Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from A History of the German Language
I Was led to prepare this volume under the conviction that there are persons enough in this country interested in the historical development of the German language to justify the undertaking. My object has been to produce a book that would be read with interest, and could be read with profit, by people whose knowledge of German does not extend much beyond the rudiments and who know next to nothing of comparative philology. While not primarily intended as a manual for the classroom, it is believed that it can be used with advantage in connection with any German grammar. It has been my constant aim to make duly prominent the common origin of the English and German languages, and to use the facts of the one to elucidate, as far as possible, the facts of the other. It is only by the study of what has been that we are able to understand what is. I have now and then called attention to those general phenomena which all languages exhibit in common, and have thus, in a slight measure, invaded the domain of the comparative philologist. It has also been my special object to show the relation of dialects to the language of literature, so that I would fain hope this volume may contribute somewhat to dissipate the erroneous notions so widely prevalent on this subject. The importance and persistence of the dialects of the German make it particularly well fitted for exhibiting the relation of the two modes of speech to each other.
My original plan was to prepare a translation of Behaghel's Geschichte der deutchen Sprache.
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