Chap. Il.

0f new Languages.

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9

Before the ilourilhing of the Roman En1pire,thcre were feveral native L'„¿,.„_ „w Lan g ua_g es ufed in ItalJ' ,France In ItalJ WeY read of the Me aРi- Annonin _ ’ S 0ain. . aa. an the Het" can, the Sabine, the can the Hetrurzan or Tu can Lan ua~ ‚ф‘ C’V‘De" ’

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’

g

1b. x9.cap.

gear, which are now thought by Learned men to be utterly loli,and no- ц.

where to be found in the World.

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’Tis probable that there was not onely one Language in fo vali a Ter- armatore ritory as France, but that feveral Provinces fpake feveral Languages; âëlq‘llëles ‚

But what thofe Languages were, or whether yet extant,is uncertain. As for the Celta,who,inhabiting the inner part 0f the Country, were КБ fub

P' '

jeét to iorcin mixtures, ’tis molt probable that their Language might be the Britt/h or Weljbwbich is yet fpolsen in fome parts of France. Caf/ir I'te Bello ОШ reports that the Gault were Wont often to pafs over into Britain , to be he", 11b-6 infiruâed by the Druids, amongfi whom there was then no ufe of Books or Writing , and therefore they muli communicate by Difcourle.' And Tacitus aiilrms that the Speech of the Briti/b and Gan/r, differed but little.

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It is conceived that one of the ancient Tongues of Spain was the ' Cantabrian, which doth now there remain inthe more barren mountain

ous, inacceíhble parts, where Conquerors are lels willing to purfue, or

deiirous to plant 5 as our Briti/b doth in Риз/ш. But 'tis probable that there

‚. might be feveral other Languages belides this'iu fo great‘a Continent, as well asin ту, which are now wholly lofi and unknown. ' 3. As to the third (hiere , concerning the )Yr/i Riß and occafion of è IVJ new Languages, that may be fuliiciently anfwered by what was before fuggelied , concerning thofe many particular emergencies which may

contribute to the introdu ing a change in Languages. ' Some think that the Ita iam, Spaniard: and Frenc/:,after they were to tally fubdued by the Romana, and planted with their Colonies, did, afterl

a certain fpace of time , receive the Latin Tongue as their moli vulgar Speech, and retained it; till afterwards,being feveral times overrun by the Northern barbarous Nations,thc Goth: and Vandalßand other Tribes

of the Germani, who mixed with them, and after feveral Conquelis reh ded amongfi them, fomctimes 20, 6o, 200 years togetherg this afford

ed time enough for fuch a thorough coalition betwixt them and the Na tives , as could not but ¿introduce a great change in the common Lan~

guage , whilfi the Nations were forced to attemper their Speech for the mutual undcrfianding of one another.

Others conceive that thofe Countries did not at firfi pcrfeélily receive the Latin from the Rantanr,but did onely make ufe of the moli principal ' radical wordt; negletfting the Grammatical rules of coiwptßtion and {и jleäion, and withall varyingthe way ofpronunciation, according to the unufualnefs and difficulty of feveral founds tofeveral Countries: And

that this was the hrfi and chief occalion of thofe'various Medley: or fe veral Dialeü: now in ufe; which were afterwards fomewhat farther

changed from their Originals , e by thofe feveral Inundations of the Bari bari/'rm'.

’Tis not much material to difputc, which of thefe caufes had the prin4 cipal inßuence in the extraůion of thefe modern Tongues,fo long as itis

granted that both of them might contribute and fufiice for this etieéi. As for our prefent Eng/lfb, this fccms to be а mixture of the Britz/b, Ho C

man,