Lombardic or Langobardic is an extinct
West Germanic language that was spoken by the
Lombards
The Lombards () or Langobards ( la, Langobardi) were a Germanic people who ruled most of the Italian Peninsula from 568 to 774.
The medieval Lombard historian Paul the Deacon wrote in the '' History of the Lombards'' (written between 787 an ...
(), the
Germanic people
The Germanic peoples were historical groups of people that once occupied Central Europe and Scandinavia during antiquity and into the early Middle Ages. Since the 19th century, they have traditionally been defined by the use of ancient and ear ...
who settled in
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
in the sixth century. It was already declining by the seventh century because the invaders quickly adopted the
Latin vernacular spoken by the local population. Lombardic may have been in use in scattered areas until as late as . Many toponyms in
modern Lombardy and
Greater Lombardy (
Northern Italy) and items of
Lombard and broader
Gallo-Italic
The Gallo-Italic, Gallo-Italian, Gallo-Cisalpine or simply Cisalpine languages constitute the majority of the Romance languages of northern Italy. They are Piedmontese, Lombard, Emilian, Ligurian, and Romagnol. Although most publications de ...
vocabulary derive from Lombardic.
Lombardic is a (literally, 'rubble-language'), that is, a language preserved only in fragmentary form: there are no texts in Lombardic, only individual words and personal names cited in
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
law codes, histories and
charters. As a result, there are many aspects of the language about which nothing is known.
Classification
Lombardic is classified as part of the
Elbe Germanic
Elbe Germanic, also called Irminonic or Erminonic, is a term introduced by the German linguist Friedrich Maurer (1898–1984) in his book, ''Nordgermanen und Alemanen'', to describe the unattested proto-language, or dialectal grouping, ancest ...
(
Upper German) group of
West Germanic
The West Germanic languages constitute the largest of the three branches of the Germanic family of languages (the others being the North Germanic and the extinct East Germanic languages). The West Germanic branch is classically subdivided into ...
languages, most closely related to its geographical neighbours
Alemannic and
Bavarian. This is consistent with the accounts of classical historians, and indeed with the archaeological evidence of Langobardic settlement along the river
Elbe
The Elbe (; cs, Labe ; nds, Ilv or ''Elv''; Upper and dsb, Łobjo) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Re ...
.
In view of the lack of Lombardic texts and the narrow scope of the attested Lombardic vocabulary — almost entirely nouns in the nominative case and proper names — the classification rests entirely on
phonology
Phonology is the branch of linguistics that studies how languages or dialects systematically organize their sounds or, for sign languages, their constituent parts of signs. The term can also refer specifically to the sound or sign system of a ...
. Here the clear evidence of the
Second Sound Shift shows that the language must be
High German
The High German dialects (german: hochdeutsche Mundarten), or simply High German (); not to be confused with Standard High German which is commonly also called ''High German'', comprise the varieties of German spoken south of the Benrath and ...
, rather than
North Sea Germanic
North Sea Germanic, also known as Ingvaeonic , is a postulated grouping of the northern West Germanic languages that consists of Old Frisian, Old English, and Old Saxon, and their descendants.
Ingvaeonic is named after the Ingaevones, a West Ge ...
or
East Germanic
East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth.
Etymology
As in other languages, the word is formed from the ...
, as some earlier scholars proposed.
The Lombardic Corpus
The main evidence for Lombardic comes from contemporary documents written in Latin, where (a) individual Lombardic terms are cited and (b) people with Lombardic names are mentioned. There are also a small number of inscriptions, a handful of which use the
Runic alphabet
Runes are the letters in a set of related alphabets known as runic alphabets native to the Germanic peoples. Runes were used to write various Germanic languages (with some exceptions) before they adopted the Latin alphabet, and for specialised ...
. Additional information about the vocabulary of Lombardic comes from later-attested
loan words into
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
and its dialects, as well as a large number of Italian
place names
Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of ''toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage and types. Toponym is the general term for a proper name of ...
of Lombardic origin (see
below).
The documentary sources fall into three categories:
#
Lombardic law codes
#
Narrative histories
# Administrative documents of the
Lombard kingdom such as
charters
A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the rec ...
.
Phonology
Establishing sound values for Lombardic is problematic for two reasons. Where words are attested in contemporary Lombardic documents, scribes trained in Latin could not be expected to record accurately, or even consistently, the sounds of Lombardic. In the case of loanwords, these are often attested much later, by which time their form will have been affected not only by the adaptation to the phonology of the various
Gallo-Italian dialects but also by subsequent sound changes in the development of
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
.
Vowels
The vowel system of Lombardic is very conservative and largely preserves the
Proto-Germanic
Proto-Germanic (abbreviated PGmc; also called Common Germanic) is the reconstructed proto-language of the Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages.
Proto-Germanic eventually developed from pre-Proto-Germanic into three Germanic bran ...
system. The three main vowel developments characteristic of other Upper German dialects are lacking in Lombardic.
