[Handwriting: F. Druce, the gift of the author. ]

_An Account of the Romansh Language. _

_By Joseph Planta, Esq. F. R. S. _

_In a Letter to Sir John Pringle, Bart. P. R. S. _

[Handwriting: Phil. Trans. Vol LXVI. A. D. 1776]

 British Museum, June 30, 1775. 

SIR, The Bible lately presented to the Royal Society by Count de Salis, beinga version into a language as little attended to in this country, as itmay appear curious to those who take pleasure in philological inquiries;I embrace this opportunity to communicate to you, and, with yourapprobation, to the Society, all that I have been able to collectconcerning its history and present state. 

This language is called _Romansh_, and is now spoken in the mostmountainous parts of the country of the Grisons, near the sources of theRhine and the Inn. It consists of two main dialects; which, thoughpartaking both of the above general name, differ however so widely as toconstitute in a manner two distinct languages. Books are printed in bothof them; and each, though it be universally understood in its respectivedistrict, is yet sub-divided into almost as many secondary dialects asthere are villages in which it is spoken; which differ, however, butlittle except in the pronunciation. One of the main dialects, which isspoken in the Engadine, a valley extending from the source of the Inn tothe frontiers of the Tyrolese, is by the inhabitants called _Ladin_. Itadmits of some variation, even in the books, according as they areprinted either in the upper or the lower part of this province. Theabovementioned Bible is in the dialect of the lower Engadine; which, however, is perfectly understood in the upper part of that province, where they use no other version. The other dialect, which is thelanguage of the Grey, or Upper. League, is distinguished from the formerby the name of _Cialover_:[A] and I must here observe, that in the verycentre, and most inaccessible parts of this latter district, there aresome villages situated in the narrow valleys, called Rheinwald, Cepina, [B] &c. In which a third language is spoken, more similar to theGerman than to either of the above idioms, although they be neithercontiguous, nor have any great intercourse with the parts where theGerman is used. 

It being impossible to form any idea of the origin and progress of alanguage, without attending to the revolutions that may have contributedto its formation and subsequent variations; and this being particularlythe case in the present instance, wherein no series of documents isextant to guide us in our researches; I shall briefly recapitulate theprincipal events which may have affected the language of the Grisons, asI find them related by authors of approved veracity. [C]

Ambigatus, the first king of the Celtic Gaul upon record, who[D] about400[E] years before Christ, governed all the country situated betweenthe Alps and the Pyrenaean mountains, sent out two formidable armiesunder the command of one of his nephews; one of whom, named Segovisius, forced his way into the heart of Germany: and the other, Bellovisius, having passed the Alps, penetrated into Italy as far as the settlementsof the Tuscans, which at that time extended over the greatest part ofthe country now called Lombardy. These, and several other swarms ofinvaders whom the successes of the former soon after attracted, havingtotally subdued that country, built Milan, Verona, Brescia, and severalother considerable towns, and governed with such tyrannic sway, especially over the nobility, whose riches they coveted and sought byevery means to extort from them, that most of the principal families, joining under the conduct of Rhætus[F], one of the most distinguishedpersonages among them, retired with the best part of their effects andattendants among the steepest mountains of the Alps, near the sources ofthe Rhine, into the district which is now called the Grey League. 

The motive of their flight, their civil deportment, and perhaps more so, the wealth they brought with them, procured them a favourable receptionfrom the original inhabitants of that inhospitable region, who arementioned by authors[G] as being a Celtic nation, fabulously conjecturedfrom their name [Greek: leipontio][H] to have been left there byHercules in his expedition into Spain. 

The new adventurers had no sooner climbed over the highest precipices, but thinking themselves secure from the pursuits of their rapaciousenemies, they fixed in a valley which, from its great fertility incomparison of the country they had just passed, they calledDomestica[I]. They intermixed with the old inhabitants, and built sometowns and many castles, whose present names manifestly bespeak theirorigin. [J] They soon after spread all over the country, which took thename of Rhaetia from that of their leader; and introduced a form ofgovernment similar to their own, of which there are evident traces atthis day, especially in the administration of justice; in which a_Laertes_ or president, now called landamman or ministral, together withtwelve _Lucumones_[K] or jurors, determine all causes, both civil andcriminal:[L] and Livy, [M] although he erroneously pretends that theyretained none of their ancient customs, yet allows that they continuedthe use of their language, though somewhat adulterated by a mixture withthat of the Aborigines. 

