First Steps in English Literature Author:Arthur Gilman Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER II. DEFINITION OF TERMS. ilNGLAND was known to the Romans as Britannia, and also as Anglia. The latter name is said to have been derived from ... more »Angeln in Schleswig. Angeln is a little tract of country laid down on the map of Denmark. It is bounded on the east by the Baltic Sea, on the north by Flensburg Bay, and on the south by the river Schley. It is not known when the first emigrants from the land of the Teutons came into Britain, nor is it supposed that they all came from Angeln. A number of different tribes were undoubtedly involved in the movement, but the Angles took a greater part of the land than any of the others, and therefore the whole country took their name in the end. The Celts lived in Britain and on the continent, at the earliest known period. Julius Caesar called them Gauls in one branch, and Belgians in another. They were also called Cimbrians. The Gads of Scotland, Ireland, and Wales represent other branches of the Celts. Anglo-Saxon is a modern term used to designatein a general way all the Teutonic settlers in Britain. The Teutonic race, which originated in Asia, is divided into three branches. I. The first branch is mainly composed of the Teutonic inhabitants of upper and middle Germany, Switzerland, and Hungary. II. The second is called the Saxon branch, and includes the Frisians, Old Saxons, or Low Germans, the Dutch, Flemings, and Saxons of Transylvania, the English, Scotch, and most of the inhabitants of the United States. III. The third is the Scandinavian branch, and includes the Swedes, Norwegians, Icelanders, and Danes. The word Teuton is only another form of our word Dutch, and has always been applied to those we call Germans. It is derived from Tuisco, a god or hero whom that people considered their common ancestor...« less