*There is no evidence of the
Primary Umlaut of //, which is prevalent in
Old High German
Old High German (OHG; german: Althochdeutsch (Ahd.)) is the earliest stage of the German language, conventionally covering the period from around 750 to 1050.
There is no standardised or supra-regional form of German at this period, and Old High ...
(OHG), e.g. Lombardic = OHG ("champion").
* The
diphthongs
A diphthong ( ; , ), also known as a gliding vowel, is a combination of two adjacent vowel sounds within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: that is, the tongue (and/or other parts of the speech ...
// and // are preserved, whereas in other Old High German dialects they become // and // or are
monophthong
A monophthong ( ; , ) is a pure vowel sound, one whose articulation at both beginning and end is relatively fixed, and which does not glide up or down towards a new position of articulation. The monophthongs can be contrasted with diphthongs, wh ...
ized to // and // in certain phonetic contexts. Examples: Lgb. = OHG ("mayor"); Lgb. = OHG ("body snatching"); Lgb. = OHG ("payment").
* The mid long vowels // and //, which are diphthongized in OHG to // and // respectively, remain unchanged in Lombardic. Examples: Lgb. = OHG ("price"); Lgb. = OHG ("plough").
Consonants
Lombardic participated in and indeed shows some of the earliest evidence for the
High German consonant shift. The ''
Historia Langobardorum
The ''History of the Lombards'' or the ''History of the Langobards'' ( la, Historia Langobardorum) is the chief work by Paul the Deacon, written in the late 8th century. This incomplete history in six books was written after 787 and at any rate ...
'' of
Paulus Diaconus
Paul the Deacon ( 720s 13 April in 796, 797, 798, or 799 AD), also known as ''Paulus Diaconus'', ''Warnefridus'', ''Barnefridus'', or ''Winfridus'', and sometimes suffixed ''Cassinensis'' (''i.e.'' "of Monte Cassino"), was a Benedictine monk, s ...
mentions a duke
Zaban
Zaban was the Lombard '' dux'' (or duke) of Pavia (Ticinum) during the decade-long interregnum known as the Rule of the Dukes (574–584). Pavia had been the capital of the Lombard kingdom, but after the death of King Cleph, it became the centre ...
of 574, showing shifted to . The term (ablative) (the second element is cognate with English ''seat'') in the ''
Edictum Rothari
The ''Edictum Rothari'' (lit. ''Edict of Rothari''; also ''Edictus Rothari'' or ''Edictum Rotharis'') was the first written compilation of Lombard law, codified and promulgated on 22 November 643 by King Rothari in Pavia by a gairethinx, an ass ...
'' shows the same shift. Many names in the Lombard royal families show shifted consonants, particularly > in the following name components:
* ''-bert'' > ''-pert'': Aripert, Godepert
* ''-berg'' > ''-perg'': Gundperga (daughter of
King Agilulf)
* ''-brand'' > ''-prand'': Ansprand, Liutprand
This
sound change left two different sets of names in the
Italian language
Italian (''italiano'' or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire. Together with Sardinian, Italian is the least divergent language from Latin. Spoken by about ...
: (< Lombardic , "beam") vs. (< Lombardic , "wood platform"); (< Lombardic ) vs. (Lombardic , "bench").
[Giacomo Devoto: ''Dizionario etimologico''.]
Decline
It is not possible to say with certainty when the Lombardic language died out and there are divergent views on the issue. It seems certain that it was in decline even before the end of the Lombardic kingdom in 774, though it may have survived longer in Northern areas, with their denser Lombardic settlement. In any case, the Lombard host which had invaded Italy was not monolingual: in addition to a sizeable body of
Saxons
The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic
*
*
*
*
peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...
, there were also "
Gepids
The Gepids, ( la, Gepidae, Gipedae, grc, Γήπαιδες) were an East Germanic tribe who lived in the area of modern Romania, Hungary and Serbia, roughly between the Tisza, Sava and Carpathian Mountains. They were said to share the religion ...
,
Bulgars,
Sarmatians
The Sarmatians (; grc, Σαρμαται, Sarmatai; Latin: ) were a large confederation of ancient Eastern Iranian equestrian nomadic peoples of classical antiquity who dominated the Pontic steppe from about the 3rd century BC to the 4th cen ...
,
Pannonians
This is a list of ancient tribes in the ancient territory of Illyria ( grc-gre, Ἰλλυρία; la, Illyria). The name ''Illyrians'' seems to be the name of a single Illyrian tribe that was the first to come into contact with the ancient Greeks ...
,
Suevi,
Noricans and so on" (''Historia Langobardorum'', II, 26).
In the areas of Italy settled by the Lombards, "there followed a rapid mixing of Roman and barbarian, especially among the population settled on the land." The Lombard conversion from
Arianism to
Roman Catholicism in the 7th century will have removed a major barrier to the integration of the two populations. By the 8th century speakers of Lombardic were bilingual, adopting the local
Gallo-Italic
The Gallo-Italic, Gallo-Italian, Gallo-Cisalpine or simply Cisalpine languages constitute the majority of the Romance languages of northern Italy. They are Piedmontese, Lombard, Emilian, Ligurian, and Romagnol. Although most publications de ...
language.
