Origin and Progress of the Italian

Language,

EY

INNOCENZO ZANDOTTI,

PROFESSOR OF LANGUAGES,

AND

MEMBER OF THE ARCADIA OF ROME.

ORIGIN AND PROGRESS OF THE ITALIAN

LANGUAGE.

LADIES,

BY SIGNOR

ZANDOTTI.

I

It may appear very strange, and rather presumptuous on my part, to present myself before you to deliver a lecture in a language which is not my own. trust, however, to your kindness to excuse me if I do not express myself in such a clear and effective manner as I could wish. In my own language I should, perhaps, be better able to do justice to the subject; as it is, I must ask for your kind indulgence in the difficulty which every foreigner must feel, more or less, in giving utterance to his thoughts in any other than his native tongue. But to proceed :

The Italian language, and all the other living languages of the South of Europe, date their origin from the irruption of the barbarian nations into the Roman Empire, and the consequent admixture of the Latin language with various words and idioms. During the decline of the Roman Empire the language fell rapidly from the purity of the Augustan age. Italy became the theatre of war, and the bivouac of hordes of fierce barbarians who covered the face of the whole land, laying waste all before them, like clouds of locusts driven forward by the north wind; and many ruthless conquerors disputed among themselves the glory of ruling over her. Long and strenuous were her efforts

to repel her barbarous invaders till, by the habit of contending with the people of the North, of trading with them, and finally of living under their yoke, she borrowed numerous words from their various tongues, or we may rather say that a new language was formed by a tacit convention between the Italians and the barbarians, suggested and authorised by the mutual necessity of making themselves understood by each other, which each enriched with words drawn from their own peculiar tongue, and which each pronounced according to their own dialects and use. Nevertheless, the foundation of this strange Babel still remained the Latin, the language of the various barbarians. being poor in words, as these rude conquerors had hitherto few wants, few possessions, and few ideas, so that when they became possessed of the luxuries and riches of the "sweet South," they received at once the new ideas and the words necessary to express them, and thus was formed the language which still exists in our own days among the islands of the Levant, under the name of Lingua Franca, to which the different languages of the nations trading there have never ceased to contribute new words. While Italy was thus struggling with various barbarians her vernacular tongue remained in obscurity, and was probably in no way superior to that rude jargon still in use among the But when she began to recover seamen of the Levant. her liberty, and when her various cities began to form themselves into different states, and to aspire to self-government, the new language made great progress. republics, and other forms of popular government, the language of the common people always progresses rapidly. Had the Greek not been the language of Athens and of Sparta, it would probably have wanted much of its peculiar force and energy.

Under

In ancient Rome, the popular assemblies, the debates