Account of the Romansh Language - Joseph Planta, Esq. F. R. S.
Among this variety of conjectures and acute controversies, I find it
however agreed on all hands, that the vocabulary of the Roman, and the
idiom of the Celtic, have chiefly contributed to the formation of the
Gallic, Romance, which is sufficient to prove that it partakes of a
common origin with that of the Grisons.
There are incontestable proofs that this language was once universal all
over France; and that this, and not immediately the Latin, has been the
parent of the Provencal, and afterwards of the modern French, the
Italian, and the Spanish. The oath taken by Lewis the Germanic, in the
year 842, in confirmation of an alliance between him and Charles the
Bald his brother, is a decisive proof of the general use of the Romance
by the whole French nation at that time, and of their little knowledge
of the Teutonic, which being the native tongue of Lewis, would certainly
have been used by him, in this oath, had it been understood by the
French to whom he addressed himself. But Nithardus,[AP] a contemporary
writer and near relation to the contracting parties, informs us, that
Lewis took the oath in the Romance language, in order that it might be
understood by the French nobility who were the subjects of Charles; and
that they, in their turn, entered into reciprocal engagements in _their
own language_, which the same author again declares to have been the
Romance, and not the Teutonic; although one would imagine that, had they
at all understood this latter tongue, they could not but have used it
upon this occasion, in return for the condescension of Lewis.
As a comparison between this language and the Romansh of the Grisons
cannot be considered as a mere object of curiosity, but may also serve
to corroborate the proofs I have above alleged of the antiquity of the
latter, I have annexed in the appendix,[AQ] a translation of this oath
into the language of Engadine, which approaches nearest to it; although
I must observe, that there are in the other dialect some words which
have a still greater affinity with the language of the oath, as appears
by another translation I have procured, in which both dialects are
indifferently used. To prevent any doubts concerning the veracity of
these translations, I must here declare, that I am indebted for them,
and for several anecdotes concerning that language, to a man of letters,
who is a native and has long been an inhabitant of the Grisons, and is
lately come to reside in London. I have added to this comparative view
of those two languages, the Latin words from which both seem to have
been derived; and, as a proof of the existence of the Gallic Romance in
France down to the twelfth century, I have also subjoined the words used
in that kingdom at that period, as they are given us by the author of
the article _(Langue) Romane_, in the French Encyclopedie.
To the comparison of the two Romances, and the similarity of their
origin, I may now with confidence add the authority of Fontanini[AR] to
prove, that they are one and the same language. This author, speaking of
the ancient Gallic Romance, asserts that it is now spoken in the country
of the Grisons; though, not attending to the variety of dialects, some
of which have certainly nothing of the Italian, he supposes it to have
been altogether adulterated by a mixture of that modern tongue.
Whilst the Grisons neglected to improve their language, and rejected, or
indeed were out of the reach of every refinement it might have derived
from polished strangers, the taste and fertile genius of the
Troubadours, fostered by the countenance and elegance of the brilliant
courts and splendid nobility of Provence, did not long leave theirs in
the rough state in which we find it in the ninth century. But the change
having been gradual and almost imperceptible, the French historians have
fixed no epocha for the transition of the Romance into the Provencal.
That the former language had not received any considerable alteration in
the twelfth Century may be gathered from the comparison in the appendix:
and, that it still bore the same name, appears from the titles of
several books which are said to have been written in, or translated
into, the Romance. But though mention is made of that name even after
this aera, yet upon examining impartially what is given us for that
language in this period, it will be found so different from the Romance
of the ninth century, that to trace it any further would be both a vain
and an extravagant pursuit.
