Newark post., 1911-12-13


Ahglo-Saxon origin. Before the
norman Norman Conquest Of England in
loob our language was almost en-.
t'rely Anglo-Saxon. The frame
work OF our language is still Anglo
saxon, an element which is closely
AKIN to the German. which includes
the propositions in. on. at. bv
among, etc; the conjunctions and
put Tor, It. though, yet. etc: the
irregular verbs sing. sang. sung
ring, rang, rung. etc; the pro-
nouns L, thou, he. she. it. we. Won
they, etc. the familiar nouns father
mother. brother. sister, son. daueh.
Ter, horse, COW, dog, pig, etc. These
words are rery important and we
use them over and over every dav.
In Tact, we could not Get along
without them; but they are words
that we master almost in infancy
and they do not require lifelong
study like the other words of orr
language. They present very little
d'1hculty as to meaning, spelling or
pronunciation. Some of these
Anglo o-Saxon words are gradually
becoming obsolete; as wist lsteth
trow. wot, etc. On the other hand
new words are being coined con
stantly from the classics. SO the
AnSlo-SaXon IA percentage is gradu-
ally getting less. the classical per-
centage is gradually getting great
er. | once heard Wilmington
lawyer advising his younger broth
er, who was student Of Delaware
College. to cultivate the use of
Anglo-Saxon words to the exclu-
sion OF those of classical origin. He
appealed to me if he was not right.
l told him, "No.' We cannot use
either element to the exclusion of
the other. 1t all depends on what
we wish to express. Frequently
the Anglo-SaXon word is strong.
vigorous and harsh while the cor
responding classical word is refined
and polished. There are some
Anglo-SaXOn words which cannot
be used III polite society. while their
classical equivalents fall harmless
on the ear. should not feel that
am doing my duty as classical
teacher if | did not keep constant
~ before my students the bearing
OF Latin and Greek upon the study
OF English and the great and ever
increasing Importance Of our own
tongue. Take the map of the world
and mark those lands which are
under the flags Of English-speaking
peoples. and you will see that they
include large part Of the fairest
and most civilized lands Of the
earth; Alaska, British America.
the United States. most of the West
Indies except Cuba and Hayti, Ba-
lize. British Guiana. the Falkland
Islands. the Bermudas the British
Isles with the Shetland. Orkney
and Channel Islands; Gibraltar.
Malta, Goza, and Cyprus, Egypt,
South and East Africa. Sierra
Leone, British Guinea, Liberia,
and ST. Helena, the vast empire of
India. which is now rapidly adopt
ing the English language, the
great iSland-continent Of Australia.
destined to become the home of
teeming millions; New Zealand,
North Borneo, Hong-kong. the
Philippines, Guam. Rowland.
Baker and Wake Islands. Hawaii
and part Of the Samoan group. If
any living language is destined to
become a universal language Of the
world, surely English is that Ian
guage. Various attempts have been
made to invent a language which
shall become a universal language
of the world, but all such attempts
have thus far proved failures.
When | was IA student at Johns
Hopkins University everybody was
talking about Volapuk. Now it is
never heard of. A few years ago
| received by mail Il book on Glik.
which it's inventor thought would
become universal world language.
Then Esperanto was invented by
DR.. Zamienhof, and for time he
had many Jealous disciples, but we
now rarely ever hear Of Esperanto.
The literatures of ancient Greece
and Rome have always been looked
upon as masterpieces and models
by the best writer's of all subse-
auent time. Much in the modern
literature is unintelligible without
a knowledge Of the ancient. Take
up the works of any great modern
writer and you will find constant
allusion to the ancient classics. II
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