Review Author(s): Julius Pokorny Review by: Julius Pokorny Source: The Celtic Review, Vol. 6, No. 21 (Jul., 1909), pp. 93-96 Published by: Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/30070204 Accessed: 23-10-2015 15:59 UTC

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This content downloaded from 128.255.6.125 on Fri, 23 Oct 2015 15:59:49 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions BOOK REVIEWS 93 All who have had experience of the unfair treatment sometimes meted to Celtic-speaking witnesses by monoglot English magistrates will be interested in the conduct of an important trial at Carpentras during May. The majority of the witnesses appealed to the President of the Court for permission to give evidence in Provengal, saying that it was the only language of which they had complete command. Parisian advocates engaged in the case objected on the ground that they did not understand Provengal; but the President replied that they could avail themselves of the services of an interpreter, and that, in the interests of exact truth, the request of the witnesses would be granted. S. R. J.

BOOK REVIEWS Die Kultur der Gegenwart,ed. Paul Hinneberg. Teil I., Abteilung xi., i. ' Die romanischenLitteraturen und Sprachenmit Einschluss des Keltischen.' Almost one third of this stately volume is occupied by a history of Celtic literature. It may be said without hesitation, that this is the best scientific and at the same time popularaccount we possess of Celtic literature. Three eminent German scholars have contributed to the task: Professor Zimmer and Dr. Stern of Berlin and Professor Kuno Meyer of . Professor Zimmer deals with the and literatures in general, and gives a very good history of the language movements. In the introduction he speaks of the great influence the Celts have ever exercised upon the peoples of Europe, how in the first centuriesbefore Christ they transmitted to the Teutonic race the Mediterranean culture, how during the middle ages they were the only nation which preserved the treasures of classical civilisation and handed them over to the Teutonic and Romance nations, and how later on the Arthurian legend came to the poets of these nations like a mighty new revelation which filled their brains and hearts with the burning inspiration of the Celtic genius, an inspiration that has not ceased even in our day. Speaking of the history of the Celtic languages, the learned Professor says that according to his opinion the first Celts did not reach the British Islands before the fifth century B.c. He does not tell us anything about the detailed history of the Celtic invasions, but I understand he is work- ing at these problems. The most interesting chapters are those concerning the language move- ments, and as the book may not be accessible to every reader of this Review,I propose to give some striking passages in full. He shows that in 1801, when the severe penal laws, that had been oppressing the Irish

This content downloaded from 128.255.6.125 on Fri, 23 Oct 2015 15:59:49 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 94 THE CELTIC REVIEW language for more than three hundred years, were removed, Irish-Gaelic was yet the language of the people, that of the 5,200,000 inhabitants, about 4,000,000 spoke their native tongue. From this it would seem that the most dangerous enemies of the Irish language are not to be found in England, but amongst the Irish themselves. For what continual attacks for so many centuries could not effect, happened in less than one century: the Irish people themselves abandoned their native tongue. The deadly blow to the Irish language was given by the Catholic Church. In vain thousands and thousands of Irishmen had shed their blood for their religion and offeredtheir lives upon the altars of the Catholic faith. The truest and most faithful children of the Holy Father were robbed of their most sacred possession through the ignorance of their priests, who thought themselves too good to speak the language of their people. When in 1778 the Catholic Church was freed from its bonds and the English government offereda sum for founding a clerical college, it seemed but natural that this new free institution-subject to only the Catholic Church-would have been organised according to the real wants of the Catholic Irish population, nine-tenths of which understood Irish and more than half of which could not speak English. But nothing of this kind was done, Maynooth was organised as a Catholic missionary station for the English-speaking population, like any English college. Not only that : in the very time when the clergy took up the teaching in the Catholic schools, English was made the language of public instruction; there was plenty of Catholic teaching, but Irish was not even taught as a modern foreign language, like French, but was totally ignored up to the end of the nineteenth century. Laymen and clergymen, instead of regenerating the native literature, turned to the , where they could enjoy themselves without any great exertion. The people, when they saw how their college-bred brethren began to show contempt for their native tongue, grew ashamed of their own mother-tongue,and this shame, combinedwith the ever-increasing emigration from purely Irish districts, resulted in the old beautiful Irish language melting away like snow in the heat of the summer sun. At last came the revival, and heroic efforts were made to save the sacred legacy of a great past. Professor Zimmer concludes his spirited remarks on the Irish movement by saying that all efforts to preserve the Irish language will be in vain if the peasantry cannot be induced to throw off the stupid shame of their own mother- tongue, and if a stop is not put to the ever-increasing flood of emigration from the Irish-speaking districts. We earnestly hope that the heroic efforts of the Gaelic League will turn out a brilliant success, and that once more a shining radiance may emanate from the West and overflood the whole of Europe with the burning light of Celtic genius! In , though the reasons were different, the result is the same. But though to-day the number of Gaelic speakers is much smaller than in Ireland, the position of the Gaelic language ought to be much stronger, because the Protestant religion with its preaching, Bible, sacred songs and

