Andrea Ammonio (c. 1478 – 1517) was an Italian cleric and Neo-Latin poet born in Lucca , held in high esteem by Erasmus , a friend of his. Sent to England by Pope Julius II , he became Latin secretary to Henry VII of England and a prebendary of Salisbury .
118-550: Polydore Vergil or Virgil ( Italian : Polidoro Virgili, commonly Latinised as Polydorus Vergilius; c. 1470 – 18 April 1555), widely known as Polydore Vergil of Urbino , was an Italian humanist scholar, historian, priest and diplomat, who spent much of his life in England . He is particularly remembered for his works the Proverbiorum libellus (1498), a collection of Latin proverbs; De inventoribus rerum (1499),
236-510: A Latin dialogue between Vergil and his Cambridge friend Robert Ridley on the subject of the natural and the supernatural, and whether credence should be given to such alleged phenomena as prodigious events and portents. The setting for the dialogue is the open air, at Vergil's country house near London. Vergil's role is to state the problems and supply the historical illustrations; his friend's to explain, rationalise and depreciate as best he can. The De Prodigiis also achieved great popularity, and
354-523: A commentary on Martial 's Epigrams . Vergil's Proverbiorum Libellus (Venice, 1498), retitled in later editions as Adagiorum Liber , and often known as the Adagia , was a collection of Latin proverbs. It was the first such collection printed, preceding the similar Adagia of Erasmus by two years. The initial controversy between the two authors that arose from their rival claims for priority (Erasmus still believed as late as 1533 that his work had been
472-438: A fresh start using the manuscript as a guideline. The rewriting appears to have taken place between 1521 and 1524 (based on one reference to his having been archdeacon of Wells for fourteen years; and another allusion to "this day, which is 1524"). Book VII of the manuscript was now split into two parts, the new book VIII running from the death of Cnut to 1066; while the reigns of the first two Norman kings, previously covered in
590-416: A growing interest in post-classical texts among German and Italian scholars. This interest sprang mainly from self-conscious nationalism which makes it curious at least that a foreigner chose a text about Britain. Vergil did, however, have a motive; this project provided a background for his anti-Arthurian position. Tunstall supplied one of the source manuscripts (hence the dedication), and the work of editing
708-468: A history of discoveries and origins; and the Anglica Historia (drafted by 1513; printed in 1534), an influential history of England. He has been dubbed the "Father of English History ". Vergil is sometimes referred to in contemporary documents as Polydore Vergil Castellensis or Castellen , leading some to assume that he was a kinsman of his patron, Cardinal Adriano Castellesi . However, it
826-565: A huge number of civil servants and soldiers recruited from all over the country introduced many more words and idioms from their home languages— ciao is derived from the Venetian word s-cia[v]o ("slave", that is "your servant"), panettone comes from the Lombard word panetton , etc. Only 2.5% of Italy's population could speak the Italian standardized language properly when
944-471: A little over one million people in the United States speak Italian at home. Nevertheless, an Italian language media market does exist in the country. In Canada, Italian is the second most spoken non-official language when varieties of Chinese are not grouped together, with 375,645 claiming Italian as their mother tongue in 2016. Italian immigrants to South America have also brought a presence of
1062-657: A local vernacular. These dialects, as they are commonly referred to, evolved from Vulgar Latin over the course of centuries, unaffected by formal standards and teachings. They are not in any sense "dialects" of standard Italian, which itself started off as one of these local tongues, but sister languages of Italian. Mutual intelligibility with Italian varies widely, as it does with Romance languages in general. The Romance languages of Italy can differ greatly from Italian at all levels ( phonology , morphology , syntax , lexicon , pragmatics ) and are classified typologically as distinct languages. The standard Italian language has
1180-658: A poetic and literary origin in the works of Tuscan writers of the 12th century, and, although the grammar and core lexicon are basically unchanged from those used in Florence in the 13th century, the modern standard of the language was largely shaped by relatively recent events. However, Romance vernacular as language spoken in the Italian Peninsula has a longer history. In fact, the earliest surviving texts that can definitely be called vernacular (as distinct from its predecessor Vulgar Latin) are legal formulae known as
1298-672: A property of the University of Urbino ) is marked by a plaque; and there is also a bust of him in the city, unveiled in 2000. Vergil is among the worthies whose portraits were painted in c .1618–19 on the frieze in what is now the Upper Reading Room of the Bodleian Library , Oxford. In continental Europe, Vergil is principally remembered for the De Inventoribus Rerum and the Adagia : these are
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#17327933923451416-417: A renewed interest in linguistics in the 16th century, sparked a debate that raged throughout Italy concerning the criteria that should govern the establishment of a modern Italian literary and spoken language. This discussion, known as questione della lingua (i.e., the problem of the language ), ran through the Italian culture until the end of the 19th century, often linked to the political debate on achieving
1534-509: A representative of Italian humanist learning, Vergil was received in England as a minor celebrity, and was welcomed at court by King Henry VII , who was more interested in humanist scholars than his predecessors. He recognized the advantages humanism would offer to legitimise his claim to the throne, which was still vulnerable to challenge after his victory at the Battle of Bosworth Field , and
1652-575: A result. Starting in late medieval times in much of Europe and the Mediterranean, Latin was replaced as the primary commercial language by languages of Italy, especially Tuscan and Venetian. These varieties were consolidated during the Renaissance with the strength of Italy and the rise of humanism and the arts . Italy came to enjoy increasing artistic prestige within Europe. A mark of
