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121-626: 42°30′N 1°58′E / 42.500°N 1.967°E / 42.500; 1.967 French Cerdagne ( Catalan : Alta Cerdanya , IPA: [ˈaltə səɾˈðaɲə] ) is the northern half of Cerdanya , which came under French control as a result of the Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659, while the southern half remained in Spain (as a part of Catalonia ). Catalans often refer to French Cerdagne as Upper Cerdanya ( Catalan : Alta Cerdanya ). It
242-542: A physiographic region within the department of Pyrénées-Orientales , unlike the Spanish part of Cerdanya, which is officially a Catalan comarca called simply Cerdanya . In France, the French area is referred to as either Cerdagne française (i.e. "French Cerdagne"), Haute-Cerdagne (i.e. "Upper Cerdagne") or just Cerdagne . French Cerdagne has a land area of 539.67 km² (208.37 sq. miles). Its 1999 population
363-684: A 10-year hiatus, the Goths and the Heruli , with a raiding fleet of 500 ships, sacked Heraclea Pontica , Cyzicus and Byzantium . They were defeated by the Roman navy but managed to escape into the Aegean Sea , where they ravaged the islands of Lemnos and Scyros , broke through Thermopylae and sacked several cities of southern Greece ( province of Achaea ) including Athens , Corinth , Argos , Olympia and Sparta . Then an Athenian militia, led by
484-747: A 2011 study the total number of Catalan speakers was over 9.8 million, with 5.9 million residing in Catalonia. More than half of them spoke Catalan as a second language, with native speakers being about 4.4 million of those (more than 2.8 in Catalonia). Very few Catalan monoglots exist; virtually all of the Catalan speakers in Spain are bilingual speakers of Catalan and Spanish, with 99.7% of Catalan speakers in Catalonia able to speak Spanish and 99.9% able to understand it. In Roussillon , only
605-508: A Roman army led by Claudius advancing from the north. The battle most likely took place in 269, and was fiercely contested. Large numbers on both sides were killed but, at the critical point, the Romans tricked the Goths into an ambush by pretending to retreat. Some 50,000 Goths were allegedly killed or taken captive and their base at Thessalonika destroyed. Apparently Aurelian , who was in charge of all Roman cavalry during Claudius' reign, led
726-633: A Scandinavian origin. Scholars generally locate Gothiscandza in the area of the Wielbark culture . This culture emerged in the lower Vistula and along the Pomeranian coast in the 1st century AD, replacing the preceding Oksywie culture . It is primarily distinguished from the Oksywie by the practice of inhumation, the absence of weapons in graves, and the presence of stone circles . This area had been intimately connected with Scandinavia since
847-578: A century later, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World . While their main force had constructed siege works and was close to taking the cities of Thessalonica and Cassandreia , it retreated to the Balkan interior at the news that the emperor was advancing. Learning of the approach of Claudius, the Goths first attempted to directly invade Italy. They were engaged near Naissus by
968-424: A denomination based on cultural affinity and common heritage, that has also had a subsequent political interpretation but no official status. Various interpretations of the term may include some or all of these regions. The number of people known to be fluent in Catalan varies depending on the sources used. A 2004 study did not count the total number of speakers, but estimated a total of 9–9.5 million by matching
1089-538: A distinct people. Gothic architecture , Gothic literature and the modern-day Goth subculture ultimately derive their names from the ancient Goths, though the Goths themselves did not directly create or influence these art forms. In the Gothic language , the Goths were called the * Gut-þiuda ('Gothic people') or * Gutans ('Goths'). The Proto-Germanic form of the Gothic name is recostructed as * Gutōz , but it
1210-466: A fashion which was loudly denounced by conservatives. The 4th-century Greek bishop Synesius compared the Goths to wolves among sheep, mocked them for wearing skins and questioned their loyalty towards Rome: A man in skins leading warriors who wear the chlamys , exchanging his sheepskins for the toga to debate with Roman magistrates and perhaps even sit next to a Roman consul , while law-abiding men sit behind. Then these same men, once they have gone
