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V 


ur  urc-me/r. 


■  FKOM  -THE-  LI  BRARY-  OF  - 
-  OTTO  -  BREMER- 


d 


1 


THE 


FRISIAN  LANGUAGE 


AND 


LITERATURE: 


A    HISTORICAL    STUDY. 


BY 

VV  .    T  .    H  E  W  E  T  T . 


ITHACA,  N.    V. 

FINCH    Of    APGAR. 

1879. 


i 


^ 


^^yW\'e^S^^ 


Copyright,  1879,  by 
Finch  &  Apgar. 


H  S^9S 


THE  FRISIAN 

LANGUAGE  AND  LITERATURE 

A  HISTORICAL  STUDY. 


I.     EARLY  EXTENT  OF  FRISIA. 

1.     CLASSICAL  REFERENCES  TO  FRISIA. 

Pliny,  who  wrote  about  17  A.  D.,  says:  ''In  the  Rhine  itself  is 
the  most  renowned  island  of  the  Batavi  and  the  Cannenefates  and 
other  islands  of  the  Frisians,  Chauci,  Frisiavones,  Sturii  and  Mar- 
sacii,  which  are  scattered  between  Helinium  and  Flevuin.  These 
are  the  names  of  the  two  mouths  into  which  the  Rhine  divides.  It 
empties  its  waters  to  the  north  into  the  lakes  there,  and  to  the  west 
into  the  Maas." '  The  two  branches  of  the  Rhine  here  mentioned 
are  the  eastern  and  western.  The  eastern  was  formed  from  the 
Sala  or  Yssel  with  which  the  waters  of  the  Rhine  were  connected 
by  the  canal  of  Drusus,  and  which  flowed  through  Lake  Flevo  and 
entered  the  sea  between  the  islands  of  Terschelling  and  Ameland. 
Its   lower  course  bore  later  the  name  of  the   Fli.^     The  western 

^  In  Rheno  autem  ipso  nobilissima  Batavorum  insula  et  Cannenefatium 
et  aliae  Frisiorum,  Chaiicorum,  Frisiavonum,  Sturiorum,  Marsaciorum 
quae  sternunter  inter  Helinium  et  Flevum :  ita  appellantur  ostia  in  quae 
effusus  Rhenus  a  septentrione  in  lacus  ab  occidente  in  amnem  Mosam  se 
spargit. — Plifiy,  Nat.  Hist.,  Lib.  IV,  c.  29. 

2  See  Alting,  Notitia  Germanice  Inferioris  Antiques ,  p.  82.  He  holds 
that  Helvloet  and  Briel  (Bree-Hel)  are  remains  of  the  name  Helinium. 
See  also  Siratingh,  Aloude  Staat  des  Vaderlands,  vol  I,  p.  144.  The 
central  branch  of  the  Rhine  called  the  Old  Rhine  enters  the  sea  near 
Leiden. 


Ivi4:4927 


branch  was  the  VahaHs  (Waal)  Avhich  entered  the  sea  near  the  pres- 
ent E^Vtierdarri,   <'  I  ''  /r  :    ; 

It  is  notictiable  tbat'tbe  Chauci  are  here  associated  with  the  Fri- 
<>iainji,.'^s<they',£ti;e'  Jatdr  their  neighbors  to  the  east  on  the  coasts  of  ' 
*'"th6  North 'S6a.    '  '^  "'  '''  '    •' 

TacituH,  writing  about  100  A.  D.,  describes  the  Frisians  as  dwell- 
ing along  the  Rhine  and  among  great  lakes  as  far  as  the  ocean. 
They  were  divided  into  Greater  and  Lesser  Frisians,  according  to 
the  resources  of  the  two  nations."  ^ 

The  Lesser  Frisians,  or  Frisiabones,  are  supposed  to  have  resided 
between  the  mouths  of  the  Maas  and  the  Fli,  in  South  and  North 
Holland.^  An  apparent  branch  of  the  Frisians  bearing  the  name 
Frisiabones  resided  in  the  district  of  Limburg  on  the  borders  of 
Liege  and  South  Brabant.^ 

Ptolemy,  who  wrote  between  139  and  161  A.  D.,  places  the  Fri- 
sians north  of  the  Bructeri  extending  along  the  coast  as  far  as  the 
river  Ems.  To  the  east  between  the  Ems  and  the  Weser  resided 
the  Lesser  Chauci,  then  the  G-reater  Chauci  between  the  Weser  and 
the  Elbe,  and  next  in  order  upon  the  neck  of  the  Cimbrian  peninsula 
the  Saxons."*  The  Chauci  here  appear  as  occupying  w^hat  was  later 
East  Frisia.  Tacitus,  however,  places  the  Greater  Chauci  between 
the  Ems  and  the  Weser  and  the  Lesser  Chauci  between  the  Weser 
and  the  Elbe.^  The  home  of  the  Chauci  seems  to  have  been  be- 
tween the  Ems  and  the  Weser,  and  those  residing  to  the  east  of  the 
Weser  simply  an  outlying  colony. 

1  Angrivarios  et  Chamavos  a  tergo  Dulgubinii  et  Chasuarii  cludunt, 
aliaeque  gentes  haud  perinde  memoratae  a  fronte  Frisii  excipiunt,  maiori- 
bus  minoribiisque  Frisiis  vocabulum  est  ex  modo  virium  Utraeque 
nationes  usque  ad  Oceanum  Rheno  praetexuntur  ambiuntque  immensos 
insuper  lacus  et  Romanis  classibus  navigates.  —  Germ.,  c.  34. 

2  See  Alting,  I,  71,  and  Siratingh,  II,  p.  1 11. 

3  Pliny,  Lib.  IV,  c.  31. 

^  Tt^v  de  TCapooueaviTiv  xarexovdiv  vitep  fxev  rot)?  Bov- 
6axTspov<i  oi  $pi6ioi  JJ-expi  tov  ''Ajiitdiov  Ttorajuov  ;  fj-eza  8e 
Tovrovi  Kavxoi  oi  juixpoi  jJ-sxpi  tov  Ovtdovpyiov  Ttorajuoi) 
sira  Kavxoi  oi  juet^ov^  M^XP^  Tov''AX/Jio<i  Ttorajuov  ;  kq)e^rji  8e 
\7ti  TOV  dvxsva  zr/S  Kiju/jpixj^^  x^P^^''^^^^^  2d^ovE^. — Geog., 
Jb.  II,  c.  XL 

.  5  Sunt  vero  et  in  septentrione  visae  nobis  Chaucorum  qui  maiores 
minoresque  appellantur. — Pliny,  XVI,  c.  I.  The  description  of  their 
country  which  follows  applies  strikingly  to  East  Frisia  and  the  district  of 
'^ij^terland. 


Strabo,  who  wrote  earlier  at  the  beginning  of  the  Christian  era, 
does  not  mention  the  Frisians.  In  a  Hst  of  nations  dweUing  be- 
tween the  Rhine  and  the  ocean  he  mentions  the  Sicambri,  Chamavi, 
Bructeri,  Oimbri,  Chauci,  Chaulki,  Ampsiani  and  many  others/  In 
another  hst  embracing  these  tribes  he  omits  simihirly  the  Chauci. 
The  term  ^Afiipiavoi  is  a  geographical  one,  denoting  the  dweU- 
ers  along  the  Ems  and  may  w^ell  have  included  the  Frisians.  In  a 
Xotitia  Gentium^  written  at  the  beginning  of  the  fourth  century, 
the  Frisians  are  placed  between  the  Chamavi,  the  inhabitants  of 
Hamaland  and  the  Amsivarii.  A  similar  list  of  the  fourth  century,"^ 
ascribed  in  some  codices  to  Julius  Caesar  places  the  Frusiones  or 
Frisiones,  as  appears  in  another  manuscript,  next  to  the  Cannifates 
who  occupied  the  western  part  of  the  Batavian  island.  The  G-eog- 
rapher  of  Ravenna,  w^ho  Avrote  in  the  last  half  of  ihe  seventh  cen- 
tury, places  Dorostate  (Duurstede)  on  the  north  bank  of  the  Rhine 
in  the  country  of  the  Frisians  "in  Frigonum  or  Frixonum  patria." 
The  Frisians,  according  to  him,  extended  still  farther  to  the  south 
into  the  district  of  Testerbant  adjoining  Flanders. 

At  one  time  the  Frisians  advanced  up  the  Rhine  and  established 
themselves  temporarily  on  the  lands  reserved  for  the  military  colo- 
nists between  Wesel  and  Diisseldorf,  but  were  soon  obliged  to  retire 
across  the  Rhine.'*  The  first  Roman  to  come  in  contact  with  the 
Frisians  was  Drusus,  who,  after  the  construction  of  his  famous  canal, 
connecting  the  Rhine  and  the  Sala  or  Yssel,  sailed  into  Lake  Flevo, 
and  received  the  submission  of  the  Frisian  nation.  The  campaign 
of  Germanicus  against  the  Saxons  was  through  Frisia  to  the  Ems. 
Later  the  Romans  suffered  a  terrible  defeat  in  the  Baduhenna  forest 
by  the  Frisians,^  but  w^ere  afterwards  subdued  under  the  vigorous 
military  administration  of  Corbulo,  and  became  regular  allies  of 
Rome.     The  Roman  governor  placed  them  under  the  government  of 

^  npo's  Se  T(^  GOHeavGj  2ovyajufjpoi  re  xai  Xajiia/3ot  uat 
BpovKvepoi  Kai  Kii.if5poi  Kavuoi  re  uai  KaovXxoi  nai  ''Aixii)ia- 
vol  Koi  aXkoi  nXEioV^. — Geog.,  Lib.  VII,  c.  I. 

2  Amsivari,  Angri,  Chattuarii,  Chamavi,  Frisiavi,  Amsivarii. — Milllen- 
hoff,  Germania  Antiqua,  p.  157. 

3  Quae  gentes  sint  in  provinciis  oceani  orientis,  Catti,  Cauci,  Cerisci, 
Usippi,  Quadi,  Frusiones,  Cannifates,  Theutoni,  Cimbri. — Ibid,  p.  159. 

^  AnnaL,  XIII,  54,  A.  D.  59. 
5  A  final.,  IV,  c.  72,  73. 


—  6  — 

a  senate,  magistrates  and  laws.^  Only  scattered  traces  bear  witness 
to  the  relations  of  the  Frisians  to  Rome  during  the  next  few  cent- 
uries. Frisian  soldiers  served  in  the  Roman  armies  in  England,  and 
in  Italy  where  they  were  members  of  the  Emperor's  body  guard. ^ 

The  Relations  of  the  Frisians  to  the  other  German  Tribes. 

The  passages  already  quoted  from  classic  authors  show  the  inti- 
mate relations  which  existed  between  the  Chauci  and  the  Frisians. 
The  former  are  associated  with  them,  according  to  Tacitus,  in  the  dis- 
trict between  the  two  arms  of  the  Rhine.  They  are  also  placed  as 
their  neighbors  on  the  east,  in  the  region  between  the  Ems  and  the 
Weser.  The  references  in  Beowulf  to  Frisia  are  of  interest.  The 
sixteenth,  seventeenth,  thirty-fifth  and  fortieth  cantos  relate  to  a 
w^ar  between  the  Frisians  and  the  Danes.  The  Traveler's  Tale  re- 
lates^ how  Fin,  son  of  Folcw^alda,  king  of  the  Frisians,  fights  with 
Hnaef  a  Hoeing,  the  leader  of  the  Scildings  in  Finnesburh  or  Finnes- 
ham  and  slays  him.  Hengest  the  Dane  assumes  command,  a  truce 
is  negotiated  and  hostages  are  given.  Botli  armies  go  together  to 
Friesland.  In  the  winter  the  strangers  are  prevented  by  frightful 
storms  and  ice  from  returning  home.  They  think  more  of  ven- 
geance and  the  slaughter  of  their  kindred  than  of  seeking  their  na- 
tive land.  At  last  reinforced  they  attack  again  the  Frisians  and  slay 
their  king,  and  carry  captive  Hildeburh,  the  daughter  of  Hoce  to 
Denmark.  Hygilac,  King  of  the  Goths,  falls*  in  a  battle  with  the 
Frisians.     Beowulf  escapes  by  swimming  to  his  own  country. 

The  name  Chauci  appears  in  Hugas  (Hockings)  wdio  inhabit  Fri- 
sia, and  perhaps  in  that  of  Hoce,  the  father  of  Hildeburh.  That  Fin 
the  Frisian  king  ruled  over  the  Jutes  as  well  as  the  Frisians  is  inad- 
missible.    No  reference  is  made  to  the  Jutes  in  this  song.^     There 

1  A7tnal,  Xni,  54,  A.  D.  59. 

'^  In  1836  there  was  found  at  Watemore,  near  Cirencester,  a  memorial 
stone  of  a  Frisian  Knight,  who  was  a  member  of  the  Thracian  cohort 
serving  in  England.  Other  Roman  remains  found  at  the  same  place  be- 
long to  the  time  of  Diocletian  and  Constantine,  and  this  inscription  is 
probably  to  be  assigned  to  the  same  period.  For  inscriptions  found  in 
Italy,  see  in  Gruter,  Nos.  12  and  13;  also  Orelli.  See  also  Dr.  Lee- 
marts^  in  the  Vreie  Fries ^  vol.  Ill,  p.  5. 

3  Boezvtdf,  XVI,  1052-1129. 

^  Lines  1202,  15 11,  2356-2359. 

•^  The  word  Eotenas  has  been  shown  by  Rieger  to  apply  to  both  Fri- 
sians and  Danes. — Zeitschrift  fiir  deiUsthe  Philologie,  vol.  Ill,  p.  400. 


is  no  distinction  io  the  terms  employed  in  the  poem  between  North 
and  West  Frisia,  as  is  often  claimed.^  Whenever  the  term  is  used  it 
seems  to  apply  to  the  Frisia  of  the  main  land,  not  to  the  North 
Frisia  of  the  peninsula.     Freswale    may  denote    a   frontier  castle. 

Grimm^  calls  attention  to  the  similar  mode  in  which  the  Frisians, 
Chauci  and  Bructeri  are  characterized.  These  three  tribes  of  north- 
eastern Germany  are  each  divided  into  Lesser  and  Greater,  a  distinc- 
tion which  was  employed  among  no  other  German  tribes,  even  though 
many  were  much  larger  and  occupied  a  greater  extent  of  country 
than  these.  Grimm  would  also  make  the  Bructeri  closely  related 
to  the  Chauci  and  Frisians,  though  their  political  action  was  often 
different.^  He  claims  that  the  mighty  race  of  the  Chauci,  whom 
Tacitus  called  the  noblest  of  all  the  Germans,  could  not  be  extin- 
guished, but  that  being  so  closely  related  to  the  Frisians  they  were 
absorbed  in  them.  The  east  and  north  Frisians  are  the  descendants 
of  the  Chauci,  while  the  west  Frisians  have  retained  their  name  and 
original  seat* 

Eichhorn  holds  conclusively  that  the  Fi-isian  name  includes  the 
tribes  of  the  Chauci.  The  Saxons  must  be  regarded  as  later  immi- 
grants into  East  Frisia,  the  original  abode  of  the  Chauci.^ 

Grimm  calls  attention  to  the  fact  that  in  the  remains  of  the  epic  po- 
etry of  northeastern  Germany,  the  Frisians  and  Chauci  constantly  ap- 
pear, while  the  Germans  of  the  interior,  of  Saxony  and  of  Swabia, 
take  no  part.^     In  Gudrun,  w^hose  composition  is  of  a  later  date,  but 

^  By  Heyne,  Beowulf,  p.  109.  The  terms  used  for  Frisia  are  in  line 
1 127  Frysland,  in  2916  Fresnaland,  while  in  2358,  it  is  the  plural  Fres- 
londum. 

2  Geschichie  der  deuischen  Spracke,  676. 

3  See   Tacitus,  An^ials,  I,  60. 

^  Nach  allem  diesem  stellen  sich  Friesen  und  Chauken  nur  als  ver- 
wandte  Zweige  desselben  Volkschlags  dar,  als  der  siidwestliche  und  nord- 
ostliche,  und  man  begreift  warum  der  Chaukische  Name  allmahlich 
ganz  erlosch.  Ostfriesen  und  Nordfriesen  scheinen  mir  Nachkomm- 
linge  der  alten  Chauken,  Westfriesen  die  der  eigentlichen  Friesen.  Wohn- 
ten  die  alten  Chauken  an  der  Seekiiste,  so  miissen  sie  nothwendig  die 
Striche  inne  gehabt  haben,  auf  welche  nachher  audi  der  friesische  Name 
erstreckt  wurde.  Vernichtet  worden  sein  kann  der  machtige  Chaukische 
Stamm  nicht;  er    wechselte  bloss  die  Benennung. — Ges.der  deitt.  Spr., 

'""  Der  Friesische  Name  begreift  daher  unzweifelhaft  die  Chaukischen 
Volker  da  die  Sachsen  in  deren  Gegenden  nur  als  Einwanderer  betrachtet 
werden  konnen. — Eichhorn,  Deut.  Staats-und  Rechtsgeschichte,  vol.  I,  p. 
50  and  note  to  p.  51. 

6  Ges.  der  deut,  Spr.,  471. 


is  based  upon  early  legends  and  historical  events  associated  with 
which  that  region,  we  have  the  proper  names  as  centres  of  incident. 
Holzune  lant  (Holstein)  1374,  3.  MateUne,  760,  3  (Matlinge  (?) 
in  South  Holland),  Selant  (Zeeland),  Sewen  (also  Zeeland,  possibly 
named  from  the  Suevi),  706,  1.  Tenelant  (Denmark),  Westerwalt 
(possibly  Westerwold)  945.  Dietmers  639,  (Dietmarsch)  a?  well  as 
Frieslant. 

Hetele,  king  of  the   Hegelinge,  is  the  ruler  of  Friesland,  of  Dit- 
marsch  and  Waleis  (the  district  of  the  Waal). 

*'  Er  was  ze  Friesen  herre,  wazzer  iinde  lant ; 
Dietmers  unde  Waleis  was  in  siner  hant." — 2o8,  i. 

Alorunc  is  lord  of  the  march  of  Waleis. 

"  Moruiic  der  snelle  da  her  von  Friesen  reil." — 271. 

Irolt,  a  vassal  of  Hetele,  is  the  ruler  of  Ortland  (Northland),  and  a 
part  of  Fi-isia. 

"  Ouchkumt  uns  her  Irolt,  des  mag  ich  wohl  jehen, 
Erbringet  vil  der  Frisen,  als  ich  mich  kan  versehen, 
Und  ouch  der  Holsaezen  ;  daz  sint  ziere  helde." — 1374. 

*' Irolt  von  Ortriche  und  Morunc  von  Friesenlant." — 480. 


2.     EXTENT  OF  FRISIA  DURINa  THE  FRANKISH 
PERIOD. 

The  greatest  extent  of  the  Frisian  race  and  name  seems  to  have 
been  attained  in  the  sixth  and  seventh  centuries.  The  great  move- 
ment of  the  G-erman  tribes  in  the  fifth  and  sixth  centuries  erased  all 
traces  of  Roman  dominion.  The  tribal  dominions  and  relations 
were  re-adjusted  in  the  period  following.  The  Frisians  extended  on 
the  east  to  the  Weser  and  the  Elbe,  and  occupied  the  islands  along  the 
coast  of  Schleswig.  Southward  they  occupied  both  banks  of  the 
Rhine,  Utrecht,  G-elderland,  Antwerp  and  Bruges.  Between  600 
and  785  A.  D.,  the  conflict  between  the  Franks  and  the  Frisians, 
occurred.  Dagobert  captured  Utrecht  then  occupied  by  the  Fri- 
sians, and  called  Wiltenburg,  and  founded  in  630  A.  D.  the  first 
Christian  church  in  the  North  Netherlands.  The  period  which  fol- 
lowed is  that  of  the  labors  of  the   first   Anglo-Saxon   missionaries 


among  the  Frisians.  Possibly  earlier  under  the  Roman  dominion 
missionaries  began  labor  in  the  Netherlands,  but  no  traces  of  such 
efforts  were  left.  Only  as  the  power  of  the  Frankish  kings  was 
felt  by  the  Frisians,  could  missionary  operations  among  them  be 
safely  carried  on.  Pepin  of  Heristal  resolved  in  689  or  692  to 
bring  the  Frisians  under  the  Frankish  yoke.  He  defeated  them 
and  made  them  pay  tribute  and  receive  Christian  missionaries. 
Kadbod,  their  king,  the  brave  defender  of  the  liberties  of  his  country, 
rose  again  but  w^as  defeated  at  Dorestadt,  now  Wijk-bij-Duurstede, 
and  Utrecht  came  again  under  Pepin's  dominion.  Radbod's  daugh- 
ter, Theudesnede,  was  given  in  marriage  to  G-rimoald,  Pepin's  son, 
A.  D.  697.  The  Frisians  fought  again  a  great  battle  under  Radbod, 
at  Cologne,  in  716,  and  defeated  the  East  Franks,  Charles  Martel 
re-assembled  his  army  and  won  a  victory  over  the  Frisians  at  Stablo, 
He  followed  them  into  Frisia,  and  defeated  them  in  a  battle  on  the 
Middle  Sea.  The  Frisians  then  sued  for  peace.  Radbod,  their  king, 
died  in  719  A.D.  Adegild  II  succeeded  him,  but  the  Franks  no  longer 
permitted  him  the  title  of  king,  but  that  of  hertog  or  duke.  The 
Frisians  now  followed  the  Franks  in  their  wars.  Later  they  joined 
the  league  against  the  Franks,  formed  by  the  Saxon  duke  Wittekind 
which  embraced  the  Danes  under  their  king  Siegfried,  and  the  Fri- 
sians under  their  duke  Radbod.  This  formidable  alliance  was 
finally  overcome  by  Charlemagne,  and  the  independence  of  Frisia 
forever  lost,  A.  D.  785.  Later  the  country  was  governed  by  Frank- 
ish counts,  deputies  and  stadholders.^  It  becomes  necessary  to  de- 
fine the  exact  boundaries  of  Frisia  as  an  aid  in  determining  the  ex- 
tent of  the  Frisian  language,  as  it  is  probable  that  the  Lex  Frisionum 
received  its  present  form  substantially  at  this  time. 