1770-458: A seven-vowel system, consisting of /a, ɛ, e, i, ɔ, o, u/ , as well as 23 consonants. Compared with most other Romance languages, Italian phonology is conservative, preserving many words nearly unchanged from Vulgar Latin . Some examples: Andrea Ammonio Born into one of the oldest families in Lucca (de Herena, also known as "della Rena"), he was later given the hellenized name "Ammonio". At
1888-412: A single book, were also divided between two books. The work had therefore gained two books, but now ended with book XXVI in 1509, no longer extending into the reign of Henry VIII. The second edition appeared in 1546. This version also ended in 1509, but was much revised. The revisions included rewordings for political reasons, a greater emphasis on the civic history of London, and stylistic improvements of
2006-479: A single language is that they have evolved so that they are no longer mutually intelligible ; this diagnostic is effective if mutual intelligibility is minimal or absent (e.g. in Romance, Romanian and Portuguese), but it fails in cases such as Spanish-Portuguese or Spanish-Italian, as educated native speakers of either pairing can understand each other well if they choose to do so; however, the level of intelligibility
2124-406: A true lover of antiquities". In the 19th century, Vergil's importance to English historiography finally began to be acknowledged, as "historians of Tudor England realized the scope of his achievement in the Anglica Historia ". Italian language Italian ( italiano , pronounced [itaˈljaːno] , or lingua italiana , pronounced [ˈliŋɡwa itaˈljaːna] )
2242-513: A united Italian state. Renaissance scholars divided into three main factions: A fourth faction claimed that the best Italian was the one that the papal court adopted, which was a mixture of the Tuscan and Roman dialects. Eventually, Bembo's ideas prevailed, and the foundation of the Accademia della Crusca in Florence (1582–1583), the official legislative body of the Italian language, led to
2360-588: A waggon, that the faults of his own work might pass undiscovered". William Lambarde in 1576 commented that "as [Vergil] was by office Collector of the Peter pence to the Popes gain and lucre, so sheweth he himselfe throughout by profession, a covetous gatherer of lying Fables, fained to advaunce the Popish Religion, Kingdome, and Myter". Henry Peacham in 1622 again accused Vergil of having "burned and embezeled
2478-427: Is 89% with French, 87% with Catalan , 85% with Sardinian , 82% with Spanish, 80% with Portuguese , 78% with Ladin , 77% with Romanian . Estimates may differ according to sources. One study, analyzing the degree of differentiation of Romance languages in comparison to Latin (comparing phonology , inflection , discourse , syntax , vocabulary , and intonation ), estimated that distance between Italian and Latin
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#17327933923452596-691: Is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire . Italian is the least divergent language from Latin , together with Sardinian (meaning that Italian and Sardinian are the most conservative Romance languages). Spoken by about 85 million people, including 67 million native speakers (2024), Italian is an official language in Italy , San Marino , Switzerland ( Ticino and
2714-759: Is also spoken by a minority in Monaco and France, especially in the southeastern part of the country. Italian was the official language in Savoy and in Nice until 1860, when they were both annexed by France under the Treaty of Turin , a development that triggered the " Niçard exodus ", or the emigration of a quarter of the Niçard Italians to Italy, and the Niçard Vespers . Giuseppe Garibaldi complained about
2832-412: Is an important primary source in its own right for the period 1460–1537, and as a secondary source continued to exert an influence on English historiography into the 19th century. It provided the chronicler Edward Hall with much of his sense of 15th-century English history, and so fed into the history plays of William Shakespeare . A particularly controversial element of Vergil's work in England
2950-534: Is higher than that between Sardinian and Latin. In particular, its vowels are the second-closest to Latin after Sardinian . As in most Romance languages, stress is distinctive. Italian is the official language of Italy and San Marino and is spoken fluently by the majority of the countries' populations. Italian is the third most spoken language in Switzerland (after German and French; see Swiss Italian ), although its use there has moderately declined since
3068-460: Is markedly lower between Italian-Spanish, and considerably higher between the Iberian sister languages of Portuguese-Spanish. Speakers of this latter pair can communicate with one another with remarkable ease, each speaking to the other in his own native language without slang/jargon. Nevertheless, on the basis of accumulated differences in morphology, syntax, phonology, and to some extent lexicon, it
3186-604: Is more likely that the alias simply indicates that he was in Castellesi's service. Vergil was born in about 1470 either at Urbino , or more probably at Fermignano , within the Duchy of Urbino . His father, Giorgio di Antonio, owned a dispensary. His grandfather, Antonio Virgili, "a man well skilled in medicine and astrology", had taught philosophy at the University of Paris ; as did Polydore's own brother, Giovanni-Matteo Virgili, at Ferrara and Padua . Another brother, Girolamo,
3304-504: Is neither a co-official nor a protected language in these countries. Some speakers of Italian are native bilinguals of both Italian (either in its standard form or regional varieties ) and a local language of Italy , most frequently the language spoken at home in their place of origin. Italian is a major language in Europe, being one of the official languages of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and one of
3422-462: Is not difficult to identify that for the Romance varieties of Italy, the first extant written evidence of languages that can no longer be considered Latin comes from the ninth and tenth centuries C.E. These written sources demonstrate certain vernacular characteristics and sometimes explicitly mention the use of the vernacular in Italy. Full literary manifestations of the vernacular began to surface around
3540-441: Is notable for the immense industry that went into its compilation, and the range of ancient and modern writers on which Vergil was able to draw. In 1525 Vergil published an edition of Gildas ' 6th-century history, De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae , probably at Antwerp . He dedicated it to Cuthbert Tunstall , Bishop of London . This was the first critical edition of a British historical text. In publishing it, Vergil reflected