I must here interrupt the thread of this narration by observing, thatthe only way to account for the present use of a different language inthe centre and most craggy parts of the Grey League, is by allowing thatthe Tuscans, who, from the delicacy of their constitutions and habits, were little able, and less inclined, to encounter the hardships of sosevere a climate and so barren a soil, never attempted to mix with theoriginal and more sturdy inhabitants of that unfavoured spot; but leftthem and their language, which could only be a Celtic idiom, in theprimitive state in which they found them. [N]

But to proceed;--several Roman families, dreading the fury of theCarthaginians under Hannibal, and perhaps, since during the rage of thecivil wars, and the subsequent oppressive reigns, interior commotionsand foreign invasions, forsook the Latium and Campania, and resorted fora peaceful enjoyment of their liberty, some into the islands whereVenice now stands, and many into the mountains of the Grisons, wherethey chiefly fixed their residence in the Engadine, [O] as appears notonly from the testimonies of authors, [P] but also from the names ofseveral places and families which are evidently of Roman derivation. [Q]

The inhabitants these emigrants found in that place of refuge could notbut be a mixture of the Tuscans and original Lepontii; and the twolanguages which met upon this occasion must, at the very first, have hadsome affinity; as the Tuscan, which derived immediately from the Greek, is known to have had a great share in the formation of the Roman. But asit is generally observed, that the more polished people introduce theirnative tongue wherever they go to reside in any considerable numbers, the arrival of these successive colonies must gradually have produced aconsiderable change in the language of the country in which theysettled;[R] and this change gave rise to the dialect since called Ladin, probably from the name of the mother country of its principalauthors. [S]

Although the name of _Romansh_, which the whole language bears, seems tobe a badge of Roman servitude, yet the conquest of that nation, if evereffected, could not have produced a great alteration in a language whichmust already have been so similar to their own; and its general name mayas well be attributed to the pacific as to the hostile Romans. But whenwe consider that a coalition of the two main dialects, which differ sofar as not to be reciprocally understood, must have been the inevitableconsequence of a total reduction; and that such a coalition is knownnever to have taken place, we may lay the greater stress upon the manypassages of ancient authors, [T] in which it is implied that the boastedvictories of the Romans over the Rhaeti, for which public honours hadbeen decreed to L. Munatus, M. Anthony, Drusus, and Augustus, amountedto no more than frequent repulses of those hardy people into theirmountains; out of which their want of sufficient room and sustenance, (which in our days drives considerable numbers into the services offoreign powers) compelled them at times to make desperate excursions inquest of necessaries. And we may also from these collected authoritiesbe induced to give the greater credit to the commentator of Lucan, [U]and to the modern historians, [V] who positively assert, that the peopleliving near the sources of the Rhine and the Inn were never totallysubdued by the Roman arms; but only repelled in their attempts to harasstheir neighbours. 

This whole country, however, from its central situation, could not butbe annumerated to one of the provinces of the empire; and accordingly wefind that Rhaetia itself (which by the accounts of ancientgeographers[W] appears to have extended its limits beyond the lake ofConstance, Augsburg, and Trent, towards Germany, and to Como and Veronatowards Italy) was formed into a Roman province, governed by apro-consul or procurator, who resided at Augsburg; and that when in theyear 119, the Emperor Adrian divided it into Rhaetia _prima_ and_secunda_, the governor of the former, in which the country I am nowspeaking of must have been comprized, took up his residence in twocastles situated where Coire now stands, whilst the other continued hisseat at Augsburg. But notwithstanding these appearances, no trace ormonument of Roman servitude is to be met with in this district, exceptthe ambiguous name of one mountain, [X] situated on the skirts of thesehighlands, and generally thought to have been the _non plus ultra_ ofthe Roman arms on the Italian side. 

From the difficulty those persevering veterans experienced in keepingthis stubborn people in awe, I mean to infer that such strenuousasserters of their independence, whom the flattering pens of Ovid andHorace represent as formidable even to Augustus, and preferring death tothe loss of their liberties, [Y] favoured by the natural strength andindigence of their country, were not very likely to be so far subdued byany foreign power inferior to the Roman, as to suffer any considerablerevolution in their customs and language: for as to the irruptions ofthe Goths, Vandals, and Lombards, in the fifth and sixth centuries, besides a profound silence in history concerning any successful attemptof those barbarians upon this spot, it is scarce credible, that any ofthem should have either wished or endeavoured to settle in a country, perhaps far less hospitable than that which they had just forsaken, especially after they had opened to themselves a way into the fertileplains of Lombardy. 