Frisia  was  divided  into  three  parts,  and  these  divisions  are  men- 
tioned in  the  divisions  of  the  Empire  of  846  and  870.  In  the  di- 
vision of  the  Empire  in  839,  Lothair  received  the  duchy  of  Frisia 
which  at  that  time  extended  to  the  Maas.''  In  the  division  of  870, 
Lewis  the  G-erman  received  East  and  Central  Frisia.^ 

^  Foeke  SJoerds,  Hist,  yaarboeken,  vol.  I,  p.  406,  ff. 
*  "  Ducatum  Frisiae  usque  Mosam." — Hlud.  I,  Capit.  Fertz,  Mon.  Ger. 
vol.  Ill,  373. 

3  Et  haec  ist  divisio  quam  sibi   Hludowicus   accepit.     De   Frisia  duas 


Western  Frisia  was  situated  between  the  river  Sinkfal  in  the  vi- 
cinity of  Bruges  in  Flanders  and  the  FU ;  Central  Frisia  between  the 
Fli  and  the  Lauwers ;  Eastern  Frisia  between  the  Lauwers  and  the 
Weser.  These  divisions  gave  rise  to  certain  special  provisions  in 
the  Frisian  laws,  and  often  marked  the  limits  in  which  those  laws 
prevailed.  The  passages  in  the  Lex  Frisionum  which  specify  these 
districts  are  the  following :  "  Haec  lex  inter  Laubachi  et  Flehum 
custoditur^  caeterum  inter  Flehum  et  Sincfalam  pro  huiusmodi  causa 
talis  est  consuetude." — Tit.  XIV,  1.  "  Apud  occidentales  Fresiones 
inter  Flehi  et  Sincfalam.'*— Additio  Sapientum,  Tit.  Ill,  §  XLIX. 
"  Inter  Fli  et  Sincfalam." — Tit.  I,  §  X.  "  Hoc  inter  Laubaci  et  Sinc- 
falam."—Tit.  IV,  §  VI.  ''  Inter  Laubachi  et  Wiseram  et  cis  Fh 
similiter."— Tit.  I,  §  III. 

The  position  of  Sincfal  as  a  harbor  or  bay  is  implied  in  the  men- 
tion of  the  length  of  the  voyage  from  Ripa  in  Denmark  to  Sincfal, 
given  by  Adam  of  Bremen,  as  two  days  and  two  nights,  while  from 
Sincfal  to  Prol,  the  opposite  point  on  the  Enghsh  coast,  it  is  speci- 
fied as  two  days  and  one  night. ^ 

The  Tenth  Kiire,  composed  about  1200  A.  D.,  specifies  as  a  grant 
from  Charlemagne  that  the  Frisians  should  not  be  required  to 
serve  as  soldiers  beyond  the  Weser  on  the  east  and  the  Fli  on  the 
west,  and  no  further  to  the  south  than  would  be  possible  for  them 
to  return  in  an  evening,  in  order  to  protect  their  country  against  the 
sea  and  foreign  enemies.^ 

partes  de  regno  quod  Lotharius  habuit.  Et  haec  ist  divisio  quam  Carolus 
de  eodem  regno  sibi  accepit,  —  de  Frisia  tertiam  partem. — Annal., 
Bert,  Pars  III,  Pertz,  I,  489,  490. 

^  De  Ripa  in  Flandriam  ad  Cincfal  velificari  potest  duobus  diebus  et 
totidem  noctibus.  De  Cincfal  ad  Prol  in  Angliam  duobus  diebus  et  una 
nocte.  Illud  est  ultimum  caput  Angliae  versus  austrum  et  est  processus 
illuc  de  Ripa  angulosus  inter  austrum  et  occidentem. — Scholion,  96,  AI. 
Adami,  Gesta  Ham.^  Lib.  IV.  The  author,  a  canon  of  Bremen,  died 
about  1 125. 

2  Decima  petitio  est :  Frisiones  non  oportere  exercitum  ducere,  ulterius 
quam  ad  Wiseram  versus  orientem,  et  versus  occidentem  usque  Fli ;  ver- 
sus austrum  non  remotius  quam  possint  in  vespere  redire  ut  eorum  pos- 
sint  patriam  tenuere  contra  fluctus  et  gentilem  exercitum.  Petivit  autem 
rex  Karolus  quod  ipsi  ultra  proficisci  vellent  in  orientem  ysque  Hiddes- 
ekkere  et  in  occidentem  usque  Singfallum.  Et  obtinuerunt  id  Frisiones 
apud  Karolum  quod  ipsi  bannos  suos  non  ultra  servarent  quam  in  orient- 
um  ad  Wiseram  et  in  occidentem  usque  P'li. — Friesische  Rcchtsquellen 
J^ichthofett,  pp.  17,  18. 

The  Rustringer  text  has:   "Thit  is   thiu  tiande  liodkest,  thet  wi  Frisa 


Sincfal  is  undoubtedly  Zwin,  a  small  river  in  Flanders,  as  Maer- 
lant,  the  Flemish  poet,  who  hved  from  about  1220  to  1300  A.  D., 
says : 

* '  Al  Vrieslant  verre  ende  na 

Tusscen  der  Elven  end  Sincval 

Rekent  men  te  Sassenal." — I  Partie  Boek,  I,  c.  ^;^. 

*'  Teenen  tiden  quam  sulc  geval 
Den  volke  dat  tusscen  Sincval 
Enter  Wesere  sat  alleene. 
Dat  daer  was  ene  scare  gemene 
Ende  altemale  Vriesen  hieten," 

**  Tusscen  der  Wesere  en  ten  Zwene 
Dat  tien  tiden  hiet  Sincval." 

*'  Tfole  dat  upter  zee  v^^oent  al 
Tusscen  der  Wesere  ende  Sincval 
Dat  vt^i  Frieslant  helen  bi  namen." 

*'  Alle  die  lieden  ghemeelike 
;  Die  lanes  der  zee  saten  hene 

Tusscen  der  Wesere  an  ten  Zwene 
Dat  tien  tiden  hiet  Sincval 
Wart  ane  Gode  bekeert  al 
Bi  Willeborde,  bi  Willade 
Ende  bi  Bonifacis  predicade." 

—Ill  Partie  Boek,  VIII,  c.  XCIII. 

In  the  Rijm  Cronijk  of  Melis  Stoke,  written  between  1283-1287, 
we  find : 

"  Die  Scelt  was  dat  west  end  Sine, 

Also  sie  valt  in  de  zee 

Oest  streckende  mine  no  mee 

Van  toter  Lavecen  ofter  Elven." — Book  I,  46. 

ne  thuron  nene  hiriferd  fara  thruch  thes  kininges  bon,  ni  nen  bodthihg 
firor  sitta,  tha  Wester  to  tha  Fli  and  aster  to  there  Wisura,  suther  to  there 
Wepilinge  and  north  to  heves  ouere.  Tha  welde  thi  kinig  Kerl  tha  liode 
firor  leda  wester  to  Sinkfalon  and  aster  to  Hiddisekre. — Tenth  Kesta. 

It  is  possible  that  Charlemagne  made  this  concession,  but  in  fact  the 
Frisians  formed  a  part  of  his  army  in  his  campaign  across  the  Elbe,  and  to 
the  south  against  the  Dalmatians,  and  in  Spain  where,  at  Roncesvalles,  their 
last  king,  the  grandson  of  Radbod,  was  killed. — Enhardi^  Annal,  FiUd.y 
A.  D.  789. 


**  Nu  west  in  Vlandren  so  verre  comen 

Dat  Brueghe  stont  in  's  Coninx's  hant,  . 

En  bider  zee  aldat  lant 

Sender  die  Dam  metten  Swene 

Also  oestwaert  'tiant  ghemene."—  VI,  1146. 

*'  Van  hemsse  haer  Jan  bedochte, 

Dat  hi  selve  voer  ter  Sluse 

En  bernede  daer  vele  huese 

En  quam  weder  sonder  strijt. 

Doe  gheviel  een  an  der  tijt 

Dat  de  Vresen  voeren  over 

Tote  Caetsant  an  den  hoever, 

En  stichten  roof  en  brant." — IV,  914. 

*'  En  trecte  opt  uterst  van  Zeelant 

Tote  Vlissinghe  on  dat  zant 

En  zom  toten  zouten  lande. — IV,  907." 

In  a  charter  of  1241,  given  bj  Thomas,  count  of  Flanders  and  Hen- 
negau,  Muiden  is  made  a  city  free  from  duties,  also  the  district  around 
Damme  and  the  harbor  called  in  the  vulgar  language  Sincfal.  The 
name  indicates  therefore  a  bay  or  harbor  accessible  to  sea-going 
ships.  It  extended  between  Sluis  and  Damme  and  north  of  Bruges.^ 
This  stream  called  the  Zw^in  (Sine)  entered  the  Hunte  or  Wester- 
Scheldt  Avhich  here  separates  Flanders  (Cadsand)  and  the  island  of 
Walcheren.  Zeeland  then  included  a  district  south  of  the  Scheldt, 
and  within  the  boundaries  of  Frisia.  The  see  of  Utrecht  then  em- 
braced Bruges.  The  Hunte  is  not  mentioned  before  1161.  It  was 
then  an  insignificant  stream,  and  did  not  attain  its  present  size  until 
the  fifteenth  century.^ 

Euoteberus,  who  slew  his  brother  Baldwin,  is  said  to  have  made 
in  the  year  1071  an  hostile  expedition  into  Frisia  which  borders  on 
Flanders.^ 

^  Thomas  Flandrie  et  Hannonie  comes ;  fecimus  apiid  Mudan  frankam 
villam  et  concessimus  omnibus  ilHs  de  Muda  scabingium  et  legem  ville 
Brugensis  .  .  absolvimus  universos  infra  dictum  scabinagium  de  Muda 
manentes  et  omni  teloneo  infra  villam  de  Dam  et  undique  infra  portum 
qui  vulgaritur  appellatur  Sincfal.  Quoted  by  Stmtingk,  I,  115.  See  also 
Kluit.  Hist.  Crit.  Com,  Holland^  II,  1032,  for  a  charter  of  1275,  con- 
taining a  similar   grant. 

3   Va7i  den  Bergh^  Handboek  der  Middel-Ned.  Geog.,  p.  82. 

^  Ruoteberus  atque  in  Fresiam,  quae  confinio  est  Flandriae  irrup- 
tionem  fecit. — Lamberti,  AnnaL^  Fertz,  VII,  181. 


—  13  — 

Walcheren  appears  first  as  an  island  in  837  A.  D.^  Frisian  insti- 
tutions still  exist  in  Zeeland,  as  the  divisions  of  estates  according  to 
the  number  of  cattle.  Frisian  words  and  forms  are  still  found  in 
Dutch  Flanders.  Ylaardingen  near  Rotterdam  also  bears  the  name 
constantly  of  a  Frisian  city.^ 

The  eastern  limit  of  West  Frisia  is  called  in  the  Frisian  laws  Fh, 
Flelii  or  Flehum,  and  is  of  frequent  mention  in  the  monastic  chron- 
icles and  charters.^  The  early  Roman  writers  say  that  the  eastern 
branch  of  the  Rhine  emptied  into  the  lake  Flevo,*  flowed  through  it 
and  sought  the  sea  at  Flevum,  between  the  present  islands  of  Vlie- 
land  and  Terschelling.  The  islands  of  Texel  and  Vlieland  were  at 
that  time  united.  The  river  flowed  past  Stavoren  and  along  the  pres- 
ent coast  of  Friesland.  Hence  the  present  provinces  of  North  and 
South  Holland,  as  well  as  the  islands  of  Zeeland,  formed  a  part  of 
West  Frisia.  The  name  Holland,  Holtland  or  forest-land,  appears  in 
the  early  records  of  the  see  of  Utrecht.  The  name  was  first  applied 
to  the  district  around  Dordrecht,  along  the  Maas  and  the  Meriwede. 
The  separation  from  Central  Frisia,  both  by  rivers  and  the  lake  of 
Flevo,  produced  early  differences  in  the  laws  of  the  two  sections  and 
political  separation.  Holland  became  the  property  of  the!  Counts  of 
Holland.     They  bore  the  title  Counts  of  Frisia  until   1083,  when 

^  Nordmanni  tributum  exactantes  in  Walchram  venerunt. — Annal.^ 
Field.  Pertz,  I,  361.  Ea  tempestate  Nordmanni  irruptione  solita  Frisiam 
irruentes  in  insula  quae  Walcria  dicitur  imperatos  aggressi  .  .  .  et  ad 
Dorestadum  eadem  Frisia  pervenerunt. — Annal.,  Bei't,  A.  D.  '^yj.  Com- 
pare. Igiturimperator  disposita  Frisiaemaritimaeque  custodia;  that  is,  Zee- 
land  and  Frisia  ;  similarly  Campania  et  maritima  is  used  in  classical  Latin 
where  but  one  district  is  meant. — Amial.  Bert.^  Pertz^  I,  430,  A.D.  837. 

2  Vlaardingen  sic  enim  haec  regio  Frisionum  vocatur. — Alpert  De 
Divers,  Temp.  Pertz,  VI,  719,  A.  D.  1018.  Deinde  exercitum  navalem 
per  Renum  duxit  in  Fresiam  contra  Gotefridum  eius  que  adiutorem  Dio- 
dericum,  ibique  duas  urbes  munitissimas  cepit,  Rinesburg  et  Flaerdin- 
gen. — Lamb.  Anna!.,  A.  D.  1047,  Pertz,  VII,  154. 

3  Apud  occiden tales  Frisiones  inter  Flehi  et  Sincfalam. — Lex  Fris. 
Ad.,  Ill,  58,  XLIX.  "  Ecclesiam  in  occidentali  Fresia  in  Villa  Meden- 
h\^c.''—Pertz,  II,  389,  A.  D.  1 118.  Fresones  occidentales  qui  habitant 
trans  vadum  Occenvorth  in  agros  oppiduli  Alcmare  conscenderunt. — 
Pertz,  XVI,  A.  D.  1166. 

*  Later  called  Aelmere.  *' Trans  stagnum  quod  in  lingua  eorum  dici- 
tur  Aelmere." — Viia  S.  Bonifat,  Pertz,  vol.  II,  34.  The  present  name 
Zuider  Zee  does  noes  not  appear  until  the  thirteenth  century. 


—  14  — 

Dirk  y  styled  himself  "  Theodore,  by  the  grace  of  God  Count  of 
Holland."^ 

The  city  of  Egmont  was  long  the  boundary  between  the  country 
of  Holland  and  Frisia.  The  Fli  as  a  division  line  was  early  recog- 
nized. Wittekind  is  said  to  have  destroyed  the  churches  and  ex- 
pelled the  priests,  and  forced  the  people  as  far  as  the  Fli,  to  return 
to  paganism."  The  Western  Frisians  do  not  seem  to  have  joined  in 
the  league  against  Charlemagne,  composed  of  East  Frisians,  Danes 
and  Saxons. 

The  western  boundary  of  Central  Frisia  was  the  Laubachi  or 
Lauwers,  at  present  a  small  stream  flowing  north  into  the  Lauwers- 
Zee,  and  forming  the  boundary  between  the  provinces  of  Friesland 
and  Groningen.  It  seems  early  to  have  been  a  division  line  and 
the  Frisians  who  resided  beyond  it  adhered  '  longer  to  their  old 
paganism.  Charlemagne  constituted  Liudeger  a  teacher  in  the  five 
districts  which  lay  to  the  east  of  the  Lauwers,  (Labeke).^  Similarly 
Gregory,  the  successor  of  Boniface  as  bishop  of  Utrecht,  preached 
to  the  east  of  the  Lauwers.*  There  are  also  in  charters  constant 
references  to  the  Lauwers  as  forming  a  boundary  line  between  Cen- 
tral and  East  Frisia,  as  "all  the  lands  from  Stavoren  as  far  as  the 

1  Quot  autem  in  Hollandia  vel  Frisia. — AnnaL,  Erphard^  A.  D.  124-9. 
Pertz,  XVI,  37.  Wilhelmus  Romanorum  rex  occiditur  a  Fresonibus 
Medemblik  prope  Hollandiam  morantibus. — An?iaL^  Stad.  A.  D.  1276. 
Comitatus  Hollandensis  et  Fresonicus  et  unum  pertinent  comitem  et 
utriusque  populi  confinium  et  quasi  divisio  est  villa  Ekmundensis. — Pertz^ 
XVI,  466.  Fresones  extremi  versus  occidentem  qui  dicuntur  Westlingi 
(West  Flingi). — Mat.  AnnaL,  II,  157,  quoted  by  Richthofen  XV. 
*' Theodericus  dei  gratia  Hollandensis  comes." — Kluit.  II,  138,  quoted 
by  Van  den  Bergh,  p.  219. 

'  Radix  sceleris  Widukint  evertit  Fresones  a  via  Dei  combussitque  ec- 
clesias  et  expuUt  Dei  famulos  et  usque  ad  Fleo  fluvium  fecit  Fresones 
fidem  relinquere  et  immolare  idolis  juxta  morem  erronis  pristini. —  Vita 
S.  Liud,,  A.  D.  782. 

3  Gloriosus  princeps  Karolus  constituit  eum  (Liudgerum)  doctorem  in 
gente  Fresonum  ab  orientali  parti  fluminis  Labeki  super  pagos  quinque 
Hugmerchi,  Hunusga,  Fivilga,  Emsiga,  Federitga. — Pertz,  IV,  410,  A.  D. 
785. 

*  Doctrina  sua  beatus  Gregorius  Traiectum,  antiquam  civitatem,  et 
vicum  famosum  Dorstad  cum  ilia  inradiavit  parte  Fresoniae,  quae  tunc 
temporus  Christianitatis  censebatur ;  idem  usque  in  ripam  occident- 
alem  fluminis  quod  dicitur  Lagbeki,  ubi  confinium  erat  Christianorum 
Fresonum  ac  paganorum  cunctis  diebus  Pippini  regis. —  Vita  S.  Greg. 
Aeta  SS.  Benedic.  Saec.  Ill,  P.  II,  p.  295. 


—  15  — 

Borne  and  the  rest  of  Frisia  from  the  Borne  to  the  Lauwers,"  ^  the 
''lands  of  Frisia  situated  between  the  Ems  and  the  Lauwers."  "^ 

The  eastern  boundary  of  Frisia  at  the  promulgation  of  the  Lex  Fri- 
sionum  was  the  VYeser  river.  Certain  portions  of  the  laws  apply  to 
the  country  between  the  Lauwers  and  the  Weser :  ^  "  all  the  lands, 
islands  and  districts  in  all  Frisia  between  the  Weser  and  Meeres- 
diep,"  "all  Frisia  from  the  Zuider-Zee  to  the  Weser." ^  We  thus 
find  Frisia  at  the  time  in  which  the  Lex  Frisionum  was  in  force 
divided  into  three  parts;  West  Frisia,  which  included  a  strip  of 
country  in  Flanders  along  the  southern  shore  of  West  Scheldt,  Zee- 
land  ^  and  Holland?  Central  Frisia  between  the  Fli,  the  eastern 
shore  of  the  Zuider-Zee  and  the  Lauwers,  separating  the  provinces 
of  Friesland  and  G-roningen.  This  has  been  the  permanent  seat  of 
the  Frisians  where  the  Lex  Frisionum  originated,  and  where  the 
language  is  still  retained  in  use.  That  these  divisions  of  Frisia 
had  a  certain  centre  of  union  and  a  government  by  a  law  with  in 
the  main  similar  provisions  is  shown  by  the  quotations  already 
given. 

3.     THE  EXTENT  OF  FRISIA  TO  THE  NORTH. 

The  extent  of  the  Frisian  dominion  to  the  north,  and  the  period 
in  which  the  North  Frisian  islands  were  occupied,  cannot  be  de- 
termined with  accuracy.  Ptolemy  speaks  of  a  tribe  of  ^ipat6oi  as 
dwelling  in  Skandia,  or  southern  Sweden.  There  is  a  district  also 
in  West  Grothland  having  the  name  Frisjo.     This   may   indicate   an 

^  Omnes  a  Stavria  usque  ad  Bornedam  reliqua  vero  pars  Fresiae  a 
Borneda  usque  ad  Lavicam,  A.  D.  1230.  Quoted  by  Richthofen,  Lex 
Frisio7ium^  p.  XHL 

2  Allen  sinen  landen,  luden,  onderzaten  ende  hulperen  gezeten  tusschen 
der  Lauwers  ende  der  Wezere. — Cha^'terboek  von  F^'iesland,  I,  389. 

3  Inter  Laubachi  et  Wiseram  et  cis  Fli,  see  in  the  Lex  Frisionum. — 
TiL  I,  3,  4,  5,  10;   IX,  13;   XI;   XXII. 

*  Alle  de  lande,  eylande,  en  omlande  omtrent  't  gemeine  Frieslant  ge- 
legen  tuscben  de  Weser  en  't  Meersdiep. — Brenneisen,  I,  P.  2,  p.  2t2n 
quoted  by  Richthofen,  XIV.  Des  gemenen  Frieslandes  von  der  Zuder- 
zee  to  der  Wezere. — Rengers  14'erken,  I,  125. 

^  This  district  from  the  Zvvin  to  the  Maas  received  in  the  eleventh 
century  the  name  Se-land  or  Zeeland.  The  territory  between  the  Maas 
and  Alkmaar  received  the  name  Holtland  (Holland).  A  small  district 
to  the  north  of  Alkmaar  still  bears  the  name  West  Friesland.  The  Ger- 
man application  of  the  term  to  the  present  province  of  Friesland  is 
wrong  historically,  and  contrary  to  national  use. 


—  i6  — 

early  settlement  in  Scandinavia.^  There  is  in  Beowulf,  in  the  battle 
of  Finnesburg,  a  possible  reference  to  an  outlying  border  castle. 
In  the  Egilsaga  of  1220  A.  D.  there  is  a  refenence  to  the  land  lying 
between  Frisia  and  Denmark.'*  Helgoland  was  in  the  eighth  century 
Frisian  and  apparently  the  centre  of  the  w^orship  of  Fosite,^  and 
possibly  the  residence  of  the  king  Radbod."*  The  Strand  Frisians 
are  mentioned  as  early  as  the  thirteenth  century  under  that  name.® 

The  inhabitants  of  Ditmarsch  between  the  Elbe  and  the  Eider 
were  closely  and  early  connected  with  the  Frisians,  probably  both 
by  language  as  well  as  blood.  The  Frisians  often  appear  associated 
with  them.  We  read  that  in  the  year  1226,  maijy  Frisians  entered 
Ditmarsch  to  aid  in  the  defense  of  the  country  against  the  Danes.® 

Eichhorn  holds  that  the  Strand  Frisians  who  resided  on  the  west 
coast  of  Schleswig,  and  on  the  former  island  of  Nordstrand  took  pos- 
session of  that  district  after  the  third  century."^  Falck  declares  for 
the  time  of  Charlemagne  or  somewhat  earlier.^  The  occupation  of 
this  district,  north  of  the  Elbe  and  bordering  on  the  Danes  by  a 
mixed  population  of  Saxons  and  Franks,  is  manifest  as  early  as  the 
year  882  and  shown  by  a  letter  from  the  Emperor  Lothair  to  the 
pope,  in  which  he  says  that  on  the  borders  of  the  empire  there  is  a 


^  Corresponding  to  Dahlmann's  view  of  the  early  residence  of  Frisians  - 
in  the  north. — Geschichte  von  Ddnemark,  I,  1 6. 