3658-577: Is rendered as: The whole Countrie of Britaine...is divided into iiij partes; wherof the one is inhabited of Englishmen , the other of Scottes , the third of Wallshemen , and the fowerth of Cornishe people . Which all differ emonge them selves, either in tongue, either in manners, or ells in lawes and ordinaunces. Vergil published a Commentariolum in Dominicam Precem ("Commentary on the Lord's Prayer") at Basel in 1525, accompanying an edition of
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3776-648: Is the main working language of the Holy See , serving as the lingua franca (common language) in the Roman Catholic hierarchy as well as the official language of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta . Italian has a significant use in musical terminology and opera with numerous Italian words referring to music that have become international terms taken into various languages worldwide. Almost all native Italian words end with vowels , and
3894-549: Is used, and the town of Chipilo near Puebla, Mexico; each continues to use a derived form of Venetian dating back to the 19th century. Other examples are Cocoliche , an Italian–Spanish pidgin once spoken in Argentina and especially in Buenos Aires , and Lunfardo . The Rioplatense Spanish dialect of Argentina and Uruguay today has thus been heavily influenced by both standard Italian and Italian regional languages as
4012-509: The Il Globo (Australia) and the La gazzetta del Sud Africa (South Africa). Italian is widely taught in many schools around the world, but rarely as the first foreign language. In the 21st century, technology also allows for the continual spread of the Italian language, as people have new ways to learn how to speak, read, and write languages at their own pace and at any given time. For example,
4130-991: The La Voce del Popolo ( Croatia ), the Corriere d'Italia (Germany), the L'italoeuropeo (United Kingdom), the Passaparola ( Luxembourg ), the America Oggi (United States), the Corriere Canadese and the Corriere Italiano (Canada), the Il punto d'incontro (Mexico), the L'Italia del Popolo ( Argentina ), the Fanfulla (Brazil), the Gente d'Italia ( Uruguay ), the La Voce d'Italia ( Venezuela ),
4248-624: The Codrus sive Laus et Defensio Gallofridi Arturii contra Polydorum Vergilium ("Codrus", a reference to Vergil, was a type-name drawn from Juvenal for an offensive hack-poet); and afterwards in a longer published treatment, the Assertio inclytissimi Arturii regis Britannia (1544). Although Leland was critical of Vergil's views in the Assertio , he treated his opponent with respect, acknowledging his intelligence and his mastery of Latin style. On another contentious issue, Vergil came down in favour of
4366-586: The De Inventoribus a work of heretics and depravity. The work nonetheless included criticisms of monks, priestly celibacy, indulgences, and of the policies and constitutional status of the papacy. As a consequence it was placed on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum (papal list of prohibited books) in 1564: an expurgated text, sanctioned by Gregory XIII , was published in 1576. De Inventoribus was, however, exceedingly popular, and
4484-609: The De Inventoribus Rerum . His comments owed much to Erasmus' Precatio Dominica in septem portiones distributa (1523). At Erasmus' request, Vergil worked on a translation from the Greek of Dio Chrysostom 's De Perfecto Monacho , which he published in 1533. It was reprinted in 1541 and 1550. In 1545, he published his last work, the Dialogorum libri , a collection of Latin dialogues, divided into three parts as De patientia , De vita perfecta , and De veritate et mendacio . Vergil
4602-702: The Gallo-Italic linguistic panorama of Northern Italy , the Italo-Dalmatian , Neapolitan and its related dialects were largely unaffected by the Franco- Occitan influences introduced to Italy mainly by bards from France during the Middle Ages, but after the Norman conquest of southern Italy , Sicily became the first Italian land to adopt Occitan lyric moods (and words) in poetry. Even in
4720-852: The Grisons ), Corsica , and Vatican City . It has official minority status in Croatia , Slovenian Istria , and the municipalities of Santa Tereza and Encantado in Brazil . Italian is also spoken by large immigrant and expatriate communities in the Americas and Australia . Italian is included under the languages covered by the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages in Bosnia and Herzegovina and in Romania , although Italian
4838-674: The Kingdom of Italy in the Dodecanese ). Italian is widely spoken in Malta , where nearly two-thirds of the population can speak it fluently (see Maltese Italian ). Italian served as Malta's official language until 1934, when it was abolished by the British colonial administration amid strong local opposition. Italian language in Slovenia is an officially recognized minority language in
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4956-773: The Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia ), although the masses kept speaking primarily their local vernaculars. Italian was also one of the many recognised languages in the Austro-Hungarian Empire . Italy has always had a distinctive dialect for each city because the cities, until recently, were thought of as city-states . Those dialects now have considerable variety . As Tuscan-derived Italian came to be used throughout Italy, features of local speech were naturally adopted, producing various versions of Regional Italian . The most characteristic differences, for instance, between Roman Italian and Milanese Italian are syntactic gemination of initial consonants in some contexts and
5074-554: The Placiti Cassinesi from the province of Benevento that date from 960 to 963, although the Veronese Riddle , probably from the 8th or early 9th century, contains a late form of Vulgar Latin that can be seen as a very early sample of a vernacular dialect of Italy. The Commodilla catacomb inscription is also a similar case. The Italian language has progressed through a long and slow process, which started after
5192-425: The University of Bologna , he studied under Oliverius Jontus of Montegallorum, a teacher there from 1494 to 1498. Ammonio then went to Rome. By 1506, he was in England, probably travelling with Silvestro Gigli, another Luccanese, who had been sent by Pope Julius II in 1505 to give gifts to Henry VII and who became bishop of Worcester. In 1509, he became Latin secretary to William Blount , Lord Mountjoy, and by 1511, he