Admitting, however, the universal use of the Romance all over France
down to the twelfth century, which no French author has yet doubted or
denied; and allowing that what the writers of those times say of the
Gallic is to be understood of the Romance, as appears from chronological
proofs, and the expressions of several authors prior to the fifth
century;[AS] who, by distinguishing the _Gallic_ both from the _Latin_
and the _Celtic_, plainly indicate that they thereby mean the Romance,
those being the only three languages which, before the invasion of the
Franks, could possibly have been spoken, or even understood in Gaul:
admitting these premises, I say, it necessarily follows, that the
language introduced into England under Alfred, and afterwards more
universally established by Edward the Confessor, and William the
Conqueror, must have been an emanation of the Romance, very near akin to
that of the abovementioned oath, and consequently to that which is now
spoken in the Alps.
The intercourse between Britain and Gaul is known to have been of a very
early date; for even in the first century we find, that the British
lawyers derived the greatest part of their knowledge from those of the
continent;[AT] while on the other hand, the Gallic Druids are known to
have resorted to Britain for instruction in their mysterious rites. The
Britons, therefore, could not be totally ignorant of the Gallic
language. And hence it will appear, that Grimbald, John, and the other
doctors introduced by Alfred,[AU] could find no great difficulty in
propagating their native tongue in this island; which tongue, at that
interval of time, could only be the true Romance, since they were
contemporaries with Lewis the Germanic.
That the Romance was almost universally understood in this kingdom under
Edward the Confessor, it being not only used at court, but frequently at
the bar, and even sometimes in the pulpit, is a fact too well known and
attested[AV] to need my further authenticating it with superfluous
arguments and testimonies.
Duclos, in his History of the Gallic' Romance,[AW] gives the
abovementioned oath of Lewis as the first monument of that language. The
second he mentions is the code of laws of William the Conqueror,[AX]
whom the least proficient in the English history knows to have rendered
his language almost universal in this kingdom. How little progress it
had yet made towards the modern French; and how great an affinity it
still bore with the present Romansh of the Grisons, will appear from the
annexed translation of the first paragraph of these laws into the latter
tongue.[AY]
If we may credit Du Cange,[AZ] who grounds his assertion upon various
instruments of the kings of Scotland during the twelfth century, the
Romance had also penetrated into that kingdom before that period.
The same corruption, or coalescence, which gave rise to the Gallic
Romance, and to that of the Grisons, must also have produced in Italy a
language, if not perfectly similar, at least greatly approaching to
those two idioms. Nor did it want its northern nations to contribute
what the two other branches derived from that source.[BA] But be the
origin what it will, certain it is, that a jargon very different from
either the Latin or the Italian was spoken in Italy from the time of the
irruptions of the barbarians to the successful labours of Dante and
Petrarca; that this jargon was usually called the _vulgar idiom_; but
that Speroni,[BB] the father of an Italian literature, and others,
frequently call it the _common Italian Romance_. And if Fontanini's[BC]
authorities be sufficient, it appears that even the Gallic Romance, by
the residence of the papal court at Avignon, and from other causes, made
its way into Italy before it was polished into the Provencal.
As to Naples and Sicily, the expulsion of the Saracens by the Normans,
under Robert Guiscard in 1059, must have produced in that country nearly
the same effect, a similar event soon after brought about in England.
And in fact we have the authority of William of Apulia[BD] to prove,
that the conquerors used all their efforts to propagate their language
and manners among the natives, that they might ever after be considered
only as one people. And Hugo Falcland[BE] relates, that in the year
1150, Count Henry refused to take upon him the management of public
affairs, under pretence of not knowing the language of the French;
which, he adds, was absolutely necessary at court.
That the language of the Romans penetrated very early into Spain,
appears most evidently from a passage in Strabo,[BF] who asserts that
the Turditani inhabiting the banks of the Boetis, now the Guadalquivir,
forgot their original tongue, and adopted that of the conquerors. That
the Romance was used there in the fourteenth century appears from a
correspondence between St. Vincent of Ferrieres and Don Martin, son of
Peter the IVth of Arragon;[BG] and that this language must once have
been common in that kingdom appears manifestly from the present name of
the Spanish, which is still usually called Romance.[BH] These
circumstances considered, I am not so much inclined to discredit a fact
related by Mabillon,[BI] who says, that in the eighth century a
paralytic Spaniard, on paying his devotions at the tomb of a saint in
the church of Fulda, conversed with a monk of that abbey, who, _because
he was an Italian_, understood the language of the Spaniard. Neither
does an oral tradition I heard some times ago appear so absurd to me, as
it did when it was first related to me, which says, that two Catalonians
travelling over the Alps, were not a little surprized when they came
into the Grison country, to find that their native tongue was understood
by the inhabitants, and that they could comprehend most of the language
of that district.
