alternatehistory.com
I: Diglossia in Post-Roman Gaul
burg-network\info\public\liberliber/inquiry/latinate_languages/abbrev
2047/7/4 | User: Cit-380-245-978
“The classification of modern Latinate (known in the African sphere as Romance) languages is complicated, both philologically and politically. For much of history, African High Latin has been considered to be the unadulterated evolution of Roman Latin, much in the way that the (Southern) Roman Empire is the evolution of the Roman state. As such, AHL is considered to be contiguous with antique Latin throughout the wider “African sphere”, with non-African dialects considered to be vulgate, barbarian-tinged aberrations.
However, modern linguists, working with sources of ancient Latin and outside the political aegis of Carthage, have different metrics as to the classification of Latin’s wayward sons and daughters. Generally, the modern language or dialect is measured by changes or added loanwords against what is known as Old High Latin. By these metrics, the insular dialects of AHL were the most conservative as of the beginning of the new millennium.
… [press ellipses to go to unabbreviated article]
Judging by “distance” from Latin, the languages from most to least Roman:
As you can tell, these “distances” roughly correspond to the level of outside influences and geographical distance from the ancient Roman “center” each language has. For example, the Gallic languages…”
Diglossia was a common condition in Roman and post-Roman times, both for the elites and the parts of the lower classes. Old Gaulish was attested as surviving into the 7th century by contemporary writers, and the Roman upper class famously spoke both Latin and Greek.
The advent of the barbarian migrations created many new cases of diglossia, or in some places even triglossia. “Ecclesiastic Greek”, for example, offered a bridge between kingdoms often divided by linguistic or sectarian barriers, and provided many of Christianity’s theological terms.
Much in the same way, Latin provided a common elite language between the different barbarian kingdoms of post-Roman Europe, as well as the kingdoms which, despite having less to no Romance speakers, used Latin thanks to ties to the Roman papacy in Carthage. Many of these new barbarian overlords would abandon their ancestral languages quickly -- the Ring of the Nibelungs, the Burgundian royal-national epic, takes as much from later Scandinavian sources as it does from the eponymous Burgundian tribal confederacy.
In Gaul, however, a curious situation developed. Eastern Gaul was, outside of Italy, the Roman region most brutalized by the initial barbarian invasions. Between the Alans, Burgundians and Rugii and then the invasion of the Saxons and Swabians, a number of cities and settlements were harshly sacked, and in some cases razed:
The barbarian elites of the Saxon Sexarchy and the kingdoms of the Frisians and Angles in what were once the provinces of Germania and Belgica shared mutually intelligible languages, and mutually intelligible literature. Christianity was slow in returning as the state faith in northern Gaul, but literate Romans, Christian and otherwise, did serve in the royal courts of these new kingdoms. As such, these scribes wrote down the beginnings of the corpus of English literature.
There was a significant period of time in which the Saxons, Angles, and Frisians, all still pagan, engaged in common political, cultural, and economic contact. Contemporary literature from after the Triennium Horribilis of the 530s was a) written in the English/Saxon/Frisian tongue, and referenced Germanic peoples both close to home and farther afield.
No such Saxon literature is referenced to, or survives from, the kingdoms of Mercia and Aquitaine. Saxon was quickly abandoned in Mercia upon conversion to Christianity and full integration with the Gallo-Roman elite; Saxon survived a small while in Aquitaine after Christianization, but not long enough to have produced even the slightest corpus of literature.
The other four kingdoms, however, all have varying amounts of Saxon literature, helped by the proximity of England and Frisia. Over the course of the Septarchy period, similar processes of Christianization and the eventual elite abandonment of Saxon occurred, but not before significantly affecting the group of languages eventually called Western and Eastern Gallic. The Hethoremes in particular held on to Saxon the longest, maintaining their diglossia for over a century after Christianization, aided by the use of the vernacular in the Anglo-Frisian branch of the Alemmanic church.
Saxon Gaul acted as the bridge between Latin and Germanic Europe, creating a space where Latin works could enter into the Germanic languages and vice versa. The Saxons and their mutually intelligible neighbors also maintained the heritage of the Migration Period, recounting the Germanic peoples and events such as the war between the Huns and the Goths.
One such piece of literature was the poem of Widsith, whose name literally means “far journey”. While the work cannot be said to be a historically-accurate tale of the travels of a real-life Widsith, it does provide us an idea of the Germanic meta-narrative of the period, and their knowledge of the world inherited from the Romans. One of the three thulas, a catelogue-like list taken from old oral tradition, lists the peoples that Widsith, the aptly-named protagonist, has visited (mostly taken from OTL poem):
... 55
mænan fore mengo
in meoduhealle
hu me cynegode
cystum dohten.
