lish population, and their language must have had a considerable influence on that of the Anglo-Saxons. When their race became the dominant one, we know that the language of the court must have been Danish. Three kings of this race successively reigned in England, and one of them was dignified by the epithet Great.

From these facts, it might be inferred that many originally Danish words and phrases form constituent parts of the English language; and if this be a legitimate inference, it might again be inferred, that many words of the language of the ancient Britons still maintain their position in our mother-tongue. It will not be very difficult to prove, by a comparison of the words and phraseology of the following proverbs, that the occupation and final conquest of this country by the Danes did affect our language: we have not the same facilities for proving the existence of Cambrian or Gælic words in our present English. In the case of the Danish, the spirit, form, and substance of both languages are the same; in the case of the Cambro-British, these are all very different. In the case of the Northern languages (viz., all those of Teutonic origin), the relationships, affinities, and analogies are unmistakeable. We have few or none of these to aid us in searching out the Celtic element still existing in English. It is difficult to believe that the entire Celtic population relinquished their country when overpowered by the original Saxons, Angles, and Jutes; some of them, we may safely assert, remained, probably as helots, but still in sufficient numbers to give a tincture or trace to the language of the invaders.

Proverbs are undoubtedly genuine specimens of the language of the common people. "They are," as the facetious Howell terms them, "free denizens and frankleyns of England. They are the freeholders of a country, and have no other parent but the people—are traditional sayings, precepts, memoranda, handed over as it were from father to son, from mother to daughter, from nurses to children, time out of mind." From these genuine remains of popular lore and wisdom, we are in a condition to show, independently of historical proof, that a large number of the words in these saws are common to both languages, and that in the phraseology and syntax there is no material difference between them. It is true that most of these common words are found in the Anglo-Saxon; but this has ceased to be a living tongue for seven or eight centuries-is as much a dead language as Greek or Latin, consequently, its pronunciation is lost. The

Danish, the Low-German, and the Dutch, with which we can compare the English, are living languages, both spoken and written. And as the purest, because the most popular and current specimens of language are the respective proverbs of these nations, we commence with them.

All philologists agree in this, viz., that the two grand branches of the ancient Teutonic are the Scandinavian and the German languages. The oldest specimen which is known exists in the celebrated Codex Argentinus, or Silver Book, so called because the letters in which it has been transmitted to us are of a silver hue. This work, of which only a fragment remains (portions of the gospels only), is common to both the German and Scandinavian families of languages. It is also generally admitted that the English, a lineal descendant of the Teutonic or old German, has a somewhat closer affinity with the Scandinavian or Norse the purest branch of the parent stemthan it has with the various languages, Dutch, Low-German, High-German, &c., into which the Germanic branch has been subdivided.

Our object in comparing the proverbs common to both nations is chiefly philological; though we may avail ourselves of whatever incidental interesting information they may yield on other subjects. But it must be borne in mind that our space is very limited.

1. We have now explained our intentionswe have made a beginning-and the old English saw tells us "well begun is half ended."

Demidium facti qui bene cœpit habet.

Its Danish equivalent is—

Vel begyndt er (is) halv fuldendt-a form which, if distinctly pronounced, would be recognised by every man, woman, and child born within the sound of Bow Bells to be good English, or what they think so. The earliest form of the saying which we have seen―viz., God begynnyng makith god endyng, quoth Hendying is as foreign in its aspect as the Danish version is. The following is far more unlike :Ase fele thedes ase fele theowes. "As many clowns or rustics as many thieves." These are quoted from the Harleian MSS., No. 2253, and by some authorities are said to have been written in the thirteenth century. Our literary historians do not inform us who this ancient proverbialist Hendying was.

2. Oesten vind er hverken god for folk eller (or) fae. This is literally translated by our weather saw-"The east wind is (er) neither (hverken) good (god) for man (folk) or (eller) beast (fae)." The definite article en in Danish

is set after the noun oest-vind, wind. The verb er (is), hverkven (neither), and eller (or), are the only words in the saw which are not English. The term fae is believed to be the original of our word fee. In earlier times, most services were paid in kind (cattle, sheep, &c.), and after money was invented the representation of some animal was impressed on it; hence the Latin word pecunia (money), which is derived from pecus, a sheep, or some domestic animal, the figure of which was stamped on whatever was the representative of value, or a circulating medium of exchange. The English words good, foot, flood, &c., which have double o in our language, are represented in Danish by god, fod, flod-hoof, hov, loof, lur, &c.