5310-528: The Western Roman Empire's fall in the 5th century. The language that came to be thought of as Italian developed in central Tuscany and was first formalized in the early 14th century through the works of Tuscan writer Dante Alighieri , written in his native Florentine . Dante's epic poems, known collectively as the Commedia , to which another Tuscan poet Giovanni Boccaccio later affixed
5428-532: The 111 Italian lecturer sections belonging to foreign schools where Italian is taught as a language of culture. As of 2022, Australia had the highest number of students learning Italian in the world. This occurred because of support by the Italian community in Australia and the Italian Government and also because of successful educational reform efforts led by local governments in Australia. From
5546-510: The 13th century in the form of various religious texts and poetry. Although these are the first written records of Italian varieties separate from Latin, the spoken language had probably diverged long before the first written records appeared since those who were literate generally wrote in Latin even if they spoke other Romance varieties in person. Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, the use of Standard Italian became increasingly widespread and
5664-562: The 1970s. It is official both on the national level and on regional level in two cantons : Ticino and Grisons . In the latter canton, however, it is only spoken by a small minority, in the Italian Grisons . Ticino, which includes Lugano , the largest Italian-speaking city outside Italy, is the only canton where Italian is predominant. Italian is also used in administration and official documents in Vatican City . Italian
5782-417: The Italian dialects has declined in the modern era , as Italy unified under Standard Italian and continues to do so aided by mass media from newspapers to radio to television, diglossia is still frequently encountered in Italy and triglossia is not uncommon in emigrant communities among older speakers. Both situations normally involve some degree of code-switching and code-mixing . Notes: Italian has
5900-489: The Italian language into a lingua franca used not only among clerks, nobility, and functionaries in the Italian courts but also by the bourgeoisie . Italian literature's first modern novel, I promessi sposi ( The Betrothed ) by Alessandro Manzoni , further defined the standard by "rinsing" his Milanese "in the waters of the Arno " ( Florence 's river), as he states in the preface to his 1840 edition. After unification,
6018-646: The King on his behalf. From prison Vergil wrote to Wolsey, begging that the approaching Christmas season – a time which witnessed the restitution of a world – might also see his pardon: his letter's tone has been described as "almost blasphemous". He was released before Christmas 1515, but never regained his subcollectorship. Although Vergil lived predominantly in England from 1502 onwards, he paid several return visits to Urbino, in 1513–14, 1516–17 and 1533–34. In 1534, Francesco Maria , Duke of Urbino , in recognition of his literary achievements, admitted Vergil and his family to
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#17327933923456136-401: The Latin for European readers. The third edition was published in 1555, the year of Vergil's death. In this case the revisions were minor and largely stylistic. However, Vergil added a new book (XXVII) giving an account of Henry VIII's reign to 1537, and which included a highly critical portrait of Wolsey. Vergil claimed that most of his work on the last book was done contemporaneously, and that
6254-556: The Mediterranean. The increasing political and cultural relevance of Florence during the periods of the rise of the Medici Bank , humanism , and the Renaissance made its dialect, or rather a refined version of it, a standard in the arts. The Renaissance era, known as il Rinascimento in Italian, was seen as a time of rebirth, which is the literal meaning of both renaissance (from French) and rinascimento (Italian). During this time, long-existing beliefs stemming from
6372-505: The best and most ancient Records and Monuments of our Abbeies, Priories, and Cathedrall Churches, under colour … of making search for all such monuments, manusc. records, Legier bookes, &c. as might make for his purpose". However, one of Peacham's contemporaries, the Leicestershire antiquary William Burton , cast Vergil in a more positive light, describing him as "a man of singular invention, good judgement, and good reading, and
6490-444: The case of Northern Italian languages, however, scholars are careful not to overstate the effects of outsiders on the natural indigenous developments of the languages. The economic might and relatively advanced development of Tuscany at the time ( Late Middle Ages ) gave its language weight, although Venetian remained widespread in medieval Italian commercial life, and Ligurian (or Genoese) remained in use in maritime trade alongside
6608-760: The claims of the University of Cambridge to be a more ancient foundation than the University of Oxford . When this was mentioned in a debate in the House of Commons in 1628, the Oxonian Edward Littleton sneered, "What have we to do with Polydore Vergil? One Vergil was a poet, the other a liar." Other English readers also reacted vehemently to what seemed to be criticisms of their national history. John Bale in 1544 accused Vergil of "polutynge our Englyshe chronycles most shamefullye with his Romishe lyes and other Italyshe beggerye". An anonymous contemporary described him as "that most rascall dogge knave in
6726-455: The colonial period. In the early 19th century, Eritrea was the country with the highest number of Italians abroad, and the Italian Eritreans grew from 4,000 during World War I to nearly 100,000 at the beginning of World War II. In Asmara there are two Italian schools, the Italian School of Asmara (Italian primary school with a Montessori department) and the Liceo Sperimentale "G. Marconi" (Italian international senior high school). Italian
6844-405: The country (some 0.42% of the total population). Their numbers dropped dramatically after World War II following the Istrian–Dalmatian exodus , which caused the emigration of between 230,000 and 350,000 Istrian Italians and Dalmatian Italians. Italian was the official language of the Republic of Ragusa from 1492 to 1807. It formerly had official status in Albania due to the annexation of