This content downloaded from 128.255.6.125 on Fri, 23 Oct 2015 15:59:49 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions BOOK REVIEWS 95 a rich religious literature, is a wonderful support for the national language. On the other hand, neither the Church nor An Comunn Gaidhealach can be regarded as doing their full duty by the Gaelic language. Zimmer thinks that the old language of the Isle of Man is hopelessly lost, the chief reasons being that the Gaelic inhabitants have been emigrating since 1823, while the island is becoming more and more a holiday resort for English speakers, especially for the inhabitants of Manchester and Liverpool. In 1770 the number of Manx speakers was yet so considerable that Bishop Dr. Hildesley thought it necessary to translate the whole Bible into Manx and to print it. The position of the Welsh language is firmly established, but Professor Zimmer utters a serious warning to all patriotic Welshmen, and I should wish that no Cymro would close his ear to the warning voice of the great Celtic scholar. For the end of the nineteenth century has brought to Wales institutions that must become in time as fatal to the Welsh nationality as Maynooth and the Catholic education have been for Ireland. Regular intermediate schools and even Universities have been established, but this whole ' national' educationis foundedon 'English' as the national language, the lectures in the Universities and intermediate schools are delivered in English, the Welsh language is treated as a foreign language and is not even compulsory. In the elementary schools Welsh can be taught only if the local government allow or wish it. Though there are many things strengthening the Welsh language-a beautiful book-literature (since 1801 more than eight thousand five hundreddifferent works have been published), a rich periodical literature, not forgetting the Bible, preaching, and Sunday school, the danger is very great and Professor Zimmer has very serious doubts if the position of the Welsh language will be as strong at the end of the twentieth century as it is to-day. The Celtic speakers in Brittany are threatened by serious dangers, for not only the public elementary schools but also the private Catholic schools have been totally denationalised,so that one may often meet, as in Ireland and in Scotland, the sad fact that the children cannot converse with their grandparents except only by means of gestures. After giving a short survey of the history of the Celtic languages from the philological point of view, Professor Zimmer proceeds to deal with the characteristicsof the Celtic literatures. First, he speaks of literary classes. He says the reason storytellers were so highly esteemed in Ireland, while in Wales they did not comparewith the bards, is explained through the different social conditions. Ireland was comparativelyquiet from the fifth century to the Viking period, therefore lyrical poets had not much material and the people enjoyed themselves by listening to wonderful stories. But the Welshmen had to fight an everlasting war with Gaelic pirates and Saxons, and every fresh battle gave impetus for fresh songs, and the chiefs-eager for glory-despised the foolish fairy tales and delighted rather in the praise of their own feats. That is doubtless one reason for the fact, that Wales has preserved so little of epic literature,

This content downloaded from 128.255.6.125 on Fri, 23 Oct 2015 15:59:49 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 96 THE CELTIC REVIEW but other reasons were at work too. For the same reason the greater bulk of Welsh literature is rhymed poetry, while the older Irish literature is almost exclusively written in prose, for prose is the Celtic form for the epic (foreign poetical works are rewritten by the Celts in the form of prose epics). The introduction of strophical balladsis due, according to Zimmer, to the influence of Norse poetry, while the Norsemen learned from the Celts the epic form, or saga, and the origin of the prose romances of the middle ages has to be ascribed to Celtic (Breton) influence. Then he points out the virtues and faults of Celtic literature, the latter consisting chiefly in the inability to produce really great results. Professor Zimmer is very sceptical as to the Celtic renaissance,and reproaches the Celts with dream- ing too much, and doing too little. I wish with all my heart that he may be wrong therein, and that the Celts may at least show to the world that they are able to fight for their own individuality, and that they will remember always, that 'the people that cannot fight must die!' Though the new century has already brought much success to the Celtic movements, the dangers have never been greater than now, and the times require strong men and strong characters. Professor Meyer gives an excellent account of Irish-Gaelic literature, while Dr. Stern does the same for the other Celtic literatures. I have already occupied so much space that I may only say that they have fulfilled their tasks in the best possible way. JULIUS POKORNY.

The Zeitschrift fiir cellische Philologie, vol. vii. part 1, is almost entirely devoted to a monograph by L. C. Stern upon 'Davydd ab Gwilym, a Welsh Minne-singer.' Professor Stern gives and translates selections from the great bard. Professor Lindsay of St. Andrews communicates(ibid., pp. 266-267) his reading of 'Irish Glosses from Ambr. F 60,' a Milan MS. of the Sententiae Patrum, to be found in the Thesaurus,vol. ii. p. 234; and proposes the extension Augustin of a contraction in the Codexof St. Paul (pp. 290-291). Professor Kuno Meyer gives some Old Irish verse proverbs (pp. 268-269), and other contributions. Professor Zimmer replies to a criticism of Whitley Stokes, and discusses at length the Old Irish words allied to the modern urnaigh,prayer. ' Gaelic Surnames from Galloway' are contributed by W. E. Crum. A letter of W. J. Thoms to Jacob Grimm in 1848 is published. C. Sarauw has an interesting article upon the sound-values of Irish 1, n, r, in the Zeitschrift fir vergleichendeSprachforschung, vol. xlii. pp. 53-61. In the Anzeiger appended to the IndogermanischeForschungen, vol. xxiii., there is a valuable Celtic bibliography for 1905 (pp. 451-456). Whitley Stokes points out three s-presents in Irish (Jssim, I ask; gdssim,I cry; ldssaim,I beat violently, whence English 'lace' in I. F., vol. xxii. pp. 335- 336). Some Celtic words appear in the index of the same volume, pp. 426- 427. To Professor Thurneysen is due an obituary notice (in Anzeiger,vol. xxii. pp. 79-80) of John Strachan, whose light still burns among us. A. O. A.

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