ANGLO-SAXON AND ENGLISH DICTIONARY. BY THE REV. JOSEPH BOSWORTH, D.D. F.R.S. F.S.A. DR. PHIL. OF LEYDEN, ETC. Anglo-Saxon, that is Angle, Engle or English Saxon, is the language of the Platt, LONDON: JOHN RUSSELL SMITH, 4, OLD COMPTON STREET, SOHO SQUARE. MDCCCXLVIII. PREFACE. 1. WORDS are the creation of mind. With the faculty of speech, man was endowed with exalted mental powers, and warm social feelings; but the thoughts of his mind and the feelings of his heart lay hid within him, and could not be communicated, till by the creative power of his mind, he formed words to express them. Words then are, the medium of communicating our thoughts and feelings, and rendering them audible,—the means by which the knowledge and experience of age are added to the store and made the property of the young, the vehicle by which mind is brought into contact with mind, and the eternal mind made known; for, by the written word, the Creator's will is revealed to man. 2. As words were formed to convey not only the thoughts of the mind, but the feelings of the heart, they would, in the first production or subsequent alteration. of a language, naturally take that shape which would best represent the mental and physical powers. Those sounds would be selected which were adapted to the frame of the organs, and the feelings to be expressed. The consonants being the strength, and the vowels the vivifying principle, the life, spirit and feeling of words, the predominance of one of these elements or their more equable succession, would depend upon the physical constitution. A robust conformation of the bodily frame, and great energy of mind, would, therefore, naturally express itself in words of corresponding strength and tone. These are the features which distinguish the languages of Gothic origin, especially the Anglo-Saxon, with its immediate descendant, the modern English, which has the strength of iron, with the gleam and sparkling of burnished steel.* 3. Instead of continuing to associate with the Gothic tribes, nothing but ignorance, cruelty, and barbarity, let us ever remember, that we are indebted to them for our strong physical powers, our nervous language, and our unrivalled freedom under our glorious constitution,-that they still live in our popular traditions, and perpetual discourse. Disgusted by the effeminacy and vices of the Romans, they subdued the empire, and became its moral reformers. We may, therefore, well conclude, with the author of the Spirit of Laws :"What ought to recommend the Gothic race, beyond every people upon earth, is, that they afforded the great resource to the liberty of Europe, that is, to almost all the liberty that is among men. Jornandes, the Goth, calls the north of Europe The Forge of Mankind,'-I should rather call it, the forge of those instruments which broke the fetters manufactured in the south. It was there, those valiant nations were bred, who left their native climes to destroy tyrants and liberate slaves, and to teach men that, nature having made them equal, no reason could be assigned for their becoming dependent, but their mutual happiness.' 4. Wherever these tribes appeared, liberty prevailed. They thought and acted for themselves. They were free, and loved the language of freedom. Where is the Englishman that does not feel his heart beat with conscious pride and independence, when he considers his Freedom? He feels he has a free doom, province or jurisdiction, in which none dare interfere, he is entirely free,-free to enjoy, and do all the good of which his benevolent nature is capable. How tame is the Romanised liberty, in comparison with the old * An. p. VI. + The Origin of the English, Germanic and Scandinavian Languages, and Nations, &c. by he Rev. Joseph Bosworth, DD. p. 207. |