Some stress must be laid upon this inference, as the history of whatbefel this country after the decline of the Roman empire is sointimately blended with that of Suabia, the Tyrolese, and the lowerparts of the Grisons, which are known to have fallen to the share of therising power of the Franks, that nothing positive can be drawn fromauthors as to the interior state of this small tract. The victory gainedin the year 496 near Cologn, by Clovis I. King of the Franks, over theAlemanni, who had wrested from the Romans all the dominions on thenorthern side of the Alps; and the defeat of both Romans and Goths inItaly, in the year 549, by the treacherous arms of Theodebert king ofAustrasia, whose dominions soon after devolved to the crown of France, necessarily gave the aspiring Merovingian race a great ascendency overall the countries surrounding the Grisons; and accordingly we find, thatthis district also was soon after, without any military effort, considered as part of the dominions of the reviving western empire. Butit does not appear that those monarchs ever made any other use of theirsupremacy in these parts than, agreeably to the feudal system which theyintroduced, to constitute dukes, earls, presidents, and bailiffs, overRhaetia; to grant out tenures upon the usual feudal terms; andconsequently to levy forces in most of their military expeditions. 

It must, however, be observed, that these feudal substitutes wereseldom, if ever, strangers: those who are upon record to the latter endof the eighth century, having all been chosen from among the nobility ofthe country. [Z] And that no foreign garrisons were ever maintained forany continuance of time in these parts, appears from a circumstancerelated by their annalists;[AA] who say, that an inroad of the Huns in670, when external forces would probably have been very acceptable tothe natives, was repulsed merely by a concourse of the inhabitants. 

History continues to furnish us with proofs of the little connexion thispeople had with other nations in their domestic affairs, notwithstandingtheir dependance upon a foreign power. In the year 780, the Bishop ofCoire, who by the constitution of that see can only be a native, [AB]obtained from Charlemain, besides many considerable honours andprivileges in the empire, a grant of the supreme authority in thiscountry, by the investiture of the office of hereditary president orbailiff over all Rhaetia. His successors not only enjoyed thisprerogative to the extinction of the Carlovingian race of emperors in911; but received accumulated favours from other succeeding monarchs, asthe bigoted devotion of those times or motives of interest promptedthem. And so far did their munificence gradually extend, that the soleproperty of one of the three leagues[AC] was at one time vested in thehands of the bishop. 

This prelate and the nobles, the greatest part of whom became hisretainers, availed themselves, like all the German princes, of theconfusion, divisions, and interreigns which frequently distracted theempire in the succeeding centuries, in order to establish a firm andunlimited authority of their own. Henceforth the annals of this countryfurnish us with little more than catalogues of the bishops and dukes, who were still, at times, nominated by the emperors; and of the domainsgranted out by them to different indigenate families; with accounts ofthe atrocious cruelties exercised by these lords over their vassals; andwith anecdotes of the prowess of the natives in several expeditions intoItaly and Palestine, in which they still voluntarily accompanied theemperors. 

The repeated acts of tyranny exercised by those arbitrary despots, whohad now shaken off all manner of restraint, at length exasperated thepeople into a general revolt, and brought on the confederacy; in whichthe bishop and most of the nobles were glad to join, in order to screenthemselves from the fury of the insurgents. 

The first step towards this happy revolution was made by some _venerableold men dressed in the coarse grey cloth_ of the country, who in theyear 1424 met privately in a wood near a place called Truns, in theUpper League; where, _impressed with a sense of their formerliberties_, [AD] they determined to remonstrate against, and oppose, theviolent proceedings of their oppressors. The abbot Dissentis was thefirst who countenanced their measures; their joint influence graduallyprevailed over several of the most moderate among the nobles; and hencearose the league which, from the colour of its first promoters, was evercalled the Grey League; which, from its being the first in the boldattempt to shake off the yoke of wanton tyranny, has ever since retainedthe pre-eminence in rank before the two other leagues; and which haseven given its name to the whole country, whose inhabitants, from thecircumstances of their deliverance, pride themselves in the appellationof _Grisones_, or the _grey-ones_. [AE] From this period nothing has everaffected their freedom and absolute independence, which they now enjoyin the most unlimited sense, in spite of the repeated efforts of thehouse of Austria to recover some degree of ascendency over them. 

