The Frontiers of Language and Nationality in EuropeDominian, Leon
History
The Frontiers of Language and Nationality in Europe
Dominian, Leon
Europe -- Languages; Nationalism
Although race taken in its modern scientific meaning--the actual
physical character of man--originally implied a common origin,
it has today little or nothing to do with either nationality or
language, since nearly all the great nations of Europe are composed
of various proportions of two and sometimes all three of the
primary European races. The population of England owes its blood
to the Mediterranean and to the more recent Nordic race. Germany
is composed of a combination of Nordic and Alpine, Italy of a
mixture of Alpine and Mediterranean, while France unites within
her boundaries the Nordic in the north, the Mediterranean in the
south and the Alpine in the center. Spain and Portugal, however,
are overwhelmingly of Mediterranean blood, while the Scandinavian
races are purely Nordic. Thus it is quite evident that nationality
and language are independent of race, and in fact the meaning of
the word “race” as used not only by the man in the street, but
also by the historian, is based on the spoken language. So far as
race is concerned in its scientific sense, there exists no such
thing as a “Latin,” a “Celtic,” a “German,” a “Slavic,” or even an
“Aryan” or “Caucasian” race. These are linguistic terms, and are
not correlated to bodily characters.
Throughout Europe, as pointed out by Mr. Dominian, there is,
however, a close correspondence between topographical and
geological land features, on the one hand, and the extent and
spread of language on the other. A similar close connection
has been noted between geographical features and race. Man’s
topographical surroundings are among the most potent elements
of environment, and have operated powerfully in the selection
and development of man, but they do not transform or change one
race into another. We have now discarded the old conception that
blondness has anything to do with latitude, or altitude. Where two
distinct races compete in a given environment, it generally happens
that one or the other is better adapted to its surroundings, and
that race tends to increase at the expense of its rival, with
the result that one ultimately replaces the other. The races of
Europe were originally adjusted to a certain fixed habitat, and
when through conquest or commercial expansion they moved out of
their native surroundings into unfamiliar ground, they tended
to disappear. In short, race supplies the raw material, and
environment is the molding force, or to use another simile, “the
oak tree and the poplar tree are both wood, but the one can be
polished by rubbing, while the other cannot.” In other words,
the Greek genius and Hellenic culture were not created by the
irregularity and broken configuration of Greece, and if the Greeks
had been transplanted at an early time to Arabia, it is hardly
conceivable that the world would have seen classic civilization
in its most typical form. On the other hand, we have no reason to
believe that if the Arabs had settled in Greece, they would have
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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