6962-408: The country to the Kingdom of Italy (1939–1943). Albania has a large population of non-native speakers, with over half of the population having some knowledge of the Italian language. The Albanian government has pushed to make Italian a compulsory second language in schools. The Italian language is well-known and studied in Albania, due to its historical ties and geographical proximity to Italy and to
7080-446: The country. A few hundred Italian settlers returned to Libya in the 2000s. Italian was the official language of Eritrea during Italian colonisation . Italian is today used in commerce, and it is still spoken especially among elders; besides that, Italian words are incorporated as loan words in the main language spoken in the country (Tigrinya). The capital city of Eritrea, Asmara , still has several Italian schools, established during
7198-415: The country. The official census, carried out in 2002, reported 2,258 ethnic Italians ( Istrian Italians ) in Slovenia (0.11% of the total population). Italian language in Croatia is an official minority language in the country, with many schools and public announcements published in both languages. The 2001 census in Croatia reported 19,636 ethnic Italians (Istrian Italians and Dalmatian Italians ) in
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#17327933923457316-464: The design and fashion industries, in some sports such as football and especially in culinary terms. In Italy, almost all the other languages spoken as the vernacular —other than standard Italian and some languages spoken among immigrant communities—are often called " Italian dialects ", a label that can be very misleading if it is understood to mean "dialects of Italian". The Romance dialects of Italy are local evolutions of spoken Latin that pre-date
7434-420: The diffusion of Italian television in the country. Due to heavy Italian influence during the Italian colonial period , Italian is still understood by some in former colonies such as Libya. Although it was the primary language in Libya since colonial rule , Italian greatly declined under the rule of Muammar Gaddafi , who expelled the Italian Libyan population and made Arabic the sole official language of
7552-600: The earlier) gave place to a sincere friendship. The first edition of Vergil's work contained 306 proverbs taken from classical sources. A second, expanded, edition appeared in 1521: it contained a further series of 431 Biblical proverbs, and was dedicated to Wolsey's follower, Richard Pace . This edition is preceded by an interesting letter sent in June 1519, which gives the names of many of Vergil's English friends, including Thomas More , William Warham , Thomas Linacre and Cuthbert Tunstall . The Adagia ran through about 20 editions down to 1550. Vergil's De Inventoribus Rerum
7670-420: The educated gentlemen was to make the Grand Tour , visiting Italy to see its great historical monuments and works of art. It was expected that the visitor would learn at least some Italian, understood as language based on Florentine. In England, while the classical languages Latin and Greek were the first to be learned, Italian became the second most common modern language after French, a position it held until
7788-409: The establishment of Italian, and as such are sister languages to the Tuscan that was the historical source of Italian. They can be quite different from Italian and from each other, with some belonging to different linguistic branches of Romance. The only exceptions to this are twelve groups considered " historical language minorities ", which are officially recognized as distinct minority languages by
7906-410: The evidence is that Vergil intended to present a fine manuscript (rather than a printed book) to Henry VIII, and commissioned the work from Veterani, the most famous copyist of the day. However, no such copy by Veterani is known to have survived. The manuscript version of the work was divided into 25 books. Books I–VII described the early history of England up to the Norman conquest; Book VIII dealt with
8024-433: The fact that it was linguistically an intermediate between the northern and the southern Italian dialects. Thus the dialect of Florence became the basis for what would become the official language of Italy. Italian was progressively made an official language of most of the Italian states predating unification, slowly replacing Latin, even when ruled by foreign powers (such as Spain in the Kingdom of Naples , or Austria in
8142-410: The free website and application Duolingo has 4.94 million English speakers learning the Italian language. According to the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs , every year there are more than 200,000 foreign students who study the Italian language; they are distributed among the 90 Institutes of Italian Culture that are located around the world, in the 179 Italian schools located abroad, or in
8260-531: The historical theories of the latter, who traced the pedigree of the Scots down from the banished son of an Athenian king and Scota , daughter of the Egyptian Pharaoh . Vergil opened the Anglica Historia with a passage heavily influenced by Caesar 's Commentarii de Bello Gallico : Britannia omnis...diuiditur in partes quatuor: quarum unam incolunt Angli, aliam Scoti, tertiam Vualli, quartam Cornubienses. Hi omnes uel lingua; uel moribus seu institutis inter se differunt. In an early English translation, this
8378-431: The island of Corsica (but not in the neighbouring Sardinia , which on the contrary underwent Italianization well into the late 18th century, under Savoyard sway: the island's linguistic composition, roofed by the prestige of Spanish among the Sardinians , would therein make for a rather slow process of assimilation to the Italian cultural sphere ). The rediscovery of Dante's De vulgari eloquentia , as well as
8496-577: The language has a 7-vowel sound system ('e' and 'o' have mid-low and mid-high sounds). Italian has contrast between short and long consonants and gemination (doubling) of consonants. During the Middle Ages , the established written language in Europe was Latin, although the great majority of people were illiterate, and only few were well versed in the language. In the Italian Peninsula , as in most of Europe, most would instead speak
8614-640: The language to that continent. According to some sources, Italian is the second most spoken language in Argentina after the official language of Spanish, although its number of speakers, mainly of the older generation, is decreasing. Italian bilingual speakers can be found scattered across the Southeast of Brazil as well as in the South. In Venezuela , Italian is the most spoken language after Spanish and Portuguese, with around 200,000 speakers. In Uruguay , people who speak Italian as their home language are 1.1% of