This universality of the Romance in the French dominions during the
eleventh century, also accounts for its introduction in Palestine and
many other parts of the Levant by Godfrey de Bouillon, and the multitude
of adventurers who engaged under him in the Crusade. The assizes of
Jerusalem, and those of Cyprus, are standing monuments of the footing
that language had obtained in those parts; and if we may trust a Spanish
historian of some reputation[BJ] who resided in Greece in the thirteenth
century, the Athenians and the inhabitants of Morea spoke at that time
the same language that was used in France. And there is great reason to
imagine, that the affinity the _Lingua Franca_ bears to the French and
Italian is intirely to be derived from the Romance, which was once
commonly used in the ports of the Levant. The heroic atchievements and
gallantry of the knights of the cross also gave rise to the swarm of
fabulous narratives; which, though not an invention of those days, were
yet, from the name of the language in which they were written, ever
after distinguished by the appellation of _Romances_.[BK]
I shall now conclude this letter by observing, that far from presuming
that the Romance has been preserved so near its primitive state only in
the country of the Grisons, there is great reason to suppose that it
still exists in several other remote and unfrequented parts. When
Fontanini informs us[BL] that the ancient Romance is now spoken in the
country of the Grisons, he adds, that it is also the common dialect of
the Friulese, and of some districts in Savoy bordering upon Dauphine.
And Rivet[BM] seriously undertakes to prove, that the Patois of several
parts of the Limousin, Quercy, and Auvergne (which in fact agrees
singularly with the _Romansh_ of the Grisons) is the very Romance of
eight centuries ago. Neither do I doubt, but what some inquisitive
traveller might still meet with manifest traces of it in many parts of
the Pyrenaeans and other mountainous regions of Spain, where the Moors
and other invaders have never penetrated.
I have the honour to be, &c.
