The Goodland republic. [volume] (Goodland, Kan.) 1891-1907, 1899-11-24
THE ORIGIN OF ENGLISH
Some Interesting Facts Regarding
the Growth and Development
OF Our Language.


Admitting language to have been Of
divine origin, we cannot imagine that =
perfect system Of il was at once given
to man. It is more natural to suppose
that God only gave to our first parents
such language as was necessary for
their present requirements, leaving
them, as He did in other respects, to en-
large and improve It as their future
necessities should require These Tudi-
ments OF speech must have been poor
and narrow. Let US suppose 3 period
existing before words were known.
Men could have had no other method Of
communicating their feeling than by
cries Of passion, accompanied by mo-
tons or gestures, just as to-day two
men would endeavor to make them
selves understood, If, ignorant Of each
others language, they were thrown to
gether upon a desert island. COnse-
quently those exclamations, called by
grammarians 'interjections, were
undoubtedly the elements Of speech
Finally names began to be applied TO
objects, the names corresponding as
nearly as possible to the nature Of the
object named. When the objects were
those in which sound OF motion were
concerned, the imitation by words Is
obvious; thus, one sort Of wind is said to
whistle and another to roar" q fly
to ''buzz," hail to rattle" a stream 70
'fow," etc. But where neither noise
nor motion is concerned this analogy
becomes more obscure, although It Is
not entirely lost. But as towns increase
in every nation words deviste more
widely from their primitive root and
lose all resemblance in sound Of the
things signifed. For instance, what an
amount Of history is wrapped up in the
word pagan The word, we learn
from GibbOn, is remotely derived from
a word in the DOTic dialect, signifying
"a fountain" The rural neighborhood
which frequented this fountain came
to be known as "pagans." Soon
pagan" and rural" became nearly
synonymous, and the meaner class &C
quired that appellation which has been
corrupted in the northern languages Of
Europe into peasant" Words as we
now use them are symbols rather than
limitations.
Language in its infancy being ex-
tremely barren, the mode OF speaking
by natural signs could not be at once
abandoned, and conversation was in
termixed with many gestures. Later
what had arisen from necessity con-
tinued to be used for ornament. In the
Greek and Roman languages particur
larry a musical and gesticulating pro-
nUnciatiOn was retained in a marked
degree. Without considering this, we
should be at loss to understand sew
eraI passages of the classics relating to
public speaking and theatrical enter
tainments Of the ancients. The actions
Of orators and players were far more
vehement than those of the present
day. To US ROsCius would appear a
mailman. On some occasions the acting
and speaking were divided, one player
speaking the words, while another ex-
pressed the corresponding motions.
Cicero tells US that it was a contest be-
tween himself and Roscius whether he
could express a sentiment in greater
variety Of phrases, or ROscius in a
greater variety Of intelligent gestures.
Finally gesture engrOssed the stage en-
tirely, and under the reigns Of Augustus
and Tiberius pantOmime was the favor
tie entertainment Of the public. The
passion for gesticulating became so viO-
lent, in fact, that laws were made pro-
hibiting senators from studying the art.
The order in which words are arranged
in a sentence differs greatly in ancient
and modern tongues, and the cOnsidera-
ton of this serves still further to IN
Il ~ L.
savage earnestly desiring some fruit
held by another. Unacquainted with
words, he strives to make himself IN
derstOOd by pointing eagerly at the
fruit, at the same time uttering a cry.
Next, let Us suppose him to have &C
quired a few words. The first word
which he would utter would be the name
Of the object desired, because his mind
is concentrated on that subject. Thus,
the primitive man would express him
self in the Latin order Of construction:
Fruit give me-" ''Fructum da mihi.'
As language grew more cOpiOus 1t grad
uaIly lost the fgurative style which was
its early character, and the metaphor
zeal mode Of expression finally gave way
to the more simple style of to-day.
There is probably no language more
cOpiOus than the English, which was
spoken after the Norman conquest in
1906. 1t is a mixture Of AnglO-Saxon
and Eorman-French, and contains
something more than $1,000 words, 49,
600 Of which are Of Latin origin, and
1900 of TeutoHic extraction. In
Chemistry a few names have come down
to Us from the languages of the civil
lied nations OF antiquity. For example,
the root Of the word ammonia is more
than 1000 years old; ammon, from
which it is derived, having been the
name Of one Of the gods yOrshiped by
the ancient Egyptians, from whom the
Romans transmitted the word to rs.