From this concise view of the history of the Grisons, in which I havecarefully guarded against favouring any particular hypothesis, itappears, that as no foreign nation ever gained any permanent footing inthe most mountainous parts of this country since the establishment ofthe Tuscans and Romans, the language now spoken could never havesuffered any considerable alterations from extraneous mixtures of modernlanguages. And to those who may object, that languages like all otherhuman institutions will, though left to themselves, be inevitablyaffected by the common revolutions of time, I shall observe, that alanguage, in which no books are written, but which is only spoken by apeople chiefly devoted to arms and agriculture, and consequently notcultivated by the criticisms of men of taste and learning, is by nomeans exposed to the vicissitudes of those that are polished by refinednations;[AF] and that, however paradoxical it may appear, it isnevertheless true, that the degeneracy of a language is more frequentlyto be attributed to an extravagant refinement than to the neglect of anilliterate people, unless indeed external causes interfere. May we nothence conclude, that as the Romansh has never been used in any regularcomposition in writing till the sixteenth century, nor affected by anyforeign invasion or intimate connexion, it is not likely to havereceived any material change before the period of its being written? Andwe have the authority of the books since printed to prove, that it is atpresent the identical language that was spoken two hundred years ago. These arguments will receive additional weight from the proofs I shallhereafter give of the great affinity there is between the language as itis now spoken, and the Romance that was used in France nine centuriesago. 

When we further consider the facts I have above briefly related, thewonder will cease, that in a cluster of mountains, situated in thecentre of Europe, a distinct language (not a dialect or jargon of thosespoken by the contiguous nations, as has been generally imagined) shouldhave maintained itself through a series of ages, in spite of the manyrevolutions which frequently changed the whole face of the adjacentcountries. And indeed, so obstinately tenacious are these people oftheir independency, laws, customs, and consequently of their verylanguage, that, as has been already observed, their form of government, especially in judicial matters, still bears evident marks of the ancientTuscan constitution; and that, although they be frequently exposed toinconveniences from their stubbornness in this respect, they have notyet been prevailed upon to adopt the Gregorian reformation of thecalendar. 

As to the nature of this language, it may now be advanced, with somedegree of confidence, that the _Cialover_ owes it origin to a mixture ofthe Tuscan and of the dialect of the Celtic spoken by the Lepontii; andthat the introduction of the vulgar Roman affected it in some degree, but particularly gave rise to the _Ladin_; the vocabulary of which, asany one may be convinced by inspecting a few lines of the bible, has agreat affinity with that of the Latin tongue. But these assertions restmerely upon historical evidence; for as to the _Cialover_, all that itmay have retained of the Tuscan or Roman, is so much disfigured by anuncouth pronunciation and a vague orthography, that all etymologicalinquiries are thereby rendered intricate and unsatisfactory. And as tothe _Ladin_, although its derivation be more manifest, yet we areequally at a loss from what period or branch of the Latin tongue totrace its real origin; for I have found, after many tedious experiments, that even the vocabulary, in which the resemblance is most evident, differs equally from the classical purity of Tully, Caesar, and Sallust, as it does from the primitive Latin of the twelve tables, of Ennius, andthe _columna rostralis_ of Duillius, which has generally been thoughtthe parent of the Gallic Romance; as also from the trivial language ofVarro, Vegetius, and Columella. May we not from this circumstance infer, that, as is the case in all vernacular tongues, the vulgar dialect ofthe Romans, the _sermo usualis, rusticus, pedestris_, [AG] of which thereare no monuments extant, differed very widely both in pronunciation andconstruction from that which has at any time been used either in writingor in the senate?

The grammatical variations, the syntax, and the genius of the language, must in this, as well as in several other modern European tongues, havebeen derived from the Celtic; it being well known, that the frequent useof articles, the distinction of cases by prepositions, the applicationof two auxiliaries in the conjugations, do by no means agree with theLatin turn of expression; although a late French academician[AH] who hastaken great pains to prove that the Gallic Romance was solely derivedfrom the Roman, quotes several instances in which even the mostclassical writers have in this respect offended the purity of thatrefined language. It cannot here be denied, that as new ideas alwaysrequire new signs to express them, some foreign words, and perhapsphrases, must necessarily, from time to time, have insinuated themselvesinto the Romansh, by the military and some commercial intercourse of theGrisons with other nations; and this accounts for several modern Germanwords which are now incorporated into the language of the Engadine. [AI]

The little connexion there is in mountainous countries between theinhabitants of the different valleys, and the absolute independence ofeach jurisdiction in this district, which still lessens the frequency oftheir intercourse, also accounts, in a great measure, for the variety ofsecondary dialects subsisting in almost every different community oreven village. 

