The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1859-03-17
numerical Advertiser.
.-;..I pevcIsPme ns Of the Engli.h
Language.
o.,,,r,4 before tAe Honolulu Lyeea", March
rfrfs .-Bx PEOFEssOR ALExASDEK-)

'-'- .ara ny PEOf E>cOk aLEAASbEh-J
..,r that we have learned that every Ian
rs Of its own. and that history Of tina
xr;tteu As complete, and to some mind
.. the biography of a hero or martyr
sIl.x. IN this respect the analogy of al
from the divine mind Of man. Hisio
--;,sn now, not only Of wars and diplomacy
:, ,;v;rirations, Of art, of literature, anC
,,,,gu,re ITSELF All these manifestations o
ND share in the same onward move
-, ,,sH themselves by laws of development
,be.e that govern the growth of rlant oil
-. ,rsnet. Can we indeed believe in q Su.
r-..r,-.oee. in an AII-Wise Providence, with
..s.yiar that there is, if not as evident, We,
,,I,r in the Development of humanity as
.r;,,r;mate nature: But it is not with man
ssr;or creation, where there are changes
nroyress. always returning in the same circle
!, ;mmutsble forms. The bee gathers honey in
.usr. ta-isy. in the same exquisite cells that
=, in the far East in the days Of the lion-slayer,
xiii has no progress nor history. The night
;,,s vet the sane liquid notes that " close the
las. y but man does not speak now as he did
| n, DeIure, his words of to-day are not the
sf yesterday. And this results from the very
I At language. We must Danish from our
tis iies that there is anything conventional
sirary about language, or that it is an invention
|uyauce Of man. History proves that no hu-
s.r can create n language or even, we might
~, single word The dialect of the rudest
n Is complete and philosophical grammar
E.ily cultivated languages CT Europe Lam
In. We conclude, is a gift from the Almighty.
b; he Creator taught men words as man
tie parrot. from reithout, or that he gave him
r-1sie dictionary or grammar. No, Lam
snther power, faculty, implanted in the
rars Of nan and inseparable from all con-
aSuzht, which unfoIds itself, according to
ss. Is objects in the outer world present them
ne ssrses, or the mutual relations Of these
knrhe mind
3llgs, then, IS not manufactured but grors.
,Eks house, laboriously constructed out of
lasrlls, timber or stone, and fashioned ac-
~ tie caprice ofehe builder, but like a liv-
freely and gracefully developing itself, ac-
ES an inward law OF growth
aagaigss we're treated very much as plants
|16ei by the earlier botauists. With Lin
T ssir pocket, they would gather the tender
2 sf Flora into their huge maps, dry and
tasa At home, and finally deposit them well
al pastel in their splendid but lifeless herba-
her whole wisdom was expended in the
latoa and nomenclature of this ingeniousiy
4 hs But better day has dawned, both
nrT and phiIology- We are learning TO
Urls lot merely as lifeiess material, but as
lEers, and thus the study of language is be-
) noble science, a branch Of the study of man
!, snce language is the embodiment of thought,
: the mind Of the people that speak it. IL is
'ard representative, so to speak, Of the mind
Ne Hence. As has well been said, ss there is
ae read IN language than in all that has been
y irs aid" The whole character of a na-
'rai, Intellectual aud social, their origin and
\ i1tures Of their history. all are reflected in
lEags.
7Hsthat the history Of the English language
zslrily De, to great sn5ent, the history of
Esh raee
Fss'st pilce, the English language is not the
siad original tongue of the British Islands,
I q lay part Of them. Its native home is
=, aat lis afhnities are with the Germanic
f. With the history Of Britain previous to
i-T1iion Of our Saxon forefathers into that
'ai suajeet has little or no connection We
hrethers to trace our language to the banks
20, to Investigate its relation to all the kim
-sles that were spoken there; or again to fol-
n all they are ali seen descending from an
a. and tlll they have finally assigned 10 it
= Dot merely in respect of that small group
azs around it, but in respect to all the Ian
Tue earth. Fascinating as such studies
9 require an immense apparatus of books,
ss'oucn Of life time, to follow them up to
Ex resalt..
f" 10 say, in general terms, that three great
L successive waves of migration, have swept
''Aern and Central Europe.
[''la period before the earliest dawn of his
'siue race descended from the highlands of
eeaP'e'i large part of Europe, including
/ ''h Islands, as is shown by the names of the
aAl'hs and rivers '' They had an alphabet,
!'a prlestly caste, and an Oriental creed"
I ~ herman tribes entered Europe about 700
,'T peopled Denmark, Scandinavia, and
-a'0pe' they destroyed and reorganized the
.pie' as Franks, they conquered Gaul and
rance; as sAnglo-Saxons they conquered
~ - 'n'nsed Its name to England. or Angle
As' stream OF population from the East is
saeh has overfowed Russia, Poland
.i' and IS now threatening to dethrone the
4 grasp the scepter of Europe with its
SAriess hand. With the first and last Of
- siase has but remote afinities. The
'ae Germsn tribes flows in its veins
'7'A1'ns : originally occupied the territory
.I1Ark and Holland, comprising the prov
+'1o'er and westphalia, and crossed over
uaring the fourth and fifth centuries
d. aaa governed Britain for five centuries,
!, s''oh'es, such as Lincoln, which Is a cor
we Latin name /" Lindi Cclonia," and
! r''ei roads, walls anil intrenehed camps,
'Ae numerous names of towns ending
n corruption of the Latin cGsfra
4. D''ehester, ''the camp of Dorm" Leices-
Oh Leir." &c. But the Roman gen.
:. a news from Italy, and worse and worse
.s,. ~ last they made the Britons part |
AZ walls. forts and munitions of war. and
Ieedom however had died out among |
!, britons. and when the fierce Picts
h, ~ Tue north, came pouring down upon |