2  })eir  koma  til  landamaeris  ])ar  er  moetiz  Danmork  ok  Frisland,  ok 
lagu  ]?a  vit  land. — Quoted  by  Grmun.^  Ges.  der  deut.  Spr.,  p.  466. 

3  An  effort  has  been  made  to  connect  the  word  Frisian  with  the  Norse 
Fro  and  Freir,  and  the  name  of  the  Frisian  goddess  Fosite,  Norse,  Forseti. 
— Zur  Stammes-tind  Sagengeschichte  der  Friesen  und  Chauken,  Volckinar, 

4  Unde  accepit  nomen  ut  Heiligland  dicatur. — Vita  S.  Willebrord, 
Fositesland  appellari  discimus  quae  sita  est  in  confinio  Danorum  et 
Fresonum ;  Sunt  et  aliae  insulae  contra  Fresiam  et  Daniam  sed  nulla 
eorum  tam  memorabilis. — M.  Adami  Gesta,  Ham.  Book,  I,  279. 

s  Rex  Danorum  Abel  Strantfrisones  ab  insolentia  eorum  volens  com- 
pescere,  inopinata  morte  eiis  est  occisus. — Pertz,  XIV,  373. 

6  Multi  Frisones  corruerunt  in  Thidemaerskia  et  tamen  Thidemaerskia 
Danis  subjugata  est. — AnnaL,  Fye^ises,  Pertz,  XVI,  407. 

7  Ich  bin  geneigt  anzunehmen  dass  die  Nord  oder  Strand  Frisones 
des  Herzogthums  Schleswig  seit  dem  dritten  Jahrhundert  eingewandert 
sind. — Deut.  Staats-und  Rechtsgeschichte,  vol.  I,  p.  50. 

^  Handbtich  des  Schleswig- Hoist.  Privatreckts,  I,  80. 


race  of  Saxons  and  Frisians  which  had  formerly  received  the  Cliris- 
tian  faith/ 

Frisia  probably  extended  to  the  south  as  far  as  the  branch  of  the 
Ehine  called  the  Waal.  Utrecht^  (Utra-jectum)  which  bore  the 
name  Wiltenburg  was  a  Frisian  city.  It  was  captured  l)y  Dagobert, 
who  founded  here  the  first  Christian  chapel  in  the  North  Nether- 
lands. The  districts  of  Drenthe,  Over-Yssel,  and  Utrecht  were 
largely  Frisian,  though  later  occupied  by  a  mixed  population  of 
Salian  Franks.  It  is  said  that  the  Frisians,  who  are  called  Destar- 
benzon,^  either  because  they  occupied  the  territory  of  the  latter  or 
because  they  were  closely  related,  won  a  great  victory  over  the 
Normans  in  the  year  885.  The  country  of  Teisterbaut  or  Tester- 
bant,  which  lay  between  the  Rhine  and  the  Old  Maas,  and  the 
countries  of  Betuwe  and  Hattuarias,.  (X^cupying  a  part  of  the  Bata- 
vian  island  bore  this  name  at  the  division  of  the  empire  in  870.* 
Deventer  was  originally  Frisian,  the  name  itself  being  Frisian.^ 

Frisian  colonies  were  also  scattered  along  the  Rhine  far  to  the 
south.  Birthen  between  Xanten  and  Rheinberg,  near  Weser,  was 
Frisian.^     Mainz'  had  a  large   proportion  of   Frisian  citizens,  and  in 

^  Est  eniam  gens  in  partibus  nostri  regni  Saxonum  scilicet  et  Frisonum 
commixta  in  confinibus  Nordmannorum  et  Obodritorum  sita  quae  evan- 
gelicam  doctrinam  iam  dudum  audierat  et  acceperat  sed  propter  vicinita- 
tem  paganorum  ex  parte  in  firma  religione  constat  et  ex  parte  iam  pene 
defecta. — Translatio  S.  Alex,  A.  D.  863,  Pertz,  II,  677. 

A  septentrione  vero  Nordmannos  gentes  ferocissimas,  Ab  ortu  autem 
solis  Obodritos  et  ab  occasu  Frisos  a  quibus  sine  intermissione  vel  foedere 
vel  concertatione  necessario  finium  suorum  spacia  tuebantur. — Jbid^,  II, 
675. 

2  Et  apud  Traiectum  quod  Fresiam  respicit. —  Vita  Poppon,  A.  D. 
1050,  Pe?iz,  XIII,  305.  Anno  dominicae  incarnationis  1039,  imperator 
Chuonradus  ipso  anno  diem  sanctam  pentecostes  apud  Traiectum  civitatem 
Fresiae  celabravit. —  Vila  ChiLonrad,  Imp.  Pej'tz,  XIII,  274. 

^  Interea  Frisones  qui  vocantur  Destarbenzon. — Aniial.  Fuld,  A.  D. 
885,  Pertz,  I,  402. 

*  Bant  here  denotes  district,  and  the  name  of  the  people  is  a  geograph- 
ical one.     The  form  Twente,  in  early  documents  Tuvanti,  is  the  classical 
Tuibantes :  in  like  manner  also  Drenlhe  must  have  had  the  form  Thrianti 
which  recalls  the  Tribantes  of  Tacitus.     See  Grimm,  Gcs.  der  dent.  Spr., 
412,  also  Sb-atingh,  Part  II,  130. 
Nordmanni  portum  qui  Frisica  lingua  Taventeri  nominatur,  succend* 
/unt. — AnnaL,  Field.  Pertz,  V,  397. 

^  Nordmanni  Biorzuna  ubi  pars  maxima  Frisionum  habitabat  incendia 
concremarunt. — Annal.,  Ftild.  A.  D.  937. 

7  Optima  pars  Mogontiae  civitatis  ubi  Frisones  habitant  conflagravit 
incendio. — Atinal.,  Fitld.  A.  D.  886. 


.a  description  of  the  country  around  Worms  by  the  bishop  Tliendola- 
chus  A.  D.  873,  we  find  a  Frisian  Speier  mentioned.^  On  the  river 
Silz  in  this  vicinity  lies  Friesenheim,  w^hich  may  have  been  a  Fri- 
sian colony.  We  cannot  suppose  that  the  Lex  Frisionum  ever  pre- 
I'ailed  to  the  south  of  the  Rhine.  The  Salian  \slw  was  early  intro- 
duced along  the  YsseL  Bequests  were  made,  not  according  to 
Frisian  law,  but  according  to  Ripuarian  and  Salian  law.^  W^ijk-bij- 
Duurstede  is  frequently  mentioned  as  Frisian.'  Meppel  was  Saxon^ 
as  early  as  the  eighth  century.'* 

It  has  been  attempted  to  determine  the  limits  of  Frisian  territory 
by  the  appearance  of  the  termination  um  in  proper  names  of  places. 
This  has  been  held  to  be  a  characteristic  of  Frisian  occupation 
everywhere.  This  um  is  in  many  cases  a  relic  of  the  older  herriy 
Frankish  Aeim,  Saxon  em,  English  ham  as  in  Durham.  In  a  regis- 
ter of  the  Abbey  of  Werden  of  the  year  983,  wa  find  Falconhem 
(Yalkum);  Sahsinghem  (Saaksum),  Werfhem  (Warfum),  Midlist- 
hem  (Middelstum).  The  termination  heim  or  hem  appears  but  a 
few  times  in  names  of  places  in  the  Netherlands.  In  Helgoland 
alone  in  800  A.  D.,  there  were  forty  places  having  the  termination 
um.  In  1200  A.  D.^  the  names  of  eighty-two  places  in  North 
Frisia  ended  in  um,  while  in  West  Frisia  there  were  seventy-two 
places  having  that  termination:  in  East  Frisia  twenty -four,  in 
Nordstrand  nineteen,  in  Eiderstedt  four.  Over  seventy-six  places  in 
the  present  province  of  Frisia  end  in  um.  The  termination  um  ap- 
pears in  the  names  of  but  few  places  outside  of  the  provinces  of 
Friesland,  Groningen  and  the  west  coast  of  Schleswig-Holstein. 
This  termination  predominates  in  names  of   places  on  the  islands  of 

'  De  loco  qui  dicitur  Frisonen-Spira  usque  ad  Rhenum  ipsi  Frisones 
restauranda  muralia  procurent.  Rudolsheim,  Gunsheim,  Turkheim, 
Alsheim,  Mettenheim  a  super  dicta  Spira  usque  ad  locum  qui  Rheni- 
Spira  vocatur  provideant. — Amia/.,  Worm,  A.  D.  873.  These  places  lie 
north  of  Worms,  between  Worms  and  Oppenheim. 

2  In  a  grant  given  in  855,  we  find,  •*  Ego  Folkerus,  quasdam  proprie-v 
tatis  meae  res  in  page  Hamuland  in  comitatu  Wigmanni,  nee  non  in 
Batuwe,  coram  testibus  secundum  legem  Ripuariam  et  Salicam,  nee  non 
secundum  e7i>a  Fresonum  tradidi." — Lecomblet,  Rheinisches  Urkundenbuch^ 
I,  30.  Richthofen  claims  that  the  specification  of  "  not  according  to  the 
law  of  the  Frisians,"  is  an  interpolation  from  another  diploma. 

3  Inde  egressi  per  Dorstatum  et  vicinia  Fresonum  transeuntes. —  Vita 
S.  Anskarii,  c.  8. 

^  Oppidum  est  in  Saxonia  notum  plurimis  Meppea  nominatum. —  Vita 
S.  Liud.,  Lib.  II,  25.     Acta  Benedict  Saec,  IV. 


—  19  — 

Fohr  and  on  the  southern  half  of  the  island  of  Sylt  To  the  east 
the  names  of  places  are  Danish  and  Low  Gremiaii,  with  few  Frisian 
forms.  The  termination  hull^  Dan.  hoi  and  holle.  possibly  hilttel  in 
Wolfenbiittel,  meaning  a  cottage,  which  does  not  appear  on  old 
charts  of  West  and  East  Frisia,  is  found  in  the  earliest  records  of 
]N'orth  Frisia.  On  the  west  coast  of  Schleswig-Holstein  and  on  the 
]!^orth  Frisian  islands,  more  than  a  hundred  names  of  places  have 
this  ending^. 


II.     LITERATURE, 

That  the  Frisians  had  early  a  distinct  form  of  speech  is  evident 
from  the  early  mention  of  their  language,  even  before  we  possess 
literary  remains.  We  find  the  Friska  lingua  mentioned  in  the  an- 
nals of  Fulda  of  882  A.  D.,  also  in  the  life  of  St  Boniface,  Fresonum 
lingual  This  language  always  bears  the  name  Frisian,  and  does  not 
seem  to  have  been  included  under  the  general  term  deuiscJu  The 
likeness  of  the  Frisian  to  the  Anglo-Saxon  admitted  of  a  certain 
degree  of  intercourse,  for  the  early  Anglo-Saxon  missionaries  en- 
tered at  once  upon  active  labor  on  arriving  in  Frisia.^ 

Boniface  is  said  to  have  spoken  to  his  companions  at  the  time  of 
the  Frisian  attack  upon  him  in  the  speech  of  his  own  land,  patria 
voce,  Anglo-Saxon.  It  is  thus  evident  that  work  among  the  Fri- 
sians w^as  based  upon  the  acquisition  of  their  language.  It  is  as- 
serted that  the  Frisians  promised  to  receive  the  gospel,  provided 
Charlemagne  would  send  to  them  some  one  who  could  speak  their 
own  language,  and  Liudger,  who  was  of  Frisian  birth,  was  sent 
to    them.^     A   general   similarity    between    tlie  languages  of   Ger- 

1  Vita  S.  Bonifat,  Lib.  II,  c.  25. 

2  Wilfred  labored  a  few  months  in  678  with  great  success. —  Vita  S. 
Wilfred  in  Acta  SS.  Bened.,  c.  25.  Wigbert  labored  two  years  unsiic 
cessfuUy,  from  690-692,  owing  to  the  opposition  of  their  chief  Radbod. 
He  was  followed  by  Willebrord,  bishop  of  Utrecht,  A.  D.  693  ;  Adel- 
bert,  the  patron  saint  of  Nortli  Holland  who  founded  the  church  in  Eg- 
mont;  Wulfram,  bishop  of  Sens,  690;  Boniface,  719-755,  who  was  slain 
at  Dockum  by  the  Frisians. 

3  Si  eis  ahquis  deretur  cujus  loquelam  intelHgere  possent. —  Vita  S. 
Litidgeri,  c.  16.  Quoted  by  Mone,  Altniederldndische  Volksliteratu?'^ 
P-  372. 


20  

many  was  early  recagnized.  Thus  it  is  said  that  all  the  bar- 
barous nations  living  between  the  Rhine  and  the  Weser,  and  be- 
tween the  Danube  and  the  ocean,  resemble  each  other  in  language, 
but  in  dress  and  custom  are  very  dissimilar.*  Augustine  is  said  by 
Bede  to  have  taken  Frank  interpreters  with  him  to  England 
from  France  (Gaul).^ 

Of  national  popular  songs  in  Frisian  there  are  no  traces,  and  yet 
we  have  shown  that  the  scene  of  Beowulf  is  partly  on  Frisian 
soil,  and  that  Gudrun  includes,  mixed  with  its  northern  elements, 
many  legendary  events  of  Frisian  history.  There  were  Frisian  bards, 
but  their  songs  were  neA^er  written  and  consequently  have  perished. 
In  the  hfe  of  St.  Liudger  we  find  that  he  met  at  Hellewird  a 
blind  singer,  Bernlef,  who  sang  of  the  deeds  and  conflicts  of  the 
ancient  Frisian  kings,  and  who  was  greatly  beloved  by  the  people.^ 
These  songs  could  only  exist  when  the  country  was  free  from  for- 
eign influence^  and  where  there  was  the  bond  of  a  national  spirit 
and  common  history.  The  Frisian  language  has  disappeared  in 
North  Holland,  in  East  Frisia  except  in  the  Saterland^  and  in  the 
districts  of  North  Brabant,  Drenthe,  and  Over-Yssel.  In  the  west  it 
has  yielded  to  the  Frankish  or  its  modern  representative,  the  Neth- 
erlandish, and  in  the  east  it  has  given  way  before  the  predominat- 
ing political  influence  of  the  Saxon  or  Platt-deutsch.  For  150  years 
the  Frisians  were  constantly  exposed  to  attacks  from  the  North- 
men. The  last  invasion  occurred  in  1010,  when  the  Northmen  en- 
tered Frisia  and  advanced  into  Holland.  Frisia  was  given  to  the 
Norman  chief  Godfrey  by  Charles  the  Fat.  Godfrey  was  soon 
assassinated,  and  Gerolf,  the  son  of  Theodore,  a  Count  of  Frisia, 
regained  his  hereditary  domain.  The  Emperor  Lewis  gave  Frisia 
to  Herolt  the  Dane,*  but  the   Norman  dominion  was  always  doubt- 

1  Omnesque  praeterea  barbaras  nationes,  quae  inter  Rhenum  ac  Wis- 
eram  fluvios  oceanumque  atque  Danubium  positae  sunt,  hngua  quidem 
pene  similes  sed  habitui  vel  moribus  valde  dissimiles,  ita  perdomuit  iit 
eas  sibi  tributarias  facerat. — Pertz,  XI,  361.  Hist.  EccL  Ex.  Hugo 
Floriacensisy  A.  D.  1 100. 

2  Hist.  EccL,  Lib.  I,  c.  25. 

3  Et  ecce  illo  discumbente  cum  discipulis  suis,  oblatus  est  ei  caecus  vo- 
cabulo  Bernlef,  qui  a  vicinis  suis  valde  diligebatur,  eo  quod  esset  affabilis  et 
anliquorum  actus  regumque  certamina  bene  noverat,  psallendo  promere. 
—  Vita  S.  Liud.,  Lib.  H,  c.  l.  Acta  Benedict.  Saec.  IV,  p.  25. 

*  Tunc  dominus  imperator  magnam  partem  Fresonam  dedit  ei  [Heriolt 
de  Danais].    Thegani — Vita  Hind.  Imp.  FertZy  II,  597.     Frisia  and  Eng- 


ful,  and  we  cannot  assume  that  the  language  was  greatlj  affected 
during  then-  uncertain  supremacy.  In  the  eleventh  century  Frisia, 
between  the  Lauwers  and  the  Ems,  passed  under  the  temporal  sov- 
ereignty of  the  bishops  of  Utrecht,  and  Frisia  between  the  Ems  and 
Weser  became  subject  to  the  bishops  of  Bremen.  During  this 
period  of  incessant  warfare  and  occasional  temporary  subjection  to 
the  Danes,  perished  probably  all  native  literature,  if  any  written 
memorials  existed.  Frisian  chronicles  speak  of  a  magnificent  temple 
at  Stavoren,  the  seat  of  the  Frisian  kings,  and  of  a  long  line  of  his- 
torical writers,  among  whom  are  mentioned  Witho,  the  "  wise,"  the 
chief  of  the  Druids,  who  died  A.  D.  132  ;  of  Hanco  Fortemannus, 
who  lived  in  the  tmie  of  Charlemagne  and  who  wrote  an  account 
of  his  campaigns ;  of  Sulco  Fortemannus,  who  wrot^  a  record  of  Fri- 
sian history  from  Frixo,  the  mythical  founder  of  the  race  and 
brother  of  [Aeneas,  to  Radbod  II ;  of  Occo  van  Scharl,  who  lived  in 
the  tenth  century,  and  who  wrote  the  history  of  his  time.  ^lost 
of  these  statements  rest  on  the  authority  of  Suffridus  Petri,  who 
Uved  in  the  sixteenth  century,  and  whose  writings  are  marked  by 
creduHty  and  a  love  of  romancing.  There  are  no  exivSting  remains 
of  the  early  language  other  than  the  words  contained  in  the  Lex 
Frisionum,  and  in  the  proper  names  contained  in  the  monastic 
records. 

An  interesting  fact  which  connects  the  earliest  writings  in  the 
Frisian  language  with  the  writings  of  the  other  German  nations, 
and  which  bears  indirect  witness  to  their  age  and  authenticity,  is 
the  use  of  alhteration  employed  in  their  laws.  Wiarda*  called  atten- 
tion first  to  the  alliterative  character  of  these  laws.  He  held  the  ad- 
ditions to  them  to  be  in  part  fragments  of  popular  songs,  poetic 
glosses,  which  gave  to  the  people  information  regarding  the  origin 
and  meaning  of  the  laws. 

In  the  second  Kiire  in  the  Rustringer  text  we  have : 
Colnaburch  hit  by  alda  tidon  Cologne  hight  in  olden  times 

^grip  anda  alda  noma;  And  by  olden  name  Agrip. 

Tha/irade  us  i^rison  Then  was  strange  to  us  Frisians 

Thiu/ire  menote.  The  foreign  money. 


land  are   said    to   have   become   subject   to  the  Danes  at  the   same  time. 
Atque  ex  illo  tempore  Fresia  et  Anglia  in  ditione  Danorum  feruntur.— J/. 
Adami  Gesta,  Lib.  I,  A.  D.  876. 
1  Asegabuch,  pp.  11,  167,  340. 


And  us  inconvenienced, 

Then  the  heavy  penny. 

Set  (estabhshed)  we  ourselves 

An  especial  coin, 

And  there  was  with  it, 

Two  and  seventy  pounds. 

Laid  and  valued, 

Two  and  seventy  shilhngs 

Of  the  stamp  of  Rednath,  or 

Of  Kawing's  stamp. 

Rednath  and  Kawing. 

So  were  hight  the  first. 

Two  that  in  Friesland 

The  penny  stamped. 

Three  pounds  to  the  magistrate. 

That  is  one  and  twenty 


And  us  5werade 

Tha  thi  swera  panning ; 

iSetton  tha  sehm 

^S'undroge  menote. 

And  warth  ther  with  thet 

Twa  and  siuguntich  punda, 

Zeyd  and  ekgad, 

Twa  and  siuguntichs  killinga 

Rednathes  slekes  ieftha 

Kawinges  slekes. 

Rednath  and  Kawing 

Alsa  hiton  tha/orma 

Twene  ther  to  i^'islande 

Then  ^annig  slogon. 

Thriu  _pund  tha  frana, 

Thet  ist  en  and  twintich 

Skillinga  thruch  thes  Kyninges 

bon.  .  Shillings  by  the  kings  decree. 

Of  historical  poems  there  are  few  traces.     Lines  appear  which 
seem  to  have  formed  part  of  some  Yolkslied,  as : 

*'  Hi  was  minnera 

And  hi  was  betera 

Hi  stifte  and  sterde 

Triwa  and  werde. 

And  hi  setta  thera  kenega  ieft 

And  allere  liuda  kest 

And  landriucht 

And  allera  londa  eccum  sin  riucht."  ^ 
Rask  holds  that  these  lines  may  have  been  taken  from  some  poem 
relating  to  Charles  Martel.     Compare  with  these  the  following  lines 
from  a  register  of  the  kings  who  established  good  laws.^ 
Thesse  fiuwer  heva.  These  four  lords 

Bi/mlpon  us  Helped  us 

i^rison  /rihalses  Frisians  to  liberty 

And/ridomes,  And  freedom 

With  thene  kinig  With  King  Charles, 

^erl,  hwanda  alle  Because  all 


Rechtsquellen^  p.  343. 
2  Ibid,  p.  133. 


—  23  — 

Frisa  er  north  /zerdon  Frisians  to  the  north  were  subject, 

Anda  grimma  Aerna.  To  the  grim  nations. 

Rhyme  appears  later,  and  there  are  few  traces  of  it  in  Frisian 
writings  of  unquestioned  early  date.  Wiarda  qirotes  as  an  ex- 
ample.^ 

Forth  scele  wi  se  halda,  Hereafter  these  will  we  keep, 

And  God  seel  urse  walda,  And  God  shall  rule  o'er  us, 

Thes  reddera  and  thes  stitha  The  w^eak  and  the  strong. 

And  alle  unriuchte  thing  formitha.  xlnd  all  things  Avrong  we  will  shun. 