Ic wæs mid Hunum
ond mid Hreðgotum,
mid Sweom ond mid Geatum
ond mid Heaðobeardum.
Mid Wenlum ic wæs ond mid Wærnum
ond mid wicingum.
to this noble company
in the mead hall,
how my worthy patrons
rewarded me.
I was with Huns
and with Goths,
and with Swedes and with Geats
and with Heatho-bards.
With Vandals I was and with Varni
and with Vikings.
60
Mid Gefþum ic wæs ond mid Winedum
ond mid Gefflegum.
Mid Englum ic wæs ond mid Swæfum
ond mid Ironum.
Mid Seaxum ic wæs ond Brettum
ond mid Sweonum.
Mid Hronum ic wæs ond mid Acasserum
ond mid Heaþoreamum.
Mid þyringum ic wæs
ond mid þrowendum,
With the Gepids I was and with Wends
and with Gevlegs.
With the Angles I was and with Suebi
and with Alans.
With the Saxons I was and with Britons
and with Swedes.
With the Hrons I was and with Acassirs
and with Heatho-Reams.
With the Thuringians I was
and with the Throwens,
65
ond mid Burgendum,
þær ic beag geþah;
me þær Þeodberht forgeaf
glædlicne maþþum
songes to leane.
Næs þæt sæne cyning!
Mid Froncum ic wæs ond mid Frysum
ond mid Frumtingum.
Mid Rugum ic wæs ond mid Glommum
ond mid Rumwalum.
and with Burgundians,
there they gave me a ring:
there Theudebert gave me
a shining treasure,
as a reward for my songs.
He was not a bad king!
With the Franks I was and with Frisians
and with Frumtings.
With the Rugians I was and with Gloms
and with Romans...
...75
Mid Sercingum ic wæs
ond mid Seringum;
mid Creacum ic wæs ond mid Finnum
ond mid Casere,
se þe winburga
geweald ahte,
wiolena ond wilna,
ond Afer rices.
Mid Scyrum ic wæs ond mid Peohtum
ond mid Scridefinnum;
With the Saracens I was
and with Seres.
With the Greeks I was and with the Finns
and with Caesar,
he who a grand city
possessed,
treasures and female slaves,
and the Roman (African) Empire.
With the Scirii I was and with Picts
and with Saamis.
80
mid Lidwicingum ic wæs ond mid Ytum
ond mid Erulum,
mid hæðnum ond mid hæleþum
ond mid Hundingum.
Mid Israhelum ic wæs
ond mid Exsyringum,
mid Ebreum ond mid Indeum
ond mid Egyptum.
Mid Moidum ic wæs ond mid Persum
ond mid Myrgingum,
With the Lidvikings I was and with Jutes
and with Heruls,
with heathens and with heroes
and with Hundings.
With the Israelites I was
and with Assyrians,
with Hebrews and with Indians
and with Egyptians.
With the Medes I was and with Persians
and with Myrgings
85
ond Mofdingum
ond ongend Myrgingum,
ond mid Amothingum.
Mid Basconum ic wæs
ond mid Eolum ond mid Istum
ond Idumingum.
Ond ic wæs mid Amalarice
ealle þrage,
þær me Gotena cyning
gode dohte;
and with Mofdings
against the Myrgings,
and with Amothings.
With the Basques I was
and with Eols and with Ists
and Idumings.
And I was with Amalric
during some time,
there the Goth king to me
did his best to do good…
From the above, there is the first documented use of Afer rice to refer to the Romans. Although the ultimate root is obviously uncertain, it is likely that a diglossic scribe saw the Latin term Africa along with the term Afer for the people living there and translated it into Saxon as Afer rice. From here, the term for the Roman Empire in Germanic and Slavic Europe would stem from that term -- Aferreich in German, Aferike in Scandinavia, etc.
There were also reverse loanwords. The prefix Heath, as used in the names of the Heathobards and Heathoremes, came to be used in Continental High Latin as a term for warlike pagans, also giving birth to the term heathen in the same language. Thusly, when under attack from Scandinavians in the 9th century, the Burgundian monk Sisebut of Seville would denote the “furor of the Heath-Nords” in their assault on the river Baetis.
2047/7/4 | User: Cit-380-245-978
“The classification of modern Latinate (known in the African sphere as Romance) languages is complicated, both philologically and politically. For much of history, African High Latin has been considered to be the unadulterated evolution of Roman Latin, much in the way that the (Southern) Roman Empire is the evolution of the Roman state. As such, AHL is considered to be contiguous with antique Latin throughout the wider “African sphere”, with non-African dialects considered to be vulgate, barbarian-tinged aberrations.