3. Hand haffuer den ene fod i grafuen. "He has the one foot in the grave." Hand (he) and den (the) are the only words in the saw not English. Haffuer is one of the many forms which the auxiliary verb have assumes in the languages of Europe; ene is still recognisable in the Scottish ane (one), and in our indefinite article an; i is in, the n being left out by elision; grafuen (grav), the grave, with the article post-fixed; fod (see 2).

4. Brendt barn reddis for ild. "A burnt bairn the fire dreads." In the Scottish dialect of our language, the form of this proverb is a closer approximation to the Danish-viz., “A brunt bairn the fire dreads." The dialects of the north of England, and of the whole eastern coast of Scotland, approach nearer to the Danish than the common language of the south and west of England. From a philological comparison of the two languages, it may easily be inferred that the Danes maintained their ascendancy in the north and east of Scotland longer than they did over the whole kingdom; also that they effected settlements in Scotland before they attacked the kingdom of Northumbria (Deira). The French say, “A scalded cat fears cold water." Bairn is the common Scottish word for child. Redd has a very comprehensive application in the Scottish dialect, but is never used exactly in the sense of to fear.

5. Hver blive med sit work. "Every man to his trade, as the boy said to the bishop." The Danes do not quote the authority, which the English usually do-viz., That a certain bishop at sea asked a cabin-boy if he could say his prayers? The boy answered "No;" and in his turn asked the bishop if his reverence could box the compass? The bishop said "No." Then said the boy, "Every man to his trade." The celebrated Sir Thomas More said :"It is a wise thing for a man Diligently to apply to the business he can (knows)."

:

And in no wise to enterprise another faculty"A simple hatter should not goe smatter in philosophy,

Nor should a pedlar become a meddler in theology."

But the proverb, Ne sutor ultra crepidam"Let not the shoemaker go beyond his last"— may be improperly applied. There is a medium between Jack of all trades, "He that knows all trades has to beg his bread on Sunday;" and always "harping on one string." The terms blive and work are both English or Scotch, though during the lapse of many ages their meaning has been changed. Blire is from the ancient Germanic or Frankish beliban; manere, to remain. Hickes translates belibe, "protinus, confistim,"-the sense in which it is used in Scotland at this day. When Cromwell's army was in that country, one of his soldiers, who was quartered at a farm-house, wrote to his friends that he had come into a rich country, where the people put a spoonful of meal into a gallon of water, and put it on the fire, and by the blessing of God in a few minutes it was changed into a substantial pudding, on which the natives subsisted, and became fat. The following anecdote is related in Scotland, of which a trooper of the said army was both a spectator and the narrator:One of the hinds, or farming men, came into the farm-house about mid-day, and inquired if dinner was ready? The good wife said, “You shall have sons belive." She accordingly poured a little sour flummery into a pan two-thirds full of water, and put it on the fire, where it speedily thickened, and was as speedily despatched, to the great amazement of the soldier, who had never seen a dinner dressed and eaten with such celerity. The word work, work, Scottice wark, is obsolete in the sense of trade, or business, or occupation.

Up starts a carl, and gathered good,
And thence came all our gentle blood."

The Emperor Maximilian, on observing this old saw conspicuously displayed on a wall in Nuremberg, caused the following to be placed underneath :

Ich bin ein mann wie ander mann,
Wane dass mir Gott der eren gan.

