Teutonic

(tu-ton'ik.) Belonging to the Teutones, an ancient powerful German tribe, who, after defeating Manlius and Scipio, B. c. 105, were totally defeated by Marius, at Aquæ Sextim (the modern Aix), B. c. 102. T. Languages. A name given to the dialects which are comprised under the High German, Low German, and Scand in avian branches of the Aryan family of languages. Of these, the English and Dutch belong to the Low German branch. These dialects cannot be directly derived from each other, any more than Greek can be derived from Latin, or Latin from Greek, or either of these from Sanskrit; and if they are traceable at all to a common source,this source must be found in a language preceding all dialects which are known to us historically. T. Order. A religious order of knights,established towards the close of the 12th cent., and thus called because consisting chiefly of Germans orTeutones. The original object of the a ociation was to defend the Christian religion against the infidels, and to take care of the sick in the Holy Land. They settled in Poland in 1233, and were united with the Brethren of the Sword in 1237. They conquered Pru ia in 1283; but insurrections afterwards broke out, and they were defeated by the Poles and Lithuanians in a great battle near Tannenburg, in Germany, July 15, 1410, when the grandmaster and 40,000 of his followers were slain. The Order was abolished by Napoleon in 1809, its lands pa ing to the sovereigns in whose dominions they lay. It, however, still continues to preserve a titular [s. 889]