However, modern linguists, working with sources of ancient Latin and outside the political aegis of Carthage, have different metrics as to the classification of Latin’s wayward sons and daughters. Generally, the modern language or dialect is measured by changes or added loanwords against what is known as Old High Latin. By these metrics, the insular dialects of AHL were the most conservative as of the beginning of the new millennium.
… [press ellipses to go to unabbreviated article]
Judging by “distance” from Latin, the languages from most to least Roman:
- Sardo-Corsican: 6%
- African High Latin: 9%
- African Low Latin (i.e. local dialects): 10-12%
- Dalmatian/Illyrian: 15%
- Byzantine: 18%
- Central Burgundian/Hispanic: 20%
- Mercian: 22%
- Lusitan: 25%
- Aquitan: 27%
- Septimanian: 30%
- Southern Vulgarian: 32%
- Betic: 33.3%
- Alpine: 34.5%
- North Vulgarian: 36%
- Central Gallic: 40%
- Northern Gallic: 44%
- Eastern Gallic: 47%
As you can tell, these “distances” roughly correspond to the level of outside influences and geographical distance from the ancient Roman “center” each language has. For example, the Gallic languages…”
###
Diglossia was a common condition in Roman and post-Roman times, both for the elites and the parts of the lower classes. Old Gaulish was attested as surviving into the 7th century by contemporary writers, and the Roman upper class famously spoke both Latin and Greek.
The advent of the barbarian migrations created many new cases of diglossia, or in some places even triglossia. “Ecclesiastic Greek”, for example, offered a bridge between kingdoms often divided by linguistic or sectarian barriers, and provided many of Christianity’s theological terms.
Much in the same way, Latin provided a common elite language between the different barbarian kingdoms of post-Roman Europe, as well as the kingdoms which, despite having less to no Romance speakers, used Latin thanks to ties to the Roman papacy in Carthage. Many of these new barbarian overlords would abandon their ancestral languages quickly -- the Ring of the Nibelungs, the Burgundian royal-national epic, takes as much from later Scandinavian sources as it does from the eponymous Burgundian tribal confederacy.
In Gaul, however, a curious situation developed. Eastern Gaul was, outside of Italy, the Roman region most brutalized by the initial barbarian invasions. Between the Alans, Burgundians and Rugii and then the invasion of the Saxons and Swabians, a number of cities and settlements were harshly sacked, and in some cases razed:
- Colonia Agrippina
- Colonia Traiana
- Augusta Treverorum
- Noviomagus Veromanduorum
- Noviomagus Batavorum
- Lugdunum
- Lugdunum Clavatum
- Ricomagus
- Augustobona
- Lutetia Parisiorum
- Burugnum
- Samarobriva
- Atrabatis
- Noviodunum
- Novaesium
- Confluentes
- Artiaca
The barbarian elites of the Saxon Sexarchy and the kingdoms of the Frisians and Angles in what were once the provinces of Germania and Belgica shared mutually intelligible languages, and mutually intelligible literature. Christianity was slow in returning as the state faith in northern Gaul, but literate Romans, Christian and otherwise, did serve in the royal courts of these new kingdoms. As such, these scribes wrote down the beginnings of the corpus of English literature.
There was a significant period of time in which the Saxons, Angles, and Frisians, all still pagan, engaged in common political, cultural, and economic contact. Contemporary literature from after the Triennium Horribilis of the 530s was a) written in the English/Saxon/Frisian tongue, and referenced Germanic peoples both close to home and farther afield.
No such Saxon literature is referenced to, or survives from, the kingdoms of Mercia and Aquitaine. Saxon was quickly abandoned in Mercia upon conversion to Christianity and full integration with the Gallo-Roman elite; Saxon survived a small while in Aquitaine after Christianization, but not long enough to have produced even the slightest corpus of literature.
The other four kingdoms, however, all have varying amounts of Saxon literature, helped by the proximity of England and Frisia. Over the course of the Septarchy period, similar processes of Christianization and the eventual elite abandonment of Saxon occurred, but not before significantly affecting the group of languages eventually called Western and Eastern Gallic. The Hethoremes in particular held on to Saxon the longest, maintaining their diglossia for over a century after Christianization, aided by the use of the vernacular in the Anglo-Frisian branch of the Alemmanic church.
Saxon Gaul acted as the bridge between Latin and Germanic Europe, creating a space where Latin works could enter into the Germanic languages and vice versa. The Saxons and their mutually intelligible neighbors also maintained the heritage of the Migration Period, recounting the Germanic peoples and events such as the war between the Huns and the Goths.