Or, as it may be rendered, "I am like other men, only God has given me honour." Der (when) og (and) da (then) en (the) adel (noble)

are the only foreign words, and they are all particles save one; the rest are found in the English of the present day. Grov is represented by grub, to dig. From this root we have grave, groove, graft, &c.; the b and v are convertible, being mutes of the same order (labials). Hvor, or where in English, is related to the Moso-Gothic hwar, and the Anglo-Saxon hwar; the w and v, as observed (No. 2), are often similar, and always convertible sounds. The verb fandtes exemplifies the passive voice, which the Scandinavian dialects alone retain. The passive form of the verb is lost not only in the Germanic tongues, but also in the languages of the south of Europe-viz., those derived from the Latin. In the Danish verb there is no inflexion to point out the persons; all the three persons have the same termination in each of the numbers. The passive voice is formed by adding s or es to the active forms; as han fandt (he found), han fandtes (he was found). Adel, Anglo-Saxon aethel, means noble.

7. Adel her, adel der, hvo ædelt giov adel er. Literally, "Noble here, noble there, who nobly acts noble is." Our Scottish proverb is equally expressive-viz., "Meat feeds, cloth cleads (clothes), but manners make the man." It has the advantage of alliteration. The English version-" Manners make fortunes" has terseness, but little salt, as Howell would say. Her (here), der (there), and hvo (who), are English in pronunciation, though slightly dif ferent in spelling; the d in der is aspirated.

8. "First come first served" is expressed by the Danes as follows:-Den som kommer först til möllen faar först sit gods maled; or "He who comes first to the mill gets his grist first ground." This was formerly the case both at mill and smithy; every one had his turn. In remote landward parishes it is probably still the custom for the miller to grind the farmer's corn, and to pay himself by taking toll or multure. The following proverb shows that the millers of Denmark were not more honest than their brethren in England :---Mölleren er aldrig saa drukken at han glemmer at tolde (han tolder togange (twice) for en feyls' skyld). "The miller is never so drunk as to forget to toll the grist (he tolls twice to be sure)." Möllere og bagere ere de sidste handverker som doe (die) af hunger. "Millers and bakers are the last workmen who die of hunger."

9. Instead of saying "I have a crow to pluck with you," the Danes say, "We have a goose to pluck together." Vi har en gaas at plukke til sammen. Vi (we), har (have), at (to), til sammen (together).

10. Kand jeg ikke gaae saa vil jeg krybe, "If I cannot go I will creep;" literally, "Can I not go, so will I creep." The Danish language strengthens many words terminating in n by adding d, as mand (man), spand (span), kvinde (queen or quine Scottice) woman, tand (dens, a tooth), &c.; gae and saa, or sæ, are the Scottish forms of go and so. Krybe, Anglo-Saxon creopan, to creep, is another example of the sharp labial mute of the AngloSaxon and English being changed into the soft labial in the Danish; as pipe, Danish pibe; gripe, Danish gribe, &c.

11. "What can't be cured must be endured," has the following Danish equivalent: Mand maae taale hvad mandey kand hielpe. "A man must thole (bear) what a man cannot help." The Scottish dialect still retains thole from Anglo-Saxon tholian, Moso-Gothic thulan, and Islandic thola, to bear patiently. Head (what), maae (may), need no explanation; ey, not, kand, can (see 10). The Scottish proverb, "He that tholes o'ercomes," gives

the exact sense of the Danish taale. Here it may be remarked that, of all the Gothic or Teutonic family of tongues, the English is the only language which still retains the aspirated dental mute th.

12. "Cut your coat according to your cloth," is rendered in Danish by Du maae skiære kappen eftes klædet. This pronoun du thou, connects our aspirated form (see 11) with the Latin tu, in which is sharp, our th is the aspirate form: sk in Danish is sh in English, and sc in Anglo-Saxon. The Danes have preserved the hard sound of the Anglo-Saxon c; skal, shall, sko, shoe, skovel, shovel, are examples of this mutation of sc (sk) into sh in our language. Klædet is another example of the change of d into th. The Scottish form claith, however, comes nearer to the Danish than our word cloth.

13. "To dance after every man's pipe," is the literal sense of the Danish proverb, At danse efter hver mand's pibe. This exemplifies the usage of the possessive or genitive case in both languages, in which construction they agree; and also in the usage of of, Danish ef, instead of the above form. Our proverb is rather more expressive than the above, viz.

"Who leaves certainty and follows chance,
When fools pipe he may dance."

Whether he dances or sits, "he will have to pay the piper."