These  lines  form  a  conclusion  to  a  gloss  to  the  XVII  Kiiren  and 
the  XXIV  Landrechte  in  the  Hunsmgoer  and  Emsiger  laws. 

A  rhymed  poem  of  uncertain,  but  probably  late  date,  contains  the 
grant  of  special  privileges  made  to  the   Frisians  by  Charlemagne.^ 
The  language  of  the  poem  does  not  differ  much  from  the  Hunsing- 
oer  text  of  the  Kesta.     The  poem  begins : 
*'  Thit  was  to  there  stunde, 
Tha  the  kening  Kerl  riuchta  bigunde, 
Tha  waster  ande  there  vSaxinna  merik, 
Liudingerus  en  hera  fele  steric.** 

Of  glosses  upon  the  Scriptures  and  translations  into  the  Frisian, 
which  form  so  large  a  part  of  early  German  literature,  we  find 
scarcely  any  traces,  although  in  the  laws  of  the  different  districts  as 
well  as  in  the  ecclesiastical  law  (Sindriucht),  there  are  constant  provi- 
sions regarding  priests,  fasts,  the  sanctity  of  churches,  obedience  to 
spiritual  authorities,  etc.  We  have  a  fragment  regarding  the  last 
judgment,  also  the  ten  commandments,  with  a  sort  of  scriptural  gen- 
ealogy, to  wiiich  is  joined  lists  of  the  Roman  emperors  and  of  the 
early  bishops  who  ruled  over  Frisia.  The  original  dates  of  the  ren- 
dering of  these  into  Frisian  cannot  be  determined,  but  the  hsts  of 
kings  who  instituted  wise  laws  is  not  earlier  than  the  beginning  of 
the  fourteenth  century.  The  earliest  forms  in  the  Frisian  language 
are  the  words  which  occur  in  the  Lex  Frisionum. 

1  Asegabuch,  p.  167.     Rechtsquellen^  p.  81. 

2  Rechtsqicelle7t,  p.  351. 

3  A  Latin  version  of  this  charter  is  given  by  Schotanus. — Beschrijvmge 
end  Chfonijck  van  H'eerlickheydt  von  Frieslandt,  p.  64,  1655.  Another 
copied  from  the  state  archives  in  Brussels  is  given  in  the  Charterboek  of 
Frisia,  Vol.  I,  p.  The  Latin  version  was  long  held  to  be  original,  but 
its  genuineness  is  no  longer  maintained. 


—  24  — 

LAWS  IN  LATIN. 
Date  of  the  Lex  Frisionx'm. 

The  iiest  edition  of  the  Lex  Frisionuni  appeared  in  1557  at 
Basel.*  The  law  stands  between  the  Lex  Anglorum  et  Werniorum 
hoc  est  Thurin<xorum,  and  the  Leges  Burgundiorum.  No  original  text 
of  this  law  is  known,  and  it  is  not  known  from  what  source  Herold 
obtained  the  text  which  he  used.'^  The  editor  states  that  for  the 
Lex  Salica  he  used  a  manuscript  of  Fulda,  and  that  among  those  who 
contributed  to  this  edition  or  aided  in  its  collation  were  scholars  of 
Basel,  Milan  and  Worms.  Herold  speaks  in  one  place  of  Saxmundus, 
one  of  the  authors  of  the  Additio  Sapientum,  as  living  in  600  A.  D. 
Siccama  assigns  the  collection  of  the  laws  to  the  time  of  Clothaire  II, 
613-628,  or  to  his  son  Dagobert  628-638.  Eichthofen,  however, 
with  better  reason,  divides  the  laws  into  three  parts,  each  of  which 
he  assigns  to  a  different  period.  He  holds  that  the  oldest  part  was 
compiled  after  the  subjugation  of  Frisia  by  the  Franks  under  Charles 
Martel,  in  734,  and  that  it  was  in  force  in  Central  Frisia  either  dur- 
ing his  reign  or  that  of  his  son  Pippin,  741.  The  second  part  of  the 
law  was  in  force  throughout  all  Frisia  after  the  conquest  of  East 
Frisia  by  Charlemagne,  785. 

The  third  part  or  the  Additio  Sapientum,  by  which  the  provisions 
of  the  law  were  changed  and  difterently  applied,  is  subsequent  to 
the  year  802.  The  historical  considerations  which  determine  the 
date  of  these  laws  may  be  briefly  given.  The  laws  are  in  Latin, 
with  many  Frisian  words.  None  of  the  laws  of  the  G-erman  na- 
tions were  written  down  until  after  the  introduction  of  Christianity. 
With  the  single  exception  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  laws,  these  laws 
were  all  written  first  in  Latin.  Dagobert  I  founded  a  Christian 
church  at  Utrecht  on  the  borders  of  Frisia.  The  city  was  captured 
by  the  Frisian  king  Radbod  and  the  church  destroyed.  The  bishop 
of  Cologne  claimed  jurisdiction  over   Utrecht  in  consequence  of  the 

J  Originum  ac  Germanicarum  Antiquitatum  Libri.  Opera  Basilii  loan- 
nis  Herold.     Basiliae,  1557. 

2  Richthofen,  in  his  edition  of  the  Lex  Frisionum,  republished  under  the 
auspices  of  the  Frisian  Society,  has  refuted  the  theory  of  Gaupp  that  Lin- 
denbrog  in  his  edition  of  1613,  and  Siccama,  in  his  edition  of  161 7,  used 
a  manuscript  original,  by  showing  that  these  editions  add  nothing  to  the 
first  edition  of  Herold.  Huydecoper,  in  his  edition  of  the  Rijm  Cronijk 
of  Melis  Stoke,  Leiden,  1772,  vol.1,  142,  has  doubted  the  genuineness  of 
these  laws.  But  a  more  complete  study  and  a  comparison  with  the  laws 
of  other  German  nations  has  established  their  genuineness. 


—  25  — 

chapel  founded  there  by  Dagobert,  the  ruins  of  whieh  av  ere  discov- 
ered b}'  Willebrord,  which  belonged  to  the  diocese  of  Cologne.*  At 
the  period  of  the  earhest  missionary  efforts  in  the  seveni/'  century, 
Frisia  was  an  independent  kingdom  free  from  Frankish%  ninion, 
Anglo-Saxon  missionaries  had  a  transient  tolerance  there  under 
Adegikl,  and  even  hater  under  Radbod,  the  most  determined  sup- 
porter of  Frisian  liberty  and  of  his  ancestral  religion. 

After  Radbod's  death  in  719,  AVestern  Frisia  or  Frisia  west  of  the 
Fli,  came  under  the  dominion  of  the  Franks.  Central  Frisia  retained 
longer  its  practical  independence  and  it  was  not  subdued  by  Charles 
Martel  until  734.  Still  the  people  held  obstinately  to  their  old 
heathenism,  and  in  755  the  Archbishop  Boniface  was  slain  by  them 
at  Dockum.  Beyond  the  Lauwers  all  w^as  pagan. ^  Charlemagne 
entered  this  region  A.  D.  780,^  and  it  was  not  until  785  that  it  w^as 
fully  subdued. 

West  Frisia  Avas  therefore  subject  to  the  Franks  from  697  to  734. 
West  and  Central  Frisia  from  734,  and  West,  Central  and  East 
Frisia  from  785.  We  must  therefore  ascribe  the  extension  of  these 
uniform  laws  to  these  periods.  Only  when  the  whole  country  had 
come  under  the  control  of  one  sovereign  could  a  uniform  code  of 
laws  have  been  prepared.  Within  this  period  and  the  reign  of 
Charlemagne  we  fix  the  date  of  the  Lex  Frisionum.  The  Norman 
invasions   began    immediately   subsequent   to    this,   and    continued 

^  Coloniensis  episcopus  dicit  sedem  Utraiectinam  ad  se  pertinere,  prop- 
ter fundamenta  cuiusdam  destructae  a  paganis  ecclesiolae,  qiiam  Wille- 
brordus  dirutam  usque  ad  solum  in  castello  Traiecto  referit,  et  repert 
quia  ab  antique  rege  Francorum  Dagoberto  castellum  Traiectum  cum 
destructa  eccelesia  ad  Coloniensen  parociam  donatum  fuisse.  Letter  of 
Boniface  to  Pope  Stephen,  i.  D.  754. —  Van  Mieris,  Charterboek.  I'he 
statement  of  Richthofen  that  the  Frisians  and  Franks  lived  at  peace  from 
689-714  is  not  quite  correct,  as  in  694  Pippin  invaded  and  overran  Frisia. 
Pippinus  dux  Ratbodum  ducem  Fresonum  bellando  vicit  Fresiamque 
sibi  subiugavit. — Anna/.,  Xant.  655-714,  Pertz,  II,  220. 

2  Lagbeki  ubi  confinium  erat  christianorum  ac  paganorum  cunctis  die- 
bus,  Pippini  regis. —  Vita  S.  Greg.  Acta.  Bened.  Saec.  IV,  p.  295. 

3  Carolus  iterum  ingreditur  Saxoniam  .  .  .  et  Windorum,  sen  et  Fri- 
sorum  at  Nordlandorum  multitude  credidit. — A^mal.  Lobiens,  Pertz, 
II,  195.  See  also  Vita  S.  Willehad,  Pertz.  II,  391.  Chron.  Moissiacen, 
A.  D.  787,  and    Vita    S.  Lind,  Lib.  II,  25. 

Hinc  Carolus  primus  Frisonum  marte  magister. 
Pingitur  et  secum  grandia  gesta  manus, 
—Ermwold  Nigel.,  Lib.  IV,  A.  D.  826,  Pertz,  II,  506. 


—  26  — 

from  834^  to  1024  A.  D.,  and  anything  like  the  compilation  of  a 
general  code  of  laws  would  have  been  during  this  period  impossi- 
ble. 

Later,  during  the  reign  of  Lewis  the  Pious,  these  laws  could  not 
have  received  form,  as  various  provinces  of  Frisia  had  been  given 
to  the  leading  Norman  chiefs.  It  is  impossible  that  any  law  em- 
bracing in  any  respect  similar  provisions,  could  at  that  time  have 
originated  and  been  applied  to  a  country  so  divided  and  under  so 
varying  governments.  Certain  specifications  i-egarding  the  amounts 
of  fines  and  indemnities,  the  rules  of  proceedure,  the  relations  of  the 
moneys  specified,  lead  to  assign  one  portion  of  these  laws  to  the 
period  between  734-785,'*  a  second  portion  to  the  period  succeed- 
ing the  conquest  of  East  Frisia  by  Charlemagne,  hence  after  785, 
and  the  third  portion  to  the  general  examination  and  codification  of 
all  the  laws  of  the  different  tribes  at  Aachen  in  802. 

The  term  ewa  for  law  appears  first  in  an  early  record  of  855,  al- 
ready quoted,  in  which  property  in  Hamaland  is  conveyed  accord- 
ing to  the  law  of  the  Salian  and  Ripuarian  Franks,  nee  non  secundum 
ewa  Fresonum.  Many  provisions  in  the  Lex  Frisionum  are  unques- 
tionably of  remote  heathen  origin.  The  law  recognizes  ancient  na- 
tional customs  (Gewohnheitsrecht)  continued  beside  the  recognized 
common  law  or  Volksrecht.  All  distinctively  pagan  features  are  re- 
moved from  the  law,  save  a  single  passage  which  has  given  rise  to 
much  controversy.  It  provides  that  whoever  shall  violate  a  shrine 
and  carry  away  any  of  the  sacred  objects,  shall  be  conducted  to  the 
shore  of  the  sea,  and  that  there  his  ears  shall  be  slit  and  he  shall  be 
sacrificed  to  the  gods  whose  temple  he  has  violated.  This  occurs 
under  Title  XI  of  the  Additio  Sapientum,  given  by  Wulemarus 
one  of  the  revisers.^     His  name  shows  him  to  have  been  a  Frisian.^ 

*  This  is  the  earliest  mention  I  find  of  a  Norman  invasion.  Interim 
etiam  classis  de  Danis  veniens  in  Frisiam  aliquam  partem  ex  illo  devas- 
tavit, et  per  Vetus-Traiectum  ad  emporium  quod  vocatur  Dorestadus, 
venientes  omnia  diripuerunt. — AnnaL,  Bert,  Pertz,  I,  428. 

2  Richthofen,  p.  XLL 

3  Hoc  trans  Laubachi  de  honore  templorum.  Qui  fanum  effregit  et 
ibi  aliquid  de  sacris  tulerit,  ducitur  ad  mare  et  in  sabulo  quod  accessus 
maris  operire  solet,  finduntur  aures  eius  et  castratur  et  immolatus  diis 
quorum  templa  violavit. 

This  seems  to  be  more  the  statement  of  a  custom  th^n  a  law.  The 
subjunctive  would  have  been  used  in  the  verbs  ducatur  and  imnioletur 
were  it  any  other  than  a  mere  note  written  by  some  reviser,  as  Richthofen 
suggests. 


After  Charlemagne  had  been  crowned  in  Rome  A.  D!  800,^  he 
observed  the  defects  in  the  laws  of  the  different  tribes  under  his 
dominion,  and  that  provisions  of  law  even  among  the  Salian  and 
Ripuarian  Franks  were  often  dissimilar.  He  therefore  sought  to 
remedy  these  deficiencies  by  the  addition  of  Capitula — special  brief 
tstatements  Avhich  removed  any  inconsistency,  and  yet  left  the  sub- 
stance of  tlie  law  unchanged.  The  laws  of  the  different  tribes 
were  reduced  to  writing,  and  it  was  even  directed  that  national 
songs  commemorating  the  deeds  of  their  kings  should  be  preserved. 
In  the  year  802,  at  a  great  council  of  princes,  nobles,  clergy  and 
jurists,  these  laws  were  read  before  the  emperor  and  translated.'' 
Emendations  were  made,  and  the  law  as  amended  was  written 
down  in  order  that  "judges  might  administer  justice  according  to 
that  which  was  written,  and  not  receive  bribes."  ^  Later  to  wise 
and  learned  men  was  entrusted  an  examination  into  the  operations 
and  results  of  these  laws.'*     All  defects  were  to  be  reported  to  the 

1  Post  susceptum  imperiale  nomen,  cum  adverteret  multa  legibus  populi 
sifi  deesse,  nam  Franci  duas  habent  leges  in  plurimis  locis  valde  diversas, 
cogitavit  quae  deerant  addere  et  discrepantia  unire,  prava  quoque  ac  per- 
peram  prolata  carrigere  :  sed  de  his  nihil  aliud  ab  eo  factum,  nisi  quod 
pauca  capitula  et  ea  imperfecta  legibus  addidit.  Omnium  tamen  nation- 
um  quae  sub  eius  dominatu  erant,  iuraque  scripta  non  erant  describere  ac 
Uteris  mandari  facit.  Item  barbara  et  antiquissima  carmina  quibus  veter- 
um  regum  actus  et  bella  canebantur,  scripsit  el  memoriaeque  mandavit. 
Inchoavit  et  grammaticam  patrii  sermonis.  —  Einhara'i,   Vita  Caroli  M.  % 

^9-  .  .        .  . 

2  Sed  et  imperator  interim,  quodipsum  synodum  factum  est,  congregavit 
duces  comites  et  reliquo  Christiano  populo  cum  legislatoribus,  et  fecit  om- 
nes  leges  in  regno  sue  legi  et  tradi,  unicuique  homini  legem  suam  et  emen- 
dare,  ubicumque  necesse  fuit,  et  emendatam  legem  scribere,  et  ut  judices 
per  scriptum  judicassent  et  munera  non  accepissent. — AjtnaL,  Lauresh, 
A.  D.  8o2.     Periz,  Mon.  Ger.  SS.  I,  -1%. 

3  The  laws  of  the  Frisians,  Thuringians,  Salian  and  Ripuarian  Franks, 
and  of  the  Chamavi  are  supposed  to  have  been  reduced  to  writing  at 
this  time. 

*  Karolus  elegit  ex  optimatibus  suis  prudentissimis  et  sapientissimis 
viros  tarn  archiepiscopis  quam  et  reliquis  episcopis,  simulque  et  abbates 
venerabiles  laicosque  religiosos,  et  direxit  in  unive.sum  reguimi  suum  et  per 
eos  cunctis  subsequentibus  secundum  rectam  legem  vivere  concessit. 
(Jbi  autem  aliter  quam  recte  et  juste  in  lege  aliquit  esse  constitutum,  hoc 
diligentissimoanimo  exquirere  jussit  et  sibi  innotescere,  quod  ipse,  donante 
Deo,  meliorare  cepil  ut  longa  consuetude,  quae  ad  utilitatem  publicam  non 
impendit,  pro  lege  servetur  et  quae  diu  servatae  sint,  permanent.  Capit. 
A.  D.  813,  c.  17.  Volumus  ut  hommes  talem  consuetudinem  habent 
sicut  antiquitus  Longobardorun  fuit,  A.  D.  823,  c.  14. — Pertz,  SS.  I, 
'93- 


—  28  — 

emperor  for  adjustment.  Long  standing  national  custom  was  to  be 
retained  and  to  ha\''e  equal  force  with  written  law,  unless  there  was 
a  conflict  between  them,  when  the  written  law  was  to  be  followed. 
Ewa  was  equivalent  to  a  law  embodying  national  usage,  (Gewohn- 
heitsrecht). 

The  Lex  Frisionum  consists  of  two  parts,  the  law  proper  and  the 
Additio  Sapientum.  The  former  is  divided  into  twenty-two  titles, 
each  embracing  many  separate  specifications;  the  latter  contains 
eleven  titles  and  also  many  separate  specifications.  Penalties  are 
specified  with  great  fullness  and  exactness,  for  murder,  theft,  vio- 
lence,  mismarriage,  unchastity,  incendiarism,  violation  of  oaths,  in- 
demnity for  injuries  and  personal  affronts.  In  many  cases  the  num- 
ber of  the  witnesses  or  judicial  supporters  (Eideshelfer)  of  the  ac- 
cused are  given.  Penalties  are  assessed  not  merely  according  to  the 
rank  of  the  injured,  but  according  to  that  of  the  transgressor.  These 
are  estimated  in  money  of  different  coinages,  old  and  new.  The  fines 
are  uniform  throughout  Frisia  only  in  a  few  cases.  The  three  divi- 
sions of  Frisia,  each  of  which  had  in  part  an  independent  legal  status 
are  mentioned.  The  home  of  Frisian  law  was  unquestionably  Cen- 
tral Frisia,  and  variations  for  the  other  districts  from  the  legal  re- 
quirements here,  are  specified  in  notes. 

If  the  law  does  not  denote  definitely  for  what  district  its  state- 
ment holds,  the  preface  indicates  for  entire;  Frisia  or  the  special  di- 
vision to  which  it  applies.  If  the  passage  relates  to  the  central 
part,  short  remarks  specify  the  penalties  and  the  oath-helpers  for  the 
other  parts.  Only  one  passage  of  the  revisers,  Wlemarus  and  Sax- 
mundus,  is  incorporated  in  the  text.^  This  may  show  contempo- 
rary revision.  The  penalties  in  the  law  and  in  the  Additio  do  not 
correspond.  For  bodily  injuries  they  are  increased  threefold.^ 
That  the  laws  were  composed  under  the  reign  of  the  Prankish  kings 
is  evident  from  the  use  the  titles,  of  king  and  duke,  side  by  side ;  also 
from  the  payment  of  the  fredum  or  peace  mony  to  the  king.  There 
are  no  traces  of  Roman  law  in  the  Lex  Frisionum  and  the  influ- 
ence of  other  tribal  laws  cannot  be  certainly  shown. 

Certain  penalties  for  bodily  injuries  are  the  same  in  the  Lex  Fri- 

>  At  the  end  of  Tit.  II,  $  lo. 

2  See  Wilda^  Strafrecht  der  Deutschen^  618-622.  De  Geer  holds  that 
these  enactments  were  made  in  the  tenth  and  eleventh  centuries. — Over 
de  Zamens telling  van  de  Lex  Frisionum^  pp.  189-195. 


—  29  — 

sonum  and  the   Lex  Anglorum.     Once  the   enactment  is  said  to  be 
from  the  king.^ 

The  Relation  of  the  Frisians  to  the  Angles  as  Suggested  in  the 
Lex  Frisionum. 

It  has  been  attempted  to  determine  a  connection  between  the 
Angles  and  the  Frisians,  by  a  comparison  of  the  Lex  Frisionum 
with  the  Lex  Anglorum  et  Werniorum  hoc  est  Thuringorum.  The 
latter  code  is  undoubtedly  old  in  substance,  but  in  the  form  in  which 
we  possess  it  has  been  subject  to  revision.^  The  law  exhibits  no 
traces  of  Christian  influence  and  ideas,  and  evidently  has  its  origin 
in  times  of  pure  paganism.  The  frequent  mention  of  the  duel  in  it 
is  especially  noticeable.  It  has  been  held  to  have  originated  in 
Schleswig,  in  a  district  on  the  Maas  called  Thuringia  or  Thoringia, 
and  in  the  present  Thuringia  in  Central  Germany.  It  must  have 
originated  in  a  district  where  Frisian  and  Frankisli  forms  were 
mixed  both  in  the  laws  as  well  as  in  the  language.®  The  Frankish 
element  predominates.  There  is  great  similarity  to  the  Lex  Cham- 
avorum. 

According  to  Zoepti,"*  the  law  may  have  received  its  name  either 
because  it  originated  in  Thuringia  or  was  carried  to  Denmark  by 
way  of  North  Thuringia.  Some  form  of  this  law  was  carried  to 
England,  Avhere  it  bore  the  name  Lex  Werniorum  et  Thuringorum. 
The  term  Anglorum  was  dropped,  as  applying  to  the  laws  of  the 
Angles,  wdiich  originated  on  English  soil. 

In  the  Constitutiones  de  Foresta  of  Canute  a  fine  is  assessed  ac- 
cording to  the  law  of  the  Werni  and  Thuringians.^     It  is  suggested 

'  The  laws  of  only  two  tril^es  seem  to  have  emanated  from  their  kings, 
those  of  the  Longobards  under  king  Rothari  636-652  A.  D.,  and  those  of 
the  Anglo-Saxons,  Titles  I,  III,  $§  1-7;  lY,  ^  1-8;  IX,  ^  1-3, 
are  held  to  belong  to  the  old  national  law  (Volksrecht).  Titles  II,  V, 
XI,  XIV,  to  previous  unwritten  custom- law,  Gewohnheitsrect.  Franki&h 
enactments  in  Frisia  are  shown  in  III,  §§  8,  7;   IX,  §^  14-17. 