8732-498: The late 18th century when it tended to be replaced by German. John Milton , for instance, wrote some of his early poetry in Italian. Within the Catholic Church , Italian is known by a large part of the ecclesiastical hierarchy and is used in substitution for Latin in some official documents. Italian loanwords continue to be used in most languages in matters of art and music (especially classical music including opera), in
8850-534: The late 19th to the mid-20th century, millions of Italians settled in Argentina, Uruguay, Southern Brazil and Venezuela, as well as in Canada and the United States, where they formed a physical and cultural presence. In some cases, colonies were established where variants of regional languages of Italy were used, and some continue to use this regional language. Examples are Rio Grande do Sul , Brazil, where Talian
8968-437: The latter visited England in 1506–1507, and they renewed their friendship from 1509–1511 after Erasmus returned from a trip to Italy. At some point, they stayed together at the home of Thomas More . From 1511 to 1517, they exchanged more than 40 letters on many topics, ranging from the poor wine at Cambridge to international affairs. Ammonio helped Erasmus in his struggles to get papal permission to be free from some of
9086-567: The law. On the other hand, Corsican (a language spoken on the French island of Corsica ) is closely related to medieval Tuscan , from which Standard Italian derives and evolved. The differences in the evolution of Latin in the different regions of Italy can be attributed to the natural changes that all languages in regular use are subject to, and to some extent to the presence of three other types of languages: substrata, superstrata, and adstrata . The most prevalent were substrata (the language of
9204-412: The nation was unified in 1861. Italian is a Romance language , a descendant of Vulgar Latin (colloquial spoken Latin). Standard Italian is based on Tuscan , especially its Florentine dialect , and is, therefore, an Italo-Dalmatian language , a classification that includes most other central and southern Italian languages and the extinct Dalmatian . According to Ethnologue , lexical similarity
9322-408: The number of printing presses in Italy grew rapidly and by the year 1500 reached a total of 56, the biggest number of printing presses in all of Europe. This enabled the production of more pieces of literature at a lower cost and Italian, as the dominant language, spread. Italian became the language used in the courts of every state in the Italian Peninsula , as well as the prestige variety used on
9440-630: The openness of vowels, the length of the consonants, and influence of the local language (for example, in informal situations andà , annà and nare replace the standard Italian andare in the area of Tuscany, Rome and Venice respectively for the infinitive "to go"). There is no definitive date when the various Italian variants of Latin—including varieties that contributed to modern Standard Italian—began to be distinct enough from Latin to be considered separate languages. One criterion for determining that two language variants are to be considered separate languages rather than variants of
9558-584: The original inhabitants), as the Italian dialects were most probably simply Latin as spoken by native cultural groups. Superstrata and adstrata were both less important. Foreign conquerors of Italy that dominated different regions at different times left behind little to no influence on the dialects. Foreign cultures with which Italy engaged in peaceful relations with, such as trade, had no significant influence either. Throughout Italy, regional varieties of Standard Italian, called Regional Italian , are spoken. Regional differences can be recognized by various factors:
9676-415: The origins of agriculture, architecture, towns, theatres, tools and materials, maritime navigation, commerce and prostitution. For the edition of 1521, Vergil added five more books, devoted to the initia institorum rei Christianae , i.e. the origins of Christian rites and institutions. He probably thought that this addition would be a popular one, but it was also a concession towards critics who had labelled
9794-458: The other hand, almost everyone still speaks the Corsican idiom , which, due to its linguistic proximity to the Italian standard language, appears both linguistically as an Italian dialect and therefore as a carrier of Italian culture, despite the French government's decades-long efforts to cut Corsica off from the Italian motherland. Italian was the official language in Monaco until 1860, when it
9912-406: The population of Italy could speak Standard Italian. He reports that in 1951 that percentage had risen to 87%. The ability to speak Italian did not necessarily mean it was in everyday use, and most people (63.5%) still usually spoke their native dialects. In addition, other factors such as mass emigration, industrialization, and urbanization, and internal migrations after World War II , contributed to
10030-523: The proliferation of Standard Italian. The Italians who emigrated during the Italian diaspora beginning in 1861 were often of the uneducated lower class, and thus the emigration had the effect of increasing the percentage of literates, who often knew and understood the importance of Standard Italian, back home in Italy. A large percentage of those who had emigrated also eventually returned to Italy, often more educated than when they had left. Although use of
10148-528: The pronunciation of stressed "e", and of "s" between vowels in many words: e.g. va bene "all right" is pronounced [vabˈbɛːne] by a Roman (and by any standard Italian speaker), [vaˈbeːne] by a Milanese (and by any speaker whose native dialect lies to the north of the La Spezia–Rimini Line ); a casa "at home" is [akˈkaːsa] for Roman, [akˈkaːsa] or [akˈkaːza] for standard, [aˈkaːza] for Milanese and generally northern. In contrast to
10266-415: The publication of Agnolo Monosini 's Latin tome Floris italicae linguae libri novem in 1604 followed by the first Italian dictionary in 1612. An important event that helped the diffusion of Italian was the conquest and occupation of Italy by Napoleon in the early 19th century (who was himself of Italian-Corsican descent). This conquest propelled the unification of Italy some decades after and pushed
10384-575: The ranks of the nobility. In 1546 Vergil resigned the Archdeaconry of Wells to the Crown, perhaps in anticipation of his retirement to Italy. He was licensed to return to Urbino in 1550, and probably left England for the last time in the summer of 1553. He died in Urbino on 18 April 1555. Vergil published his first work in 1496. This was an edition of Niccolò Perotti ’s Cornucopiae latinae linguae ,
