The New Student's Reference Work/Provençal Language, The

Provençal (prō′vŏn′sal′) Language, The, is one of the so-called Romanic languages, all of which are descended from the language of ancient Rome. Wherever Roman law, custom and trade established themselves, the language followed. In this way the inhabitants of northern Italy, Spain, France (Gaul) and parts of Switzerland received a new tongue. The language which came into common use in these places, however, was the low Latin of the provinces, a colloquial form of Latin, lacking much of its grammatical precision. This low Latin, mingling with the languages or dialects of various places, produced, in time, a number of new languages having the same background but little else in common. Writers distinguish six such Romanic languages: Italian, Moldavian, Spanish, Portuguese, French and Provençal, the latter a dialectic language of the south of France, whose use extended from Lake Geneva to the Bay of Biscay and to the Mediterranean. This section of France had not only a language of its own but a literature, which in the 12th and 13th centuries was especially rich in poetry. It was in this language the songs of the troubadours were mostly composed, so that Provençal and troubadour are often used as synonymous terms, The conquest of southern France by northern France in the 13th century, reduced the old Provençal tongue to the level of a mere dialect; nevertheless, its effect upon the language which has superseded it is marked, and the relation of the two affords a battleground for modern philologists. In the poems of Mistral, however, Provençal still is a living language.