2  Gaupp,  Das  A  He  Gesetz  der  1  hiiringer. 

3  See  H.  M tiller.  Der  Lex  Salica  und  der  Lex  Anglorum  et  Werni- 
orum Alter  und  Heimath,  ^  19;  also  Merkel,  Lex  Salica,  Nachtrag 
in  Lex  Saxonum  1853. — Gengler's  Germanische  Rechtsdenmaler,  p.  166. 

^  Dent.  Rechtsgeschichte,  P-  51- 

5  Et  emendet  secundum  pretium  hominis  mediocris,  quod  secundum 
legem  Werniorum,  i.  <?.,  Thuringorum,  est  ducentorum  solidorum  Qui 
liberum  occiderit  C.  C.  solidos  componat. — Schmidt,  Geseize  der  Aitgel- 
achsen  p.  321.     Also  Lex  Anglorum  et  Werniorum,  I,  $  I. 


—  30  — 

that  kinp:  Harold  to  whom  had  been  given  a  district  north  of  the 
Elbe/  carried  this  law  to  Schleswig-Holstein,  the  early  home  of  the 
Angles.^  He  is  said  to  have  given  laws  and  statutes  to  those  who 
dwelt  across  the  Elbe,  as  well  as  the  Frisians. 

Whether  the  Lex  Noricorum  et  Danornm,  wliich  it  is  claimed 
prevailed  in  the  noi-th  of  France,  was  carried  thence  to  England 
may  be  questioned.  The  Lex  Salica  and  the  Lex  Ripuaria  cer- 
tainly influenced  early  English  law,  and  penalties  are  specified 
based  upon  provisions  in  these  laws.^  Danish  law  pre^^iT^  in 
Norfolk,  Suffolk  and  Kent,  and  William  the  Conqueror  confirmed 
this  law  and  directed  its  genc^ral  enforcement  as  being  nobler  than 
the  laws  of  the  British  tribes.*  This  was  based  on  a  general  resem- 
blance between  the  Lex  Noricorum  or  Norwegensium  and  the  Lex 
Danorum.^ 

That  a  Thoringia  existed  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Rhine,  we 
have  that  statement  of  G-regory  of  Tours,  who  in  speaking  of  the 
crossing  of  that  river  by  the  Franks,  says  :  "  Many  affirm  that  the 
Franks  settled  first  on  the  shores  of  the  Rhine,  which  they  after- 
wards crossed  and  passed  through  Thoringia,  where  they  elected 
kings  to  rule  over  them  from  the  families  of  the  nobles."  Chlogio 
is  said  to  have  been  king  of  the  Franks,  whose  camp  or  citadel  was 
at  Dispargum,  on  the  borders  of  Thoringia.^ 

^  Et  quia  interdum  pacifice  in  regno  sue  Herioldus  rex  consistere  non 
poterat,  dedit  ei  memoratus  Augustus  (Hludowicus)  ultra  Albiam  benefi- 
cium,  ut  si  quando  ei  necessarium  esset  ibi  subsistere  possit.  —  Vita  S. 
Anska7'ii,  c.  8,  9. 

2  (Haroldus)  transalbianis  et  Fresonum  genti  leges  et  jura  constituit, 
quae  adhuc  pro  tanti  anctoritate  viri  servare  et  contendunt. — Albert^  Stad. 
A.  D.  983. 

3  In  the  laws  of  Henry  I  are  found  various  penalties  prescribed  ac- 
cording to  these  laws.  "Secundum  legem  Saligam,"  c.  87,  %  10;  also  c. 
89,  ^  i;  also  "secundum  legem  Ribuariorum  solvatur,"  c.  90,  %  4. — 
Schmidt,  pp.  482,  485. 

^  Erat  etiam  Lex  Danorum  in  Northfolc  at  Suthfolc  at  Canlibrigesire, 
.  .  In  omnibus  aliis  causis  et  forisfacturis  eandem  legem  habitant  cum 
supradictis  Norvvensibus.  Quam  cum  rex  Willielmus  audisset,  cum  aliis 
sui  regni  legibus  maxime  appretiatus  est  eam,  et  praecepit  ut  observaretur 
per  universum  regnum.  Proferebat  enim  .  .  .  quod  antecessores  ejus 
de  Norweja  olim  venissent,  et  hac  auctoritate  leges  eorum  cum  praedictis 
Danorum,  et  regni  sui  legibus  asserebat  debere  sequi  et  observare. — 
Leges  Edw.  Confess.^  c.  33,  34. 

^  Stobbe  asserts  that  there  is  no  proof  that  Canute  carried  the  Danish 
law  to  England,  and  that  under  the  name  Lex  Danorum  the  Lex  Thur- 
ingorum  is  to  be  understood. — Rechtsgeschichtc^  i860. 

6  Tradunt  enim  multi  eosdem  primum   quidem   litora  Rheni  amnis  in- 


—  31  ~ 

Childerich  fled  to  Basinus,  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  Scheldt. 
This  Thorino-ia  must  have  been  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  sea,  as 
Basina  says:  'Mn  transmarinis  partibus  aliquem  cognovissem  utih- 
orem  te."  Chlodwig  made  war  on  the  Thoiingians  and  brought 
them  under  his  dominion.  He  was  separated  from  the  present 
Thuringia  by  intervening  tribes.  The  Thuringians  are  frequently 
joined  with  the  inhabitants  of  Brabant,  in  the  early  epics,  as  in  that 
of  king  Rother,  4829.^ 

*'Dorringen  unde  Brabant,  Vriesen  imde  Hollant, 
Gaf  he  vier  h^ren,  die  mit  ime  waren 
Uzir  lande  gevarin." 

Sahsen  und  Turinge,  Plisum  uiid  vSwurven 
Gaf  he  zen  graven, 

wdiere  Thuringia  adjacent  to  Holland,  Fi'iesland  and  Brabant  is 
meant. 

In  the  Traveler's  Tale  two  Thuringias — Thyringas  and  East]?yrin- 
gas  ^ — are  mentioned. 

Historical  notices  of  the  Werni  place  them  in  the  centre  of  Ger- 
many near  the  Angles,^  wdio  reside  as  far  east  of  the  Longobards 
as  the  centre  of  the  river  Elbe."* 

Procopius^  places  the  Werni  later  on  the  shores  of  the  Rhine,  near 
the  mouth.  Here  they  were  associated  with  the  Angles  and  the 
Suevi.^     The  Angles  and  the   Suevi  are  associated  in  the  Traveler's 

coluisse,  dehinc,  transacto  Rheno,  Thoringiam  transmeasse.  Ferunt 
etiam  tunc  Chlogionem  utilem  ac  nobihssimum  in  gente  sua  regem 
Francorum  fuisse,  qui  apud  Dispargum  castrum  habitabat,  quod  est  in 
termino  Thoringorum. — Greg,  of  Tours,  2,  9. 

^   Quoted  by  Grimm,  Ges.  der  dent.  Spr.,  p.  417,  3d  ed. 

2   Lines  320,  17;  322,  16  and  323,  ^o.     Quoted  by  Grimm,  42. 

2  Tacitus,  Ger.  40.  Reudigni  deinde  et  Aviones  et  Anglii  et  Varini 
fluminibus  aut  silvis  muniuntur. 

^  TcDV  Se  kvroi  Kai  /j.E6oyEiGdv  tBvoov  jusyidra  /nev  tdri  to 
TE  TcSv  ^ov^fSaov  T(^v  ^AyyEiXc^v  01  e16iv  dvaToXzHooTEpot 
T(^v  Aayyo/Japdaov  dvaTEivovTe'^  7tpd<^  Tcci  dpuTOVi  J^^XP^ 
/UEdoDv  T(^y  Tov"AX/Jio<^   TtoTajuov,  Kai    to  tcSv  'Sovrj^Gov  tc^v 

2eJLIv6vG9V  OITIVE^  dlT/KOVdl     /J-ETOC     TOV   "AXf5tV     (XTtO     T OV   ElpT}' 

/iiivov  HEpovi  Ttfjo's  dvaroXd<^  iJ.expi  tov  ^ovrjfdov  TtoTajtiov. 
—PtoL,  Lib.  n,  XL 

^  4,  20. 

6  The  early  name  of  Zeeland  may  come  from  S'jevi,  Zee  wen.  It  is 
possible  that  the  Frisians  formed  a  part  of  the  great   southern   migration 


—  32  —• 

Tale,  Engle  and  Swaefe.  Traces  of  the  Werni  appear  in  the  name 
Weringouwe,  a  district  on  the  Werra,  and  possibly  in  Warmond, 
the  name  of  a  village  near  Leiden.^ 

Traces  of  the  onward  march  of  the  Angles  to  the  sea  are  found 
in  the  term  Engilgowe,  on  the  TJnstrut  in  Thuringia,  Engelen  in 
North  Brabant,  Hengeloo  in  G-elderland,  and  Over-Yssel,  and  in  the 
Pays  de  F Angle  in  West  Flanders,  near  Burburg,  as  well  as  in 
Angeln.  between  the  bays  of  Flensburg  and  Kiel  in  Schleswig.  It 
remains  for  us  to  assume  a  double  movement  of  the  Angles  pro- 
ceeding from  Thuringia,  one  to  the  north  along  the  Elbe  and  ter- 
minating in  the  present  Angeln  on  the  Baltic,  and  a  second  down 
the  Rhine  to  the  sea,  or  as  G-rimm  asserts^  from  the  north  up  the 
Elbe  and  thence  to  the  Weser.  Anglo-Saxon  records  unite  in  plac- 
ing the  home  of  the  Angles  who  invaded  England  on  the  peninsula 
of  Sclileswig-Holstein  and  the  islands  of  the  Baltic  Sea  to  the  East.^ 
It  cannot  be  doubted  that  they  occupied  a  great  extent  of  coast, 
and  hence  their  migration  in  large  numbers  was  to  be  expected. 
The  Frisians  are  mentioned  as  one  of  the  three  nations  which  settled 
England,  the  others  being  the  Angles  and  the  Britons/ 

In  what  proportions  these  different  tribes  contributed  to  the  pop- 
ulation and  to  the  language  of  England,  it  is  impossible  to  deter- 
mine. It  is  certain  that  the  Frisians  in  England  at  no  time  existed 
as  a  separate  political  unit  in  the  people  or  government. 


of  nations,  and   settled  with  the  Suevi  in    Switzerland,  according  to  a  na- 
tional tradition. 

1  Grimm  and  Latham  point  to  a  possible  relation  between  the  words 
Werni,  and  Werra  and  Weser. 

2  Grimm,  p.  421. 

See  the  Anglo-Saxon  Chronicle,  A.  D.  449;  King  Alfred's  Orosius, 
Book  I,  c.  I ;   Bede,  Hist.  Ecch,  Lib.  I,  c.  XV. 

3  Bpirriav  6e  Trjy  rrj6ov  sQvt/  rpia  TtoXvavOpGOTtorara 
exovdi,  /5adtXsv?  re  eii  avtoor  ekcc6t&)  ecpsdrr/Her,  oro/uara 
de  K€irai  roii  eovsdi  rovroi?  ^AyyiXoi  re  uai  $piddovei  ual  oi 
T^  rTJdoD  ojUGDVojuevoi  Bpirro'vsi. — Prncopiiis,  De  Bello  Gothico,  Lib. 
IV,  c.  19. 


—  33  — 
I     LAWS  WRITTEN  IN  FRISIAN. 

These  were  not  composed  by  the  people,  but  by  their  judges  or 
representatives,  in  general  assemblies.  In  content  they  relate  to  the 
most  varied  domain  of  law.  They  contain,  like  the  Lex  Frisionum, 
carefully  detailed  statements  of  the  personal  rights  of  individuals 
and  the  laws  of  property  with  penalties  for  their  violation.  The  Fri- 
sian laws,  like  the  Anglo-Saxon,  bear  the  name  domar^^  judicial  de- 
crees also  kesta  or  liudkesia^^  that  is,  law^s  enacted  by  the  popular 
will,  (Willkuren).  Single  laws  bear  the  name  landriachta  (land- 
rechte),  or  common  law  of  the -country.  The  ecclesiastical  lawMs 
also  specially  defined  in  distinction  from  this,  so  also  is  the  law  pro- 
ceeding from  the  emperor.  The  distinction  prevailing  elsewhere  in 
Germany,  between  landrecht  and  lehnrecht  is  seldom  made,*  that  be- 
tween national,  the  common  law  of  the  land,  and  city  law  (Stadt- 
recht)  appears  later. 

General  Laws  in  Force  throughout  all  Frisia. 

1.  The  Seventeen  Kesta  of  the  twelfth  century.  These  are  pre- 
served in  Latin  (Petitiones),  Frisian  and  Low  German  versions. 
They  contain  provisions  Felating  to  the  tenure  of  real  estate,  coinage, 
records  of  judicial  proceedings,  proof,  mihtary  service,  the  preserva- 
tion of  the  peace,  bodily  injuries.  In  many  cases  reference  is  made 
to  enactments  or  special  grants  of  Charlemagne,  To  the  body  of 
the  laws  are  added  Weriden  or  exceptions.  Manuscripts  written  in 
the  Hunsingoer,  Emsiger  and  Rustringer  dialects  are  preserved. 

2.  The  Twenty-four  Landriuchta.  These  were  composed  before 
1252  A.  D.,  and  treat  of  landed  property  and  of  its  alienation,  inher- 
itance, crime,  blood-revenge,  indemnity  for  injuries,  etc.      The  stat- 

^  Nu  aegh  di  grewa  dine  Asega  toe  bannane  toe  een  riuchta  doem. — 
Rechtsquellen^  Wester-laivers  Lazvs,  p.  4,  2,  6.  Hyr  bigannath  thar 
domar  ther  alle  Am-sgane  bi  riiichtat. — E??isiger  Laws^  p.  194,  i. 

*  Brocmen  kiasath  thet  to  enre  kere. — Laius  of  the  Brocmen,  p.  173, 
24.  Tha  ur  ief  lis  thi  kinig  Kerl,  sa  hvver  sa  alle  liode  enne  kere  kere. 
Tha  keron  Rioslringa  tha  kera. — Lacus  of  the  Rustringer,  p.  115,  2,  5. 

3  Sineth-  (synod)  riuchta  and  landriucht. — Hunsingoer  Lazos,  p.  342, 
34.  Ney  riochta  keysersrificht  ende  landriocht.  —  tjrku7tde  of  1374, 
Rechtsquellen,  p.  560,  12. 

^  Wirlh  aeck  ean  kynd  stom  of  blynd  of  fuetlos  of  handloes  berren  dat 
mey  eerfnama  wessa,  ney  na  landriucht  ende  naet  ney  leenriucht.  A  child 
born  dumb  or  blind,  or  without  hands  or  feet,  may  not  receive  an  inherit- 
ance, neither  according  to  feudal  nor  national  law. 


—  34  — 

ntes  use  in  part  the  XVII  Kesta.  The  characterization  is  broad 
and  poetic.  Later  these  laws  were  included  in  the  special  laws  of 
the  seven  Seelands.V 

3.  The  General  Boetregisters  or  classifications  of  fines  of  about 
the  same  date  as  the  preceding.  These  contain  penalties  for  various 
criminal  offenses. 

4.  The  additional  Kesta  or  Ueberkiiren.  These  are  seven  in 
number  and  are  of  the  thirteenth  century.  They  are  preserved  in 
a  Hunsingoer  and  Emsiger  Frisian,  and  in  a  Low  German  version  ; 
also  in  a  later  form,  but  we  cannot  determine  in  what  district  they 
originated. 

5.  The  Upstallbomer  laws  of  1323.  These  were  not  in  force 
east  of  the  Ems.  They  consist  of  resolutions  or  enactments  of  rep- 
resentatives of  the  seven  Seelands,  consisting  of  grietmen,  magis- 
trates, bishops  and  clergy,^  who  met  yearly  at  Upstallbom,  near 
Aurich.  These  occnr  in  a  Frisian  and  in  a  longer  Latin  version. 
Seven  additional  propositions  were  added  in  an  assembly  at  Gronin- 
gen,  in  the  year  1361,  which  were  to  be  in  force  for  six  years. 
They  contain  an  agreement  for  mutual  assistance  in  case  of  attack, 
also  special  penalties  for  crimes,  to  be  enforced  throughout  the  seven 
Seelands. 


II.  THE  LAWS  OF  SINGLE  COMMUNITIES  OR  STATES. 

Frisia  at  our  earliest  acquaintance  with  it  was  divided  in  separate 

^  The  seven  Seelands  are  described  in  a  document  of  the  fifteenth  cen- 
tury. The  first.  West  P>isia,  the  present  North  Holland,  embracing 
Horn,  Enkhuizen,  and  Medemblik,  which  became  early  subject  to  the 
counts  of  Holland ;  the  second,  the  district  east  of  the  FHe  between 
Stavoren  and  Leeuwarden,  including  Westergo ;  the  third,  Ostergo — the 
east  half  of  the  present  province  of  Friesland,  between  the  Borne  and  th^ 
Lauwers ;  the  fourth,  Drenthe,  which  became  subject  to  the  bishops  of 
Utrecht,  and  the  south  western  part  of  the  present  province  of  Friesland ; 
the  fifth  included  the  district  about  Groningen  between  the  Lauwers  and 
the  Ems  ;  the  sixth,  the  country  along  the  coast  between  the  Weser  and 
the  Elbe ;  the  seventh,  the  country  of  the  Rustringers  and  the  land  to  the 
north  of  the  Elbe,  possibly  extending  to  the  Eider  and  including  the 
Strand  or  North  Frisians.  The  map  of  Alting  is  his  Notitia  Germaniae 
Inferioris  Antiquae,  1698  A.  D.,  differs  greatly  from  this  account. 

2  Grietmanni,  iudices,  praelati  et  clerus  terrarum,  Oestergoe  et  Wester- 
goe,  cum  caeteris  Zelandiis. — Rechtsqtiellen^  p.  102. 

These  assemblies  ceased  to  be  held  early  in  the  thirteenth  century,  but 
were  resumed  in  A.  D.  1323. 


—  35  — 

parts  by  natural  boundary  lines  of  river  and  lakes.  In  the  life  of 
Boniface  it  is  said  that  he  visited  the  country  of  the  Frisians^,  which 
was  divided  into  many  separate  districts,  which  though  called  by 
different  names  yet  are  occupied  by  one  race/  These  laws  were 
occasionally  enacted  by  delegates  from  two  states  in  common  ses- 
sion, as  in  statutes  of  the  Brocmen  and  Emsigers.^ 

I.   THE  LAWS  OF  THE  RUSTRINGER. 

These  were  in  force  in  the  district  of  Rustri,  west  of  the  mouth 
of  the  Weser  in  the  present  Oldenburg.  Manuscripts  in  Frisian  of 
the  thirteenth  century,  also  in  Netherlandish  of  the  fourteenth  and 
fifteenth  centuries,  exist.  They  contain  keran  or  kesta,  new  keran, 
a  boetregister  or  hst  of  fines,  judicial  decrees,  a  statement  of  taxes 
due  the  priests,  etc.  (Priester  Bothe),  said  to  have  been  authorized 
by  Charlemagne  and  Pope  Leo,  a  sendbrief  or  in  part  ecclesiastical 
charter  containing  a  statement  of  the  authority  and  prerogatives  of 
the  Archbishop  of  Bremen,  also  obligations  due  the  church  ascribed 
to  Charlemagne,  Leo  and  Bisliop  Willehad,  a  fragment  relating  to 
the  Last  Judgment  and  the  Ten  Commandments.  Connected  with 
these  is  a  list  of  the  kings  who  have  established  law.  These  laws 
joined  to  the  general  Frisian  laws,  have  been  called  arbitrarily  by 
Wiarda,  the  Asegaboek  or  the  book  of  the  judges. 

2.  Laws  in  force  among  the  Brocmen,  a  district  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  Aurich.  These  contain  two  series  of  Kesta  in  Latin,  en- 
acted jointly  by  the  Brocmen  and  the  Emsigers,  a  Latin  sendbrief 
of  the  year  1251,  a  treaty  or  reconciliation  between  the  Bishop  of 
Munster  and  the  four  districts  of  Brockmerland,  Emsigerland,  Reid- 
erland  and  Alombechta  (or  Oldeampt).  of  1276  in  Latin,  Frisian 
and  Netherlandish,  and  the  Brocmerbrief  which  is  closely  related  to 
the  Emsiger  Pfenningschuldsbuch  of  the  thirteenth  century. 

3.  The  laws  in  force  in  Emsigerland,  the  region  of  Emden. 
These  contain  the  Emsiger  Domar  of  1312,  which  are  preserved  in 
Latin  and  in  two  Frisian  texts,  also  in  Netherlandish ;  the  so-called 
Pfennigschuldbuch  from  pannengskelde  with  which  is   begins.     It 

J  Autemque  paganam  Fresonum  visitavit  quae  interea  centibus  aquis  in 
multos  agrorum  dividitur  pages  ita  ut  diversis  appellati  nominibus  unius 
tamen  gentis  proprietatem  portendunt  (protendunt). —  Vita  S.  Bonifat^  c. 
34,  A.  D.  755. 

2  Statuerunt  iudices  Brocmanine  et  Emesgonie. — Rechtsquelletiy  p.  137. 


-36- 

treats  of  debt,  inheritance,  private    rights,  penalties,  a  Fiaeid '  and 
the  methods  of  ecclesiastical  courts  or  judgments. 

4.  The  laws  of  Westerwold,  a  district  west  of  the  Ems  and  south 
of  Winschoten,  in  the  present  province  of  Groningen.  These  con- 
sist of  a  landrecht  of  1470,  together  with  a  later  revision  of  the 
same  in  1567,  confirmed  by  Philip  II  and  Margaret  of  Parma. 
This  is  perhaps  the  latest  of  the  whole  body  of  Frisian  laws. 

5.  The  laws  of  Fivelgo,  a  province  north  east  of  the  city  of  G-ron- 
ingen  and  west  of  the  Ems.  A  considerable  portion  of  these  laws 
are  only  found  in  Latin  and  Netherlandish  versions.  They  are  in 
great  variety  and  are  often  enactments  in  common  of  the  provinces 
of  Hunsingo  and  Fivelgo.  They  contain  provisions  relating  to 
criminal  law,  and  several  relating  to  inheritance.  The  Appingdam- 
merbrief  was  enacted  by  delegates  from  all  Frisia  at  Upstallbom  in 
1327. 