1331-529: A large number of Catalan colonies that today continue to maintain the Catalan language. They also founded many Catalan casals (associations). One classification of Catalan is given by Pèire Bèc : However, the ascription of Catalan to the Occitano-Romance branch of Gallo-Romance languages is not shared by all linguists and philologists, particularly among Spanish ones, such as Ramón Menéndez Pidal . Catalan bears varying degrees of similarity to
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#17327731750051452-549: A little way from the senate house, put on their sheepskins again, and when they have rejoined their fellows they mock the toga, saying that they cannot comfortably draw their swords in it. In the 4th century, Geberic was succeeded by the Greuthungian king Ermanaric , who embarked on a large-scale expansion. Jordanes states that Ermanaric conquered a large number of warlike tribes, including the Heruli (who were led by Alaric),
1573-500: A minority of French Catalans speak Catalan nowadays, with French being the majority language for the inhabitants after a continued process of language shift . According to a 2019 survey by the Catalan government, 31.5% of the inhabitants of Catalonia predominantly spoke Catalan at home whereas 52.7% spoke Spanish, 2.8% both Catalan and Spanish and 10.8% other languages. Spanish was the most spoken language in Barcelona (according to
1694-666: A network of community-run schools engaged in Catalan language immersion programs. In Alicante province , Catalan is being replaced by Spanish and in Alghero by Italian . There is also well ingrained diglossia in the Valencian Community , Ibiza , and to a lesser extent, in the rest of the Balearic islands . During the 20th century many Catalans emigrated or went into exile to Venezuela , Mexico , Cuba , Argentina , and other South American countries. They formed
1815-464: A portion of his people and asked to be allowed to settle on the south bank of the Danube. Valens permitted this, and even assisted the Goths in their crossing of the river (probably at the fortress of Durostorum ). The Gothic evacuation across the Danube was probably not spontaneous, but rather a carefully planned operation initiated after long debate among leading members of the community. Upon arrival,
1936-419: A result the Goths are often identified as originating from south-central Sweden. According to Jordanes, the Goths originated on an island called Scandza (Scandinavia), from where they emigrated by sea to an area called Gothiscandza under their king Berig . Historians are not in agreement on the authenticity and accuracy of this account. Most scholars agree that Gothic migration from Scandinavia
2057-1009: A shared history with the Western Romance innovative core, especially Occitan. Like all Romance languages, Catalan has a handful of native words which are unique to it, or rare elsewhere. These include: The Gothic superstrate produced different outcomes in Spanish and Catalan. For example, Catalan fang "mud" and rostir "to roast", of Germanic origin, contrast with Spanish lodo and asar , of Latin origin; whereas Catalan filosa "spinning wheel" and templa "temple", of Latin origin, contrast with Spanish rueca and sien , of Germanic origin. The same happens with Arabic loanwords. Thus, Catalan alfàbia "large earthenware jar" and rajola "tile", of Arabic origin, contrast with Spanish tinaja and teja , of Latin origin; whereas Catalan oli "oil" and oliva "olive", of Latin origin, contrast with Spanish aceite and aceituna . However,
2178-748: A significant westward movement of Alans and Huns from the east. Large numbers of Goths subsequently concentrated upon the Roman border at the Lower Danube , seeking refuge inside the Roman Empire. After they entered the Empire, violence broke out, and Goth-led forces inflicted a devastating defeat upon the Romans at the Battle of Adrianople in 378. Roman forces regained a level of control but many Goths and other eastern peoples were quickly settled in and near
2299-525: A transition from Medieval to Renaissance values, something that can also be seen in Metge 's work. The first book produced with movable type in the Iberian Peninsula was printed in Catalan. With the union of the crowns of Castille and Aragon in 1479, the Spanish kings ruled over different kingdoms, each with its own cultural, linguistic and political particularities, and they had to swear by
