ie, the times 500AD-1300AD
I think it was Latin and Byzantine. Is it correct? Or was French powerful yet?
I think it was Latin and Byzantine. Is it correct? Or was French powerful yet?
What languages were most influential in the middle ages?
I assume you're referring to Europe here, or does that include India and China, too?
Oh yes, I meant Europe originally. But it's even more interesting to consider all regions.
Latin (Western Europe) was of course. Also, Greek (Eastern Roman Empire) and Arabic (Spain) were very influential.
As far as dead languages are concerned, Latin of course.
Otherwise French, hands down.
English underwent huge changes under French influence, and the many similarities between Romance languages originate from French influence.
The Grail saga, the legend of Roland, Tristan & Isolde, all the middle age literature comes from France.
Another language was for a short time very influential in the Southern European area: Occitan.
Spanish, Catalan and Italian poetry initially started as imitations of Provencal masters.
Otherwise French, hands down.
English underwent huge changes under French influence, and the many similarities between Romance languages originate from French influence.
The Grail saga, the legend of Roland, Tristan & Isolde, all the middle age literature comes from France.
Another language was for a short time very influential in the Southern European area: Occitan.
Spanish, Catalan and Italian poetry initially started as imitations of Provencal masters.
Depends. The Crusaders from England spoke either Middle English or French (depending on their rank, the higher ranks probably spoke Middle French), those from the Holy Roman Empire probably spoke some dialect of Middle High German or a northern Italian dialect (depending on which part of the empire they were from), and those from France, naturally, spoke Middle French.
Venetian-During the days of the Venetian Republic, Venetian had lingua franca status in the Mediterranean.
About Crusades, French, Venetian and Lingua Franca
- The Crusades (11th through 13th centuries) introduced the French language in the Mediterranean world, with which it had no contact yet. The Crusades were a French idea, French speaking Crusaders were by far the most numerous, and all Christian kingdoms established in Palestina and in the surrounding areas were basically French. All Europeans were called "Franks" by the locals.
(As a legacy, French has remained the second language of most Lebanese Christians).
- With the demise of the Christian kingdoms in the Middle East and the Hundred Years' war starting in the middle of the 14th century, the French language was again absent from the Mediterranean basin and Venetian gathered momentum, followed at a distance by Genoese and Pisan Tuscan (which paved the way to the dominance of Italian in the Renaissance era).
As a result, the language of the so-called Franks was substituted by a simplified Italian pidgin — the "Lingua Franca" or "Sabir" that remained for centuries in general use for contacts between Europeans and Greek, Arabs, Turks, Persians etc.
Note that still around 1300, the most famous of all Venetian merchant travellers, Marco Polo, used French to write his famous book 'Le Devisement du Monde' (actually some sort of Middle French with a frequently Italianate vocabulary).
- The Crusades (11th through 13th centuries) introduced the French language in the Mediterranean world, with which it had no contact yet. The Crusades were a French idea, French speaking Crusaders were by far the most numerous, and all Christian kingdoms established in Palestina and in the surrounding areas were basically French. All Europeans were called "Franks" by the locals.
(As a legacy, French has remained the second language of most Lebanese Christians).
- With the demise of the Christian kingdoms in the Middle East and the Hundred Years' war starting in the middle of the 14th century, the French language was again absent from the Mediterranean basin and Venetian gathered momentum, followed at a distance by Genoese and Pisan Tuscan (which paved the way to the dominance of Italian in the Renaissance era).
As a result, the language of the so-called Franks was substituted by a simplified Italian pidgin — the "Lingua Franca" or "Sabir" that remained for centuries in general use for contacts between Europeans and Greek, Arabs, Turks, Persians etc.
Note that still around 1300, the most famous of all Venetian merchant travellers, Marco Polo, used French to write his famous book 'Le Devisement du Monde' (actually some sort of Middle French with a frequently Italianate vocabulary).
Le Devisement du Monde was written by Rustichello da Pisa. Marco Polo doesn't know langue d'oil.
If the question is "What languages were most influential in the middle ages?
", then the answer is clearly GERMANIC DIALECTS (Frankish (in France), Burgundian (in Switzerland and Burgundia, Lombardic (Northern Italy), Gothic (Spain), Swebeish (Portugal) etc. )!
Greek and Latin etc. have had huge influence in antiquity before the middle ages, and Latin has had also big influence during and after middle ages. But French ((= a Pseudo-Latin Germano-Roman Dialect issued of Northern and Eastern France (Neustria and Lotharingia) dialects)) has been the object of the two most influential languages during the middle ages, Roman-Latin and Germanic. French itself was influencial only in the late middle ages (crusades) and the early and high modern times.
Germanic influence on Western Romance is obvious in vocabulary, morphology, grammar, syntax etc.
", then the answer is clearly GERMANIC DIALECTS (Frankish (in France), Burgundian (in Switzerland and Burgundia, Lombardic (Northern Italy), Gothic (Spain), Swebeish (Portugal) etc. )!
Greek and Latin etc. have had huge influence in antiquity before the middle ages, and Latin has had also big influence during and after middle ages. But French ((= a Pseudo-Latin Germano-Roman Dialect issued of Northern and Eastern France (Neustria and Lotharingia) dialects)) has been the object of the two most influential languages during the middle ages, Roman-Latin and Germanic. French itself was influencial only in the late middle ages (crusades) and the early and high modern times.
Germanic influence on Western Romance is obvious in vocabulary, morphology, grammar, syntax etc.