* * * * *
# No. I. Oath of Lewis the Germanic. #
1. Latin from which the Romances are derived.
2. Gallic Romance in which the oath was taken.
3. French of the twelfth century.
4. Romansh of Engadine, called Ladin.
5. Romansh of both dialects.
1. Pro Dei amore, et pro Christiano populo, et nostro
2. _Pro Deu amur, et pro Christian poblo, et nostro_
3. Por Deu amor, et por Christian people, et nostre
4. _Per amur da Dieu, et per il Christian poevel, et noss_
5. Pro l'amur da Deus, et pro il Christian pobel, et nost
1. communi salvamento, de ista die in abante, in quan-
2. _commun salvament, d'ist di en avant, in quant_
3. commun salvament, de ste di en avant, en quant
4. _commun salvament, da quist di in avant, in quant_
5. commun salvament, d'ist di en avant, in quant
1.tum Deus sapere et posse mihi donat, sic salvabo ego
2. _Deus savir et podir me dunat, si salvarai io_
3. Deu saveir et poir me donne, si salvarai je
4. _Dieu savair et podair m'duna, shi salvaro ei_
5. Deus savir et podir m'dunat, shi salvaro io
1. eccistum meum fratrem Karlum, et in adjutum ero
2. _cist meon fradre Karlo, et in adjudab er_
3. cist mon frere Karle, et en adjude serai
4. _quist mieu fraer Carlo, et in adgiud li saro_
5. quist meu frad'r Carl, et in adjudh saro
1. in quaque una causa, sic quomodo homo per directum
2. _in cadhuna cosa, si cum on per dreit_
3. en cascune cose, si cum on per dreict
4. _in chiaduna chiossa, shi seho l'hom per drett_
5. in caduna cosa, si com om per drett
1. suum fratrem salvare debet, in hoc quod ille mihi
2. _son fardre salvar dist, in o quid il me_
3. son frere salver dist, en o qui il me
4. _sieu fraer salvar d'uess, in que chel a mi_
5. seu frad'r salvar dess, in que chel me
1. alterum sic faceret; et ab Lothario nullum placitum
2. _altresi fazet; et ab Laudher nul plaid_
3. altresi fascet; et a Lothaire nul plaid
4. _altresi fadschess; et da Lothar mai non paendro io un_
5. altresi fazess; et da Lothar nul plaid mai
1. nunquam prehendam quod meo volle eccisti meo fratri
2. _nunquam prindrai qui meon vol cist meon fradre_
3. nonques prendrai qui par mon voil a cist mon frere
4. _plaed che con mieu volair a quist mieu fraer_
5. non prendro che con meu voler a quist meu frad'r
1. Karlo in damno sit.
2. _Karle in domno sit._
3. Karle en dam seit.
4. _Carlo sai in damn._
5. Carl in damn sia.
* * * * *
# No. II. The first Paragraph of the Laws of William the Conqueror. #
1. The Latin translation.
2. The French original.
3. A translation into the Romansh of both dialects.
1. Hae sunt Leges et Consuetudines quas Willelmus Rex
2. _Ce sont les Leis et les Custumes que li Reis William grantut_
3. Que sun las Leias e'ls Custums que il Rei Willelm ga-
1. concessit toto populo Angliae post subactam terram
2. _a tut le peuple de Engleterre apres le conquest de la terre_
3. rantit a tut il poevel d'Engelterra dapo il conquist della
1. Eaedem sut quas Edwardus Rex Cognatus ejus obser-
2. _Ice les meismes que la Reis Edward sun Cosin tint_
3. terra. E sun las medemas que il Rei Edward su cusrin
1. vavit ante eum. Scilicet: Pax Sanctae Ecclesiae,
2. _devant lui. Co est a saveir: Pais a Sainte Eglise_,
3. tenet avant el. Co es da savir: Paesh alla Sainta Ba-
1. cujuscunque forisfacturae quis reus sit hoc tempore, et
2. _de quel forfait que home out fait en cel tens, et_
3. selg.[BN] da quel sfarfatt que om a fatt en que tem, et
1. venire potest ad sanctum: Ecclesiam, pacem habeat vitae
2. _il pout venir a sainte Eglise, out pais de vie_
3. il pout venir alla Sainta Baselga, haun paesh da vitta
1. et membri. Et si quis injecerit manum in eum qui
2. _et de membre. E se alquons meist main en celui qui_
3. et da members. E si alcun metta man a quel que la
1. matrem Ecclesiam quaesierit, sive sit Abbatia sive
2. _la mere Eglise requireit, se ceo fust u Abbeie u_
3. mamma Baselga requira, qu'ella fuss Abbatia u
1. Ecclesia religionis, reddat eum quem abstulerit et
2. _Eglise de religion, rendist ce que il javereit pris_
3. Baselga da religiun, renda que qu'el savares prais, et
1. centum solides nomine forisfacturae, et matri Ecclesiae
2. _e cent sols de forfait, e de Mer Eglise de_
3. cent solds da sfarfatt, et alla mamma Baselga da
1. parochiali 20 solidos, et capellae 10 solidos: Et qui fregerit
2. _paroisse 20 solds, e de Chapelle 10 solds; E que enfraiant_
3. parochia 20 solds, e da capella 10 solds: E que in frignand
1. pacem Regis in Merchenelega 100 solidis emendet;
2. _la pais le Rei en Merchenelae 100 solds les amendes;_
3. la paesh del Rei in Merchenelae 100 solds d'amenda;
1. similiter de compensatione homicidii et de insidiis
2. _altresi de Heinfare e de aweit_
3. altresi della compensatiun del omicidi et insidias
1. praecogitatis.