10502-542: The referendum that allowed France to annex Savoy and Nice, and a group of his followers (among the Italian Savoyards ) took refuge in Italy in the following years. Corsica passed from the Republic of Genoa to France in 1769 after the Treaty of Versailles . Italian was the official language of Corsica until 1859. Giuseppe Garibaldi called for the inclusion of the " Corsican Italians " within Italy when Rome
10620-485: The reigns of William I and William II ; and the following books covered one reign per book, ending in book XXV which dealt with the beginning of Henry VIII's reign to 1513. In 1534 the first printed version of the work appeared, a folio with decorations from John Bebel 's press in Basel . While this edition was broadly similar to the manuscript, it incorporated substantial changes, and it seems that Vergil effectively made
10738-467: The restrictions of his religious order and to gain financial security. On April 9, 1517, in the presence of Johannes Sixtinus at St. Stephen's in Westminster, and on behalf of Pope Leo X, Ammonio absolved Erasmus of all censures caused by not wearing the habit of his order. On August 19 of that year, Thomas More wrote to Erasmus, informing him of Ammonio's death. This article incorporates text from
10856-512: The role that diffusion of humanist education would take in establishing a more educated, bureaucratic government than the feudal aristocracy. It was at the King's behest that Vergil began work on his Anglica Historia , a new history of England, probably as early as 1505, retelling the history of the Wars of the Roses to emphasise that the war ended with the new monarch's reign. On 22 October 1510, he
10974-473: The teachings of the Roman Catholic Church began to be understood from new perspectives as humanists —individuals who placed emphasis on the human body and its full potential—began to shift focus from the church to human beings themselves. The continual advancements in technology play a crucial role in the diffusion of languages. After the invention of the printing press in the 15th century,
11092-469: The title Divina , were read throughout the peninsula and his written dialect became the "canonical standard" that all educated Italians could understand. Dante is still credited with standardizing the Italian language. In addition to the widespread exposure gained through literature, the Florentine dialect also gained prestige due to the political and cultural significance of Florence at the time and
11210-542: The total population of the country. In Australia, Italian is the second most spoken foreign language after Chinese, with 1.4% of the population speaking it as their home language. The main Italian-language newspapers published outside Italy are the L'Osservatore Romano ( Vatican City ), the L'Informazione di San Marino ( San Marino ), the Corriere del Ticino and the laRegione Ticino ( Switzerland ),
11328-512: The whole work". A possible explanation is that Vergil left it in the care of Veterani, who inscribed the colophon to associate it with his other treasures so that it would not be lost or damaged during the Papal invasion in Urbino in 1516. Further isolated notes in Veterani's hand, nearly all directions to a binder or printer, are found throughout the manuscript. The most plausible interpretation of
11446-593: The work of foreign as well as English historians. For this reason, he remarked, the English, Scots and French would find things reported in his pages far differently from the way they were used to hearing them within their own countries. In his search for information he applied to James IV of Scotland for a list of the Scottish kings and their annals; but not even his friendship with Gavin Douglas could make him accept
11564-598: The work was interrupted by a visit to Italy. This must refer to his visit of 1533–34, and the entire period from 1530 to 1537 is in fact treated cursorily. Denys Hay finds it reasonable to suppose that at first Vergil planned this book to describe events up to 1530, but that he postponed the publication of it due to the political uncertainties in England, enabling him to extend the terminal date. Vergil drew on an impressively wide range of sources for his work, including published books and oral testimony . He claimed to have been diligent in collecting materials, and to have drawn on
11682-659: The working languages of the Council of Europe . It is the third-most-widely spoken native language in the European Union (13% of the EU population) and it is spoken as a second language by 13.4 million EU citizens (3%). Including Italian speakers in non-EU European countries (such as Switzerland, Albania and the United Kingdom ) and on other continents, the total number of speakers is approximately 85 million. Italian
11800-511: The works which secured his reputation before he ever came to England, and which he himself regarded as his masterpieces, writing "I, Polydore, was the first of the Romans to treat of these two matters". The De Inventoribus receives a mention, for example, in Cervantes ' Don Quixote (1605–15). In England, however, Vergil is more often remembered as author of the Anglica Historia . The work
11918-482: The worlde", claiming that "he had the randsackings of all the Englishe lybraryes, and when he had extracted what he pleased he burnt those famous velome manuscripts, and made himself father to other mens workes". This charge of burning manuscripts was widely reported. John Caius in 1574, for example, asserted that Vergil had "committed as many of our ancient and manuscript historians to the flames as would have filled
12036-533: Was naturalised English. Early in 1515 – through the intrigues of Andrea Ammonio , who sought the subcollectorship for himself – an ill-judged letter from Vergil was intercepted by the authorities. It contained what was read as implied criticism of both Thomas Wolsey and Henry VIII , and as a result Vergil was imprisoned in April in the Tower of London . His supporters and advocates included Pope Leo X , who wrote to
12154-514: Was a merchant trading with England. The niece of Polydore Vergil, Faustina, married Lorenzo Borgogelli, count of Fano , from whom descend the family of Borgogelli Virgili. Polydore was educated at the University of Padua , and possibly at Bologna . He was ordained by 1496. He was probably in the service of Guidobaldo da Montefeltro , Duke of Urbino , before 1498, as in the dedication of his Proverbiorum Libellus (April 1498) he styles himself Guido's client. His second book, De Inventoribus Rerum ,