The oldest specimens of writing in this language are some dramaticalperformances in verse upon scriptural subjects, which are extant only inmanuscript. The Histories of Susanna, of the Prodigal Son, of Judith andHolofernes, and of Esther, are among the first; and are said to havebeen composed about the year 1560. The books that have since beenprinted are chiefly upon religious subjects; and among those that arenot so, the only I have ever heard of are a small code of the laws ofthe country in the Cialover dialect, and an epitome of Sprecher'sChronicle, by Da Porta, in the Ladin. 

 * * * * *

The language spoken in Gaul from the fifth to the twelfth centuriesbeing evidently a mixture of the same Roman and Celtic ingredients, andpartaking of the same name with those of the Grisons; it will, I hope, not be thought foreign to the subject of this letter, if I enter into afew particulars concerning it, as it seems to have been an essentialpart, or rather the trunk, of the language, the history of which I amendeavouring to elucidate. 

One of the many instances how little the laboured researches ofphilologists into the origin of languages are to be depended upon, isthe variety of opinions entertained by French authors concerning theformation of the Gallic Romance. A learned Benedictine[AJ] first startsthe conjecture, and then maintains it against the attacks of ananonymous writer, that the vulgar Latin became the universal language ofGaul immediately after Caesar's conquest, and that its corruption, withvery little mixture of the original language of the country, graduallyproduced the Romance towards the eighth century. Bonamy, [AK] on theother hand, is of opinion, that soon after that conquest, a corruptionof vulgar Latin by the Celtic formed the Romance, which he takes to bethe language always meant by authors when they speak of the _LinguaRomana_ used in Gaul. The author of the Celtic Dictionary[AL] tells us, that the Romance is derived from the _Latin_, the _Celtic_, which hemore frequently calls Gallic, and the _Teutonic_; in admitting of whichlatter he deviates from most other authors, [AM] who deny that theTeutonic had any share in the composition of the Romance, since theFranks found it already established when they entered Gaul, and werelong before they could prevail upon their new subjects to adopt any partof their own mother tongue, which however appears to have beenafterwards instrumental in the formation of the modern French. Duclos, [AN] guided, I imagine, by du Cange, [AO] whose opinion appears tobe the most sober and best authenticated, maintains that the vulgarLatin was undoubtedly the foundation of the Romance; but that much ofthe Celtic gradually insinuated itself in spite of the policy of theRomans, who never failed to use all their endeavours in order toestablish their language wherever they spread their arms. 

Among this variety of conjectures and acute controversies, I find ithowever agreed on all hands, that the vocabulary of the Roman, and theidiom of the Celtic, have chiefly contributed to the formation of theGallic, Romance, which is sufficient to prove that it partakes of acommon origin with that of the Grisons. 

There are incontestable proofs that this language was once universal allover France; and that this, and not immediately the Latin, has been theparent of the Provençal, and afterwards of the modern French, theItalian, and the Spanish. The oath taken by Lewis the Germanic, in theyear 842, in confirmation of an alliance between him and Charles theBald his brother, is a decisive proof of the general use of the Romanceby the whole French nation at that time, and of their little knowledgeof the Teutonic, which being the native tongue of Lewis, would certainlyhave been used by him, in this oath, had it been understood by theFrench to whom he addressed himself. But Nithardus, [AP] a contemporarywriter and near relation to the contracting parties, informs us, thatLewis took the oath in the Romance language, in order that it might beunderstood by the French nobility who were the subjects of Charles; andthat they, in their turn, entered into reciprocal engagements in _theirown language_, which the same author again declares to have been theRomance, and not the Teutonic; although one would imagine that, had theyat all understood this latter tongue, they could not but have used itupon this occasion, in return for the condescension of Lewis. 

As a comparison between this language and the Romansh of the Grisonscannot be considered as a mere object of curiosity, but may also serveto corroborate the proofs I have above alleged of the antiquity of thelatter, I have annexed in the appendix, [AQ] a translation of this oathinto the language of Engadine, which approaches nearest to it; althoughI must observe, that there are in the other dialect some words whichhave a still greater affinity with the language of the oath, as appearsby another translation I have procured, in which both dialects areindifferently used. To prevent any doubts concerning the veracity ofthese 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 islately come to reside in London. I have added to this comparative viewof those two languages, the Latin words from which both seem to havebeen derived; and, as a proof of the existence of the Gallic Romance inFrance down to the twelfth century, I have also subjoined the words usedin that kingdom at that period, as they are given us by the author ofthe article _(Langue) Romane_, in the French Encyclopedie. 

