THE LANGUAGE

37

(hill), dun (the color), mattock, and slough. The conversion of the Anglo-Saxons brought a great number of Latin words, some of them Greek originally, into the English. The word church (A.-S. cyrice, Grk. kyriakon), together with the large vocabulary connected with the officers and functions of the Church, was thus added to our language. Such, for example, were the words biscop (L. episcopus), munuc (monachus), preost (presbyter), deofol (diabolus), candel (candela), mynstre, (monasterium), martyr (Grk. martyr, a witness), and very many others. From the Danes' speech many words found their way into the spoken language; they came more slowly into literary English. The endings -by, -thorp, -thwaite, -toft, occurring in many names of places like Whitby, Grimsby, Somersby, Althorp, Brathwaite, and Lowestoft, have the meaning of village or town. These names are especially numerous in the eastern part of Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, in the region formerly known as the Danelagh, where the Danes had their settlements.1

From now on the language of England develops a more composite character as a new race, that of the Normans, finds a place for itself in this island kingdom; more rapidly than before the English speech absorbs important elements from another people, and we are brought to a new epoch in the history of English literature, passing into what is often called the Middle English Period.

The history of early England has been admirably told by J. R. Green in his Making of England, his Con- Book Notes quest of England, and his Short History of the and Study English People. Freeman's Old English History tions. is an authority, and Sharon Turner's History of the Anglo

Sugges

1 The relations of these various peoples to each other and their common descent from the great Aryan stock which peopled the continent of Europe is shown in the following table.

STUDY SUGGESTIONS

39

Saxons is particularly useful as a study of life and man

ners.

Ten Brink's History of English Literature, vol. i., Stopford Brooke's Early English Literature, also his English Literature from the Beginning to the Norman Conquest, and the first two volumes of Henry Morley's English Writers, are authorities upon Anglo-Saxon literature.

Beginnings of English Literature, by C. M. Lewis (Ginn), includes the period covered here.

Numerous translations of Anglo-Saxon poetry are given by both Brooke and Morley. In the English Writers, vol. ii., are Widsith and the Seafarer, entire; the Seafarer and the Wanderer are translated by Brooke in the Notes at the end of his volume. Beowulf is accessible in several versions, of which that by James M. Garnett (Ginn) is most faithful to the spirit of the original. Professor Garnett has translated also Cynewulf's Elene and the fragment of Judith, together with Brunnanburh and Maldon, in one volume. (Ginn). The Christ is at hand in an excellent prose rendering by Charles H. Whitman (Ginn). Albert S. Cook's edition of Judith (Heath) contains a translation of that fragment. The Battle of Brunnanburh, too, is found among the poems of Tennyson. There is an excellent volume of Select Translations from Old English Poetry, by Cook and Tinker (Ginn).

Bede's account of the poet Cadmon, and Cuthbert's narrative of the death of Bede, also Alfred's preface to his translation of Bede's Cura Pastoralis, will be found translated, or paraphrased, by Morley in his English Writers, vol. ii. Wulfstan's narrative, incorporated by Alfred in his translation of Orosius, is also given by Morley. Bede's Ecclesiastical History and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle are published in translation by Bohn. A Life of Alfred the Great, by Thomas Hughes, is published by Houghton, Mifflin and Company.

Students who wish to begin the study of Anglo-Saxon will find available text-books in Cook's First Book in Old English (Ginn), Bright's Anglo-Saxon Reader (Holt), Sweet's

Anglo-Saxon Primer, and Anglo-Saxon Reader (Clarendon Press). Smith's Old English Grammar and Exercise Book (Allyn & Bacon) is an excellent introduction to the study. A series of important texts is included in the Library of Anglo-Saxon Poetry, published by Ginn: I. Beowulf, by Harrison and Sharp; II. Exodus and Daniel, by T. W. Hunt; IV. Maldon and Brunnanburh, by C. L. Crow; VI. Elene, by C. W. Kent. The Albion Series of Anglo-Saxon and Middle English Poetry is announced by the same house ; Professor A. S. Cook's edition of the Christ has already appeared. The Judith, also edited by Cook, is published by Heath. Particular attention is directed to the Millennial Series of English Classics (Section I. Old English Literature), now in preparation (Heath), Edward Miles Brown, general editor.

The History of the English Language, by O. F. Emerson (Macmillan), and T. R. Lounsbury's History of the English Language (Holt) are valuable books. For general study of words, Words and their Ways in English Speech, by Greenough and Kittredge (Macmillan), is recommended. The development of Anglo-Saxon literature may be traced as follows (of course only the most important names and titles are included): :

CHAPTER II

THE ANGLO-NORMAN PERIOD

FROM THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS TO THE DEATH OF CHAUCER

1. The New Invasion.

II. The Development of Middle English Literature. III. The Age of Chaucer.

IV. Geoffrey Chaucer: Poet of the Dawn.

I. THE NEW INVASION.

WHEN, in 1066, William of Normandy led his victorious hosts against Harold and his Saxons The Norat Senlac near Hastings, a new epoch be- mans. gan in English history. The Normans, originally Teutons like the English themselves, were descendants of those Norse pirates, who, under Hrolf, at the beginning of the tenth century, had overrun the land on either side the mouth of the Seine, conquered that territory, and in the course of one hundred and fifty years developed the powerful duchy of Normandy. They were a bold, keen race, vigorous and aggressive, remarkable for their ability in assimilating the desirable qualities of the conquered people, and wonderfully successful in imparting their own energy to their new subjects. They adopted the modes and laws of the feudal system; they accepted the Christian faith; they were foremost in promoting the courtly rules and manners of chivalry ; they made themselves at home among the Franks, forgot their own Norse speech, and learned