2420-669: A widescale rebellion in Thrace, in which he was joined not only by Gothic refugees and slaves, but also by disgruntled Roman workers and peasants, and Gothic deserters from the Roman Army. The ensuing conflict, known as the Gothic War , lasted for several years. Meanwhile, a group of Greuthungi, led by the chieftains Alatheus and Saphrax , who were co-regents with Vithericus, son and heir of the Greuthungi king Vithimiris , crossed
2541-590: Is in the late 3rd century that the name Goths ( Latin : Gothi ) is first mentioned. Ancient authors do not identify the Goths with the earlier Gutones. Philologists and linguists have no doubt that the names are linked. On the Pontic steppe the Goths quickly adopted several nomadic customs from the Sarmatians. They excelled at horsemanship , archery and falconry , and were also accomplished agriculturalists and seafarers . J. B. Bury describes
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#17327731750052662-415: Is mandatory in all schools, but it is possible to use Spanish for studying in the public education system of Catalonia in two situations—if the teacher assigned to a class chooses to use Spanish, or during the learning process of one or more recently arrived immigrant students. There is also some intergenerational shift towards Catalan. More recently, several Spanish political forces have tried to increase
2783-460: Is now Ukraine, Moldova and Romania. From here they conducted raids into Roman territory, and large numbers of them joined the Roman military. These early Goths lived in the regions where archaeologists find the Chernyakhov culture , which flourished throughout this region during the 3rd and 4th centuries. In the late 4th century, the lands of the Goths in present-day Ukraine were overwhelmed by
2904-600: Is pronounced [kətəˈla] in the Eastern Catalan dialects, and [kataˈla] in the Western dialects. In the Valencian Community and Carche , the term valencià [valensiˈa] is frequently used instead. Thus, the name "Valencian", although often employed for referring to the varieties specific to the Valencian Community and Carche, is also used by Valencians as a name for
3025-588: Is proposed that this co-existed with an n-stem variant * Gutaniz , attested in Gutones , gutani , or gutniskr . The form * Gutōz is etymologically identical to that of the Gutes from Gotland, Sweden, and closely related to that of the Geats , from mainland Sweden, whose name is reconstructed as * Gautōz . Though these names probably mean the same, their exact meaning is uncertain. They are all thought to be related to
3146-402: Is reflected in the archaeological record, but the evidence is not entirely clear. Rather than a single mass migration of an entire people, scholars open to hypothetical Scandinavian origins envision a process of gradual migration in the 1st centuries BC and AD, which was probably preceded by long-term contacts and perhaps limited to a few elite clans from Scandinavia. Similarities between
3267-562: Is the Getica of the 6th-century historian Jordanes , who may have been of Gothic descent. Jordanes claims to have based the Getica on an earlier lost work by Cassiodorus , but also cites material from fifteen other classical sources, including an otherwise unknown writer, Ablabius . Many scholars accept that Jordanes' account on Gothic origins is at least partially derived from Gothic tribal tradition and accurate on certain details, and as
3388-866: Is the only French territory on the Iberian Peninsula , as it is located on the south side of the Pyrenees Range between France and Spain. For example, the Segre river, which goes west and then south to meet the Ebro , has its source in the French Cerdagne. An inadvertent result of the Treaty of the Pyrenees is the Spanish exclave of Llívia (the small uncolored area in the map) which is sovereign Spanish territory surrounded by French Cerdagne. French Cerdagne has no special status inside France, simply forming
3509-511: The Gutones – possibly early Goths – are documented living near the lower Vistula River in current Poland in the 1st century, where they are associated with the archaeological Wielbark culture . More recent genetic evidence has confirmed that Wielbark culture Goths from the Vistula carry Scandinavian Y-haplogroups , strongly suggesting that Gothic clans formed with migration from Southern Scandinavia. From
3630-636: The Aegean Sea and a detachment ravaged the Aegean islands as far as Crete , Rhodes and Cyprus . According to the Augustan History , the Goths achieved no success on this expedition because they were struck by the Cyprianic Plague . The fleet probably also sacked Troy and Ephesus , damaging the Temple of Artemis , though the temple was repaired and then later torn down by Christians