2. _purpensed_.
4. perpensadas.
* * * * *
[Footnote A: This is rather a trivial name; but the dialect has no other
distinctive appellation.]
[Footnote B: Tschudi, Rhaet. Descrip. p. 43, MERIN Topogr. Helvet. p.
64.]
[Footnote C: Sprecher, Simler, Tschudi, Scheuchzer. Campell's Chronicle
is looked upon as the most authentic and circumstantial; but there being
only a few manuscript copies of it extant in the hands of private
persons in the Grisons, I have not been able to avail myself of his
researches. Guller and Stumpfius might also have furnished some material
information; but neither of them have I had an opportunity of
inspecting.]
[Footnote D: Liv. lib. v. c. 34.]
[Footnote E: Other authors place the reign of this king 180 years
earlier.]
[Footnote F: Plin. lib. iii. c. 5. Justin. lib. xx. c. 5.]
[Footnote G: Cluver, Ital. Antiq. lib. i. c. 14.]
[Footnote H: A spurious derivation from the verb [Greek: leipo].]
[Footnote I: Probably by them pronounced _Tomiliasca_, the name it now
bears.]
[Footnote J: _Tusis_ (Tuscia) and in Italian _Tosana_, the principal
place; _Rhealta_ (Rhetia alta); _Rheambs_ (Rhetia ampla); _Rhazunz_
(Rhetia ima); and above twelve other castles, the remains of which are
now to be seen in the valley _Tomiliasca_.]
[Footnote K: In some communities there are fourteen jurors besides the
Landamman.]
[Footnote L: Serv. in AEneid. lib. viii. 65. lib. x. 202. Sprech. Pall.
Rhaet p. 9. Siml. Rep. Helv. p. 281. ed. 1735.]
[Footnote M: Liv. lib. v. c. 33.]
[Footnote N: Sprech. p. 214. Mer. l. c.]
[Footnote O: _En Code Ino_, perhaps the vulgar Roman phrase expressing
_In Capite Oeni_. There are other etymologies, but all equally
uncertain.]
[Footnote P: Sprech. p. 10.]
[Footnote Q: _Lavin_ (Lavinium), _Sus_ (Susa), _Zernetz_ (Cerneto),
_Ardetz_ (Ardea), &c.]
[Footnote R: Sprech. p. 10.]
[Footnote S: A parallel instance of the formation of a language by Roman
colonies is the idiom of Moldavia; which, according to Prince Cantemir's
account of that country, has still many traces of its Latin origin, and
which, though engrafted upon the Dacian, and since upon the Sclavonian
dialects of the Celtic, may still be considered as a sister language to
that I am, here treating of.]
[Footnote T: Videre Rhaeti bella _sub_ Alpibus
Drusum gerentem et Vindelici. HOR. lib. 4. Od. iv.
------------- immanesque Rhaetos
Auspiciis _repulit_ secundis. Ibid. Od. xiv.
Fundat ab extremo flavos aquilone Suevos
Albis, et _indomitum Rheni Caput_. Luc. lib. ii. 52.
------------- Rhenumque minacem
_Cornibus infractis_. CLAUD. Laud. Stilich. lib. i. 220.]
[Footnote U: Horten. in Lucan, p. 163. edit. 1578. fol.]
[Footnote V: Sprech. p. 18. &c.]
[Footnote W: Strabo, lib. IV, sub. fin. Cluver. Ital. vet. lib. I. c.
16.]
[Footnote X: _Julius Mons_, Scheuchzer Iter. Alp. p. 114.]
[Footnote Y:
Rhaetica nunc praebent Thraciaque arma metum.
OVID. Trist.
lib. ii. 226. Devota morti pectora liberae.
HOR. 4. lib. Od. xiv.]
[Footnote Z: Sprech. p. 52-55.]
[Footnote AA: Sprech. p. 58.]
[Footnote AB: This privilege has at times been waved; but never without
some plausible pretence, and a formal rescript acknowledging the
exclusive right.]
