Ce livre donne comme introduction quelques notions élémentaires à l'étude de l'ancien français, que l'on trouve dans La Chanson de Roland, et dans les oeuvres de Marie de France, de Geoffroi de Villehardouin et de Chrétien de Troyes.
Il est tiré de la quatrième édition de M. Anglade. Le texte et les notes bibliographiques ont été revus et corrigés.
This book offers a gentle introduction to the study of Old French, the language found in the Chanson de Roland, and in the works of Marie de France, Geoffroi de Villehardouin and Chrétien de Troyes.
It is based on Monsieur Anglade’s fourth edition. The text and bibliography have been revised and corrected.
Old Provençal was an important language spoken (in a variety of dialects) in Provence, Languedoc, Foix, Béarn, Gascony, Guyenne, Limousin, Marche Auvergne, the southestern half of Limousin and the southern half of Daupiné. It was also an important literary language, especially in the the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. In particular, it was the language of the troubadours. A knowledge of the language is, therefore, of great value to medievalists, students of literature and those interested in Romance languages.
The present dialects of Italy are descendants of Latin. But in nearly all regions it was a Latin influenced in its vocabualry and pronunciation by the earlier linguistic habits of the populations that had adopted it. These peoples contain a strong admixture of Ligurian, Gallic, Illyrian, Greek and Phoenician nationalities, and of Italic tribes whose native tongue was related to Latin, for instance, Umbrian and Oscan. Professor Grandgent presents a fascinating account of the early development of the Italian language which will be of particular interest to linguists and medievalists.
Charles Hall Grandgent was a professor at Harvard from 1896 to 1932. He was highly regarded as a Romance linguist and authority on Dante. He was also a leading expert on American English dialects.
The modern study of Classical Latin creates the illusion that it is a precisely-defined and immutable language; but all living languages are changing continuously, and Latin was no exception. Even in the Classical period many varieties of Latin were written and spoken, and as the Empire collapsed, Latin, especially the spoken language of the common people, evolved. This language, Vulgar Latin, not the medieval Latin of learned scholars, evolved further into the Romance languages.
This book traces the development of Vulgar Latin and will therefore be of interest to medievalists and students of Romance languages.