Even as use of the language declined, Lombardic personal names remained popular, though they gradually lost their connection to the source language, adopting Latin endings. The 8th century also saw the development of hybrid names with both Lombardic and Latin elements (e.g. ''Alipertulus'' = Lgb + Lat. ). By this time occurrence of both Lombardic and Latin names within a single family "is so widespread that such cases make up the majority throughout Lombard Italy".
Explicit evidence of the death of Lombardic comes in the late 10th century: the
Salerno Chronicle mentions the "German language which the Lombards previously spoke" (, cap. 38). But some knowledge of Lombardic remained: the Salerno chronicler nonetheless knows that the Lombardic term includes an element which means "sitting" (). As late as 1003, a charter uses the Lombardic term ("filthy fellow") as an insult.
Influence on Italian and Lombard
Loan words
At least 280 Italian words have been identified as Lombardic
loans
In finance, a loan is the lending of money by one or more individuals, organizations, or other entities to other individuals, organizations, etc. The recipient (i.e., the borrower) incurs a debt and is usually liable to pay interest on that de ...
, though there is wide local variation and some are found only in areas settled by the Lombards. One problem in detecting Lombardic loans is that they are not always readily distinguishable from
Gothic, the language of the previous Germanic rulers of Italy. In many cases, it is only evidence of the Second Sound Shift, which did not affect Gothic, that guarantees a Lombardic source for a loanword. However, the Sound Shift is equally present in Alemannic and Bavarian, which are also potential sources of loans into Northern Italian varieties at this period.
The main areas of the Lombardic vocabulary surviving in Italian are: warfare and weapons, the law, government and society, housebuilding and the household, objects and activities from daily life. Of these, however, Lombardic government and legal terms were to a great extent superseded by the
Gallo-Roman
Gallo-Roman culture was a consequence of the Romanization of Gauls under the rule of the Roman Empire. It was characterized by the Gaulish adoption or adaptation of Roman culture, language, morals and way of life in a uniquely Gaulish context ...
vocabulary of the
Frankish conquest. The predominance of loans relating to daily life "would appear to be a sign that the Longobards fitted in and integrated with the locals at a grass-roots level."
Examples:
* , "hip" < lgb.
* , "balcony", and , "shelf" < lgb.
* , "knock" < lgb
* , "blood feud"
Lombard language
Lombard (native name: ,Classical Milanese orthography, and . , Ticinese orthography. Modern Western orthography. or , Eastern unified orthography. depending on the orthography; pronunciation: ) is a language, belonging to the Gallo-Italic famil ...
. It, too, has loans from Lombardic. The following examples come from
.
* , "chopped hay" < lgb. ("flower")
* , "cultivated field" < lgb. ("open plain")
* , "sour, unripe" < lgb.
* , "stubborn" < lgb. + ("horse" + "bone/head")
* , "railing" < lgb. ("bundle of branches")
* , it. , "chair" < lgb. ("bench")
* , "to clean the house" < lgb. ("to rub away").
When the Lombards settled in Italy they had no previous acquaintance with Latin, with the result that the earliest Lombard settlements received Lombardic names. There are a number of distinct types of name.
Each
was the lord of a group of military clans, who were settled in the area he ruled. The Lombardic term for such a clan was , and it has given its name (or the variant ) to a number of Italian settlements, including:
*
Many settlements took their names from Lombardic personal names. For example the Lombardic name ("spear") is the source of: Noci Garrioni (
), Garleri (Porto Maurizio), and Garlazzolo (Pavia). Gamillscheg counts over 700 of these.
In many cases a Lombard personal name was appended to the Latin word for a natural feature. Thus Latin ("hill") appears coupled with, for example, lgb. in Colle-Alberti (
), lgb. in Collegonzi (
).
Finally, there are over 30 Lombardic common nouns which have formed the basis for Italian place names, including:
*Lgb. ("mountain") > Berghi (Trient), Berga (Vicenza), Valperga (Turin)
*Lgb. ("mayor") > Scaldasole (Pavia), Casale di Scodosia (
)
*Lgb. ("stud farm") > Stoerda (Novara) (cf.
).
A number of Lombardic personal names survive in modern Italy (for example, ''Aldo''), but where they have it is mostly in the form of a surname: ''
'', ''Siccardi'' are all of Lombardic origin.
There are a number of Latin texts that include Lombardic names, and Lombardic legal texts contain terms taken from the legal vocabulary of the vernacular, including:
* ''
may be Lombardic.
bronze capsule, from 540–590:
* On the lid:
* On the bottom:
:Translation: "Arogis and Alaguth (and) Leuba made (it)"
, from 510–590.
* Fibula A:
* Fibula B:
:Translation: "Godahi(l)d, (with) sympathy (I?) Arsiboda bless"
There is debate as to whether the inscription on the fifth-century
, and the reading is uncertain. The futhark on the Breza half-column is regarded as either Lombardic or
.