6.  The  laws  of  Hunsingo,  a  district  east  of  the  Hunse  river,  north 
of  Groningen  on  the  coast,  extending  to  the  mouth  of  the  Ems. 
These  contain  Kesta  of  1252,  possibly  from  a  Latin  original,  the 
Ten  Commandments,  the  Five  Keys  of  Wisdom,  list  of  kings  who 
established  law,  also  the  rhymed  charter  of  Frisian  liberty  from 
Charlemagne,  undoubtedly  of  late  origin,^  and  a  list  of  penalties 
(Boetregister).  The  other  laws  of  the  fourteenth  century  are  in 
Latin  and  Netherlandish. 

7-9.  The  Laws  of  Humsterland,  between  the  Hunse  and  the 
Lauwers,  northwest  of  the  city  of  Groningen,  of  Langew^old,  east  of 
the  Lauwers  and  south  of  Humsterland,  and  of  Fredewold  south  of 
Langewold   and  west  of  Groningen  in  the  province  of  Groningen. 

^  The  nature  of  this  oath  is  uncertain.  Grimm  considers  it  an  oath 
taken  upon  money  marked  with  a  cross. — Rechtsalterthiimer^  p.  907. 
In  another  case  it  seems  to  be  an  oath  taken  by  a  woman  on  the  thresh- 
hold  of  her  home,  accused  of  the  concealment  of  some  portion  of  her 
husband's  estate. — Rechtsquellen,  166,  18.  It  was  also  taken  in  certain 
cases  of  bodily  injury. 

2  The  genuineness  of  the  bull  of  802,  given  by  Charlemagne,  granting 
to  the  Frisians  perpetual  liberty  is  extremely  doubtful.  It  exists  in  vari- 
ous forms  in  Latin  and  Low  German.  That  some  such  grant  was  made 
can  scarcely  be  doubted,  as  it  is  referred  to  in  the  charter  confirming  the 
rights  and  privileges  of  the  Frisians  given  by  king  William  at  Aachen  in 
1248, — C/iarterboek,  I,  94.  This  rhymed  version  is  probably  the  expres- 
sion of  a  national  tradition,  but  elaborated  to  enforce  the  popular  belief 
in  freedom  from  foreign  dominion  in  the  sixteenth  century. — Rechls- 
quellen^  p.  351. 


—  37  — 

These  are  of  the  thirteenth  century,  and  are  only  preserved  hi 
Ketherlandish  versions  from  Latin  originals. 

10.  The  laws  of  Friesland,  west  of  the  Lauwers,  the  present 
province  of  Frisia.  This  district  is  to  be  regarded  as  the  earliest  and 
the  most  permanent  abode  of  the  Frisians*  It  was  divided  into 
three  parts — Ostergo,  the  district  between  the  Lauwers  and  Borne, 
embracing  the  neighborhood  of  Dockum  and  Leenwarden ;  Wes- 
tergo,  between  the  Borne  and  the  Flie,  and  including  the  region  of 
Franeker,  Harlingen,  Bolsward  and  Stavoren ;  and  Sevenwolden,  a 
narrow  tract  south  of  Ostergo  and  Westergo,  between  Drenthe  and 
the  Zuider-Zee.     This  collection  is  very  extensive. 

The  laws  are  of  two  kinds :  general,  extending  over  the  whole 
district  of  Friesland  west  of  the  Lauwers ;  and,  special,  relating  to 
particular  provinces.  The  general  laws  contain  numerous  specifica- 
tions regarding  the  authority  of  the  count  or  deputy  who  adminis- 
tesed  justice  (Schulzenrecht)  in  the  emperor's  name,  and  of  the 
Asega  or  judge.  The  laws  include  provisions  regarding  Wergeld, 
Marktrecht,  a  criminal  code  of  the  year  1276,  enactments  regard- 
ing coinage,  the  so-called  Emperor  Rudolph's  book,  containing  state- 
ments of  law  mixed  with  reflections  and  historical  references,  a 
treatise  on  ^' What  is  law  ?",  a  fragment  regarding  Charles  Martel 
and  the  Frisian  king  Radbod,  also  the  Kesta  of  Magnus. 

The  special  laws  contain  in  additional  to  the  general  provincial 
laws,  the  laws  of  certain  local  districts.  The  most  of  these  laws  are 
of  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries. 

IV.  The  meagre  remains  of  laws  in  force  in  the  province  of 
Drenthe  are  only  preserved  in  Latin  and  Netherlandish. 

Y.  Laws  of  the  North  Frisians,  residing  north  of  the  Eider  along 
the  coast  of  Schleswig  and  on  the  adjacent  islands. 

1.  For  the  southern  portion  of  North  Frisia,  emj^racing  the  region 
of  Eiderstedt,  Utholm,  and  Everschop  are  preserved  laws  dating 
from  1418  to  1446. 

2.  Of  laws  relating  to  the  northern  part  of  North  Frisia  there 
exists  the  Siebenhardenbeliebung.  This  is  a  brief  code  of  twenty- 
three  paragraphs  enacted  on  the  island  of  Fohr  in  1426,  by  seven 
communities,  residing  in  part  on  the  North  Frisian  islands,  and  in 
part  on  the  adjacent  coast.  The  language  of  all  these  laws  of  North 
Frisia  is  more  nearly  Low  German  than  Frisian. 

Of  Frisian   laws  in  force  in  North  Holland  we  have  no  remains. 


-38- 

This  region  became  subject  to  the  courts  of  Holland  in  the  eleventh 
century 

The  oldest  manuscripts  of  any  portion  of  the  Frisian  laws  are  not 
probably  earlier  than  the  fourteenth  century,  that  of  the  Rustringer 
laws  preserved  in  the  grand  ducal  library  at  Oldenburg^  is  of  about 
the  year  1300.  A  copy  of  the  Rustringer  Busstaxen  of  1327  A.  D. 
is  preserved  in  the  grand  ducal  library  at  Hanover.  A  parchment 
manuscript  of  the  laws  of  the  Brocmen  of  1345,  is  also  contained  in 
the  same  library.  A  parchment  manuscript  of  the  Hunsingoer  laws 
of  about  1400  is  preserved  at  Leeuwarden.  Two  charters  exist  with 
the  original  seals  still  upon  them^  one  of  1374  at  Franeker,  and  one 
of  1390,  at  Leeuwarden. 

Among  the  literary  remains  which  belong  to  what  may  be  termed 
the  middle  period  of  Frisian  literature,  and  which  deserve  mention 
as  memorials  of  the  language,  are  two  works  called  Thet  Freske 
Riim  and  the  Gesta  Fresonum.  The  Freske  Riim  was  written  in 
Frisian,  but  translated  from  the  Latin  of  a  certain  Master  Alwijn, 
who  was  rector  of  the  Latin  School  at  Sneek  about  1400.  Alwijn 
was  learned  in  Roman  law  and  church  history.  His  title  of  Master 
was  received  from  some  foreign  university.  His  narrative  begins 
with  the  Creation,  rambles  through  sacred  and  profane  history, 
through  lives  of  Jewish  patriarchs  and  Roman  kings.  His  Frisians 
served  in  Asia  the  king  of  heaven,  but  sailed  to  Europe  and  were 
enslaved  and  forced  to  become  idolaters  by  a  Danish  king.  The 
poem,  which  is  but  a  fragment  when  compared  with  the  existing 
Netherlandish  version,  contains  1671  unequal  rhymed  lines.  The 
poem  was  evidently  divided  at  first  into  separate  parts,  each  bearing 
a  special  title,  as  the  "  Rhyme  of  Noah  and  his  Child,"  etc.  The  nar- 
ration is  tame  and  spiritless.  The  rhyme  is  monotonous  from  the 
repetition  of  the  same  final  words.  The  language  is  in  the  main 
pure,  and  the  forms,  those  of  Frisia  west  of  the  Lauwers. 

The  Gesta  Fresonum  is  a  translation  into  Frisian  of  a  prose  nar- 
rative called  the  Q-esta  Frisiorum,  written  in  Netherlandish  in  the 
latter  part  of  the  fifteenth  century.  A  rhymed  history  written  in 
the  same  language,  called  the  '*  Olde  Freesche  Cronike,"  also  exists. 
Both  point  to  an  earlier  Latin  original.  The  same  events  are  relat- 
ed in  both  in  about  the  same  terms,  but  in  a  different  order.  The  orig- 
inal author  drew  from  the  legends  of  St.  Lebuinus,  of  Boniface  and 
Liudger,  the  Bishop's  Book  of  Utrecht  and  a  Saxon  and  Frisian  chron- 


—  39  — 

i<5le.  The  author  was  a  Frisian  who  resided  at  Utrecht  not  later 
than  1474.  The  subject  of  this  work  is  the  usual  mingling  of  script- 
ural and  early  mythical  Frisian  history  with  the  lives  of  the  saints> 
The  blending  of  Saxon  and  Frisian  legends  is  manifest  in  all  these 
early  chronicles.  The  brothers  Saxo,  Bruno  and  Friso  sail  from  an 
island  in.  India,  called  "  Frisia  the  Blest,"  where  St  Thomas  had 
preached.  They  reach  the  coast  of  Europe ;  Saxo  settles  on  the  Elbe^ 
and  becomes  the  ancestor  of  the  Saxons  ;  Bruno  resides  on  the  Weser 
and  founds  Brunswick ;  Friso  settles  Frisia,  and  gives  to  his  seven  sons 
the  Seven  Seelands.  A  daughter,  Wijmolt^  resided  on  the  east  of 
the  Weser  and  gave  her  name  to  the  country,  which  embraced  Dit* 
marsh.  There  is  an  echo  here  of  the  story  of  Hildeburg  in  Beowulfv 
The  order  of  narration  is  confused  and  inconsequential.  The  Ian* 
guage  is  not  entirely  pure,  and  the  influence  of  Netherlandish  forms 
is  manifest 


THE  LANGUAGE. 

Upon  the  west,  the  Frankish  in  its  present  representative  the 
Netherlandish,  has  supplanted  the  Frisian  in  North  Holland.  Of  the 
language  spoken  in  West  Frisia  between  the  Scheldt  and  the  Flie^ 
there  are  no  remains  except  those  left  in  a  few  proper  names  and 
early  records,  and  it  is  not  possible  to  determine  the  dialect  of  Fri- 
sian which  was  spoken  there.  The  language  was  spoken  as  late  as 
the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century  in  the  Waterland  north  of 
the  IJ.^  The  pronunciation  of  the  letters  2,  v  and  sch  in  North 
Holland  is  Hke  that  of  the  Frisian  s, /and  sk"^  The  political  separ- 
ation of  the  two  portions  of  Frisia  east  and  west  of  the  Flie,  was  so 
great  as  to  produce  alienation  and  often  warfare.  The  irruption  of 
the  ocean  which  produced  the  Zuider-Zee  in  the  thirteenth  century 
completed  the  separation.  To  the  east  the  Saxon  has  occupied  the 
whole  of  the  district  between  the  Weser  and  the  Ems.  In  Gron- 
ingen,  Netherlandish  is  spoken.  The  East  Frisian  is  a  Uving  lan- 
guage only  amid  the  moors  of  Saterland  on  the  Leda,  and  on  the 
island  of  Wangeroog.  Frisian  is  spoken  at  present  in  the  province 
of  Friesland,  east  of  the  Zuider-Zee.     The  ^language  of  the  schools 

^  Over  de  Taal  en  deTongvallen  der  Friezen. — Winkler,  p.  il. 
2  y.  H.  Halbertsma  in  the  Vrije  FrieSy  vol.  X,  346. 


—  40  — 

and  the  pulpit  is  however  Netherlandish.  In  the  cities  and  larg-er 
towns  Frisian  is  scarcely  heard.  The  language  of  the  Bildt  is  old 
Netherlandish  mixed  with  Frisian  forms.  The  so-called  city  Fri- 
sian, stadfriesch,  which  hitherto  prevailed  in  the  larger  towns  as  in 
Leeuwarden,  Dockum,  Bolsward,  Franeker,  Sneek  and  Harlingen  is 
the  language  of  the  south  of  Holland  of  the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth 
centuries.  The  dialect  of  Hendeloopen  on  the  Zuider-Zee  presents 
many  old  as  well  as  unusual  and  strange  forms,  not  contained  in 
the  other  dialects. 

On  the  north  the  Saxon  has  supplanted  the  Frisian  in  Ditmarsch, 
Eiderstedt  and  in  the  islands  of  Nordstand  and  Pellworm.  Only  in 
thirty-eight  parishes  of  the  three  counties  of  Tondern,  Bredstedt 
and  Husum  which  lie  on  the  west  coast  of  Schleswig,  and  upon  some 
islands  and  haUigs  of  the  North  Sea  is  Frisian  still  spoken.  The 
number  of  inhabitants  in  these  districts  does  not  exceed  30,000. 
Even  here,  there  is  a  great  variety  of  forms,  expression  and  pro- 
nunciation. On  the  mainland,  the  language  is  purest  in  the  Risum 
Moor  and  in  the  district  south  of  Wiedau,  along  the  coast  to  Bred- 
stedt. The  speech  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  islands  of  Fohr,  except 
in  the  parish  of  Wijk,  and  on  the  islands  of  Sylt  and  Amrum  is 
different  from  that  of  the  mainland  and  can  scarcely  be  understood 
there.  The  language  is  more  ancient  but  ruder.  The  East  Mor- 
ingers  use  the  dual  of  the  personal  and  possessive  pronoun  where 
the  West  Moringers  use  the  plural.  The  language  here  is  free 
from  both  Low  German  and  Danish  elements.* 

The  language  in  which  the  Frisian  laws  were  written  presents 
several  dialects  with  well  defined  lines  of  difference.  Commencing 
at  the  east  the  Rustringer  dialect,  spoken  west  of  the  Weser  in 
Oldenburg,  has  preserved  the  original  forms  of  words  most  closely, 
and  is  to  be  taken  as  the  basis  of  comparison  with  the  other  dialects 
and  the  Anglo-Saxon,  Old  Saxon  and  Norse.  West  of  the  Rustringer 
dialect  is  the  speech  of  Brokmerland,  in  the  neighborhood  of  Aurich  ; 
further  to  the  west  existed  the  speech  of  Emsigerland,  the  region  of 
Emden,  then  the  language  of  Fivelgo,  a  district  west  of  the  Ems ;  of 
Hunsingo,  east  of  the  Lauwers-Zee,  and  north  of  Groningen,  ex- 
tending along  the  coastjof  Westerlauwersches  Friesland,  and  embrac- 
ing the  present  province  of  Frisia ;  containing  the  two  provinces  of 

^  Die  Nordfriesische  Sprache  nach  der  Moringer  Mundart.  —Bendsen, 
p.  XXIII. 


—  41  — 

Ostergo  and  Westergo.  The  speech  of  Ostergo,  most  nearly  re- 
sembles the  forms  of  the  dialects  to  the  east,  while  that  of  Westergo 
presents  the  most  variations  from  these  dialects.  The  Fivelgoer  dia- 
lect is  nearest  to  the  Frisian  west  of  the  Lauwers. 

The  External  Relations  of  the  Frisian  Language. 

The  Frisian  presents  both  in  inflections  and  vocabulary  greater  re- 
semblance to  the  Anglo-Saxon  than  to  any  other  Grermanic  dialect. 
It  is  less  rich  in  inflections  than  the  Anglo-Saxon,  but  exhibits  far 
greater  facility  and  variety  in  the  formation  of  compound  words. 
In  forms  of  consonants  it  exhibits  remarkable  parallelism  to  the 
modern  English,  not  always  in  words  as  written  but  as  pronounced. 
The  Frisian  more  nearly  than  any  other  dialect  of  Germany  re- 
sembles the  Norse.  Analogies  are  found  in  the  nominative  plural 
of  masculine  nouns,  which  present  two  forms  in  a  or  ar,  correspond- 
ing to  the  masculine  and  feminine  nouns  of  the  A-declension  and 
to  the  masculine  of  the  weak  declension  in  Icelandic.  This  form  is 
like  the  old  High  German  iV,  which  is  in  that  language  limited  to 
neuter  nouns.  The  infinitive  of  all  verbs  also  ends  in  a,  the  n  hav- 
ing been  dropped. 

The  form  assumed  by  the  palatals  h  and  g  present  a  wide  range 
of  analogy  to  the  English,  h  before  e,  i^  ia  and  iu  in  the  umlaut  be- 
comes often  sz  or  sth^  tz  or  ts.  This  occasioned  a  series  of  parallel 
forms  of  words  existing  beside  the  original  form,  as  kerke  (church) 
sthereke,  skiurke  and  tsiurke^  in  which  the  lingual  aspirate  th  passes 
into  the  lingual  sibilant,  modern  Frisian  tjerke.  This  change  is 
found  in  all  the  Frisian  dialects.  The  Rustringer,  however,  shows 
only  the  afiricative  aud  presents  few  examples  of  the  simple  palatal. 
The  other  dialects  all  exhibit  parallel  forms  as  ketel^  kittle,  szetel^  tsetel^ 
tsietel;  kerl,  churl,  tzerl^  modern  Frisian  tzierl;  hiasa,  choose, 
tziesa;  kise^  cheese,  tzise.  In  the  inlaut  of  words  the  same  change 
appears  as  lega,  lay,  ledsa^  Udsia,  and  hia^  modern  Frisian,  Udze  ; 
breka^  break,  part,  ebreken^  ehreszen^  hretsen^  hritsin^  modern  Fri- 
sian, hritzin ;  strika.  stroke,  striza^  modern  Frisian,  stritzen ;  so  also 
dekke^  deck,  modern  Frisian,  ditzen,  stekke^  stick,  stitzen ;  sega,  say, 
sidze. 

In  weitsje^  wake,  reitsje^  rake,  haitsje^  look,  this  change  has  taken 
place  in  the  present  tense  while  the  participle  retains  the  palatal  A;, 
as  wekke,  rekke,  lokke. 


—  42  — 

The  range  of  analogy  is  far  greater  in  modern  Frisian  and  mod- 
ern English,  even  than  in  old  Frisian  and  Anglo-Saxon ;  and  a  com- 
parison of  the  every  day  speech  of  the  country  people,  presents 
striking  correspondence  with  various  local  dialects  in  England.  A 
system  of  parallel  changes  has  gone  on  the  tv^^o  languages. 


A  BRIEF   VIEW    OF   FRISIAN    FORMS  AND 
INFLECTIONS. 

VOWELS  IN  FRISIAN.^ 

In  many  cases  the  quantity  of  the  vowel  cannot  be  determined 
definitely,  but  may  be  inferred  from  a  comparison  with  the  other 
Germanic  dialects.  Heyne  calls  attention  to  the  remarkable  pre- 
sentation in  Frisian,  as  in  Gothic,  of  sentences  in  which  the  primitive 
vowels  a,  «,  u  predominate,  as 

And  thiu  pund  tha  frama,  thet  sJcelma  ligta  oppa  en  end  twintich 
schilUnga. — Mnsigef,  Kesta,  II. 

Aha  thi  asega  nimth  tha  unriuchta  mida  and  tha  urlouada  pa7ini7iga. 
— Rustringer^  Kesta^  III. 

In  other  sentences  the  vowel  e  predominates. 

lef  Fresona  capmen  and  thera  sogen  stretena  engere  wertha  henet — 
Mnsiger,  Kesta,  IX. 

I  §  Short  Vowels.  A. 

i.  Original  a  is  preserved  in  Frisian  before  m  and  n,  either  alone 
or  doubled,  or  joined  with  mutes,  also  before  a  single  consonant 
with  a  or  u  in  the  following  syllable,  as  framd,  Ger.  fremd,  kanna^ 
Ger.  kennen,  land,  land,  fara,  fare. 

ii.  The  tendency  to  become  o  is  also  manifest,  as  man  man  and 
mon,  land  and  lond. 

iii.  An  e  in  the  final  syllable  produces  umlaut,  as  hangst,  hengstes, 
Ger.  Hengst 

iv.  With  a  doubled  consonant  following,  a  remains  generally  be- 
fore combinations  with  I  and  £c;  before  r  the  umlaut  appears  Sis/alla, 
fall;  waa:a,  increase;  herd,  beard. 

The  earHest  Frisian  forms  in  the  Lex  Frisonum  present  less  fre- 
quent cases  of  umlaut,  as  magad,  maid  for  later  megith. 

'  See  Heyne' s  Laut  und-Flexiouslekre,  3d  ed.  Compare  Rusk's  Friesche 
Spraakleer.  Translated  into  Dutch  by  M.  Hettema;  also,  Helfensteiti' s 
Comparative  Gram?nar  of  the  Teutonic  Language. 


—  43  — 

E. 

i.  E  appears  derived  from  o,  i  and  u;  from  a  in  two  ways,  by 
umlaut  as  henda  (to  take)  from  hand^  hand,  and  secondly  like  the 
Anglo-Saxon  a  from  a,  by  a  simple  weakening  of  the  sound  This 
is  especially  common  in  the  preterit  of  strong  verbs  as  brek  from 
breka^  break,  jef  from  ieva,  give;  also  before  doubled  mutes  and 
combinations  with  r,  as  ekker^  acre,  gers,  grass,  bern,  bairn. 

ii.  E  from  i.  This  corresponds  with  Old  Saxon  and  0.  H.  G.  e 
in  helm^  as  Mlpa^  heljl^  sivester.  sister.  The  vowel  e  is  not  changed 
in  the  conjugation  of  strong  verbs  in  the  present  tense,  hence,  bersta, 
burst,  berstet 

iii.  E  appears  for  original  u^  often  through  an  intermediate  change 
into  o,  fella^  full. 

In  the  participles  heleUj  concealed,  breken,  broken,  and  in  similar 
verbs  the  e  represents  the  vowel  of  the  infinitive  where  other  verbs 
have  0.     A.-S.  gebrocen, 

I. 

i.  I  remains  unchanged  in  Frisian  in  many  combinations  espe- 
cially when  followed  by  m  and  n  as  himul^  Ger.  Himmel ;  and  be- 
fore V  with  a  dental  following-,  where  the  A.-S.  has  eo,  as  hinder^ 
hinder;    hirte^  heart,  A.-S.  heort. 

ii.  I  is  broken  to  iu  before  clit^  as  siiicht^  for  siht^  sees ;  riucht 
for  richt^  right. 

0. 

i.  0  represents  the  obscuring  of  u^  as  in  the  other  Germanic  dia- 
lects, hoi,  hole,  boga,  bow.  It  remains  before  m  and  n^  where  it 
often  takes  the  place  of  a,  as  nama^and  noma^  name. 

U. 

i.  U  represents  an  original  u  ;  it  passes  into  o,  as  sumur  and  som&r^ 
summer,  but  holds  in  general  the  same  position  in  Frisian  as  in  the 
other  Germanic  dialects. 

