contain valuable contributions to the history of Greek and Roman
literature. See S. Teuffel, Willielm Teuffel (1889); C. Bursian in
Biographisches Jahrbuch (1878); F. Koldewey in Allgemeine
deutsche Biographie, xxxvii.
TEUTOBURGER WALD, a mountain range of Germany, stretching N.W. to S.E., along the borders of the Prussian provinces of Hanover and Westphalia and through the principality of Lippe, for a distance of 70 m., with a width of 2 to 6 m. It consists of a well-marked main chain, accompanied in its central part by subsidiary ridges. It slopes up gradually towards the E., where it culminates in the Völmerstod (1536 ft.). The greater part of the range is densely wooded. The main chain is pierced by several deep gaps or “doors,” through some of which important railways have been carried; e.g., the line connecting Paderborn and Hanover, and that connecting Herford and Hamm. The chief geological formations belong to the Cretaceous system, backed towards the north and east by Jurassic and Triassic formations. The Teutoburger Wald was the scene of a famous battle in which Arminius at the head of the Cherusci destroyed three Roman legions under Quintilius Varus (A.D. 9). Mommsen has located the battle near the source of the Hunte, north of Osnabrück, and outside the range of hills; but most scholars prefer some site in the central part of the mountain-chain. In accordance with these latter views the Grotenburg (1263 ft.), 2½ m. S.W. from Detmold, has been crowned with a gigantic monument to Arminius Hermann, erected in 1838-41 and 1871-75, at a cost of £13,500. The work, which was designed by E. von Bandel, consists of a gigantic statue of the chieftain, 56½ ft. high, standing on an arched pediment 98 ft. high.
See H. Thorbecke, Führer durch den Teutoburger Wald (15th ed., Detmold, 1905); Wilisch, Der Kampf um das Schlachtfeld im Teutoburger Walde (Neue Jahrbücher für das klassische Altertum, May 1909).
TEUTONI, or Teutones, a tribe of northern Europe, who became known to the Romans in the year 103 B.C., when, according to the Epitome of Livy, together with the Ambrones they reinforced the Cimbri after their repulse from Spain by the Celtiberi. In 102 the Teutoni and Ambrones were totally defeated by Marius at Aquae Sextiae (see Marius, Gaius). The racial affinities of the Teutoni have formed a matter of dispute amongst historians. Their name is Celtic in form, and many writers suppose that the Teutoni were really a Celtic tribe, a branch of the Helvetii. But a people of this name seems to have been mentioned by the early traveller Pytheas as inhabiting the coasts of the northern ocean in his time. Strabo and Velleius, moreover, classify them as Germani, and this is perhaps the more probable view, although apparently the distinction between Celt and Teuton was not clearly realized by some of the earlier historians. If the Teutoni really came from the same quarter as the Cimbri, it is possible that their name may have been preserved in that of the district called until recently Thyland or Thythsyssel in the extreme north-west of Jutland.
For authorities see Cimbri; also Pliny, xxxvii. 35.
TEUTONIC (GERMANIC) LANGUAGES,[1] a comprehensive term for a number of languages most of which are still spoken at the present time, namely English, Frisian, Dutch, Flemish, German (both High and Low) and the various Scandinavian languages (Swedish, Danish, Icelandic and the Norwegian dialects). The course of time has tended very largely to obscure the affinities between these languages, and in several cases they have been mutually unintelligible for many centuries. In their earliest known forms, however, they betray the most unmistakable traces of a common origin. To the languages enumerated above we have to add the now extinct Gothic, which in the 5th and 6th centuries was spoken over a large part of Europe.