3751-646: The Aesti and the Vistula Veneti , who, although militarily weak, were very numerous, and put up a strong resistance. Jordanes compares the conquests of Ermanaric to those of Alexander the Great , and states that he "ruled all the nations of Scythia and Germany by his own prowess alone." Interpreting Jordanes, Herwig Wolfram estimates that Ermanaric dominated a vast area of the Pontic Steppe stretching from
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3872-476: The Balkan provinces. In the meantime, a second and larger sea-borne invasion had started. An enormous coalition consisting of Goths (Greuthungi and Thervingi), Gepids and Peucini, led again by the Heruli, assembled at the mouth of river Tyras (Dniester). The Augustan History and Zosimus claim a total number of 2,000–6,000 ships and 325,000 men. This is probably a gross exaggeration but remains indicative of
3993-749: The Crown of Aragon , and Catalan was present all over the Mediterranean world. During this period, the Royal Chancery propagated a highly standardized language. Catalan was widely used as an official language in Sicily until the 15th century, and in Sardinia until the 17th. During this period, the language was what Costa Carreras terms "one of the 'great languages' of medieval Europe". Martorell 's novel of chivalry Tirant lo Blanc (1490) shows
4114-633: The Danube . Around 275 the Goths launched a last major assault on Asia Minor , where piracy by Black Sea Goths was causing great trouble in Colchis , Pontus, Cappadocia , Galatia and even Cilicia . They were defeated sometime in 276 by Emperor Marcus Claudius Tacitus . By the late 3rd century, there were at least two groups of Goths, separated by the Dniester River : the Thervingi and
4235-467: The Gascon dialect ) is similar to the distance among different Occitan dialects. Catalan was considered a dialect of Occitan until the end of the 19th century and still today remains its closest relative. Catalan shares many traits with the other neighboring Romance languages (Occitan, French, Italian , Sardinian as well as Spanish and Portuguese among others). However, despite being spoken mostly on
4356-595: The Greuthungi . The Gepids , who lived northwest of the Goths, are also attested as this time. Jordanes writes that the Gepids shared common origins with the Goths. In the late 3rd century, as recorded by Jordanes, the Gepids, under their king Fastida , utterly defeated the Burgundians, and then attacked the Goths and their king Ostrogotha. Out of this conflict, Ostrogotha and the Goths emerged victorious. In
4477-485: The Honor Award of Catalan Letters (1969). The first Catalan-language TV show was broadcast in 1964. At the same time, oppression of the Catalan language and identity was carried out in schools, through governmental bodies, and in religious centers. In addition to the loss of prestige for Catalan and its prohibition in schools, migration during the 1950s into Catalonia from other parts of Spain also contributed to
4598-486: The Iberian Peninsula , Catalan has marked differences with the Iberian Romance group ( Spanish and Portuguese ) in terms of pronunciation , grammar, and especially vocabulary; it shows instead its closest affinity with languages native to France and northern Italy, particularly Occitan and to a lesser extent Gallo-Romance ( Franco-Provençal , French , Gallo-Italian ). According to Ethnologue ,
4719-749: The Italian comune of Alghero , and it is spoken in the Pyrénées-Orientales department of France and in two further areas in eastern Spain: the eastern strip of Aragon and the Carche area in the Region of Murcia . The Catalan-speaking territories are often called the Països Catalans or "Catalan Countries". The language evolved from Vulgar Latin in the Middle Ages around
4840-646: The March of Gothia , whence Gothland > Gothlandia > Gothalania > Catalonia theoretically derived. In English, the term referring to a person first appears in the mid 14th century as Catelaner , followed in the 15th century as Catellain (from Middle French ). It is attested a language name since at least 1652. The word Catalan can be pronounced in English as / ˈ k æ t ə l ə n , - æ n / KAT -ə-lən, -lan or / ˌ k æ t ə ˈ l æ n / KAT -ə- LAN . The endonym
4961-746: The Roman–Persian Wars , notably participating at the Battle of Misiche in 244. An inscription at the Ka'ba-ye Zartosht in Parthian , Persian and Greek commemorates the Persian victory over the Romans and the troops drawn from gwt W g'rmny xštr , the Gothic and German kingdoms, which is probably a Parthian gloss for the Danubian (Gothic) limes and the Germanic limes . Meanwhile, Gothic raids on
