder of the Elbe. As early as the sixth century the Thuringians and Saxons are conterminous, and members of the same confederation against the Franks.--D.N.

s. 38. _The Catti._--Locality, the valley of the Fulda, forming part of the Upper Weser. Conterminous with the Thuringi (from whom they were separated by the river Werra) on the east, and the Franks on the west. The modern form of the word _Catti_ is _Hesse_, and the principality of Hesse is their old locality.--G.D.S.

s. 39._ Geographical conditions of the Saxon area._--_Southern and northern limits._--The Saxons were in league with the Thuringians and Jutes against the Franks.

By the Jutes they were limited on the north, by the Thuringians on the south-east, and by the Franks on the south-west; the middle portion of the southern frontier being formed by the Catti between the Franks and Thuringians. {19}

This gives us a _southern_ and a _northern_ limit.

_Western limit._--This is formed by the Batavians and Frisians of the sea-coast, _i.e._, by the Batavians of Holland, Guelderland, and Overyssel, and, afterwards, by the Frisians of West and East Friesland, and of Oldenburg.

Here, however, the breadth of the non-Saxon area is uncertain. Generally speaking, it is broadest in the southern, and narrowest in the northern portion. The Frisian line is narrower than the Batavian, whilst when we reach the Elbe the Saxons appear on the sea-coast. Perhaps they do so on the Weser as well.

s. 40. _Eastern limit._--_Preliminary remark._--Before the eastern limit of the Saxons is investigated, it will be well to indicate the extent to which it differs from the southern.

_a._ The Thuringians, Catti (or Hessians), and Franks, on the southern boundary of the Saxon area were _Germans_. Hence the line of demarcation between their language was no broad and definite line, like that between the English and the Welsh, but rather one representing a difference of dialect, like that between the Yorkshire and the Lowland Scotch. Hence, too, we ought not only not to be surprised, if we find dialects intermediate to the Frank and Saxon, the Saxon and Thuringian, &c., but we must expect to find them.

_b._ The same is the case with the Batavian and Frisian frontier.--We really find specimens of language which some writers call Saxon, and others Dutch (Batavian).

The eastern frontier, however, will be like the frontier between England and Wales, where the line of demarcation is broad and definite, where there are no intermediate and transitional dialects, and where the two contiguous languages belong to different philological classes.--_The languages to the east of the Saxon area will be allied to the languages of Russia, Poland, and Bohemia;_ i.e., _they will be not Germanic but Slavonic._

_Note._--The northern frontier of the Saxon area is intermediate in character to the western and southern on one hand, and to the eastern on the other; the Danish of the Cimbric Peninsula being--though not German--Gothic. {20}

We begin at the northern portion of the Saxon area, _i.e._, the south-eastern corner of the Cimbric Peninsula, and the parts about the Town of Lubeck; where the Dutchies of Mecklenburg Schwerin and Holstein join. The attention of the reader is particularly directed to the dates.

s. 41. _Slavonians of Holstein, Mecklenburg, and Lauenburg._--The _Polabi_--From _po_=_on_, and _Labe_=_the Elbe_. Name Slavonic. Germanized by the addition of the termination--_ing_, and so become _Po-lab-ing-i_; just as in _Kent_ we find the _Kent-ing-s_. Conterminous with the Nordalbingian _Stormarii_, from whom they are divided by the river _Bille_, a small confluent of the Elbe. Capital Ratzeburg. First mentioned by writers subsequent to the time of Charlemagne.--D.N.

s. 42. The _Wagrians_.--North of the Polabi, and within the Cimbric Peninsula, divided from the Danes by the Eyder, from the Non-Danish Nordalbingians by the Trave. Capital Oldenburg. The Isle of Femern was Wagrian. Authorities--chiefly writers of and subsequent to the time of Charlemagne. In one of these we learn that the town of _Hadhum_ (Sleswick) lies between the Angles, the Saxons, and the _Wends_.

Now, _Wend_ is the German designation of the _Slavonians_; so that there must have been Slavonians in the Cimbric Peninsula at least as early as the ninth century.--D.N.

s. 43. _Obotriti_, written also _Obotritae_, _Abotriti_, _Abotridi_; _Apodritae_, _Abatareni_, _Apdrede_, _Afdrege_, and for the sake of distinction from a people of the same name, _Nort-Obtrezi_, occupants of the western part of Mecklenburg, and extended as far east as the Warnow, as far south as Schwerin. Called by Adam of Bremen, _Reregi_. The Obotrites were allies of the Franks against the Saxons, and after the defeat and partial removal of the latter, were transplanted to some of their localities.--"Saxones transtulit" (_i.e._, Charlemagne), "in Franciam et pagos transalbianos Abodritis dedit."--Eginhart Ann. A.D. 804.--D.N.

