Comparative Philology.

Thames Star, Volume XIV, Issue 4641, 19 November 1883, Page 2

Comparative Philology.

An inquirer, whom we may call.Smith) writes to the New York Times to ask which is the best language—English, Germkn; or French. -'jMr Smith;-being alive to the fact that every man ought to speak some language, evidently desires to select a good one. He limitshimself to English, German, and French, and of these languages he intends to V get the best." As yet he is ignorant of any language whatever, being in the habit of speaking Low Scotch, and.it is a pleasure to further his laudable desire for information.

In deciding which is the best of the three great modern languages, much depends upon the purpose for which Mr . Smith wishes to use it. If he intends to be a mule-driver, or to lire in a boardinghouse with a man learning to play the flute, he will get bigger results with English than with any other tongue. Both the Frenchman and the German can swear,—the one in a feeble and the other in a clumsy way,-^but for effective profanity there, is no language like the English. Both Dean Alford and Dean Trench hare borne explicit testimony to the value of English for swearing, purposes, and taw declared that no man can swear in a really. workmanlike way in any other language. The poverty^ of the French language in point of profanity is, shown by the fact: that Frenchmen never drive mules. What living mule is there who would deign to move when spurred on by such weak remarks as " Holy: Blue/V or " Name of a pie"? To drive a mule in German is almost equally as difficult, for few mules can be moved :to activity by calling them " pig-dogs." The poverty of French and in German. in profane expressions was feelingly lamented by both Calvin and Luther, and there has been, no- substantial improvement in this respect in either lan* guage in spite of the spread of Protestantism and republican ideas. - t; ■■ ; If Mr Smith thinks of becoming a Western statesman, he will, of course, JLod English more useful than any other language, if for no other reason than that French and German are incompatible with poker. Sucb a remark as "I go you five better " could not be expressed in either of those two languages, and hence poker - is practically unknown on the Continent of Europe. So, too, neither French nor German can be effectively used at sea—a fact which explains the maritime inferiority of France and Germany to England. How can a people ever become sailors who call starboard " bdbord," and how can a German ever order a sailor to " let go the weather maintop-gallant-studding.sail halyard" when the genius of the lan* guage requires that such a remark should be expressed in 34 German words averag* ing seven syllables each ? Perhaps Mr Smith proposes to become a journalist or an author. In that case, by all means let him write English. As written languages French and German are below contempt. What possible de- |; fence can there be made for a language in which •' beer " is spelled " bier" and "swine" is spelled "sehwein h n Hoir can any man hope to write successfully for the Press in a language where, as in French, about half the letters in each word are silent, or, in other words, exist only for the purpose of increasing the labor of the writer and exasperating tho proof-reader. * We may concede that both German and French have their uses. For example, a man who desires to be a Concord philoso* pher can express himself more vaguely in - German than he can in any other language; and a woman oan talk to her husband who has been out late at night nearly three times as,much in French in the course of half an hour as she could in English in the same time. Still, English is undoubtedly the best language for Mr Smith's purposes, and he would do well to learn it without delay.