The Teutonic stock is thus subdivided into three branches, viz. Low-German, High-German, and Scandinavian, and it is a full designation of the English language to say that it is a member of the Low-German branch of the Teutonic stock of the Indo-European or Aryan family of languages. We might describe Dutch and Flemish as sister languages of English, and German and Norwegian as its first-cousins'.

Another stock of considerable interest to us is the Romanic, or Italic, since to this stock belong the Latin, from which we have borrowed largely, and the modern representatives of the Latin,-Italian, French, Spanish,— Romance languages as they are called, Romance because they come from a Roman source. Then again there is the Hellenic or Grecian stock, which is represented by the Modern Greek.

The Keltic stock also has peculiar interest for us, because the inhabitants of our island before the arrival of our English forefathers were Kelts, and Keltic dialects are spoken at the present day in parts of Great Britain and Ireland. The Keltic stock falls into two branches, the Cymric and the Gadhelic. Under the former head are placed the Welsh language and the Armorican, a dialect spoken in Brittany. The old Cornish, which died out two centuries ago, belonged to the same branch. In the Gadhelic group are included the native Irish or Erse, the Gaelic of the Highlands, and the Manx of the Isle of Man.

1 The oldest of the Teutonic languages of which written records are extant is Gothic, sometimes called Moso-Gothic. This was the language spoken by the Western Goths, or Visigoths, who settled in Moesia, a district corresponding to the present Servia and Bulgaria. About the year A.D. 350 Bishop Wulfila (or Ulphilas) translated the Bible into Gothic, and of this translation portions have come down to us. These literary remains are of great linguistic value, as they are earlier by some centuries than any other Teutonic records: the next earliest are AngloSaxon and Old High-German.

28. The language brought to this island in the fifth and sixth centuries by our English forefathers was a pure or unmixed Teutonic speech. An unmixed language in the main it long continued to be. Contributions of words from foreign sources came in slowly at first. On the other hand, although Modern English is in its essentials a Teutonic language, it contains a large Italic element, has received considerable additions to its vocabulary from the Hellenic source, and possesses a slight Keltic ingredient. Thus four different stocks have contributed to its formation: it is a mixed or composite language: its words have been borrowed from many different sources.

29. Two groups of European languages remain to complete the list of stocks into which the European members of the Aryan family are divided: these are the Slavonic, of which Russian is an important example, and Lettish, which is represented at the present time by dialects in Eastern Prussia.

As the name Indo-European implies, some of the languages of Asia belong to this family. These languages fall into two groups. One group is the Indian, which includes Sanskrit, a dead language with an important literature; the modern dialects of India which are sprung from Sanskrit, such as Hindustani, Bengali, and others; and Cingalese, the dialect of Ceylon. The other group is the Iranian or Persian.

There are thus eight stocks into which the Aryan or Indo-European family is subdivided, two of them Indian and six European. It must not be supposed from the use of the word 'Indo-European' that all the languages of India and all the languages of Europe belong to the same family. The languages of India we will not discuss in further detail, but it must be borne in mind that the following European languages are not members of this great family:-Turkish, Hungarian, the language of the Laps

in Lapland, the language of the Fins in Finland, and the Basque, spoken in the Pyrenees.

30. Of the other families of languages, the Semitic is the most important. To it belongs Hebrew, in which the greater part of the Old Testament is written, and it contains also Arabic. Besides the Aryan and the Semitic Family, other distinct groups of languages spoken in various parts of the world have been recognised, e.g. the languages of China, of Farther India, of Japan, of South America. Many languages have not yet been studied with the view of tracing their relationships.

31. The Table on the next page shows the relationship of some of the principal members of the Indo-European or Aryan Family of Languages. The names of dead languages and dead dialects are printed in italics.

30

CHAPTER IV.

THE DIVISIONS OF GRAMMAR.

In the preceding chapters we have sketched the gradual process by which was formed the English language as we have it now; we have marked those events in the history of our island which produced important effects upon our language; and we have shown the relationship of English to other members of the same family of languages. We have ascertained what the English language is, where it came from, when it arrived. We now pass on to treat of the grammar of the English language; and first let us inquire what we mean by Grammar.

33. We can speak a language, or we can write a language, or we can both speak and write a language. All languages were spoken before they were written. Some languages spoken by uncivilized tribes in Africa are not written yet. At the present day Latin and ancient Greek are written but not spoken. For this reason we call them dead languages. English, French, and German are spoken and written. Now it is clear that there must be a right way and a wrong way of writing and speaking these languages. To deal with the correct way of writing and speaking them is part of the business of Grammar. An African savage knows nothing of grammar, but he knows that the missionary does not speak his language properly. In time the missionary may come to know the language as thoroughly