The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1867-12-18
The English Language.

BdcHUOOu EuTtOUy" H1"yo~ete III
October, contains an excellent paper on
the subject of "Inroads Upon English" "
From the Introductory pages of this We
condense few thoughts on the threefold
character of the English language:
"The English language is endowed
with higher vitality than any other now
spoken upon the globe, and begs, bor-
rows, steals, and assimilates words where
ever it can find them, without any other
rule of accretion than that the new word
shall either express a new idea, or render
an old one more tersely and completely
than before.
"Chaucer introduced many hundreds
of words from the Norman French, which
not even his great example was sufficient
to naturalize; and at later day Spenser
made gallant but unsuccessful attempt
to revive from the ancient Anglo Saxon
many excellent words which never should
have been allowed to perish. Yet, not
wthstanding these illustrious and many
other failures, the language has continued
to grow, expanding, like tree, by its
own inherent vigor, and only resisting
additions that are clearly unnecessary,
or that, if necessary, are made too law
ishly or suddenly by rash, unpopular, or
incompetent teachers.
"One great advantage which the Eng
lish possesses over every European tongue
is that it is twofold. Like the star in
the great constellation of Orion, which,
seen by the naked eye, appears single,
but which, observed through the telescope,
is found to consist of two equally bright
crbs that revolve round each other, our
speech may be described as binary
Within its broad and yearly expanding
circumference are contained two sepa-
rate forms of expressiop-the one sim
pie, homely, strong, solemn, poetical,
passionate, and Saxon; the other refined,
colloquial, argumentative, and Latin
He who would without much trouble per
ceive the great difference and yet the
close relationship between the two, has
but to read chapter of the Old Tesla
ment in the recognized English transla-
ton of the reign of james l., and com
pare it with the same chapter in modern
French. The English version will be
found full of dignity, solemnity, and
grandeur; the French will be found easy,
colloquial, familiar, almost fippant,-
Yet the story and the ideas are the same
The superiority of the English is wholly
due to the Saxon element of the language
The literature of England is, for this
reason, under such heavy obligations to
the Bible Independently altogether OF
questions of morality and religion that
it is impossible to believe that our poetry
could be, as it is, the noblest body Of
poetry in the world, if the pious divines
and ripe scholars of King James's era
had taken it upon themselves to translate
the Bible into the polite language of the
Court, or in any other than that EN-
ployed by the plain-minded common peo-
pie.
"Next to the Bible, and Influenced by
its literary example, the poets have been
the great conservators of the English
language. The business of poetry be-
ing, above all other things, to appeal, in
the first instance, to the heart, and rather
to that than to the fancy or the magma
ton, the true poets choose, of necessity,
the simplest and most passionate words
fer their purpose. The great poet speaks
to all his countrymen and countrywomen,
and not merely to scholars. If he would
be understood of all, he must use the
best and strongest words, and such as
express most emphatically the most pre-
else shades of meaning. 1t is the poets
who make one word do the office of a
whole sentence, who crystalline ideas into
the most compact forms, and who give
their countrymen, in one immortal line,
the quintessence of a thought which or
binary prose writer's might spread over
whole pages.
"In the present day, in the English
portions of the world-European, Asia
tic, African, Australian, and American
all educated people use three different
kinds of English: Bible, or old Saxon
English, when they go to church or read
good poetry; vernacular, or colloquial
English, not altogether free from slang
and vulgarity, when they talk to one an
other in the ordinary intercourse of life;
and literary English, when they make
speeches or sermons, and write or read
articles, reviews, or books. This three
fold division of the language has always
existed, though the great bulk of the
people, up to very recent times, may
have only been familiar with the first,
and its limited range of nouns, verbs,
and adjectives, chiefly composed of strong,
plain monosyllables of Anglo-Saxon and
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