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XL. Some further Remarks on the Origin of the English Language. By the Rev. Mr. Drake. In a Letter to the Secretary

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 July 2012

Drake
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Extract

You may recollect, that some time ago I had the honour of communicating to the Society, a paper, asserting the Teutonic original of the English language, contrary to the opinion of a celebrated writer of antiquity, who chiefly confines it to a Celtic one. You may remember also, that in order to confirm my position, I confronted a portion of the Gothic version of the gospel, as it appears in the Codex Argenteus, with our common translation of the same chapter, and I believe you was surprized to observe how striking a resemblance the English tongue had with the Gothic. It may perhaps be some entertainment if I should pursue the subject; for which purpose I shall again place together another part of the two different versions, and compare them in the same manner I did before, that by an actual collation of the two languages, a Gothic original of the English tongue may demonstrably appear. For this design I shall select a few circumstances relative to the crucifixion of our Saviour, as described by St. Mark, and without further introduction lay them before you.

Type
Research Article
Information
Archaeologia , Volume 5 , 1779 , pp. 379 - 389
Copyright
Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 1779

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References

page 379 note * See before, p. 306, Art. XXXI.

page 387 note [a] The Germans call this creature Grieff from Greiffen, corripere: another argument to prove it rather of Northern than Eastern origin.

page 387 note [b] Henry de Tangmere, burgess of Cambridge, gave to the college of Corpus Christi, a cup called the Grypes Eye, a vulture's egg, set in silver, with a foot and corner of the same. This being broken was renewed in the mastership of Dr. Porie, whose initial and arms are now on it. Masters' hist. of Corpus Christi coll. p. 21. Gryphis unguis was a drinking vessel, or horn, in Wormius's Museum, (Mon. Dan. p. 394.) not unlike Goldcorn's horn at the same college, engraved in Archaeol. III. 19. R. G.