Angela Evans
Unit 2 Individual Project 2
Historical Foundations
American Intercontinental University
February 19, 2012

Latin was one of the languages of choice but in literature it began to change early in the twelfth century. The language beginning to be used was easily understood by all who read this particular literature. Because it was an understood and easy language it spread throughout Europe and Italy. The impact of this changed language would go on to impact a variety of areas including cultures.

Latin originated in Rome mainly used in Latium, Rome. It was used as early as the 6th century in the Etruscan alphabet (Ager 2012). Its capacity was spread over other areas of Italy, Europe, Africa, and the Middle East as an ordinary language for everyone (Ager). The alphabet had 23 letters: A B C D E F G H I K L M N O P Q R S T V X Y Z with none being lower case letters, the I and V were consonants and vowels, K, X, Y, and Z were used to write Greek words, and the name Julius as it known to us today was spelled IVLIVS (Ager). The vernacular language was the language that had pushed in front of the Latin language. It was easily understood because it was written in the language used by those within the region respectively. The vernacular language is the dialect used for that particular region whether it was Spanish, French, Neapolitan or Italian to name a few (Matthews, 2012). Some examples of these languages are a poem from the Italian dialect is ritmo cassinese, ritmo which means the rhymes within the verses and cassinese derives from cassino which means the abbey of Monte Cassino and can still be found at this abbey, and a Neapolitan song Canto delle lavendale del Vomero by Roberto Murolo which goes as: Tu m`aje prommiso quatto moccatore Oje moccatore. Oje moccatore Io so` benuto se, io so benuto Se me lovuo` dare, melo vuo` dare (Matthews). Ladino poets wrote in Spanish and Tagalog one such song “Salamat nang walang hanga/gracias di sin sempiternas” meaning never ending thanks by Fernando Bagonbanta, it is located in the Guidelines for the Christian life in the Tagalog language (Godinez-Ortega n.d.). A French example is the handwritten Chanson de Roland piece which talks about the remarkable experiences of Charlemagne (Tillotson, 2005). The spread of vernacular language was, vast and was the result of the second death of the Latin language and is still much alive today with 6 languages (Journal of Empire Studies, 2012). The language dialect of those without an education was also the result of vernacular language (The University of Calgary, 1996). Some of the dialect spoken in Western Europe was Greek, Celtic, Romanic, which were different languages derived from and adopted by the invading German nations and German (The University of Calgary). In the Northeastern area of Europe it was high and low German, Frisian, Saxon, and West German language (The University of Calgary). Early in the 6th century vernacular language was used in France within church assemblies and in the 8th century Charlemagne ordained that sermons should be done in the vernacular (The University of Calgary).
The impact of the vernacular language through the invention of the printing press afforded families the ability to read the Bible, a high urgency for religious and worldly literature in the vernacular language kept the printing press, engravers, and illuminators in business (The University of Calgary 1998). An example of poetry written in the vernacular is one Dante Alighieri wrote to Beatrice known as Inferno: La Divina Commedia (The Divine Comedy) an extract from the poem is: O Simon Magnus! O disciples of his! Miserable pimps and hucksters, that have sold The things of God, troth-plight to the righteousness, Into adultery for silver and gold; For you the trump must sound now – you are come To the bag the third bowge (pit) has you in its hold…(The University of Calgary 1998). Poets had knowledge of the vernacular language and decoded works of other poets into this language so that everyone could understand the works (Schwartz 2008). They also transcribed the Roman history so Plato’s reasoning would not be put into effect or there was no comprehension of the annexation of the empire (Schwartz).
I conclude that implementing the vernacular language brought about nationwide oneness in all areas of vitality, which in turn brought people on one accord in politics, economics, church, and rational. Before the implementation of the vernacular language education was vital to understanding Latin, not so much afterwards in reference to understanding the language. This is because the people of a certain region were already talking in the vernacular. Education was and still is vital if you travel to foreign region or just to learn a particular language.

References
Ager, S. (2012). Omniglot: Latin language (Lingua Latina). Retrieved February 19, 2012 from www.omniglot.com/wriying/latin2.htm
Godinez-Ortego, C. F. (n.d.). The Literary forms in Philippine Literature. Retrieved February 19, 2012 from www.seasite.niu.edu/Tagalog/Literature/literary_forms_in_philippine_lit.htm
Matthews, J. (2012). Around Naples Encyclopedia: UMUC Italian studies-Naples. Retrieved 19, 2012 from ac-support.europe.umuc.edu/~jmatthews/naples/vernacular.htm
Schwartz, D. (2008). Medieval Attitudes Toward Vernacular Literature: Prologues and epilogues in 12th-century French works Retrieved February 21, 2012 from cla.calpoly.edu/~ dschwart/eng1439/439vernacular.html
Tillotson, D. (2005). Medieval Writing: Vernacular languages 2. Retrieved February 19, 2012 From medievalwriting.50megs.com/whyread/vernac2.htm
The University of Calgary. (1996, August). Latin and the Vernacular Languages Retrieved February 20, 2012 from www.ucalgary.ca/applied_history/tutor/firsteuro/lang.html
The University of Calgary. (1998). The End of Europe’s middle Ages: Language and Literature Retrieved February 20, 2012 from www.ucalgary.ca/applied_history/tutor/endmiddle/ langlit.html