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5082-763: The Vandals , with whom they were certainly closely affiliated. The Vandals are associated with the Przeworsk culture , which was located to the south of the Wielbark culture. Wolfram suggests that the Gutones were clients of the Lugii and Vandals in the 1st century AD. In 77 AD, Pliny the Elder mentions the Gutones as one of the peoples of Germania . He writes that the Gutones, Burgundiones , Varini , and Carini belong to
5203-403: The consul in Barcelona was also asked. He declared that Catalan "is taught in schools, it is printed and spoken, not only among the lower class, but also among people of first quality, also in social gatherings, as in visits and congresses", indicating that it was spoken everywhere "with the exception of the royal courts". He also indicated that Catalan was spoken "in the Kingdom of Valencia, in
5324-416: The conversion of Goths to Christianity . The Goths are classified as a Germanic people in modern scholarship. Along with the Burgundians , Vandals and others they belong to the East Germanic group. Roman authors of late antiquity did not classify the Goths as Germani . In modern scholarship the Goths are sometimes referred to as being Germani . A crucial source on Gothic history
5445-399: The laws of each territory before the respective parliaments . But after the War of the Spanish Succession , Spain became an absolute monarchy under Philip V , which led to the assimilation of the Crown of Aragon by the Crown of Castile through the Nueva Planta decrees , as a first step in the creation of the Spanish nation-state ; as in other contemporary European states, this meant
5566-463: The name of the Goths , some Swedish place names and the names of the Gutes and Geats have been cited as evidence that the Goths originated in Gotland or Götaland . The Goths, Geats and Gutes may all have descended from an early community of seafarers active on both sides of the Baltic. Similarities and dissimilarities between the Gothic language and Scandinavian languages (particularly Gutnish ) have been cited as evidence both for and against
5687-433: The " Hlöðskviða " (The Battle of the Goths and Huns), a medieval Icelandic saga. The sagas recall that Gizur , king of the Geats , came to the aid of the Goths in an epic conflict with the Huns, although this saga might derive from a later Gothic-Hunnic conflict. Although the Huns successfully subdued many of the Goths who subsequently joined their ranks, Fritigern approached the Eastern Roman emperor Valens in 376 with
5808-404: The 11th and 14th centuries. During the 11th and 12th centuries the Catalan rulers expanded southward to the Ebro river , and in the 13th century they conquered the lands that would become the Kingdoms of Valencia and the Majorca . The city of Alghero in Sardinia was repopulated with Catalan speakers in the 14th century. The language also reached Murcia , which became Spanish-speaking in
5929-418: The 15th century. In the Low Middle Ages , Catalan went through a golden age, reaching a peak of maturity and cultural richness. Examples include the work of Majorcan polymath Ramon Llull (1232–1315), the Four Great Chronicles (13th–14th centuries), and the Valencian school of poetry culminating in Ausiàs March (1397–1459). By the 15th century, the city of Valencia had become the sociocultural center of
6050-408: The 1999 French census (unless otherwise stated). Catalan language Catalan ( català ) is a Western Romance language . It is the official language of Andorra , and an official language of three autonomous communities in eastern Spain : Catalonia , the Balearic Islands and the Valencian Community , where it is called Valencian ( valencià ). It has semi-official status in
6171-403: The 19th century saw a Catalan literary revival ( Renaixença ), which has continued up to the present day. This period starts with Aribau 's Ode to the Homeland (1833); followed in the second half of the 19th century, and the early 20th by the work of Verdaguer (poetry), Oller (realist novel), and Guimerà (drama). In the 19th century, the region of Carche , in the province of Murcia
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#17327731750056292-405: The 2nd century, the Wielbark culture expanded southwards towards the Black Sea in what has been associated with Gothic migration, and by the late 3rd century it contributed to the formation of the Chernyakhov culture . By the 4th century at the latest, several Gothic groups were distinguishable, among whom the Thervingi and Greuthungi were the most powerful. During this time, Wulfila began
