Abstract
In this essay, a description of how the vernacular language had its origin in the different countries and developed throughout History is made. It is also explored the way it spread to various areas of written works and everyday situations, gradually becoming the languages that one knows nowadays as the main languages of some countries of Europe.
Keywords: vernacular, language, origin, development, literary, England, Germany, France, Roman, empire, spread, Latin.
With the Roman state powerful growth, Latin was quickly spread all throughout the Mediterranean area and became the dominant language. Being a living language, the evolution of Latin continued, being influenced by other languages, like Greek, Celtic and Germanic, especially to the uneducated – the sermo vulgaris – which spread to the Romanized parts of Western Europe (e.g. Gaul).
The written works in vernacular languages had a bigger spreading in the middle ages.
In the Anglo-Saxon culture, the strong influence of the church brought Latin to the center stage, but Alfred The Great caused the publication of works in a vernacular language called Old English, like texts from the Bible, religious commentaries, or even histories. Another example is the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, describing events that occurred in England until sometime after the Norman Conquest. After this, Old English and Latin were used, but the first one ended as a big language, being only used in less formal documents, or occasionally in some Anglo-Saxon law terms. Further ahead, England became divided between two languages: English and Anglo-Norman, being the first one used by the lower classes and by the conquered populations, and the second used by the conquerors and supposed aristocracy. A rarely used vernacular language, it is found in some historical descriptions, Parliament Rolls, or, also, in some Privy Seal documents, or private correspondence from before the 15th century. In the 14th century, vernacular language was now frequent and usual in literary works, such as the ones of Chaucer, who made Middle English be the literature language. There were also many poetry and prose vernacular works. This establishment of vernacular as a language for literature was very important in the development of a standardization of the English itself, becoming comprehensible to populations of many different dialects.
Vernacular language can also be found in Scandinavian manuscript texts that describe sagas, in areas located on the sides of Latin-based zones. These manuscripts were similar in formal content with the European, mainland ones, being written in late middle ages and stretching out to the 17th century.
Irish itself was also a vernacular language used in the period of the early medieval ages. There are still Old Irish glosses from the 8th and 9th century. Monastic scribes, in the 11th and 12th centuries also produced registries, like saga texts using vernacular, but these were lost during the Augustinian and Cistercian orders’ establishment. Trying to recover from the Anglo-Normal invasion, Gaelic literature came back (a vernacular form) together with older forms of Irish in the 14th century.
Now in southern France, or Germany, vernacular language was used by the nomad storytellers, in the forms of poetry and song, which they orally presented in the courts throughout Europe. The romance marked the appearance of written vernacular by this time. Description of some adventures of Charlemagne, in the 12th century, is an example, much like the legends about King Arthur in French romances, or the romance Le Roman de la Rose, in the 13th century, largely exposed in aristocratic libraries.
The vernacular language can be found in Germany, being recorded also by Anglo-Saxon scribes in 8th century missionising monasteries. The spreading of this vernacular language is described at the time the cited French romances and epic texts were adapted to the German language. Nibelungenlied is a famous work included in the original German vernacular texts and poems that date around 1200.
In the mid 13th century of Spain, the vernacular language was adopted, for example, by the Galicians in their dialect for song writing, lie in the works of King Alfonso X.
Traveling to Italy, Dante’s religious “trips” between heaven and hell were also written using the vernacular form of Italian and, similar to what happened in England, this became a well established literary form.
Latin remained as the language for religious works (Bible or liturgies) during the Middle Ages, although there were English Bibles – Wycliffite Bibles, after John Wycliffe – but these were banned, because people made an association of them and of movements of heretical nature. In the later part of the Middle Ages, however, it is registered the appearance of religious works written in the vernacular language, so that the laics could be taught. From the 14th century onward, vernacular language gained more and more ground, being use in many areas, including the legal one. English surpassed French as the language for all social classes; even so, Henry V’s documents can be found in French, because he became king of France. But, being gone from England, English established itself in poetry, prose, history, medical texts, chronicles and other texts.
Languages, thus, such as English, French, German appeared after the Roman Empire fell, due to the war politic affairs and conquests, changing throughout the Middle Ages, and having many dialects like Breton, Basque, Welsh, Scotland’s Gaelic, Cornish surviving from earlier times beside them in minority. Irish was an exception, because it has developed a vernacular language of its own. Being descendents of vernacular forms that arose from a mixture of Latin with the local languages of the times of Roman conquests, they are very different between themselves, even when dealing with one same text as they are known today and are a portrait of these different nations’ cultures throughout times.
Conclusion
In conclusion, vernacular language has evolved from a mixture of Latin, which spread all throughout Europe with the Roman Empire’s conquests, and the local languages, into forms that were easily comprehensible to those less educated. Gradually, these vernacular forms also evolved and began to spread into diverse areas of written works, with the needs to further educate all the social classes, having reached even the religious areas.
With time, vernacular languages have become the main English, French and German languages of the countries as they’re known today.
References
Tillotson, Dianne (11th January 2005). Vernacular Languages. Retrieved from http://medievalwriting.50megs.com/whyread/vernac.htm
