Old Leonese language

Old Leonese
Old Leonese
Region	Kingdom of León
Ethnicity	Asturians; Leonese
Era	Evolved into Asturian, Leonese, Mirandese, and possibly Cantabrian and Extremaduran by 1500.
Language family	Indo-European Italic Latino-Faliscan Latin Romance Italo-Western Western Ibero-Romance West Iberian Asturleonese Old Leonese; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
Early forms	Old Latin Vulgar Latin Proto-Romance ; ;
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–
	The extent of the language around the 13th to 14th centuries
	This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.

Old Leonese or Medieval Leonese (Spanish: leonés medieval) was a West Iberian dialect of Vulgar Latin spoken in several regions of the Kingdom of León and the medieval Principality of Asturias. It was the ancestor of several languages, all forming the Asturleonese language family. Old Leonese was spoken until around the year 1500, and was attested starting from the 10th century with the Nodicia de kesos.

Phonology

Consonants

The sound change [ʎ] to [ʝ] in some contexts may appear in Old East and Central Leonese (such as in muyer and meyor).^[1] According to some researchers, this trait might have contributed to the spread of yeísmo in Castilian, brought by Asturian and Leonese settlers.^[2]

Vowels

Latin ŏ and ĕ developed in Old Leonese to /we/ and /je/ respectively, such as in puerta.^[3] Compare Old Galician-Portuguese porta.
Over diphthongisation was a common feature of Old Leonese, alongside other Ibero-Romance varieties.^[4]

Literature

The first text in the Leonese vernacular was the Nodicia de kesos, dated from the 10th century.^[5] Meanwhile, in 1155, Fueru d'Aviles was written, being the oldest text in the Asturian vernacular.^[6] The majority of Old Leonese texts from the 13th century are in the book Étude sur l'ancien dialecte léonais d'après des chartes du XIIIe siècle by Erik Staaff in 1907. A notable text is the translation of liber iudiciorum, the Fuero juzgo or Fueru xulgu.

Sample text

The following text is from the Nodicia de kesos.

1st column

Nodicia de /kesos que /espisit frater /Semeno: jn labore /de fratres jn ilo ba- /celare /de cirka Sancte Ius- /te, kesos U; jn ilo /alio de apate, /II kesos; en [que] /puseron ogano, /kesos IIII; jn ilo /de Kastrelo, I; /jn ila vinia majore, /II

List of /cheeses that spent brother /Semeno: in the work/ of the brothers in the vi /neyard /near Saint Just,/ 5 cheeses; in the /other of the abbot, /2 cheeses; in [the one that]/ they put this year, / 4 cheeses; in the one /of Castrillo, 1; /in the main vineyard, 2

2nd column

/que lebaron en fosado, /II, ad ila tore; /que baron a Cegia, /II, quando la talia- /ron ila mesa; II que /lebaron Lejione; II /..s...en /u...re... /...que... /...c... /...e...u /...alio (?) /... /g... Uane Ece; alio ke le /ba de sopbrino de Gomi /de do...a...; IIII que espi- /seron quando llo rege /uenit ad Rocola; /I qua salbatore ibi /uenit'

/that they took as war tribute, /2, to the tower; that they took to Cea, /2, when they car- /ved the table; 2 that /they took to León; 2/..s...en /u...re... /...que... /...c... /...e...u /...other (?) /... /g... Uane Ece /another that to- /ok Gomi's nephew /de do...a...; 4 that they spe- /nt when the king /came to Rozuela; /1 when Salvador /came there.

References

^ Zampaulo, André (2019-09-19). Palatal Sound Change in the Romance Languages: Diachronic and Synchronic Perspectives. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-253429-3.
^ Penny, Ralph (1991). "El origen asturleonés de algunos fenómenos andaluces y americanos" (PDF). Lletres asturianes: Boletín Oficial de l'Academia de la Llingua Asturiana (in Spanish). 39: 33–40. ISSN 0212-0534. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 June 2013. Retrieved 20 November 2022.
^ Amador Calzado, Pablo (2022). El leonés medieval: rasgos lingüísticos y análisis de documentos [Medieval Leonese: linguistic traits and document analysis] (in Spanish). Salamanca, Spain: University of Salamanca. p. 3.
^ Fink, Oskar (2021-09-07). Studien über die Mundarten der Sierra de Gata (in German). Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. ISBN 978-3-11-243442-0.
^ ILEÓN, Redacción (2024-01-18). "Estudio a fondo sobre 'La Nodicia de Kesos', el escrito romance más antiguo de la península ibérica". iLeón (in Spanish). Retrieved 2024-06-13.
^ "Asturianu - Language or Dialect? - Asturian-American Migration Forum". Asturianus. Retrieved 2024-06-13.

[1] Zampaulo, André (2019-09-19). Palatal Sound Change in the Romance Languages: Diachronic and Synchronic Perspectives. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-253429-3.

[2] Penny, Ralph (1991). "El origen asturleonés de algunos fenómenos andaluces y americanos" (PDF). Lletres asturianes: Boletín Oficial de l'Academia de la Llingua Asturiana (in Spanish). 39: 33–40. ISSN 0212-0534. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 June 2013. Retrieved 20 November 2022.

[3] Amador Calzado, Pablo (2022). El leonés medieval: rasgos lingüísticos y análisis de documentos [Medieval Leonese: linguistic traits and document analysis] (in Spanish). Salamanca, Spain: University of Salamanca. p. 3.

[4] Fink, Oskar (2021-09-07). Studien über die Mundarten der Sierra de Gata (in German). Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. ISBN 978-3-11-243442-0.

[5] ILEÓN, Redacción (2024-01-18). "Estudio a fondo sobre 'La Nodicia de Kesos', el escrito romance más antiguo de la península ibérica". iLeón (in Spanish). Retrieved 2024-06-13.

[6] "Asturianu - Language or Dialect? - Asturian-American Migration Forum". Asturianus. Retrieved 2024-06-13.

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