To the comparison of the two Romances, and the similarity of theirorigin, I may now with confidence add the authority of Fontanini[AR] toprove, that they are one and the same language. This author, speaking ofthe ancient Gallic Romance, asserts that it is now spoken in the countryof the Grisons; though, not attending to the variety of dialects, someof which have certainly nothing of the Italian, he supposes it to havebeen altogether adulterated by a mixture of that modern tongue. 

Whilst the Grisons neglected to improve their language, and rejected, orindeed were out of the reach of every refinement it might have derivedfrom polished strangers, the taste and fertile genius of theTroubadours, fostered by the countenance and elegance of the brilliantcourts and splendid nobility of Provence, did not long leave theirs inthe rough state in which we find it in the ninth century. But the changehaving been gradual and almost imperceptible, the French historians havefixed no epocha for the transition of the Romance into the Provençal. That the former language had not received any considerable alteration inthe twelfth Century may be gathered from the comparison in the appendix:and, that it still bore the same name, appears from the titles ofseveral books which are said to have been written in, or translatedinto, the Romance. But though mention is made of that name even afterthis aera, yet upon examining impartially what is given us for thatlanguage in this period, it will be found so different from the Romanceof the ninth century, that to trace it any further would be both a vainand an extravagant pursuit. 

Admitting, however, the universal use of the Romance all over Francedown to the twelfth century, which no French author has yet doubted ordenied; and allowing that what the writers of those times say of theGallic is to be understood of the Romance, as appears from chronologicalproofs, and the expressions of several authors prior to the fifthcentury;[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 theFranks, could possibly have been spoken, or even understood in Gaul:admitting these premises, I say, it necessarily follows, that thelanguage introduced into England under Alfred, and afterwards moreuniversally established by Edward the Confessor, and William theConqueror, must have been an emanation of the Romance, very near akin tothat of the abovementioned oath, and consequently to that which is nowspoken in the Alps. 

The intercourse between Britain and Gaul is known to have been of a veryearly date; for even in the first century we find, that the Britishlawyers derived the greatest part of their knowledge from those of thecontinent;[AT] while on the other hand, the Gallic Druids are known tohave resorted to Britain for instruction in their mysterious rites. TheBritons, therefore, could not be totally ignorant of the Galliclanguage. And hence it will appear, that Grimbald, John, and the otherdoctors introduced by Alfred, [AU] could find no great difficulty inpropagating their native tongue in this island; which tongue, at thatinterval of time, could only be the true Romance, since they werecontemporaries with Lewis the Germanic. 

That the Romance was almost universally understood in this kingdom underEdward the Confessor, it being not only used at court, but frequently atthe bar, and even sometimes in the pulpit, is a fact too well known andattested[AV] to need my further authenticating it with superfluousarguments and testimonies. 

Duclos, in his History of the Gallic' Romance, [AW] gives theabovementioned oath of Lewis as the first monument of that language. Thesecond he mentions is the code of laws of William the Conqueror, [AX]whom the least proficient in the English history knows to have renderedhis language almost universal in this kingdom. How little progress ithad yet made towards the modern French; and how great an affinity itstill bore with the present Romansh of the Grisons, will appear from theannexed translation of the first paragraph of these laws into the lattertongue. [AY]

If we may credit Du Cange, [AZ] who grounds his assertion upon variousinstruments of the kings of Scotland during the twelfth century, theRomance had also penetrated into that kingdom before that period. 

The same corruption, or coalescence, which gave rise to the GallicRomance, and to that of the Grisons, must also have produced in Italy alanguage, if not perfectly similar, at least greatly approaching tothose two idioms. Nor did it want its northern nations to contributewhat the two other branches derived from that source. [BA] But be theorigin what it will, certain it is, that a jargon very different fromeither the Latin or the Italian was spoken in Italy from the time of theirruptions of the barbarians to the successful labours of Dante andPetrarca; that this jargon was usually called the _vulgar idiom_; butthat 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, bythe residence of the papal court at Avignon, and from other causes, madeits way into Italy before it was polished into the Provençal. 