6413-416: The Arabic element is generally much more prevalent in Spanish. Situated between two large linguistic blocks (Iberian Romance and Gallo-Romance), Catalan has many unique lexical choices, such as enyorar "to miss somebody", apaivagar "to calm somebody down", and rebutjar "reject". Traditionally Catalan-speaking territories are sometimes called the Països Catalans (Catalan Countries),
6534-480: The Baltic Sea to the Black Sea as far eastwards as the Ural Mountains , encompassing not only the Greuthungi, but also Baltic Finnic peoples , Slavs (such as the Antes ), Rosomoni (Roxolani), Alans, Huns , Sarmatians and probably Aestii ( Balts ). According to Wolfram, it is certainly possible that the sphere of influence of the Chernyakhov culture could have extended well beyond its archaeological extent. Chernyakhov archaeological finds have been found far to
6655-415: The Danube without Roman permission. The Gothic War culminated in the Battle of Adrianople in 378, in which the Romans were badly defeated and Valens was killed. Following the decisive Gothic victory at Adrianople, Julius, the magister militum of the Eastern Roman Empire , organized a wholesale massacre of Goths in Asia Minor , Syria and other parts of the Roman East. Fearing rebellion, Julian lured
6776-404: The Gothic period as "the only non-nomadic episode in the history of the steppe." William H. McNeill compares the migration of the Goths to that of the early Mongols , who migrated southward from the forests and came to dominate the eastern Eurasian steppe around the same time as the Goths in the west. From the 240s at the earliest, Goths were heavily recruited into the Roman Army to fight in
6897-445: The Goths and other Germanic groups such as the Heruli . It nevertheless also included Iranian , Dacian , Roman and probably Slavic elements as well. The first incursion of the Roman Empire that can be attributed to Goths is the sack of Histria in 238. The first references to the Goths in the 3rd century call them Scythians , as this area, known as Scythia, had historically been occupied by an unrelated people of that name. It
7018-462: The Goths into the confines of urban streets from which they could not escape and massacred soldiers and civilians alike. As word spread, the Goths rioted throughout the region, and large numbers were killed. Survivors may have settled in Phrygia . With the rise of Theodosius I in 379, the Romans launched a renewed offensive to subdue Fritigern and his followers. Around the same time, Athanaric arrived in Constantinople, having fled Caucaland through
7139-447: The Goths were to be disarmed according to their agreement with the Romans, although many of them still managed to keep their arms. The Moesogoths settled in Thrace and Moesia . Mistreated by corrupt local Roman officials, the Gothic refugees were soon experiencing a famine; some are recorded as having been forced to sell their children to Roman slave traders in return for rotten dog meat. Enraged by this treachery, Fritigern unleashed
7260-408: The Gotones (or Gothones) and the neighbouring Rugii and Lemovii were Germani who carried round shields and short swords, and lived near the ocean, beyond the Vandals. He described them as "ruled by kings, a little more strictly than the other German tribes". In another notable work, the Annals , Tacitus writes that the Gotones had assisted Catualda , a young Marcomannic exile, in overthrowing
7381-547: The Greuthungi and Thervingi became heavily Romanized during the 4th century. This came about through trade with the Romans, as well as through Gothic membership of a military covenant, which was based in Byzantium and involved pledges of military assistance. Reportedly, 40,000 Goths were brought by Constantine to defend Constantinople in his later reign, and the Palace Guard was thereafter mostly composed of Germanic warriors, as Roman soldiers by this time had largely lost military value. The Goths increasingly became soldiers in
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#17327731750057502-441: The Greuthungi and were subjects of the Huns. Procopius interpreted the name Visigoth as "western Goths" and the name Ostrogoth as "eastern Goth", reflecting the geographic distribution of the Gothic realms at that time. A people closely related to the Goths, the Gepids, were also living under Hunnic domination. A smaller group of Goths were the Crimean Goths , who remained in Crimea and maintained their Gothic identity well into
