Origins of the English People and the English Language

By: Jean Roemer

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This historic book may have numerous typos, missing text or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1888. Not illustrated. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER XI. SCRAPS FROM ANCIENT MANUSCRIPTS ILLUSTRATING EARLY ENGLISH LITERATURE AND THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. Preliminary Remarks. In order to understand correctly the specimens of early English presented in this chapter, it must be borne in mind that, with the exception of the Anglo-Saxon "Chronicle "--which kept up the ancient idiom of Alfred long after that language had ceased to be vernacular--all English works that since made their appearance were written for the use of people who no longer understood the elder forms of speech, but whose local dialects varied to such an extent as to be unintelligible, in many instances, to persons inhabiting different parts of the country. However, leaving aside all minor differences, and noticing only the leading features of the literary records of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, we will find that the New English of that time was represented by three principal dialects, which may be grouped as follows: 1. The Northern dialects, spoken throughout the Lowlands of Scotland, Northumberland, Durham, and nearly the whole of Yorkshire. Roughly speaking, the Humber and Ouse formed the southern boundary of this area, while the Penine Chain determined its limits to the west. 2. The Midland dialect, spoken in the counties to the west of the Penine Chain, in the East-Anglian counties, and in the-whole of the Midland district. The Thames formed the southern boundary of this region. 3. The Southern dialect, spoken in all the counties south of the Thames; in Somersetshire, Gloucestershire, and portions of Herefordshire and Worcestershire. There is no doubt that the Midland dialect exercised an influence upon the Southern dialect wherever it happened to be geographically connected with it, just as the Northumbrian acted upon the ad...

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