Historical Foundations

Historical Foundations

Throughout the last several thousands of years there has been several languages that have came into play. Even before the twelfth century alone there were several languages that were used. First the languages were spoken, and then they slowly turned to being written.

Originally Latin was one language among several other Italic languages. Like all languages Latin went through several changes in their development. The language that was written was also different than what was spoken. Educated and less educated people also had differences in their languages. When languages were spoken they were borrowed from all different types of other languages, which was very common with all the languages (Latin and Vernacular Languages, 1996).

The advancement of literature and learning in Latin was strongly inclined by the Greeks. The writers Cicero, Caesar, and Livy as well as the poets Virgil, Ovid, and Horace became part of an ongoing literary and educational tradition that carried on for several centuries (Latin and Vernacular Languages, 1996). During the changing of the Latin language, they language was open to influences of other languages. This was especially true for those whom were less educated, as they had a hard time understanding the Latin language the way it was. Taking parts of other languages helped them to understand things a little better. Sermo vulgaris, also known as Vulgar Latin, spread around Western Europe; which was heavily populated with Romans.

Vernacular language was an essential way for cultures identity to become stable. The French were amongst the first to share their legendary work using vernacular language. Vernacular language was expressed through story tellers, actors, and religious festivals (Mathews, 2012); though at the beginning of vernacular language nothing was written down. Things that were written down were called manuscripts that were carefully decorated illustrations or by detailed ornamental lettering; which can be found in the Lindisfarne Gospel and in the Book of Kells (Latin and the Vernacular Languages, 1996). In addition, in the mid 1100's there are several examples in Italy of things that were written down in what was known as "early Italian" (Mathews, 2012).

There are quite a few different reasons for the spreading of vernacular language. One of the reasons was for the spreading of Christianity to a large population. Monk were usually most versed in studies of the bible as well as the vernacular language, so they created to alphabet which helped to translate the Latin version of the bible into a language which made converting people to Christianity a lot easier (Bouchard, 2004). It was during the tenth century that the bible was starting to convert to the vernacular language in the Slavic Orthodox Christian community. However, in the rest of Europe Latin was still the most common spoken language to those whom were educated (Sayre, 2010). Byzantine Jews also used vernacular language in Greek that was used in texts and the Hebrew alphabet (De Lange, 2006).

Another way vernacular language spread was through the desire of women wanting to be part of things they were not usually part of. Women were the ones whom wrote and translated the Latin language into the vernacular language. With women translating things into vernacular language, history was