s. 44. The _Lini_--Slavonians on the left bank of the Elbe, and the first met with on that side of the river. Occupants of Danneburg, Luchow and Wustrow, in Luneburg. By the {21} writers subsequent to the time of Charlemagne the _Smeldengi_ (a German designation), and the _Bethenici_ are mentioned along with the Lini (or Linones). Of this Slavonic a Paternoster may be seen in the Mithridates representing the dialect of the neighbourhood in Luchow in A.D. 1691. It is much mixed with the German. About the middle of the last century this (Cis-Albian Slavonic) dialect became extinct.--D.N.

s. 45. The _Warnabi_ or _Warnavi_.--Locality. Parts about Grabow, Valley of the Elbe. This is the locality of the _Varini_ of Tacitus, the [Greek: Ouirounoi] of Ptolemy, and the _Werini_ of later writers, a tribe connected with the Angli, and generally considered as Germanic.--D.N.

s. 46. _Morizani._--The district round the Moritz Lake.--D.N.

s. 47. _Doxani._--Locality; the valley of the Dosse.--D.N.

s. 48. _Hevelli._--Locality; the valley of the Hevel. These are the Slavonians of Brandenburg and Mittelmark.--D.N.

s. 49. _Slavonians of Altmark._--In Altmark, as in Lunenburg, though on the German side of the Elbe we find the names of the places Slavonic, _e.g._, Klotze, Wrepke, Solpke, Blatz, Regatz, Colbitz, &c.; so that Altmark, like Lunenburg, was originally a _Cis_-Albian Slavonic locality.

s. 50. South of the Hevel we meet with the _Sorabian_, or _Sorb_ Slavonians, the descendants of whom form at the present time part of the population of Lusatia and Silesia. It is not, however, necessary to follow these further, since the German frontier now begins to be Thuringian rather than Saxon.

s. 51. _Saxon area._--From the preceding investigations we determine the area occupied by the Saxons of Germany to be nearly as follows:

_a._--_Ethnologically considered._--Tract bounded on the north by the North Frisian Germans and Jute Danes of Sleswick; on the north and north-east by the Slavonians of the Elbe, sometimes _Trans_-Albian like the Wagrians and Obotrites; sometimes _Cis_-Albian, like the Linones and the Slaves of Altmark; on the south by the Thuringians, Catti, and Franks; on the west by the Franks, Batavians, and Frisians.

_b._ _Considered in relation to the ancient population that it {22} comprised._--The country of the Saxons of Ptolemy; the Angli of Tacitus; the Langobardi of Tacitus; the Angrivarii; the Dulgubini; the Ampsivarii (?); the Bructeri Minores (?); the Fosi, and Cherusci; and probably part of the Cauci. Of populations mentioned by the later writers (_i.e._ of those between the seventh and eleventh centuries), the following belong to this area--the Stormarii, Thietmarsi, Hotsati (=the Nordalbingii, or Nordleudi), the Ostfali, (Osterluidi), Westfali, Angarii, and Eald-Seaxan (Old Saxons).

_c._ _Considered in relation to its modern population._--Here it coincides most closely with the kingdom of Hanover, _plus_ parts of the Dutchies of Holstein and Oldenburg, and parts of Altmark? Brunswick? and Westphalia, and _minus_ the Frisian portion of East Friesland, and the Slavonic part of Luneburg.

d. _River system._--By extending the Saxons of Westphalia as far as Cleves (which has been done by competent judges) we carry the western limit to the neighbourhood of the Rhine. This, however, is as far as it can safely be carried. In the respect to the Upper Ems, it was probably Saxon, the lower part being Frisian. The Weser is pre-eminently the river of the Saxons, with the water-system of which their area coincides more closely than with any other physical division. The Elbe was much in the same relation to the Germans and Slavonians, as the Rhine was to the Germans and the Gauls. Roughly speaking, it is the frontier--the _Cis_-Albian Slaves (the Linones and the Slavonians of Altmark) being quite as numerous as the _Trans_-Albian Germans, (the people of Stormar, Ditmarsh, and Holstein). The Eyder was perhaps equally Danish, Frisian, and Saxon.

_e._ _Mountains._--The watershed of the Weser on the one side, and of the Ruhr and Lippe on the other, is the chief high land _contained_ within the Saxon area, and is noticed as being the line most likely to form a subdivision of the Saxon population, either in the way of dialect or political relations--_in case such a subdivision exists_, a point which will be considered in the next chapter.

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