7623-441: The Gythones (or Gutones) as living east of the Vistula in Sarmatia, between the Veneti and the Fenni . In an earlier chapter he mentions a people called the Gutae (or Gautae) as living in southern Scandia . These Gutae are probably the same as the later Gauti mentioned by Procopius. Wolfram suggests that there were close relations between the Gythones and Gutae, and that they might have been of common origin. Beginning in
7744-419: The Hunnic thrust into Europe and the Roman Empire was an attempt to subdue the independent Goths in the west. The Huns fell upon the Thervingi, and Athanaric sought refuge in the mountains (referred to as Caucaland in the sagas). Ambrose makes a passing reference to Athanaric's royal titles before 376 in his De Spiritu Sancto (On the Holy Spirit). Battles between the Goths and the Huns are described in
7865-465: The Proto-Germanic verb * geuta- , which means "to pour". The similarity of these Scandiavian names has long been noted by scholars in connection with the 6th-century book Getica ( c. 551 ), by the historian Jordanes who wrote that the Goths originated on Scandza many centuries earlier, and moved to the Vistula delta. However, the accuracy of Jordanes' account for such early gothic history has been questioned by scholars. A people called
7986-548: The Roman Empire continued, In 250–51, the Gothic king Cniva captured the city of Philippopolis and inflicted a devastating defeat upon the Romans at the Battle of Abrittus , in which the Roman Emperor Decius was killed. This was one of the most disastrous defeats in the history of the Roman army. The first Gothic seaborne raids took place in the 250s. The first two incursions into Asia Minor took place between 253 and 256, and are attributed to Boranoi by Zosimus . This may not be an ethnic term but may just mean "people from
8107-437: The Roman Empire. Soon afterwards, Fritigern , a rival of Athanaric, converted to Arianism, gaining the favor of Valens. Athanaric and Fritigern thereafter fought a civil war in which Athanaric appears to have been victorious. Athanaric thereafter carried out a crackdown on Christianity in his realm. Around 375 the Huns overran the Alans , an Iranian people living to the east of the Goths, and then, along with Alans, invaded
8228-557: The Roman armies in the 4th century leading to a significant Germanization of the Roman Army. Without the recruitment of Germanic warriors in the Roman Army, the Roman Empire would not have survived for as long as it did. Goths who gained prominent positions in the Roman military include Gainas , Tribigild , Fravitta and Aspar . Mardonius , a Gothic eunuch, was the childhood tutor and later adviser of Roman emperor Julian , on whom he had an immense influence. The Gothic penchant for wearing skins became fashionable in Constantinople,
8349-437: The Roman army. In the aftermath of the Hunnic onslaught, two major groups of the Goths would eventually emerge, the Visigoths and Ostrogoths . Visigoths means the "Goths of the west", while Ostrogoths means "Goths of the east". The Visigoths, led by the Balti dynasty , claimed descent from the Thervingi and lived as foederati inside Roman territory, while the Ostrogoths, led by the Amali dynasty , claimed descent from
8470-613: The Roman province of Hispania Tarraconensis to the south. From the 8th century onwards the Catalan counts extended their territory southwards and westwards at the expense of the Muslims , bringing their language with them. This process was given definitive impetus with the separation of the County of Barcelona from the Carolingian Empire in 988. In the 11th century, documents written in macaronic Latin begin to show Catalan elements, with texts written almost completely in Romance appearing by 1080. Old Catalan shared many features with Gallo-Romance , diverging from Old Occitan between
8591-453: The Romans, the Thervingi invaded the territory of the Sarmatians of the Tisza . In this conflict, the Thervingi were led by Vidigoia , "the bravest of the Goths" and were victorious, although Vidigoia was killed. Jordanes states that Aoric was succeeded by Geberic , "a man renowned for his valor and noble birth", who waged war on the Hasdingi Vandals and their king Visimar , forcing them to settle in Pannonia under Roman protection. Both