As to Naples and Sicily, the expulsion of the Saracens by the Normans, under Robert Guiscard in 1059, must have produced in that country nearlythe 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 languageand manners among the natives, that they might ever after be consideredonly as one people. And Hugo Falcland[BE] relates, that in the year1150, Count Henry refused to take upon him the management of publicaffairs, 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 thatthe Turditani inhabiting the banks of the Boetis, now the Guadalquivir, forgot their original tongue, and adopted that of the conquerors. Thatthe Romance was used there in the fourteenth century appears from acorrespondence between St. Vincent of Ferrieres and Don Martin, son ofPeter the IVth of Arragon;[BG] and that this language must once havebeen common in that kingdom appears manifestly from the present name ofthe Spanish, which is still usually called Romance. [BH] Thesecircumstances considered, I am not so much inclined to discredit a factrelated by Mabillon, [BI] who says, that in the eighth century aparalytic Spaniard, on paying his devotions at the tomb of a saint inthe church of Fulda, conversed with a monk of that abbey, who, _becausehe was an Italian_, understood the language of the Spaniard. Neitherdoes an oral tradition I heard some times ago appear so absurd to me, asit did when it was first related to me, which says, that two Catalonianstravelling over the Alps, were not a little surprized when they cameinto the Grison country, to find that their native tongue was understoodby the inhabitants, and that they could comprehend most of the languageof that district. 

This universality of the Romance in the French dominions during theeleventh century, also accounts for its introduction in Palestine andmany other parts of the Levant by Godfrey de Bouillon, and the multitudeof adventurers who engaged under him in the Crusade. The assizes ofJerusalem, and those of Cyprus, are standing monuments of the footingthat language had obtained in those parts; and if we may trust a Spanishhistorian of some reputation[BJ] who resided in Greece in the thirteenthcentury, the Athenians and the inhabitants of Morea spoke at that timethe same language that was used in France. And there is great reason toimagine, that the affinity the _Lingua Franca_ bears to the French andItalian is intirely to be derived from the Romance, which was oncecommonly used in the ports of the Levant. The heroic atchievements andgallantry of the knights of the cross also gave rise to the swarm offabulous narratives; which, though not an invention of those days, wereyet, from the name of the language in which they were written, everafter distinguished by the appellation of _Romances_. [BK]

I shall now conclude this letter by observing, that far from presumingthat the Romance has been preserved so near its primitive state only inthe country of the Grisons, there is great reason to suppose that itstill exists in several other remote and unfrequented parts. WhenFontanini informs us[BL] that the ancient Romance is now spoken in thecountry of the Grisons, he adds, that it is also the common dialect ofthe Friulese, and of some districts in Savoy bordering upon Dauphiné. And Rivet[BM] seriously undertakes to prove, that the Patois of severalparts of the Limousin, Quercy, and Auvergne (which in fact agreessingularly with the _Romansh_ of the Grisons) is the very Romance ofeight centuries ago. Neither do I doubt, but what some inquisitivetraveller might still meet with manifest traces of it in many parts ofthe Pyrenaeans and other mountainous regions of Spain, where the Moorsand 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 nostro2. _Pro Deu amur, et pro Christian poblo, et nostro_3. Por Deu amor, et por Christian people, et nostre4. _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 quant4. _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 ego2. _Deus savir et podir me dunat, si salvarai io_3. Deu saveir et poïr me donne, si salvarai je4. _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 ero2. _cist meon fradre Karlo, et in adjudab er_3. Cist mon frere Karle, et en adjude serai4. _quist mieu frær 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 directum2. _in cadhuna cosa, si cum on per dreit_3. En cascune cose, si cum on per dreict4. _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 mihi2. _son fardre salvar dist, in o quid il me_3. Son frere salver dist, en o qui il me4. _sieu frær salvar d'uess, in que chél a mi_5. Seu frad'r salvar dess, in que chél me

1. Alterum sic faceret; et ab Lothario nullum placitum2. _altresi fazet; et ab Laudher nul plaid_3. Altresi fascet; et a Lothaire nul plaid4. _altresi fadschess; et da Lothar mai non paendrò io un_5. Altresi fazess; et da Lothar nul plaid mai

1. Nunquam prehendam quod meo volle eccisti meo fratri2. _nunquam prindrai qui meon vol cist meon fradre_3. Nonques prendrai qui par mon voil a cist mon frere4. _plæd che con mieu volair a quist mieu frær_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 Rex2. _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 Angliæ post subactam terram2. _a tut le peuple de Engleterre aprés le conquest de la terre_3. Rantit a tut il poevel d'Engelterra dapo il conquist della