One such piece of literature was the poem of Widsith, whose name literally means “far journey”. While the work cannot be said to be a historically-accurate tale of the travels of a real-life Widsith, it does provide us an idea of the Germanic meta-narrative of the period, and their knowledge of the world inherited from the Romans. One of the three thulas, a catelogue-like list taken from old oral tradition, lists the peoples that Widsith, the aptly-named protagonist, has visited (mostly taken from OTL poem):
... 55
mænan fore mengo
in meoduhealle
hu me cynegode
cystum dohten.
Ic wæs mid Hunum
ond mid Hreðgotum,
mid Sweom ond mid Geatum
ond mid Heaðobeardum.
Mid Wenlum ic wæs ond mid Wærnum
ond mid wicingum.
to this noble company
in the mead hall,
how my worthy patrons
rewarded me.
I was with Huns
and with Goths,
and with Swedes and with Geats
and with Heatho-bards.
With Vandals I was and with Varni
and with Vikings.
60
Mid Gefþum ic wæs ond mid Winedum
ond mid Gefflegum.
Mid Englum ic wæs ond mid Swæfum
ond mid Ironum.
Mid Seaxum ic wæs ond Brettum
ond mid Sweonum.
Mid Hronum ic wæs ond mid Acasserum
ond mid Heaþoreamum.
Mid þyringum ic wæs
ond mid þrowendum,
With the Gepids I was and with Wends
and with Gevlegs.
With the Angles I was and with Suebi
and with Alans.
With the Saxons I was and with Britons
and with Swedes.
With the Hrons I was and with Acassirs
and with Heatho-Reams.
With the Thuringians I was
and with the Throwens,
65
ond mid Burgendum,
þær ic beag geþah;
me þær Þeodberht forgeaf
glædlicne maþþum
songes to leane.
Næs þæt sæne cyning!
Mid Froncum ic wæs ond mid Frysum
ond mid Frumtingum.
Mid Rugum ic wæs ond mid Glommum
ond mid Rumwalum.
and with Burgundians,
there they gave me a ring:
there Theudebert gave me
a shining treasure,
as a reward for my songs.
He was not a bad king!
With the Franks I was and with Frisians
and with Frumtings.
With the Rugians I was and with Gloms
and with Romans...
...75
Mid Sercingum ic wæs
ond mid Seringum;
mid Creacum ic wæs ond mid Finnum
ond mid Casere,
se þe winburga
geweald ahte,
wiolena ond wilna,
ond Afer rices.
Mid Scyrum ic wæs ond mid Peohtum
ond mid Scridefinnum;
With the Saracens I was
and with Seres.
With the Greeks I was and with the Finns
and with Caesar,
he who a grand city
possessed,
treasures and female slaves,
and the Roman (African) Empire.
With the Scirii I was and with Picts
and with Saamis.
80
mid Lidwicingum ic wæs ond mid Ytum
ond mid Erulum,
mid hæðnum ond mid hæleþum
ond mid Hundingum.
Mid Israhelum ic wæs
ond mid Exsyringum,
mid Ebreum ond mid Indeum
ond mid Egyptum.
Mid Moidum ic wæs ond mid Persum
ond mid Myrgingum,
With the Lidvikings I was and with Jutes
and with Heruls,
with heathens and with heroes
and with Hundings.
With the Israelites I was
and with Assyrians,
with Hebrews and with Indians
and with Egyptians.
With the Medes I was and with Persians
and with Myrgings
85
ond Mofdingum
ond ongend Myrgingum,
ond mid Amothingum.
Mid Basconum ic wæs
ond mid Eolum ond mid Istum
ond Idumingum.
Ond ic wæs mid Amalarice
ealle þrage,
þær me Gotena cyning
gode dohte;
and with Mofdings
against the Myrgings,
and with Amothings.
With the Basques I was
and with Eols and with Ists
and Idumings.
And I was with Amalric
during some time,
there the Goth king to me
did his best to do good…
From the above, there is the first documented use of Afer rice to refer to the Romans. Although the ultimate root is obviously uncertain, it is likely that a diglossic scribe saw the Latin term Africa along with the term Afer for the people living there and translated it into Saxon as Afer rice. From here, the term for the Roman Empire in Germanic and Slavic Europe would stem from that term -- Aferreich in German, Aferike in Scandinavia, etc.
There were also reverse loanwords. The prefix Heath, as used in the names of the Heathobards and Heathoremes, came to be used in Continental High Latin as a term for warlike pagans, also giving birth to the term heathen in the same language. Thusly, when under attack from Scandinavians in the 9th century, the Burgundian monk Sisebut of Seville would denote the “furor of the Heath-Nords” in their assault on the river Baetis.
- St. Just
- Word Count: 1.7k