§  2.  Long  Vowels. 

A. 

i.  Long  a  appears  in  a  few  words  as  the  representative  of  the 
0.  H.  G.  a,  as  ndtha^  0.  H.  G.  gi-ndda^  Mod.  Ger.  Gnade. 

ii.  Long  a  appears  in  the  auslaut  of  a  few  words,  as  hwa^  who, 
A.-S.  hwd.,  0.  S.  hue;  twd^  two;  ma,  man. 


—  44  — 

iii.  Long  a  appears  in  a  few  cases  of  contraction  as  fa,  G-er. 
fangen,  Old  Eng.  to  fang. 

iv.  Long  a  appears  in  Frisian  as  the  representative  of  the  Grothic 
ait,  A.-S,  ea  ;  as  age,  eye,  A.-S.  edge,  Grothic,  augo  ;  hdp,  purchase, 
Eng.  cheap,  A.-S.  kedp,  Gr.  haupon  ;   Fr,  gd,  Gr.  gaujans,  Ger.  Gau. 

V.  Long  d  occasionally  represents  Gothic  ai  as  in  dga,  have,  G. 
aigan;  dskia,  ask,  A.-S.  dscian. 

vi.  Long  a  appears  in  the  preterit  plural  in  the  second  class  of 
ablaut  verbs,  as  ndmon  from  nima,  take.  ,^ 

E. 

i.  Long  e  represents  Gothic  e  as  in  mel,  Gr.  mel,  Ger.  Tna/i?,  A.-S. 
mael. 

ii.  Long  e  represents  the  contraction  of  the  diphthong  ei,  Gr.  ei  or 
a?",  Uda,  lead,  A.-S.  ledenn,  Gr.  ga-lei\an ;  het,  hot,  Gr.  /ie?*to,  0.  S. 
/ie^,  Mod.  Fr.  Met 

iii.  Long  e  represents  the  Grothic  au,  A.-S.  e«,  as  ntth,  Ger.  Nutz- 
en,  G.  wat*]?s,  A.-S.  wead 

iv.  Long  e  represents  the  umlaut  of  o,  as  dema,  doom,  G.  doms, 
A.-S.  dom, 

V.  Long  e  represents  the  umlaut  of  u  as  hide,  hide,  A.-S.  hud, 
Lat.  cw^^'s. 

vi.  Long  e  occasionally  represents  the  Gothic  iu,  A.-S.  eo  ;  bineta, 
rob,  0.  S.  biniotan,  A.-S.  beneoten,  deprive,  G.  ga-niutan. 

vii.  Long  e  appears  in  the  root  of  a  iew  originally  reduplicating 
verbs  where  a  appears  in  the  root  before  combination  with  n  as /a, 
feng,  Gr.  fahan,  faifah  ;  t  also  appears,  as  fing 

I. 

i.  Long  i  represents  the  Gothic  ei,  0.  H.  G.  i ;  as  min,  my,  G. 
meins. 

ii.  Long  I  appears  in  consequence  of  contraction  in  a  few  words, 
as  7iia,  new,  G.  niujis. 

iii.  Long  i  also  appears  derived  from  ei,  where  a  gutteral  has 
been  vocalized,  as  di  from  dels,  gen,  degis,  day. 

0. 

i.  Long  6  corresponds  to  Gothic  and  A.-S.  6,  0.  H.  G.  it,  as  F. 
brother,  also  broer,  G.  bro\ar,  0.  H.  G.  bruder. 

ii.  It  represents  e  in  a  few  words,  as  Fr.  and  A.-S.  mona,  moon, 
G.  mena,  0.  S.  mdno. 


—  4S  — 

iil  It  remains  in  the  preterit  of  some  verbs  as  ndmon,  took,  homo'tl, 
came. 

U. 

i.  Long  u  represents  the  long  u  of  the  other  German  dialects,  as 
huSj  house. 

ii.  It  represents  the  contraction  m,  asjiucht  iovfiiucht 

iii.  It  appears  in  the  auslaut   in  cases  of  contraction  in  monosyl- 
lables, as  hua^  hang,  dua^  da 


3  §  DIPHTHONGS. 

Old  Frisian  has  the  single  diphthong  iu^  with  the  variations  io  and 
ia  ;  io  and  iu  appear  in  words  where  io  or  u  is  found  in  the  following 
syllable,  ia  where  an  a  appears  in  the  final  syllable.  The  Rustringer 
dialect  retains  the  weakening  to,  the  remaining  dialects  the  fuller  itu 
Iu  prevails  in  the  auslaut,  as  hiu  this ;  ihivu,  that  In  certain  strong 
verbs  m  remains  in  the  root  of  the  first  pers.  sing,  and  iu  or  io  in 
the  second  and  third  persons  sing.,  as  hiase^  choose,  hiosest.,  kioseth^ 
pi.  kiasaih, 

EI. 

M  is  a  later  formation,  occurring  in  cases  of  contraction,  espe- 
cially in  the  terminations,  ag^  and  eg,  as  wei,  way,  gen.  wiges  or  wmes^ 
dat.  wige  or  wei;  so  also  in  dei,  day,  gen.  deges  or  deis  ;  kei,  key,  A.-S. 
caeg ;  brein^  brain,  A.-S.  hraegan  ;  kid  ior  legad,  laid.  In  the  plural 
of  nouns  the  g  again  appears  as  dega  or  degar,  days. 

ii.  Ei  frequently  become  I,  for  del,  di 

iii.  Ei  for  e  corresponds  to  ei  in  a  few  forms  in  0.  H.  Or.  and 
0.  S.,  in  place  of  an  original  a,  as  deil,  dd,  dale  and  dell,  0.  S.  dal^ 
0.  H.  Gr.  tal,  Norse  dal, 

iv.  Ei  also  appear  where  other  dialects  exhibit  w,  iu  and  ow,  as 
hreid,  bride,  A.-S.  hrfd,  0.  S.  hrHd,  Icelandic,  hri^r. 

V.  Ei  appears  also  as  a  weakening  of  ai  in  foreign  words,  keisar^ 
caesar,  A.-S.  casere,  0.  S.  kesur. 

vi.  Au  appears  developed  from  dhy  a  w  following,  as  bid,  blauv)^ 
blue. 


-46- 

4i  WEST-LAUWERS  VOWELS, 
I.  Short  Vowels. 

i.  The  umlaut  of  the  a  is  more  uniform. 

ii.  The  tendency  of  a  to  become  o  is  less  frequent,  hence  man, 
man,  hand^  hand. 

iii.  I  is  a  frequent  substitute  for  other  vowels : 

i.  Before  Z,  m,  n  and  r,  it  frequently  takes  the  place  of  a ;  as  in 
hird^  beard,  where  the  other  dialects  have  e^  as  herd^  Ger.  and  IcL 
hart ;  schil^  shall;  hinxt  for  hengst ;  nimmer  for  nammer. 

ii.  Similarly  i  takes  the  places  of  e  before  liquids  in  hirg^  Ger. 
herg  /  of  u  in  stirta^  East  Fr.  sterta^  O.  H.  G.  sturzen. 

0  before  ?i  with  a  following  consonant  usually  takes  the  place  of 
w,  as  yoTi^  for  jung. 

Breaking. 

1  before  I  is  often  broken ;  becoming  ie^  ielder^  elder. 

Long  Vowels. 
Long  a  appears   for   the   East  Frisian  e  in  the   preterit  plural  of 
certain  strong  verbs,  as  sdgen,  seen.  East  Frisian  segin. 
Diphthongs. 

1.  le  stands  for  E.  Fr.  ia,  as  tziesa  for  hkisa^  choose. 

2.  lo  stands  occasionally  for  E.  Fr.  iu. 

3.  Au  and  ou  appear  later,  produced  by  the  dropping  of  I,  as  gond 
for  gold,  and  saut  for  salt. 

The  combinations  hw,  hw^  sw,  dw,  tw  and  thw,  remain  in  the  an- 
laut,  where  in  English  the  w  has  become  vocaUzed,  as  in  which, 
(Jiuiisch), 

§5.    CONSONANTS. 

Liquids. 

The  Liguids  Z,  m,  n,  r,  correspond  in  general  to  the  Anglo-Saxon. 

M  in  endings  has  become  n.  In  the  inlaut  n  is  dropped,  as 
in  the  Anglo-Saxon,  before  s,/and^y^;  hence  m  for  uns,  us,  f  if  for 
finf,  five,  muth  for  munth,  mouth,  and  -ath  for  -and  in  the  plural 
terminations  of  the  present,  as  ner-ath  for  ner-and.  In  the  termin- 
ation of  the  infinitive  n  has  been  dropped.  It  reappears  however 
in   the  gerundive,  as  werthande. 

The  metathesis  of  r  is  common,  as  kersten  for  kristen,  gers  for  gres, 
grass,  warold  for  wrold,  world,  hars  and  hors  for  0.  H.  G.  hros. 

Rhotacismus  is  common,  was,  was,  pi.  weron. 


—  47  — 

Spirants,  w^f^  r,  y,  th^  s,  z. 

I.  W.  The  Anglo-Saxon  tendency  to  vocalize  the  v)  only  ap- 
pears in  a  few  cases  as  in  the  Brokmer  and  Emsiger  suster  for  the 
Rustringer  sivester,  also  in  kuma  for  kvema,  come.  ii.  W  in  the  in- 
laut  corresponds  to  0.  H.  Gr.  w,  as  triuwe^  triwa,  true.  iii.  In  the 
auslant  w  remains,  or  is  dropped,  with  the  lengthening  of  the  pre- 
ceding vowel,  frowe^  Ger.  Frau,  tre,  tree,  Gr.  triu,  A.-S.  treow. 

H,  CH. 

L  In  the  inlaut,  h  is  often  dropped,  as  Uan,  Eng.  ten,  0.  S,  tehan^ 
or  becomes  g,  as  from  sid^  Eng,  slay,  pret  slogon. 

ii.  Ch  stands  for  h  in  the  auslaut,  and  before  t  in  the  inlaut,  hdch, 
high,  achta^  eight 

J. 

J  is  represented  by  i  in  the  manuscripts. 

It  represents  an  original  spirant/,  also  g  in  other  dialects.  It  is 
frequently  vocalized  when  final 

i.  In  derivatives  from  ja  stems  and  in  inflection  it  is  vocahzed 
and  does  not  again  appear ;  /er,  year,  ieva  and  geva^  give,  hiri^  Gr» 
hirjis^  army,  gen.  hiri. 

S. 

S  corresponds  to  s  in  0.  S.  and  0.  H.  Gr.  sc.  It  becomes  sch  in 
the  Emsiger  dialect  before  e  and  i.  In  the  preterit  plural  of  many 
verbs,  r  takes  the  place  of  s,  hiase^  choose,  pret  has^  pi.  keroru 
Z  appears  in  later  Frisian. 

F.  V. 

F  represents  the  labial  aspirate,  ph  in  the  anlaut,  also  in  the  in- 
laut before  ti  or  a  dental  mute,  and  in  the  auslaut 

F  appears  in  the  inlaut ,  gref^  grave,  gen.  greves. 

The  gemination  of /occurs  only  in  foreign  words. 

MUTES. 
Labials. 
P  initial  appears  in  but  few  native  Frisian  words.  It  remains  on 
the  same  step  as  in  the  Grothic.  The  labial  aspirate  ph  has  passed 
into  the  spirant/  or  v.  B  initial  remains  unchanged,  as  also  in 
cases  of  gemination,  and  in  the  combination  m&,  otherwise  it  passes 
into  the  aspirate. 

Palatals. 
i.  The  palatals  g  and  k  are  in  a  few  words  represented  by  j  before 
and  ie,  as  jild  for  geld ;  iet  for  gat^  hole,  Eng.  gate. 


—  48  — 

ii.  K  in  the  anlaut  may  become  sz  or  sth,  fs,  fz  or  fsz.  K  in  the 
inlaut  before  t  becomes  ch^  as  seka^  seek,  sdchta^  mega,  may,  mdchta. 

iii.  G  remains  generally  unchanged  in  the  anlaut.  G  in  the  inlaut 
is  often  vocalized;  gg  in  the  inlaut  may  become  dz,  or  is  vocalized, 
as  A.-S.  leggian,    0.  H.  Gr.  legjan,  Fr.  lega  or  Udza,  or  leia. 

LiNGUALS. 

The  hngual  mutes  correspond  in  general  to  the  same  letters  in 
Anglo-Saxon.  T  final  is  sometimes  dropped  after  ch,  as  riuch 
for  riucht;  it  stands  occasionally  for  the  ending  -th  of  verbs,  as  nima-t 
for  nima-th,  takes ;  otherwise  it  occupies  the  same  position  as  in 
the  other  Low  German  dialects. 

The  hngual  aspirate  appears  only  as  th.  It  may  have  had  a  softer 
sound  in  the  inlaut  and  auslaut,  like  the  Anglo-Saxon  ^. 

In  the  inlaut  d  is  protected  from  change  by  a  preceding  n,  as 
hinda,  bind ;  the  combination  nth  drops  the  n ;  d  final  remains,  ex- 
cept in  the  terminations  of  verbs,  where  it  becomes  th,  as  werp-th 
for  werp-d. 

Letters  Dropped. 
H  and  w  are  often  dropped  when  initial  and  a  previous  word  is 
joined  to  the  one  they  begin,  as  nella  for  ne  wella. 
West  Frisian  Consonants. 
i.  N  remains  before  ih,  as  in  munth. 

ii.  Initial  hi,  hr,  hu  and  hw  lose  their  aspiration  and  become  gen- 
erally r,  Z,  n,  w ;  thw  becomes  dw. 

iii.  Sh  becomes  sch.  iv.  The  spirants  /  and  v  in  the  inlaut  and 
auslaut  are  frequently  dropped,  as  sterva,  die,  Eng.  starve,  part. 
sturen  and  storn.  This  occurs  generally  after  r. 
Dropping  of  Consonants. 
This  is  especially  frequent  in  the  inlaut,  and  afifects  principally  the 
dentals,  and  corresponds  to  similar  disappearance  in  the  Nether- 
landish, as  broer  for  brother,  moer,  moder. 

§  6.   THE  FRISIAN  VERB. 

The  verb  has  two  tenses,  present  and  preterit.  The  future  and 
perfect  tenses  are  formed  by  the  auxiliaries,  sTdla,  hebha,  wesa; 
wertha  is  used  in  forming  the  passive. 

There  are  four  moods,  indicative,  subjunctive,  imperative  and  in- 
finitive. Verbs  are  divided  into  two  classes,  strong  and  weak. 
The  absence  of  complete  forms  makes  it  impossible  to  classify  ac- 


—  49  — 


curately  these  verbs.  The  analogy  of  those  which  present  fuller 
forms  must  often  be  taken,  also  that  of  the  other  dialects  to  de- 
termine the  quantity  of  the  vowels  and  the  class  to  which  each  verb 
belongs. 

The  following  table  exhibits  the  different  classes  of  strong  verbs : 


REDUPLICATING  VERBS. 

ABLAUT-VERBS. 

Present.                 Pret. 

Part. 

Pres. 

Pret.  Sing. 

Plur.           Part. 

1.  a.          i.  e. 

a. 

1. 

i,  e. 

a. 

U.                 U. 

2.  e.         i,  e. 

e. 

2. 

1,  e. 

a,  e. 

a,  e.        i,  e. 

3.  e.         i,  e. 

e. 

3. 

i. 

e'. 

i.             i. 

4.  d.         (i,  io?6). 

a, 

e. 

4. 

iu,  ia, 

(u). 

k 

e.            e. 

5.  6.  e.     (i,  io?). 

0, 

e. 

5. 

a,  e. 

'^     6. 

6.            a,  e 

Traces  of  previous  reduplication  have  been  greatly  obscured. 
Long  e  represents  in  most  dialects  the  previous  reduplication. 
Long  t  appears  in  the  Rustringer  before  ?^,  but  elsewhere  e,  as  /a, 
feng,  to  seize. 

In  the  first  class  of  ablaut- verbs  i  appears  in  the  present  before 
n,  doubled  or  in  combination  with  a  mute,  u  is  retained  in  the  par- 
ticiple as  winna^  wan^  wunnon^  win. 

In  the  second  class  of  ablaut- verbs  i  remains  in  root,  ending  in  a 
vowel,  sia^  see,  also  in  verbs  formed  with  the  lengthened  root  in  ja. 
The  preterit  plural  has  a  before  m,  as  mma,  nam  and  nom^  ndmon, 
otherwise  e  in  the  sing,  and  e  in  the  plural.  The  vowel  of  the 
present  remains  unchanged  in  inflection  in  all  forms  of   the  present. 

STRONG  CONJUGATIOK 


INE 

ICA 

TIVE  PRESE 

NT. 

SUBJUNCTIVE. 

Sing. 

1. 

finde 

kiase 

finde. 

kias-e. 

2. 

find-e-st. 

finst 

kios-e-st. 

kiost. 

finde, 

kias-e. 

3. 

find-e-th. 

fint. 

kios-e-th. 

kiost. 

finde. 

kias-e. 

Plur. 

1. 

find-a-th. 

kias-a-th, 

finde. 

kias-e. 

2. 

find-a-th, 

kaas-a-th, 

finde. 

kias-e. 

3. 

find-a-th, 

PRET. 

kias-a-th. 

finde. 

kias-e. 

Sing. 

1. 
2. 

fand, 

k4s. 

fund-e, 
fund-e. 

ker-e. 
ker-e. 

3. 

fand, 

kas, 

fund-e, 

ker-e. 

1. 

fund-on, 

ker-o-n. 

fund-e. 

ker-e. 

2. 

fund-on. 

ker-o-n. 

fund-e. 

ker-e. 

3. 

fund-on, 

ker-o-n, 

fund-e, 

ker-e. 

Imp. 

Participles. 

Sing. 

2. 

find. 

kios. 

find- and, 

] 

kias-a-nd 

Plur. 

2. 

find-a-th, 

kias-a 

L-th,       find 

-en, 

ker-en. 

Inf. 

find-a, 

kias-a 

—  50  — 

For  e  in  the  2d  and  3d  persons  sing,  i  is  often  found,  as  ist^  ith. 

The  subjunctive  drops  n  in  the  plural  of  both  tenses.  When  the 
characteristic  connecting  vowel  in  the  2d  and  3d  persons,  sing,  is 
dropped  and  the  personal  endings  are  joined  to  a  dental  d-st  be- 
comes st ;  tli-st  becomes  st ;  d-th  and  s-st  become  t. 

The  tendency  of  the  ending  th  to  become  t  is  also  manifest.  Rho- 
tacism  takes  place  is  dissyllabic  preterits. 


Pres. 

1.  a, 

2.  4, 

3.  e, 

4.      a,  (!)^ 

5.        6,  e, 


REDUPLICATING   VERBS. 

Pret. 

i,  ^, 
i,  d, 
1,  d, 
ft  io), 

(i,  10,  6), 
First  Class. 


bonna,  ) 
banna,  f 
fa,  se^ze, 


falla, 
gunga, 
hald, 
hua, 


fall, 

hold, 
hang, 


h^ta,        call, 
swepa,    sweep. 


ben, 
feng, 

f  61,  w. 
geng, 
hild, 
heng, 


aka, 


bennon, 
fengon, 

folen,  w. 

gengon, 

hildon. 


Second  Class. 


bla,  hlow,  ble, 

lita,  let,  lit, 

reda,  advise,  red, 

slepa,  sleep,  


Third  Class. 
hit,  hiton, 

Fourth  Class. 


increase, 
hew. 


hlapa,  run, 

steta,  push, 

floka,  curse, 

hropa,  call, 

wepa,  weep, 


hlep, 


Fifth  Class. 


[rop.] 


Part. 

a. 

e. 

e. 

a,  e,  (6). 

6,  e. 

S  bonnen. 
\  bannen,  w. 
\  efangen. 
\  fenszen. 

fallen. 

gangen. 

halden. 
j  huen, 
)  huinsen. 


leten. 
slepen, 

heten. 


aken. 
\  havren. 
(  hauwen. 

hlepen. 

stoten. 

eflokin. 
j  hropen. 
\  hrepen. 

wepen. 


—  51 


ABLAUT  VERBS. 

Prcs. 

Pret.  Sing. 

Pret.  Plur. 

'     Part. 

1.         i,  e, 

a, 

"j 

u, 

2.        i,  e, 

a,  e, 

a,  e. 

i,e, 

3.         \ 

e, 

1, 

h 

4.     iu,  ia, 

(A), 

a, 

^ 

e, 

5.        a,  e, 

6, 

o, 

a,  e. 

First  Class. 

bersta, 

bursty 

bursten. 

binda, 

bind, 

band, 

banden,  w. 

bunden. 

brida? 

draw, 

bruden. 

delva, 

delve, 

dulven. 

derva, 

Ger.  derben,  derf.  w. 

drinka, 

drink, 

drunken. 

finda, 

find, 

fand. 

funden. 

efunden. 

worth, 

gald. 

gulden. 

gulden. 

bi-ginna,  ) 
bi-ienna,  f 

begin. 

gonnen,  w. 

gunnen. 

helpa, 

help, 

hulpon. 

hulpen. 

h]  werva, 

turn, 

ierva. 

cut,  (carve), 

kurven. 

kringa, 

acquire. 

krungon. 

krungen. 

renna. 

Sfiow, 
}  (run). 

ran, 

runnen. 

singa. 

sing, 

sang. 

skelda, 

scold. 

skouden. 

springa, 

spring, 

sprung, 

w. 

sterva, 

die, 

sturvon, 

sturven. 

swinga. 

swing, 

thwinga, 

force. 

thwang. 

thwungon, 

thwungen 

werpa, 

throw. 

wurpon, 

wurpen. 

willa. 

soil, 

wullen. 

winna. 

win. 

wan. 
Second 

wunnon. 
Class. 

wunnen. 

Pres. 

Pret.  Sing. 

Pret.  Plur. 

Part. 

bera, 

bear, 

beren. 

bidda, 

beg. 

bed. 

bidon. 

biden. 

breka, 

break, 

brek, 

brekon, 

breken. 

eta, 

eat, 

etten. 

ita. 

bi-fella. 

command,    bi-fel, 

bi-felen, 

bi-felen. 

bi-f41. 

bi-folen. 

fiuchta. 

fight, 

fuchton. 

fuchten. 

ia. 

affirm, 

iech. 

eien. 

ieva. 

give. 

ief. 

ievon, 

ieven. 

kuma. 

come, 

{  kom, 
\  kam, 

komon,    ) 
kamon,    C 

ekimin. 

52 


lesa, 

read, 

gelesen. 

lidsa,  f 

lie, 

lai,  w. 

lidsen. 

meta, 

measure. 

