Each European country during the Middle Ages had also its
own national tongue. The so-called Romance languages, including modern
French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and Rumanian, were derived from the Latin
spoken by the Romanized inhabitants of the lands now known as France, Italy,
Spain, Portugal, and Rumania. Their colloquial Latin naturally lacked the
elegance of the literary Latin used by Caesar, Cicero, Vergil, and other
classical authors. The difference between the written and spoken forms of the
language became more marked from the fifth century onward, in consequence of
the barbarian invasions, which brought about the decline of learning. Gradually
in each country new and vigorous tongues arose, related to, yet different from,
the old classical Latin in pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary.
FRENCH
The indebtedness of the Romance languages to Latin is well
illustrated by the case of French. It contains less than a thousand words
introduced by the German invaders of Gaul. Even fewer in number are the words
of Celtic origin. Nearly all the rest are derived from Latin.
