Re: Language Naming
From: | John Cowan <cowan@...> |
Date: | Friday, January 22, 1999, 15:20 |
Eric Christopherson wrote:
> There's Ladino, which I assume is from Latinum. Also, Romantsch would
> come from an adverb meaning "[speaking] in the Roman style."
Indeed. In general the words "Roman" and "Latin" survive only for
dialects in close contact with non-Romance languages, where the
important distinction is Romance/non-Romance (German for Romantsch,
Slavic for Romanian, etc.). Elsewhere, in distinctions like
French/Occitan, French/Italian, Spanish/Portuguese, Spanish/Catalan
the important point is one Romance language vs. another, so
"Roman(ce)" or "Latin" would not be distinctive.
--
John Cowan http://www.ccil.org/~cowan cowan@ccil.org
You tollerday donsk? N. You tolkatiff scowegian? Nn.
You spigotty anglease? Nnn. You phonio saxo? Nnnn.
Clear all so! 'Tis a Jute.... (Finnegans Wake 16.5)