Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1911-11-29

SIDES
lar ! ! lin ! TElv!
Writer II Norwegian American
T Lands Again on Prof. EgQe. .
A special writer for the Norweg-
ian American. III its last issue agrees
with Lieut.. Martin r. Tew in his
controversy with Prof. Egge. He
writes s5.
Esteemed Editor - IN MIDI
" It was the learned English writer,
Prof. George Craik that said, "There
never was such a thing as the An.
glo-S Saxon"
And yet we have in English at
least one large dictionary calling it
self Anglo axon''1 mean Bos-
worth's-a dictionary of language
which as anglo Saxon" is a non
and-never- existing language.
This dictionary, as might be ex-
pected, gives in very many cases, at
least two, three, four, ofttimes FIVE,
six, seven, and SO forth, ways Of
spelling word &c. 6. "neighbor,"
penny" etc. J in that airy language.
a vague and misty language in
name must have vague and misty
spelling; which probably, to a great
extent, is due to the mismanagement
OF great and learned professors at
English universities, called in from
Germany to help the English making
Morse words in England "Anglo-
Saxon" or "Germanic.0
Has the so-called "Anglo- Saxon"
now become 3Germanic - Or, let
me rather ask, Is the present Eng
lish "Germanicq" They say so; but
it can't easily be seen or understood.
Let anyone look in a somewhat com
plete English dictionary, count the
so-called Germanic words on sin.
gle page, compare these with the
number Of Latin words on the same
page; he will find two thirds or even
three fourths Of the words Latin.
AS to words, then, the present
English language is by far more Lat
in than German.
And as to construction or syntax?
1t is almost ridiculous to speak Of
the English language being Ger
manic
Look, on the other hand, at the
similarity in construction of the Eng
lish and Of the Scandinavian langu-
ages.
Glow comes dose dingsf" Is it
not true, after all what the American
Cyclopaedia says, before Prof. Dana
made everything Morse" in it de
gendary.::'' "What is usually called
Anglo-Saxon is mostly Scandinav-
ian?"
Prof. Egge is 200 innocent and
easy of belief. When he reads in our
school books that England is named
from Angles" with no reference to
the Scandinavian "Eng' (meadow).
he believes it, and forgets that Eng
land has more meadows" than II
has angles" or even "angels."
And, by the way, like so many,
when he reads that the solid Nor
wegiah Newport Tower is only an
American windmill, he will probably
let it pass as truth.
| have myself been teacher of his
tory for while in an American uni
sversity; but I have come to just
about the same conclusions as Prof.
Tew.
Let one read, such works as Prof.
Craik's on History, Literature, and
Language; also Chaillu's "The .Vik-
ing Age" and many similar works OF
men that did not accept Convention
al lies,' but searched-an and searched,
not in order to criticize and only to
differ, but to find the truth.
Instead of the misguiding term
anglo Saxon" let us at least ac-
cept the suggestion Of Webster's lat
est International and call that Ian
guage Oldest English, or "Old Eng.
lish."
Permit me also to suggest that We
Norsemen discontinue undertaking
our forefathers' greatness and thei1
work, as so many Of us still keep or
doing. ];
Same writer's among us, :. e: a
certain .'Dizzirud," seem to be dizzy
with joy in immature anticipation Of
even the forthcoming Nansen's Non.
sense, which will not be worth read
ing even If distributed gratuitously
Yours truly,
HISTORIAN.
Sale and Supper.
The Ladies' Social Union Of the