,     met. 

nima, 

take, 

nam, 

namon, 

nimen. 

sia, 

see, 

sach. 

sagon. 

sien, 

sitta, 

sit, 

set. 

seten. 

skera, 

shear. 

sker. 

eskeren, 

skia, 

happen, 

ske. 

esken. 

spreka, 

speak, 

sprek. 

sprekon, 

spreken. 

stela, 

steal. 

stelon. 

stelen. 

wega, 

move, 

Third  Class. 

Pres. 

Pret.  Sing. 

Pret.  Sing. 

Part 

bita, 

bite, 

bitin. 

blika, 

glance, 

bliken. 

driva, 

drive. 

driven. 

glida, 

glide. 

gliden. 

gripa, 

grasp, 

grep. 

gripen, 

gripen. 

(h)lia, 

confess, 

hlien. 

(h)niga. 

how, 

tinigun, 

kivia,    ) 
szivia,   \ 

chide, 

kriga  ? 

obtain, 

bi-liva, 

remain, 

bilef, 

mida, 

avoid, 

rida. 

ride. 

reden, 

riden. 

riva, 

rive, 

eriven. 

skina. 

shine, 

skriva, 

write, 

skref, 

eskriven. 

snida, 

cut, 

snithen. 

spia, 

spit. 

espien. 

stiga, 

ascend, 

Fourth  Class. 

Pres. 

Pret.  Sing. 

Pret.  Plur. 

Part 

biada, 

offer, 

bdd. 

bedon, 

beden. 

briuwa, 

brew, 

browen. 

bruka, 

use. 

bruken. 

driaga, 

deceive, 

drein. 

driapa, 

drip, 

flia, 

flee, 

(Mch), 

flegon, 

flain. 

fliaga, 

fly, 

fliata, 

flow. 

flat, 

kiasa, 

choose^ 

kds, 

keron. 

ekeren. 

kriapa, 

creep, 

ur-liasa, 

lose, 

leren. 

mka, 

lock, 

leken. 
letzen. 

—  53  — 


luka, 

draw, 

letzen. 

skiata, 

shootj 

esketen. 

sliapa, 

slip, 

sluta, 

shut, 

sl4t, 

spruta, 

sprout, 

tia, 

draWy 

tach, 

tegon, 

tein. 

Fifth  Class. 

Pres. 

Pret.  Sing. 

Pret  Plur. 

Part. 

drega, 

drew, 

droch, 

drogon, 

dregen. 

fara, 

fare, 

f6r, 

f  6ron, 

faren. 

heva, 

heave, 

h6f, 

hoven, 

geheven. 

hlada, 

load. 

hleden. 

skeppa, 

make. 

skop, 

skopon, 

skepen. 

sla, 

strike. 

sloch, 

alogon, 

1  slain. 
/  slagen. 

swera, 

swear, 

swor, 

sworen, 

sweren. 

waxa, 

wax. 

wox, 

woxon, 

waxen* 

wada, 

wade, 

wod, 

Irregular  forms  are 
geddn;  wesa,  be,  wes, 
tenden. 


seen  in   dua,  do,  dede,  deden^  eden,  'den  and 
weron,   wesen;   start,  stand,  stod,  stodon,  es- 


WEAK  CONJUaATION. 

Two  forms  of  verbs  are  preserved  as  in  the  Anglo-Saxon  and 
Old  Saxon.  They  correspond  in  part  to  the  Gothic  weak  verbs,  in 
ja  and  o.  The  connecting  vowel  of  the  preterit  of  these  verbs  is 
the  weakened  e,  as  nera,  nerede,  or  nerde. 

In  many  verbs  gemination   has  taken  place,  developed  by  the  ja 
of  the  lengthened   root,  as  sella,  0.  S.  sellian,  A.-S.  sellan,  Icl.  seija; 
thekka,  deck,  A.-S.  \eccan,  0.  H.  Gr.  thecian ;  seka,  say,  A.-S.  secgan^  . 
0.  S.  seggian  ;   also  in  tella,  tell,  0.  H.  Gr.  zaljan,  A.-S.  talian. 

The  preterit  is  formed  by  adding  de  or  te  to  the  root,  verbs  end- 
ing in  a  liquid,  or  sonant  mute,  or  simple  s  which  join  the  term- 
ination directly  to  the  root  without  a  connecting  vowel,  add  de  to 
form  the  preterit ;  verbs  ending  in  a  surd  mute  or  double  s  add  te  to 
form  the  preterit,  as  in  the  Old  Saxon.  The  past  participle  adds  d 
to  roots  whose  vowel  is  long,  id  or  ed  to  roots  whose  vowel  is  short. 
When  the  preterit  is  formed  by  adding  te,  the  participle  ends  in  t; 
lira,  teach,  lerde,  wisa,  point  out,  wisde;  thekka,  deck,  thachta;  resta, 
rest,  pret.  reste.  What  is  termed  for  convenience  riickumlaut  ap- 
pears in  a  few  verbs,  ending  in  k,  as  seka,  seek,  sochte,  Gr.  sokjan. 

The  termination  of  the  0.  S.  preterit,  -da,  connecting  vowels  i  and 


—  54  — 

Of  Anglo-Saxon  de^  connecting  vowels  e  and  o,  is  in  Frisian  c?e,  with 
the  connecting  vowels  e  and  a ;  compare  0.  S.  ner-i-da,  and  seaiv- 
6-da ;  A.-S.  ner-e-de,  and  sealf-6-de ;  Frisian  ner-e-de^  and  sealf-a-de. 
The  forms  which  still  show  a/  in  the  present  tense  are  often  further 
lengthened  to  "ige-^  -^^-,  •^ffi'-i  as  endia^  end,  endigia,  endgia. 


FIRST  WEAK  CONJUGATION. 

Indicative  Mood. 

Present  Tense. 

First  Weak  Conjugation.      Second  Weak  Conjugation. 

Sing.  1.  ner-e, 

sek-e, 

ask-je. 

2.  ner-i-st^  ner 

-St, 

sek-i-st,  sek-st. 

ask-a-st. 

3.  ner-ith,  ner- 

-th, 

sek-i-th,  sek-th, 

ask-a-th. 

1.  ner-a-th, 

sek-a-th, 

ask-ja-th. 

2.  ner-a-th, 

sek-a-th, 

ask-ja-th. 

3.  ner-a-th, 

sek-a-th, 

ask-ja-th. 

Preterit. 

Preterit. 

Preterit. 

Sing.  1.  ner-e-de,  nerde, 

s6ch-te. 

ask-a-de. 

2.  ner-e-dest, 

soch-test, 

ask-a-dest. 

3.  ner-e-de, 

s6ch-te. 

ask-a  de. 

Plur.  1.  ner-e-don,  ner-don 

,  soch-ton. 

ask-a-don. 

2.  ner-e-don, 

soch-ton, 

ask-a-don. 

3.  ner-e-don. 

soch-ton, 

ask-a-don. 

Subjunctive  Mood. 

Present. 

Present. 

Present. 

Sing.  1.  ner-i  (e) 

sek-i  (e) 

ask-je. 

2.  ner-i, 

sek-i. 

dsk-je. 

3.  ner-i, 

8^k-i, 

dsk-je. 

Plur.  1.  ner-i, 

sek-i  (e) 

4sk-je. 

2.  ner-i. 

sek-i. 

ask-je. 

3.  ner-i, 

sek-i, 

ask-je. 

Preterit. 

Preterit. 

Sing.  1.  ner-de, 

soch-te, 

ask-a-de. 

2.  ner-de. 

soch-te. 

dsk-a-de. 

3.  ner-de. 

s6ch-te. 

ask-a-de. 

Plur.  1.  ner-de, 

soch-te. 

ask-a-de. 

2.  ner-de. 

soch-te. 

ask-a-de. 

3.  ner-de, 

soch-te. 

ask-a-de. 

Imperative. 

Sing.  2.  ner-e, 

seke, 

ask-ja. 

Plur.  2.  nerath. 

sek-ath, 

ask-ja-th. 

Inf.       nera. 

s^ka, 

ask-ja. 

Part        nerand, 

sek-and, 

dsk-ja-nd. 

nerid, 

s6ch-t, 

ask-a-d. 

—  S5  — 
Anomalous  Verbs. 


Impf. 

Pres.  Sing. 

Pres.  Plural 

Pret. 

L  kunna, 

know  J 

kan, 

i  konnen, 
\  konath. 

konde. 

thura, 

dare^ 

thur, 

thuron. 

thorste* 

thurva, 

j  need^ 

thurf, 

thurvon* 

}  be  alhw^d^ 

IL  skila, 

owe^ 

skil, 

skiln, 

skolde. 

mega, 

able^ 

mei,  mi, 

machte. 

III.  dga,     I 
hdga,( 

have^ 

^h, 

agon, 

achte. 

wita, 

Jmow, 

wet,  wit, 

IV.  duga, 

to  be  worth, 

duch, 
mot, 

y.  mota? 

mustj 

mostev 

West-Lauwers  VerbSv 
The   distinguishing  features  of  these  verbs   are  in  brief: 

1.  The  changes  by  ablaut  are  not  uniform  in  verbs  of  the   first 
class,  as  binda,  bandj  banden,  bonden  ;  helpa,  hulp^  hulpen^  hulpen^ 

2.  The   tendency  to   employ  o  instead   of  u  in  the   preterit   and 
participle. 

3.  The  fourth  ablaut-class  shows  ie  for  m,  io  for  iu, 

4.  The  fuller  vowels  in  the  endings  of  inflection  have  become  e. 

5.  The  th  of  the  third  person  singular  and  the  plural  is  t  or  d. 

6.  A  few  infinitives,  and   the  subjunctive  in  the  plural  show  w,  as 
gduj  go,  qv4n,  say. 


§  7.    DECLENSION  OF  NOUNS. 
Strong  Declension. 


A-DECLENSION. 

Masculine. 

Feminine. 

Sing.  Nom.  fisk. 

jeve, 

Gen.  fiski-s,  (-es), 

jeve, 
je/e. 

Dat.   fisk-a,  -e,  -i. 

Ace.    fisk. 

jeve, 

Plur.  Nom.  fiskar,  -a, 

jeva. 

G-en.  fisk-a, 

jeve-n-a, 

Dat.    fisk-um,  -on, 

-em,  jevu-m,  -or 

Ace.  fiska,  -ar. 

jeva, 

Neuter. 


word. 

skip. 

word-is,  -es. 

skipi-s,  -es. 

word-a,  -e. 

skipa»  -e. 

word, 

skip. 

word  (a), 

skipu,  -0. 

word-a, 

skip-a 

wordu-m,  -on, 

skipu-m,  -on. 
word-a,  skipu,  -o. 

The  masculine  nominative  plural  exhibits  two  forms  in  -a  and  -an 
When  r  is  omitted  the  plural  corresponds  to  that  of  the  weak  de- 
clension. Compare  0.  H.  G-.  neuters  in  -^r  and  Icl.  masculine  and 
neuters  in  -ar. 


t^ 


-56- 

The  genitive  singular  of  the  mascuhne  and  neuter  nouns  in  is^  is 
retained  in  the  Rustringer  dialect,  while  the  other  dialects  exhibit 
the  weakened  es. 

The  dative  in  a  is  retained  in  the  Hunsingoer  and  Emsiger  dia- 
lects.    The  Rustringer  has  i  and  the  Brokmer  e. 

In  the  dative  plural  the  Rustringer  has  o?i,  the  Brockmer  um  and 
the  other  dialects  em.  When  in  the  feminine  singular  a  appears  in 
the  oblique  cases,  the  forms  of  the  strong  and  weak  declensions 
correspond.  The  genitive  plural  has  often  a  instead  of  ena,  0.  H.  G. 
Sno,  A.-S.  ena.  Neuter  nouns  have  in  the  plural  two  forms  accord- 
ing as  the  root  has  a  long  or  short  vowel.  The  short  syllabled  neu- 
ters show  u  as  in  the  A.-S.  and  0.  S.,  commonly  represented  by  o, 
Emsiger  e ;  the  long-syllabled  show  a  as  jer,  year,  pi.  jera.  Dis- 
syllabic neuters  in  el  and  en  form  the  plural  in  e,  weakened  from  u, 
as  in  the  Anglo-Saxon,  as  beken^  beacon,  pi.  hehene.  Compare 
A.-S.  hedcen^^l.  bedcenu. 

Of  themes  in  ja  no  traces  are  left,  except  in  the  termination  -e  of 
the  nom.  sing,  of  a  few  masc.  and  neut.  nouns,  as  hodere,  hat-bearer. 
/  appears  for  j-  vocalized  in  hiri,  army,  Gr.  harjis. 

I-DECLENSION. 

This  declension  contains  only  masculine  and  feminine  nouns. 
Only  four  masculine  nouns  remain,  liode^  Grer.  Leute^  only  found  in 
the  plural;  fot^  foot,  ^\.  fet ;  toth,  tooth,  both  of  which  belonged  to 
the  ii-declension  originally.  The  feminine  nouns  are  declined  like 
nouns  of  the  same  class  in  Anglo-Saxon.  The  dative  plural  shows 
the  forms  -im,  -em,  -um,  -on. 

Masculine,  fot,  foot.     Feminine,  ned,  need. 
Sing.  N.  fot,  ned, 

G-.  fote-s,  nede. 

D.  fote,  nede. 

A.  fot,  nede. 

Plur.  N.  fet,  neda,  -e. 

Gr.  fot-a,  neda. 

D.  fote-m,  -on,  ned-im,  -em,  -um,  -on. 

A.  fet,  neda. 

U-DECLENSION. 

This   declension   retains  but   two    masculine   nouns  sunu,   son, 
frethOj  peace,  and  the  neuter  ^la,  Grer.  vieh,  G.failhu. 
Masculine,  Sing.  N.  sunu,  -o,  Gr.  suna,  D.  suna,  A.  sunu. 

Plur.  N.  sun-ar,  -a,  Gr.  (suna),  D.  sun-um,  A.  sun-a-r,  -a. 
Neut.  N.  fia,  G.  fias,  D.  and  A.  fia. 


57 


WEAK  DECLENSION. 


Sing. 


Feminine.  Neuter. 

tunge,  tongue, 

tunga, 

tunga, 

tunge, 

tunga, 

tungan-a, 

tungum, 

tunga, 

The  Emsiger,  Hunsingoer  and  Fivelgoer  dialects  exhibit  a  ten- 
dency to  restore  the  u  which  has  been  lost,  as  frowe^  Ger.  Frau, 
frowan. 


Masculine. 

N.  hona,  cock, 
G.  hona, 
D.  hona, 
A.  hona, 
Plur.  N.  hona, 

G.  honan-a,  (-ona), 
D.  honu-m, 
A.  hona. 


age,  eye, 

are,  ear. 

aga, 

ara. 

aga, 

ara. 

age. 

are. 

agon. 

ara. 

agen- 

■a? 

agen 

,  aren-a. 

agenu 

:"^' 

aru-m. 

agon. 

agene, 

ara. 

CONSONANT  STEMS  IN  -R  AND  -AND. 

Sing.  N.  brother,  friund,  friond. 

G.  brother-es  (-s),  friunde-s. 

D.  brother-e,  friunde. 

A.  brother,  friund. 

Plur.  N.  brother-a  (-e),  friund. 

G.  brother-a  (-e),  friund-a. 

D.  brother-um,  friund-um,  -on,  -em. 

A.  brother-a,  -e,  friund. 

The  feminine   nouns   moder,   mother,  swester,  sister,  and  dochter, 

daughter,  are  declined  in  the  same  way.  The  genitive  singular  may 
have  -e  instead  of  -s,  as  modere. 


8.     DECLENSION  OF  ADJECTIVES. 


Strong  Declension. 

Masculine.  Feminine. 

Sing.  N.  blind,  blind-e, 

G.  blind-es,  blind-ere,  (-re), 

D.  blind-a,  (-e),  blind-ere,  (-re), 
A.  blind-ene,  (-ne,  -en),  blind-e, 

Plur.    N.  blind-a,  (-e),  blind-a,  (-e), 

G.  bhnd-era,  (-ra),  bhnd-era,  (-ra), 

D.  blind-a,  (-e),  bhnd-a,  (-e), 

A.  bUnd-a,  (-e),  blind-a,  (-e), 


Neuter. 

bhnd. 
blind-es. 
blind-a,  (-e). 
blind. 

bhnd-a,  (-e). 
blind-era,  (-ra). 
blind-a,  (-e). 
blind-a,  (-e). 


-58- 
WEAK  DECLENSION. 

Masculine.  Feminine.  Neuter. 

Sing.  N.  blind-a,  blind-e,  blind-e. 

G.  blind-a,  blind-a,  blind-a. 

D.  blind-a,  blind-a,  blind-a. 

A.  blind-a,  blind-a,  blind-e. 

Plur.  D.   blind-a,  blind-a,  blind-a. 

G.  blind-ena,  blind-ena,  blind-ena. 

D.  blind-um,  blind-um,  blind-um. 

A.   blind-a,  blind-a,  blind-a. 

Participles  both  present  and  perfect  are  declined  like  adjectives 
of  the  strong  and  weak  declension  The  present  participle  when 
uninflected  shows  a  final  e  from  a  fuller  formative  y,  sl^  findande. 

The  infinitive  has  a  dative  form  in  e,  before  which  it  resumes  the 
consonant  ti,  lost  from  the  infinitive  as  to  far  arte,  to  fare.  The  Rus- 
tringer  dialect  shows  the  form  to  farande^  as  if  influenced  by  the 
present  participle. 

Adjectives  are  compared  by  means  of  the  suffixes  ir  and  or^  and 
ist^  ost  and  ast.  The  weakened  forms  er  and  est  are  frequent. 
The  old  comparison  in  m  is  preserved  in  for-m-a  first,  super- 
lative for-m-est  Adjectives  in  the  comparative  degree  are  in- 
flected only  according  to  the  weak  declension,  those  in  the  super- 
lative degree,  according  to  both  the  strong  and  weak  declensions. 

The  numerals  afford  no  especial  occasion  for  remark.     They  pre- 
sent few  variations  from  Anglo-Saxon  and  Old  Saxon  forms. 
West  Lauwers  Declension. 
This   dialect   shows  a  tendency  to  form  the   plural  of   masculine 
nouns  from  vowel  themes  in  n.  as  eth^  oath,  plural,  ethan.     The  fem- 
inine nouns  do  not  exhibit  this  tendency  in  the  same  degree. 


§9. 

PRONOUNS. 

Personal  Pronouns. 

III  Pers. 

1  Pers. 

II  Pere. 

III. 

Mas. 

Fem. 

Neut. 

Sing.  N.  ik, 

thu, 

hi,  he. 

hiu,  se. 

hit. 

G.  min. 

thin, 

sin. 

sin], 

hiri. 

[sin]. 

D.  mi. 

thi, 

lim. 

hiri, 

him. 

A.  mi, 

thi, 

hini,  (-e, 

-a).  Ilia,  se. 

hit. 

Plur.  iST.  wi, 

hia,  se. 

G.  user. 

iuwer, 

hira,  hiara. 

D.   us. 

iu,  io, 

him,  hiam, 

A.   us, 

iu,  io; 

Ilia,  se. 

—  59  — 

For  the  pronoun  of  the  third  person,  is  used  the  demonstrative  hi 
as  in  Anglo-Saxon,  and  in  the  nominative  mascuUne  of  the  Old 
Saxon.  The  genitive  singular,  masculine  and  neuter,  is  supplied  by 
the  form  sin,  not  marking  gender,  as  in  0.  H.  Gr.  There  is  a 
marked  tendency  to  join  the  nominative  of  this  pronoun,  to  other 
forms  of  the  same  pronoun  and  to  the  demonstrative,  as  hit  for  hi  hit ; 
hint  for  hin  hit ;  hitha  for  hit  tha. 

The  indefinite  ma,  G-er.  man,  is  early  distinguished  from  the  con- 
crete man  or  mon.  It  is  often  joined  to  a  following  pronoun, 
as  maSj  for  ma  thes. 

Possessive  Adjective  Pronouns. 
min  and  mein,  my.  unser  and  W.  F.  ouse,         our. 

thin  and  dein,  thy.  iuwe,  ''         iuw^er,       your. 

sin,  his,  its. 

The  inflection  is  like  that  of  the  strong  adjective.  The  effort  to 
form  a  possessive  from  the  feminine  pronoun  is  early  manifest,  as 
hire  kindis  and  hires  hirnes,  of  her  child.  Compare  the  similar  de- 
velopment of  the  form  ir,  in  Middle  High  Grerman. 

Demonstrative  Pronouns. 


thi- 


Mas. 

Fern. 

Neut. 

Sing. 

Nom.     thi. 

thiu. 

thet. 

Gen.      thes. 

there, 

thes. 

Dat.       tham,  tha, 

there, 

tham. 

Ace.      them. 

tha. 

thet. 

Inst. 

thiu. 

Plur.  Nom. 

tha. 

Gen. 

thera. 

Dat. 

tham,  tha. 

Ace. 

tha. 

The 

lengthened   demonstative 

from  the  old  forms 

tja  and  sa 

i-s. 

Masculine. 

Feminine. 

Neuter. 

Sing. 

Nom.     thi-s,  the-s, 

thiu-s. 

thi-t. 

Gen.      thisses. 

thisse, 

thisses. 

Dat.       thissa. 

thisse, 

thissa. 

Ace.       (this-ne). 

thisse, 

thit. 

Plur. 

Nom.     thisse,  thesse, 

thisse, 

thisse. 

Gen.      thessera, 

thessera, 

thessera. 

Dat.       thisse,  thesse, 

thisse. 

thisse. 

Ace.      thisse, 

thisse, 

thisse. 

The  demonstrative  jen^  G.  jains,  is   vranting  in   Frisian  as  in  Old 
Saxon. 


—  6o 


Interrogative  Pronouns. 

Masculine  and  Fern.  Neuter.  '' 

Sing.  Nom.  hwa,  •  hwet. 

Gen.  hwammes,  hwammes. 

Dat.  hwam,  hwam. 

Ace.  hwane,  hwene,  hwet. 

Relative   Pronouns. 
The  Frisian  uses   the   demonstrative   or   the   particle  ther  for  the 
relative. 

The  Indefinite   Pronouns 
Are  Sum^  some,  ek^  each,  monich,  many,  enich,  any,  annen,  one,   nen 
and  nanen,  no,  one,  ammon,  immen^  0.  S.   eoman^  any  one,  awei, 
ought,  nawet,  naught,  al,  frequently  uninflected,  all,  ek,  each. 


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