Old Gallo-Italic Language

Old Gallo-Italic, also referred as Old Lombard, or Old Northern Italian is a Gallo-Romance language spoken from 900 until 1500. The language is similar to Old Occitan, which was spoken around the same area. Most texts were written in the Lombard koiné.

History

Before the 13th century

Before the 13th century, the literary language in northern Italy was Old Occitan, being prominent in the 12th century. The first text in a vernacular, in an early form of Piedmontese, is in the Church of Santa Maria Maggio in Vercelli, dating from 1040. Another text from 1106 is in the Church of Sant'Evasio in Casale Monferrato. One of the works of Raimbaut de Vaqueiras, , featured early Genovese Ligurian.

The '' sermones subalpini'' was a text in early Old Piedmontese from the 12th century, and is a document devoted to the education of the Knights Templar stationed in Piedmont.

13th and 14th centuries

Around the 13th century, many authors would ditch Old Occitan, Old French, and Latin for their native language. Several texts were made in Old Gallo-Italic, such as Bonvesin da la Riva's works, ''Sermon divin'', the autobiography of Uguçon da Laodho, ''Splanamento'', the works of Guido Faba and Giacomin da Verona.

Characteristics

* The Ç, c-cedilla (ç) could be used before e, shown in the names ''Berrençers'' and ''Uçer''.
* Future tense ''-ero'' may be from either Occitan or Latin, which was a very common feature in Gallo-Italic texts from the time.
* Old Gallo-Italic shows a compound future tense, as in Old Lombard instead of .

Phonology

The phonology of Old Gallo-Italic was similar to those of Old French and Italian language, Italian.

Consonants

* Some changes include the change of to , as seen with Modern Lombard, Piedmontese, Ligurian, Emilian and Romagnol.

Vowels

Dialects

* ''Old Lombard dialect, Old Lombard''
** ''Lombard language, Lombard''
** ''Gallo-Italic languages, Siculo-Lombard''
** ''Gallo-Italic of Basilicata, Lucano-Lombard''
* ''Old Piemontese''
** ''Piedmontese''
* ''Old Ligurian''
** '' Ligurian''
* ''Old Venetian'' (?)
** '' Venetian''
* ''Old Emilian–Rumagnol''
** '' Emilian''
** ''Romagnol''

Literature and tradition

Authors

13th century

* Bonvesin dra Riva (Milan): multiple poems; including Liber di Tre Scricciur;
* Pietro da Barsegapè (Milan): ''Sermon Divin'' from 1274;
* Uguçon da Laodho (Lodi): his autobiography;
* Gerard Pateg (Cremona): ''Splanamento'';
*Giacomin da Verona: multiple poems;
* Guido Fava (Bologna): ''Gemma purpurea'' e ''Parlamenta et epistole'';

14th century

* Antonio da Ferrara: ''Prima che ‘l ferro arossi i bianchi pili'';
* Nicolò de' Rossi (Treviso): ''Canzoniere'';
* Francesco Vannozzo (Padova): ''Rime'';
*Bernabò Visconti (Milan): ''Lamento''.

15th century

* Giovan Giorgio Alione (Asti): multiple poems;
* Lancino Curti (Milan): ''Meditatio in Hebdomadam Olivarum'';

Sample text

''English translation:''

Book of the Three Scriptures

In the name of Jesus Christ, and Saint Mary
This work began in their honor:
Who wants to hear a valuable speech,
Please listen and understand.

Listening and not understanding would do no good,
And whoever understood well would still conclude nothing,
If he does not put into practice what he has understood:
What you don't put your heart and ingenuity into has no value.

In this book we deal with three types of writing:
The first is black and instills great fear
The second is red, the third is beautiful and pure,
Also worked with gold, so much so that you would say it is of great refinement.

See also

* Gallo-Italic languages
* Old Gallo-Romance language

References

{{reflist

Gallo-Italic languages
Languages of Piedmont
Languages of Lombardy
Languages of Emilia-Romagna
Languages of Veneto