14. The racy Scotch proverb, "Claw me an' I'll claw you," is expressed by the Danish

Gior du migen tienste, saa vil ig tiene dig igien, "Do me a service, so will I do (one) to thee again." Mig and dig are the objective cases of jig and du. Dienst is the German word for servant, as dienen is to serve; hence ich dien, I serve, the motto of the Prince of Wales. 15. "The nearer the church the further from God;" Danish, Io nærinere kirken jo langre fra Gud. This forcibly reminds us of the Latin form, Quo ditior eo miserior, "The richer the wretcheder;" one of the many existing proofs that the structure or syntax of the English, and of course the Anglo-Saxon, and every other lineal or collateral descendant of the Gothic, is founded on that of the Latin and Greek. This opinion, which was formed long ago, on a comparison of the Anglo-Saxon version of the Gospels with the Latin (vulgate), is sanctioned by the high authority of the late Professor Rask, who maintained this view in an essay (1818) which was honoured with the prize conferred by the Royal Academy of Copenhagen for the best essay on this subject. There is one word kirken, the kirk, AngloSaxon circ, which strikingly exemplifies the influence which the Danish settlements in this country had on the language of Britain. In the south of England, or perhaps in the southern half of England, the term kirk is not found as the name of a town or village, and in the north of England and Scotland the word church does not occur. The modern German for church is kirche, and the ch has the guttural sound, not sharpened into tsh, as in English. The ancient German, or Francic, was chirihha; but how the initial syllable chi was sounded we do not know, for the Alemannic or Franconian language is nonextant; but if we assume that it was modified, as we believe the terminal syllable in kirche to have been, viz. into sch, we have the word chirich, or church, by the elision of the last vowel. But for our purpose, which is to show the relationship of the English and Danish languages, it is immaterial; for the fact bearing on our argument is indisputable, viz. that kirk, as a name of places, is common in the north, and church is as common in the south of England. It is also a fact that kirk exists in a living language, but that church exists in no language but in our own. Fra, Scottice frae, is another proof that the Danish element of our language is more prevalent in the north than in the south of England. We are ware that both fra and fro are forms of the Anglo-Saxon fram; but the latter is a dead language, as much so as ancient Greek and Latin-our object is to exemplify the

coincidences of our languages with those of living tongues.

16. "

Where God has a church the devil has a chapel," is an old proverb, much older than Defoe's time, who, in the True-born Englishman, thus paraphrases it :

"Wherever God erects a house of prayer,

The devil's sure to build a chapel there."

Hvor Gud har en kirke der har fanden sit cappel. Fanden, the devil; our word find is derived from the same root, whatever it be. Feor means far; feor buend, or far-dwelling, a stranger. We know that hostis originally meant nothing more than this, viz. a stranger, and in process of time became an enemy: a similar change of meaning may have converted stranger into enemy or fiend. In those remote times, when many lived by plundering their neighbours, and the Scandinavians especially subsisted by plunder, it is not very remarkable that their term for fiend, enemy, and stranger, was one and the same. Sit cappel, his chapel. The pronoun has some resemblance to the Latin se, suus, &c. Cappel is an unmistakeable Latin word, only abbreviated. In the above Danish proverbial sentences, the subject of the second verb follows its verb, because the previous clause is conditional. The English will admit of either position. We can say as the Danes in the above sentence, "Where God has a church there has the devil a chapel ;” or, “Where God has a church, the devil has there a chapel."

17. "A heavy purse makes a light heart." En tung pung yior hiertet glad; or, "A full purse makes the heart glad."

18: "

To buy a pig in a poke." Danish, | At kiobe katten i sakken, literally, "To buy the cat in the sack :" the article en (the) is set after the two nouns, katt and sakk. The verb kiobe, German kaufen; Scottish coup. From the root of these words we have the English words cheap, Cheapside (formerly a market), Chippen haus, &c. The Scottish chapman is a seller of goods; the English chapman a buyer; the German kaufman sells as a merchant. Kaufman harn (Copenhagen) is the haven or port of merchant-traders. In Scotland, those who deal in cattle, cows, and horses, are designated by the general term couper; the subordinate classes of dealers are cow-coupers, horse-coupers, &c. The Scottish proverb, "To coup the muckle (great) dish into the little," signifies to deal to one's loss. As simple John, the hero of a German tale, did, who couped a lump of silver larger than his head for a horse; the horse he couped for a

cow; the cow for a goat; the goat for a goose; and the goose for an old grindstone, which he let fall into a pond, and so brought his ninepence to nothing.

