From J.R.R. Tolkien, "English and Welsh", repr. _The Monsters And
The Critics_, ISBN 0-395-35635-0:
# Málin eru höfuðeinkenni þjóðanna --- 'Languages are
# the chief distinguishing marks of peoples. No people
# in fact comes into being until it speaks a language
# of its own; let the languages perish and the peoples
# perish too, or become different peoples. But that
# never happens except as the result of oppression and
# distress.'
#
# These are the words of a little-known Icelander of
# the early nineteenth century, Sjéra Tómas Sæmundsson.
# He had, of course, primarily in mind the part played
# by the cultivated Icelandic language in spite of
# poverty, lack of power, and insignificant numbers,
# in keeping the Icelanders in being in desperate times.
# But the words might as well apply to the Welsh of Wales,
# who have also loved and cultivated their language for
# its own sake (not as an aspirant for the ruinous honor
# of becoming the lingua franca of the world), and who by it
# and with it maintain their identity.
(p. 166)
-- John Cowan http://www.ccil.org/~cowan cowan@ccil.org e'osai ko sarji la lojban
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.2 : Tue Jul 10 2001 - 17:20:46 EDT