Detailed accounts of the various Teutonic languages will be found in articles under the respective headings. Here it is possible only to give a brief summary of the chief characteristics of these languages as a group, and of the chief divergences noticeable in early times between the various members of the group. It should be noted at the outset that the written records of the various languages date from very different periods. Gothic is known to us almost entirely from Ulfilas' translation of the Bible, which dates from the 4th century. English written literature starts with the beginning of the 7th century, though earlier matter may be preserved in certain poems. The earliest known German and Dutch documents date from the 8th and 9th centuries respectively, while Frisian is practically unknown before the 13th century. Scandinavian written literature seems to have begun in the 12th century, but many poems are probably from two to three centuries older. In the North there are also a large number of inscriptions which are of great value for linguistic purposes. Most of them cannot be dated with certainty, but the forms of language which they present show all stages of development, from the type found in literary times back to one which is somewhat more archaic even than Gothic. It is probable that the earliest of them date from between the 3rd and 5th centuries. The inscriptions found in England and Germany are much fewer and less archaic. In the latter case, however, a good deal of linguistic evidence is available from the proper names and other Teutonic words which occur in early Latin and Greek writings. Much assistance may also be obtained from the loan-words borrowed by Teutonic languages from Latin and by other languages, especially Finnish and Slavonic, from Teutonic.
The Teutonic languages form a distinct and well-defined group of the Indo-European family. Their nearest affinities are on the one side with the Celtic and Italic (Latin, &c.) languages, and on the other with the Slavonic and Baltic languages. In regard to the fundamental distinction, however, by which the Indo-European languages as a whole fall into two main divisions, namely according to the treatment of certain guttural and palatal consonants, the Teutonic group belongs definitely, together with Celtic, Italic and Greek, to the western of these divisions.
The chief characteristic of the Teutonic languages as a whole lies in their treatment of the Indo-European explosive sounds. This characteristic, generally known as Grimm's Law, is due to sound-changes peculiar to Teutonic, though somewhat similar changes may be traced both in Armenian and Celtic. The most noteworthy phenomena are as follows:—
(1) The Indo-European voiced aspirates, bh, dh, gh (Lat. f, f, h; Gk. φ, θ, χ) became voiced spirants, ƀ, đ, ʒ. After nasals these spirants became explosives (b, d, g); and in the first two cases the same change took place initially, though hardly during the early centuries of our era, e.g. A.S. beran, O.N. bera : Lat. fero, Gk. φέρω; A.S. stigan : Gk. στείχω; O.N. miöðr (A.S. medu) : Gk. μέθυ.
(2) The I.-Eur. voiceless explosives, p, t, k, were preserved only after s (t also in the I.-Eur. groups pt and kt); e.g. A.S. stede, Goth. staps: Gk. στάσις; Goth. nahts: Lat. noctem. In all other cases they became voiceless spirants, f, þ, χ, (h). These new sounds remained (i.) initially, e.g. A.S. hwaet, O.N. hvat: Lat. quod; A.S. faeder, O.N. faðir : Lat. pater; (ii.) in combination with other voiceless sounds, e.g. Goth. saihs, O.H.G. sehs: Lat. sex; Goth. nahts: Lat. noctem; (iii.) immediately after the (original) accent, e.g. Goth. broþar, A.S. broðor : Lat. frater, Gk. φράτηρ; Goth. taihun, O.H.G. zehan: Lat. decem, Gk. δέκα. In all other cases they became voiced spirants (“Verner's Law”), identical with those arising from I.-Eur. bh, dh, gh (see above); e.g. A.S. faeder: Lat. pater, Gk. πατήρ; A.S. sweger, O.H.G. swigar (mother-in-law): Gk. ἑκυρά.
(3) The I.-Eur. voiced (unaspirated) explosives, b, d, g, became voiceless, p, t, k; e.g. A.S. etan : Lat. edere; A.S. aecer, Goth. akrs: Lat. ager, Gk. ἀγρός.
Among other consonantal changes we may note especially the following:—
(4) ʒw arising from I.-Eur. ghw or kw (see above) was reduced (except after nasals) before u (perhaps also before I.-Eur. o) to ʒ, and in all other cases to w; e.g. A.S. guð (war), O.H.G. gund: Gk. -φατος (cf. φόνος); A.S. sniweð (snows): Lat. niuit, Gk. νείφει.
(5) The I.-Eur. cons. group arising from combination of dental sound +t became ss, as in Celtic and Latin, e.g. A.S. sess (seat): sittan, Lat. sedere (cf. Sanscr. pp. sattas, Lat. obsessus).
- ↑ The following abbreviations are used: A.S. = Anglo-Saxon; O.H.G. = Old High German; O.N. = Old Norse; I.-Eur. = Indo-European. The symbol “:” denotes relationship between two forms or sets of forms.