1. Eædem 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 Sanctæ Ecclesiæ, 2. _devant lui. Co est a saveir: Pais a Sainte Eglise_, 3. Tenet avant el. Co es da savir: Pæsh alla Sainta Ba-

1. Cujuscunque forisfacturae quis reus sit hoc tempore, et2. _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 vitae2. _il pout venir a sainte Eglise, out pais de vie_3. Il pout venir alla Sainta Baselga, haun pæsh da vitta

1. Et membri. Et si quis injecerit manum in eum qui2. _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 sive2. _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 et2. _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 Ecclesiae2. _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 fregerit2. _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 pæsh del Rei in Merchenelae 100 solds d'amenda;

1. Similiter de compensatione homicidii et de insidiis2. _altresi de Heinfare e de aweit_3. Altresi della compensatiun del omicidi et insidias

1. Præcogitatis. 2. _purpensed_. 4. Perpensadas. 

 * * * * *

[Footnote A: This is rather a trivial name; but the dialect has no otherdistinctive appellation. ]

[Footnote B: Tschudi, Rhæt. Descrip. P. 43, MERIN Topogr. Helvet. P. 64. ]

[Footnote C: Sprecher, Simler, Tschudi, Scheuchzer. Campell's Chronicleis looked upon as the most authentic and circumstantial; but there beingonly a few manuscript copies of it extant in the hands of privatepersons in the Grisons, I have not been able to avail myself of hisresearches. Guller and Stumpfius might also have furnished some materialinformation; but neither of them have I had an opportunity ofinspecting. ]

[Footnote D: Liv. Lib. V. C. 34. ]

[Footnote E: Other authors place the reign of this king 180 yearsearlier. ]

[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 nowbears. ]

[Footnote J: _Tusis_ (Tuscia) and in Italian _Tosana_, the principalplace; _Rhealta_ (Rhetia alta); _Rheambs_ (Rhetia ampla); _Rhazunz_(Rhetia ima); and above twelve other castles, the remains of which arenow to be seen in the valley _Tomiliasca_. ]

[Footnote K: In some communities there are fourteen jurors besides theLandamman. ]

[Footnote L: Serv. In Æneid. Lib. Viii. 65. Lib. X. 202. Sprech. Pall. Rhæt 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 equallyuncertain. ]

[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 Romancolonies is the idiom of Moldavia; which, according to Prince Cantemir'saccount of that country, has still many traces of its Latin origin, andwhich, though engrafted upon the Dacian, and since upon the Sclavoniandialects of the Celtic, may still be considered as a sister language tothat I am, here treating of. ]

[Footnote T: Videre Rhaeti bella _sub_ AlpibusDrusum gerentem et Vindelici. HOR. Lib. 4. Od. Iv. ------------- immanesque RhaetosAuspiciis _repulit_ secundis. Ibid. Od. Xiv. Fundat ab extremo flavos aquilone SuevosAlbis, 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 withoutsome plausible pretence, and a formal rescript acknowledging theexclusive right. ]

[Footnote AC: The League _Cadéa_, or of the _House of God_, so calledfrom the cathedral of the bishopric of Coire, which is situated in itscapital. ]

[Footnote AD: Canitie griseoque amictu venerandi. --Memores adhuc antiquaelibertatis. Sprech. P. 189. ]

[Footnote AE: The following barbarous distich is sometimes inscribed onthe arms of the three leagues. Foedera sunt cana, cana fides, canalibertas: Haec tria sub uno continentur corpore Rhaeto. ]

[Footnote AF: See Dr. Percy's preface to his translation of Mallet'sNorthern Antiquities, p. Xxii. Where this question is more amplydiscussed. ]

[Footnote AG: Conf. Mem. Des Inscrip. Tom. Xxiv. P. 608. ]

[Footnote AH: Bonamy, v. Mem. Des Inscrip. L. C. ]

[Footnote AI: _Tapferdà_, Trapferkeit, Bravery; _Nardà_, Narheit, Folly;_Klinot_, Kleinod, a Jewel; _Graf_, Graf, a Count; _Baur_, Baur, aPeasant, &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, nonsolum _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 LingItal. 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 tonguethan _Basilica_, the Romansh word _Baselga_ derived from the latter isan additional proof of the antiquity of this language. ]