The Language Question
The Salic law code contains the earliest surviving attestations of Old Dutch. They consist mainly of stray words or glosses (Malbergse glossen), but include a full sentence:
| Old Dutch | - | maltho | thi | - | afrio | lito |
| Dutch | ik | meld | jou | ik | bevrijd (je) | laat* |
| English | I | tell | you | I | free (you) | freedman |
- A laat was a form of serfdom in the feudal system. He was a half freed farmer; connected to the land of his lord he worked for, but not owned by his lord. While a "horige" was in full ownership of the lord.
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Famous quotes containing the words language and/or question:
“It would seem as if the very language of our parlors would lose all its nerve and degenerate into palaver wholly, our lives pass at such remoteness from its symbols, and its metaphors and tropes are necessarily so far fetched.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The question that’s probably uppermost in the child’s mind is: Why do my parents want to have a baby? Don’t they love me? And if they love me, why do they need another one? Aren’t I enough? Imagine for a minute yourself in a similar situation. Your husband comes home and says: “Honey I love you so much, I’ve decided to go get another wife so I can have two.” How would you feel?”
—Lawrence Balter (20th century)