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English has borrowed more freely from Gaelic than from Irish, and that the borrowing began at an earlier time. This is the natural consequence of the respective geographical positions and political relations of Scotland and Ireland to England. We should also bear in mind that clan, ingle, kail, and plaid are ultimately of Latin origin, from planta, ignis, caulis, and pellis; whilst brose, pibroch are really of English origin, from broth and pipe; and branks is really northern English, borrowed probably from Holland.'

Welsh. Bragget, cam, clutter (heap), coble (?), coracle, cromlech, crowd (a fiddle), flannel, flummery, hawk (to clear the throat), ken, kibe, kick, metheglin.

Whether there may be words in English of Celtic origin, though they cannot, like those given above, be precisely traced to any one of the three languages, Irish, Gaelic, or Welsh, is a difficult question. Amongst the words,' says Professor Skeat in the chapter already quoted, 'which perhaps have the most claim to be considered as Celtic, or founded upon Celtic, are some of which the origin is very obscure. It may suffice to mention here the words bald, bat (thick stick), boggle, bots, brag, bran, brat, brill, brisk, bug, bump, cabin, char (fish), chert, clock (orig. a bell), cob, cobble, cock (small boat), coot, cub, Culdee, curd, cut, dad, dandriff, darn, drudge, dudgeon (ill humour), gag(?), gown, gyves, jag, knag, lad, lag, lass (?), loop, lubber, mug, noggin, nook, pilchard(?), pony, puck, pug, rub, shog, skip, taper, whin. As to some of these there does not seem to be much known. I wish to say distinctly that I feel I am here treading on dangerous and uncertain ground, and that I particularly wish to avoid expressing myself with certainty as to most of these words.'

With respect to these lists it may be remarked, as was done in speaking of the borrowings in the earlier times, that for our purpose their main value does not depend upon their being exact. For even allowing that there is some uncertainty as to their contents, there is no uncertainty in the conclusion that

may be drawn from them, viz. that Celtic has only very slightly at any time influenced the vocabulary of English.

-it is

Geographical names from Celtic.

13. But though an English dictionary can shew little material that is to be traced to the languages of those who once held these islands, yet in one special case- - that of geographical names· from the early inhabitants that many words come, which are still used where English is spoken. Among these, and perhaps the most remarkable of them, are the names of nearly all our rivers, e.g. Thames, Avon, Ouse, Don, Cam. That the Celtic influence is strongly marked in other cases may be seen from the following table, quoted from Mr. Taylor's Words and Places, where the names in certain districts of villages, hamlets, hills, woods, and valleys are dealt with :

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It is in such words alone that any strong mark has been left by the language of those who have steadily yielded to the pressure of stronger races, until almost the only home for their speech is to be found in the western parts of the western outpost of Europe — the British isles.

century

CHAPTER IV

The Saxon Shore-the Saxons as seamen - - their character in the fifth abandonment of sea-faring life after settlement in Britain — influence of the earlier life to be seen in Old English — words denoting water, ships, seamen, sea-faring--inference from such words-Teutonic conquests in Britain - Bede's account-notices in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle-bearing of these upon language - possibility of other tribes than those mentioned by Bede having taken part in the conquest — the Angles give the name to the language and the land—the Jutes.

The Saxon Shore.

1. In the preceding chapter the condition of the Roman province of Britain has been shortly noticed with reference to the influences that might be exerted upon the language of those who were to be the successors of the Romans in the conquest of the island. Already before the empire had relinquished its remotest western province, the name of those successors was known in the land that later they were to occupy, and the connection in which it occurs is significant. In a description of the Roman Empire, 'Notitia utriusque Imperii,' drawn up about 400 A.D., an official is spoken of with the title 'Comes Limitis Saxonici per Britanniam,' or 'Comes Littoris Saxonici per Britannias.' The district, for whose defence he had to provide, lay along the east and south coasts, from the Wash to Southampton Water, and seems to have got its name from its liability to be attacked by those who, at a yet earlier period, are said to have infested the

1

neighbouring seas. It is, then, in the character of sea-rovers, in which they strongly resemble the northern races from whom their descendants were to suffer so much, that the Saxons first present themselves; and this is a point that it may be well to notice, as having a bearing upon the language, seeing that a speech must more or less shew the impress of the life of those who speak it. And though, after their settlement in Britain, the energies of the Saxons were diverted from the sea to the land, and directed to the establishment and extension of their power within the island, yet we may expect to find that the old life had left its traces in the language in the shape of words connected with nautical matters. Of the old sea-life, then, we may try to learn something.

2. In the second century after Christ the geographer Ptolemy mentions Saxons; it is by the sea that

The Saxons

Their

character in

century.

he places them, by the mouth of the Elbe, and and the sea. on three islands. Before the end of the next century they are seen to have taken advantage the fifth of their position and to have become so formidable on account of their piratical expeditions, that a fleet had to be stationed in the Channel to resist them.2 In 364 they are said to have attacked Britain, and from that time onwards their raids were probably more or less continuous, until the island fell into their power. Their history seems to be very similar to, and consequently may receive illustration from, the better known one of the later Scandinavians; in each there is the development of a power that owed its strength largely to skill at sea, and that, after using this skill for the acquisition of plunder, at last found itself strong enough to make permanent conquest. And the parallel between the Saxon and the Dane seems to hold in respect to their characters; and again the

1 'Cum Carausius (afterwards 'tyrant' in Britain from 286 to 293) per tractum Belgicae et Armoricae pacandum mare accepisset, quod Franci et Saxones infestabant.' Eutropius.

2 v. preceding note.

better known picture of the Dane may help to supply details in the less familiar picture of the Saxon. At any rate the main outlines seem the same in both, if the following account of the Saxon of the 5th century be compared with what we know of the Dane from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and elsewhere. A Roman provincial, Sidonius Apollinaris (born 430 A.D.), writing to a friend, who had embarked as an officer in the Channel fleet, which was looking out for the pirate-boats of the Saxons, says: 'When you see their rowers, you may make up your mind that every one of them is an arch pirate, with such wonderful unanimity do all of them at once command, obey, teach, and learn their business of brigandage. This is why I have to warn you to be more than ever on your guard in this warfare. Your foe is of all foes the fiercest.1 He attacks unexpectedly; if you expect him, he makes his escape; he despises those who seek to block his path; he overthrows those who are off their guard; he cuts off any enemy whom he follows; while, for himself, he never fails to escape when he is forced to fly. And more than this, to these men a shipwreck is a school of seamanship rather than a matter of dread. They know the dangers of the deep like men who are every day in contact with them. For since a storm throws those whom they wish to attack off their guard, while it hinders their own coming onset from being seen from afar, they gladly risk themselves in the midst of wrecks and sea-beaten rocks in the hope of making profit out of the very tempest.' 2

Seafaring abandoned after settlement in Britain.

3. The sea-faring life, however, seems to have been abandoned by the Saxons after they had settled in England; for when the piracy of the earlier times was repeated in later times by the Danes, the English, like other nations, seem to have been quite unprepared to offer resistance on the sea, though more readily than others, as is seen particularly in

1'Hostis est omni hoste truculentior.'

2 Green's Making of England, pp. 16—17.

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