12272-561: Was also introduced to Somalia through colonialism and was the sole official language of administration and education during the colonial period but fell out of use after government, educational and economic infrastructure were destroyed in the Somali Civil War . Italian is also spoken by large immigrant and expatriate communities in the Americas and Australia. Although over 17 million Americans are of Italian descent , only
12390-525: Was annexed to the Kingdom of Italy , but King Victor Emmanuel II did not agree to it. Italian is generally understood in Corsica by the population resident therein who speak Corsican , which is an Italo-Romance idiom similar to Tuscan. Francization occurred in Nice case, and caused a near-disappearance of the Italian language as many of the Italian speakers in these areas migrated to Italy. In Corsica, on
12508-519: Was buried in Urbino Cathedral , in the chapel of St Andrew which he himself had endowed. In 1613, it was agreed that a memorial stone should be set over his tomb. This was eventually put in place in 1631, with an inscription stating that his fame would "live for ever in the world". However, it is believed to have been lost when the cathedral was severely damaged by an earthquake in 1789. Vergil's family home and alleged birthplace in Urbino (now
12626-559: Was dedicated to Guido's tutor, Lodovico Odassio, in August 1499. At some point prior to 1502 Polydore entered the service of Pope Alexander VI . In 1502, Vergil travelled to England as the deputy of Cardinal Adriano Castellesi in the office of Collector of Peter's Pence , and, in practice, the Cardinal's agent in a variety of affairs. In October 1504 he was enthroned Bishop of Bath and Wells as proxy for Adriano; and in 1508 he himself
12744-744: Was installed as Archdeacon of Wells . He probably spent little time in Wells, but was active as the Chapter's representative in London. He also donated a set of hangings for the quire of Wells Cathedral . He held other ecclesiastical sinecures , including, from 1503, the living of Church Langton , Leicestershire; from 1508 prebends in Lincoln and Hereford Cathedrals ; and from 1513 the prebend of Oxgate in St Paul's Cathedral . As an established author, and
12862-443: Was mirrored by a decline in the use of the dialects. An increase in literacy was one of the main driving factors (one can assume that only literates were capable of learning Standard Italian, whereas those who were illiterate had access only to their native dialect). The percentage of literates rose from 25% in 1861 to 60% in 1911, and then on to 78.1% in 1951. Tullio De Mauro , an Italian linguist, has asserted that in 1861 only 2.5% of
12980-479: Was presented to the ducal library at Urbino in 1613 by Vergil's grand-nephew. Although he stated in prefatory notes that the manuscript was written in Vergil's hand – an assessment fully supported by the palaeographic evidence – it was at one time sometimes attributed to Federico Veterani . This misunderstanding arose from a colophon in the second volume, in a different hand, stating that "I, Federico Veterani, wrote
13098-475: Was published in 1499, having been written in only three months. It was a history of origins and inventions, describing in three books the "first begetters" of all human activities. Book I investigated the origin of the gods and the word "God", along with such matters as the creation, marriage, religion and learning. Book II covered, among other topics, the origins of law, time, military science, money, precious metals and art. Book III covered, again among other topics,
13216-405: Was quickly translated into French (1521), German (1537), English (1546) and Spanish (1551). Thirty Latin editions had been published by the time Vergil died in 1555; and the work eventually ran to around 70 Latin editions, and another 35 translations. The English edition of 1546 was an abridgement made by Thomas Langley , which also proved highly successful and was reprinted several times. The work
13334-658: Was replaced by the French. This was due to the annexation of the surrounding County of Nice to France following the Treaty of Turin (1860) . It formerly had official status in Montenegro (because of the Venetian Albania ), parts of Slovenia and Croatia (because of the Venetian Istria and Venetian Dalmatia ), parts of Greece (because of the Venetian rule in the Ionian Islands and by
13452-528: Was secretary to Henry VIII . That year, in Paris, Erasmus showed Blount the manuscript of a book of Ammonio's poems dedicated to Blount, who thought the dedication was too excessive and asked that it be changed. That was done, and Erasmus soon had the book printed. On February 3, 1512, he received a prebend in the Cathedral of St. Stephen, Westminster, and later received a canonry at Worcester. Also in 1512, he
13570-438: Was the scepticism he expressed – first in his edition of Gildas, and then in the Anglica Historia – towards the traditional account of the early history of Britain derived from Geoffrey of Monmouth , and in particular towards the question of the historicity of King Arthur . This criticism touched a patriotic nerve with the antiquary John Leland , who responded forcefully, first in an unpublished tract, written perhaps in 1536,
13688-504: Was translated into Italian (1543), English (1546) and Spanish (1550). Vergil's history of England, the Anglica Historia , was begun at the instigation of King Henry VII , perhaps as early as 1506. This first version was completed in 1512–13. However, the work was not published until 1534; and four distinct versions can therefore be identified: The manuscript version is now held in the Vatican Library . Comprising two volumes, it
13806-402: Was undertaken by Vergil and Robert Ridley . Their editing was for the most part conscientious, although they rearranged certain words in the interests of clarity, and also suppressed a few anti-clerical passages. Vergil's Dialogus de Prodigiis was written in 1526–27, and printed in 1531. It was dedicated to Francesco Maria , Duke of Urbino . This treatise, in three books, takes the form of
13924-586: Was with the English expeditionary force in France when it won the Battle of the Spurs . On April 12, 1514, he became an English citizen, and in 1515, Pope Leo X appointed him subcollector of papal taxes in England, after Ammonio had conspired against Polydore Vergil for the post. Not yet 40 years old, Ammonio died suddenly in 1517 of the " sweating sickness " in London. The complete poems of Ammonio were published by Clemente Pizzi in 1958. Ammonio met Erasmus when
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