19. "

They live like a cat and dog;" or, they lead a cat and dog life. Danish, De (they) forligges som kat og hund. Ligge means to lie in Anglo-Saxon. In Scotland the female camp-followers were called indiscriminately liggers. In old English it is not used exclusively in a bad sense. In our more ancient English translations of the Bible the liers in wait, or ambushment of an enemy, were called liggers.

20. "A bird in the hand is better than two in the bush." Danish, En (a one) fugb (a fowl) i handen er bedre end ti i skoven. Better is bedre in Danish, by the common change of the sharp dental or lingual mute into the medial form d; skoven, shaw, by the change of sk into sh, as above (see 12).

21. The Danes say, Rigtig segning holder lænyst venskab; or, "Right reckoning preserves long friendship." English proverb, "Short accounts long friends." Hold, bold, cold, sold, and similar words, are pure Danish; the corresponding Anglo-Saxon words are heald, ceald, and skab, ship (see 20).

22. Bytte er ikke tyverie. "Exchange is not robbery." Bytte is only a modification of boot, a compensation; and tyverie thievery, which slightly differs from robbery. The Scotch, as usual, preserve the Danish form in their word beet. In Aberdeen, when they trok (exchange), it is said what beet will ye gie; and hence the proverb, "He's got the beet and the better beast (horse).” "Diomedes cum glauco permutavit.” "The crafty Greck exchanged his brazen armour for his old friend's silver harness."

23. Erfarenhed gior darer vüse. "Experience makes fools wise," or "teaches fools." "She keeps a dear school, but fools will learn in no other." The Scottish term auld farrenness still preserves the old High-German root faren, the radical sense of which is progress. The German erfarrenheit has exactly the same meaning as the Scottish term farren-viz., learning gained by experience. The Danish affix hed corresponds to the German heit, and to the Anglo-Saxon or English ness, and also to our affix hood.

24. "One should not play with edge-tools." Danish, Mand maae ey (not) spöge med (with) skarpt. Med, German mit, English with, is found in our English authorities in the same

sense.

25. "Ill weeds grow fast." Danish, Ukrud voxer altid fast. The prefix u corresponds to the English prefix un, but is rather more generally applied. For example, krud is a useful plant; ukrud, a weed: German, unkraut, a weed; kraut, a plant; vist, certain; uvrst, uncertain; dyd, a virtue; udyd, a vicious habit, a vice. Voxer, waxes or grows; altid, always. We retain the sense of this word tid in our term tide, as in the expressions shrove-tide, eventide, &c.

26. "I shall make him turn over a new leaf." We have several proverbial expressions of this form, and all of them express a change for the better-an amendment. For example, "I will turn over a new leaf;" "I will take a leaf out of your book." The Danes say, Ig skal lære ham en anden tone. This is exactly rendered in Scotch by "I will learn him another tune." The verb learn, in old English, signified to teach, or to cause to learn. This causative sense it retains in German, in Danish, and also in the Scottish dialect. Anden (other) has andre in the plural, and in the compounds hinanden, each other (when two are spoken of), hverandre, one another (when more are spoken of).

27. Man skal æde en skiep (bushel) salt med en for man gior venskab med ham. "We should eat a bushel of salt with one before trusting him." The word man, both in Danish and in German, precisely corresponds to the French on, and sometimes to our one: for example, on dit, people say; German, man spricht; Danish, man taler, or they (indefinite) say, &c. Oede, eat, exemplifies the change of d into t; med, d into th, and sk and b into sh, and p as above noticed.

28. Paa en mörk morgen folger gierne en klar aften. “A dull morning is often followed by a clear evening." Mörk is preserved in murky. "Now murky shades surround the pole." The Scots say a mark night for a dark night; and this is the exact sense in Danish. Our word even approaches nearer to the AngloSaxon afn than the Danish often does.

(To be continued.)