The Burgundian language, also known by French names , , and , is an Oïl language spoken in Burgundy and particularly in the

Morvan The Morvan (historically Morvand from the Latin ''Murvinnum'' 590)Pierre-Henri Billy, ''Dictionnaire des noms de lieux de la France'', éditions Errance, 640 pages, 2011 , is a mountainous massif lying just to the west of the Côte d'Or escar ...

area of the region. The arrival of the Burgundians brought Germanic elements into the Gallo-Romance speech of the inhabitants. The occupation of the

Low Countries The term Low Countries, also known as the Low Lands ( nl, de Lage Landen, french: les Pays-Bas, lb, déi Niddereg Lännereien) and historically called the Netherlands ( nl, de Nederlanden), Flanders, or Belgica, is a coastal lowland region in N ...

by the

Dukes of Burgundy Duke of Burgundy (french: duc de Bourgogne) was a title used by the rulers of the Duchy of Burgundy, from its establishment in 843 to its annexation by France in 1477, and later by Holy Roman Emperors and Kings of Spain from the House of Habsburg ...

also brought Burgundian into contact with Dutch; e.g., the word for gingerbread ''couque'' derives from Middle Dutch ''kooke'' (cake). Dialects of the south along the

Saône The Saône ( , ; frp, Sona; lat, Arar) is a river in eastern France. It is a right tributary of the Rhône, rising at Vioménil in the Vosges department and joining the Rhône in Lyon, at the southern end of the Presqu'île. The name ...

river, such as Brionnais-Charolais, have been influenced by the Arpitan language, which is spoken mainly in a neighbouring area that approximates the heartland of the original

Kingdom of Burgundy Kingdom of Burgundy was a name given to various states located in Western Europe during the Middle Ages. The historical Burgundy correlates with the border area of France, Italy and Switzerland and includes the major modern cities of Geneva and ...

. Eugène de Chambure published a ''Glossaire du Morvan'' in 1878.''Le morvandiau tel qu'on le parle'', Roger Dron, Autun 2004, (no ISBN)

Literature

Apart from songs dating from the eighteenth century, there is little surviving

literature Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...

from before the nineteenth century. In 1854 the Papal Bull ''

Ineffabilis Deus ( for, , Latin, Ineffable God) is an apostolic constitution by Pope Pius IX.''Ineffabilis Deus''

'' was translated into the Morvan dialect by the Abbé Jacques-François Baudiau, and into the

Dijon Dijon (, , ) (dated) * it, Digione * la, Diviō or * lmo, Digion is the prefecture of the Côte-d'Or department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in northeastern France. the commune had a population of 156,920. The earlies ...

dialect by the Abbé Lereuil. The Abbé Baudiau also transcribed storytelling. Folklorists collected

vernacular literature Vernacular literature is literature written in the vernacular—the speech of the "common people". In the European tradition, this effectively means literature not written in Latin nor Koine Greek. In this context, vernacular literature appeared ...

from the mid-nineteenth century and by the end of the century a number of writers were establishing an original literature. Achille Millien (1838–1927) collected songs from the

oral tradition Oral tradition, or oral lore, is a form of human communication wherein knowledge, art, ideas and cultural material is received, preserved, and transmitted orally from one generation to another. Vansina, Jan: ''Oral Tradition as History'' (1985) ...

in the Nivernais. Louis de Courmont, nicknamed the " Botrel of the Morvan," was a chansonnier who after a career in Paris returned to his native region. A statue was erected to him in Château-Chinon. Emile Blin wrote a number of stories and monologues aimed at a tourist market; a collection was published in 1933 under the title ''Le Patois de Chez Nous.'' Alfred Guillaume published a large number of vernacular texts for use on picturesque postcards at the beginning of the twentieth century, and in 1923 published a book in Burgundian, ''L'âme du Morvan.'' More recently, Marinette Janvier published ''Ma grelotterie'' (1974) and ''Autour d'un teugnon'' (1989).

References

*''Paroles d'oïl'', 1994, {{DEFAULTSORT:Burgundian language (Oil) Oïl languages Languages of France Culture of Burgundy Languages attested from the 18th century