[Footnote AC: The League _Cadea_, or of the _House of God_, so called
from the cathedral of the bishopric of Coire, which is situated in its
capital.]
[Footnote AD: Canitie griseoque amictu venerandi.--Memores adhuc antiquae
libertatis. Sprech. p. 189.]
[Footnote AE: The following barbarous distich is sometimes inscribed on
the arms of the three leagues. Foedera sunt cana, cana fides, cana
libertas: Haec tria sub uno continentur corpore Rhaeto.]
[Footnote AF: See Dr. Percy's preface to his translation of Mallet's
Northern Antiquities, p. xxii. where this question is more amply
discussed.]
[Footnote AG: Conf. Mem. des Inscrip. tom. xxiv. p. 608.]
[Footnote AH: Bonamy, v. Mem. des Inscrip. l. c.]
[Footnote AI: _Tapferda_, Trapferkeit, Bravery; _Narda_, Narheit, Folly;
_Klinot_, Kleinod, a Jewel; _Graf_, Graf, a Count; _Baur_, Baur, a
Peasant, &c.]
[Footnote AJ: Rivet, Hist. Litt. de la France, tom. vii. p. 1. et seq.]
[Footnote AK: Mem. des Inscrip. tom. xxiv. p. 594.]
[Footnote AL: Bullet, Mem. de la Langue Celtique, tom. i. p. 23.]
[Footnote AM: Mem. des Inscrip. tom. xxiv. p. 603.]
[Footnote AN: Mem. des. Inscrip. tom. xv. p. 575. et seq.]
[Footnote AO: Praef. Gloss. n. xiii.]
[Footnote AP: Du Chesne, Hist. Franc. tom. ii. p. 374.]
[Footnote AQ: No. I.]
[Footnote AR: Eloq. Ital. p. 44.]
[Footnote AS: Fidei commissa quocunque Sermone relinqui possunt, non
solum _Latino_ vel Graeco, sed etiam Punico vel _Gallicano_. Digest. l.
xxii. tit. 1. sec. 11.
Tu autem vel _Celtice_, vel si mavis _Gallice_, loquere. Sulp. Sev.
Dial, i, sec. 6. sub sin.]
[Footnote AT: Gallia Causidicos docuit facunda Britannos. Juv. Sat. xv.
111.]
[Footnote AU: William of Malmsb. l. ii. c. 4.]
[Footnote AV: Ingulph. passim. Du Chesne, tom. iii.]
[Footnote AW: Mem. des Inscrip. tom. xvii. p. 179.]
[Footnote AX: Wilkins, Leges Anglo-Sax.]
[Footnote AY: Append. No, II.]
[Footnote AZ: Praef. Gloss, n. xxi.]
[Footnote BA: Fontanini, p. 4.]
[Footnote BB: Speron. Dial, passim.--Conf. Menage, Orig. della Ling
Ital. voce Romanza.]
[Footnote BC: Font. p. 17.]
[Footnote BD: Murat. Scrip. Ital. tom. v. p. 255.]
[Footnote BE: Ibid. tom. vii. p. 322.]
[Footnote BF: Lib. iii.]
[Footnote BG: Mabil. an. l. 64, n. 124.]
[Footnote BH: Orozco, Tes. Castill. voce Romance--Conf. Crescimb. Volg.
Poes. l. v. c. 1.]
[Footnote BI: Act. Ben. Saec. 3. p. 2. p. 258.]
[Footnote BJ: Raym. Montanero Chronica de Juan I.]
[Footnote BK: Huet, Orig. des Rom. p. 126. ed. 1678.]
[Footnote BL: P. 43, 44.]
[Footnote BM: Hist. Litt. de la Fr. tom. vii. p. 22.]
[Footnote BN: The word _Ecclesia_ being more modern in the Latin tongue
than _Basilica_, the Romansh word _Baselga_ derived from the latter is
an additional proof of the antiquity of this language.]