8712-463: The Romans. After Gallienus was assassinated outside Milan in the summer of 268 in a plot led by high officers in his army, Claudius was proclaimed emperor and headed to Rome to establish his rule. Claudius' immediate concerns were with the Alamanni , who had invaded Raetia and Italy. After he defeated them in the Battle of Lake Benacus , he was finally able to take care of the invasions in
8833-595: The Spanish province of Alicante settled around Oran , while those from French Catalonia and Menorca migrated to Algiers . By 1911, there were around 100,000 speakers of Patuet , as their speech was called. After the Algerian declaration of independence in 1962, almost all the Pied-Noir Catalan speakers fled to Northern Catalonia or Alicante. The French government only recognizes French as an official language. Nevertheless, on 10 December 2007,
8954-521: The Thervingi, there were also populations of Taifali , Sarmatians and other Iranian peoples, Dacians , Daco-Romans and other Romanized populations. According to Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks (The Saga of Hervör and Heidrek), a 13th-century legendary saga , Árheimar was the capital of Reidgotaland , the land of the Goths. The saga states that it was located on the Dnieper river. Jordanes refers to
9075-512: The Thervingian king Ariaric , was captured. Eusebius , a historian who wrote in Greek in the third century, wrote that in 334, Constantine evacuated approximately 300,000 Sarmatians from the north bank of the Danube after a revolt of the Sarmatians' slaves. From 335 to 336, Constantine, continuing his Danube campaign, defeated many Gothic tribes. Having been driven from the Danube by
9196-643: The Vandili. Pliny classifies the Vandili as one of the five principal "German races", along with the coastal Ingvaeones , Istvaeones , Irminones , and Peucini . In an earlier chapter Pliny writes that the 4th century BC traveler Pytheas encountered a people called the Guiones . Some scholars have equated these Guiones with the Gutones, but the authenticity of the Pytheas account is uncertain. In his work Germania from around 98 AD, Tacitus writes that
9317-651: The beginning of the Marcomannic Wars . By 200 AD, Wielbark Goths were probably being recruited into the Roman army . According to Jordanes, the Goths entered Oium , part of Scythia, under the king Filimer , where they defeated the Spali . This migration account partly corresponds with the archaeological evidence. The name Spali may mean "the giants" in Slavic , and the Spali were thus probably not Slavs . In
9438-488: The decisive attack in the battle. Some survivors were resettled within the empire, while others were incorporated into the Roman army. The battle ensured the survival of the Roman Empire for another two centuries. In 270, after the death of Claudius, Goths under the leadership of Cannabaudes again launched an invasion of the Roman Empire , but were defeated by Aurelian , who, however, did surrender Dacia beyond
9559-419: The diminished use of the language. These migrants were often unaware of the existence of Catalan, and thus felt no need to learn or use it. Catalonia was the economic powerhouse of Spain, so these migrations continued to occur from all corners of the country. Employment opportunities were reduced for those who were not bilingual . Daily newspapers remained exclusively in Spanish until after Franco's death, when
9680-524: The early 3rd century AD, western Scythia was inhabited by the agricultural Zarubintsy culture and the nomadic Sarmatians . Prior to the Sarmatians, the area had been settled by the Bastarnae , who are believed to have carried out a migration similar to the Goths in the 3rd century BC. Peter Heather considers the Filimer story to be at least partially derived from Gothic oral tradition. The fact that
9801-492: The eastern Pyrenees . Nineteenth-century Spain saw a Catalan literary revival , culminating in the early 1900s. The word Catalan is derived from the territorial name of Catalonia , itself of disputed etymology. The main theory suggests that Catalunya ( Latin : Gathia Launia ) derives from the name Gothia or Gauthia ('Land of the Goths '), since the origins of the Catalan counts, lords and people were found in
9922-624: The empire. One group of these, initially led by their king Alaric I , were the precursors of the Visigoths , and their successors eventually establishing a Visigothic Kingdom in Spain at Toledo . Meanwhile, Goths under Hunnic rule gained their independence in the 5th century, most importantly the Ostrogoths . Under their king Theodoric the Great , these Goths established an Ostrogothic Kingdom in Italy at Ravenna . The Ostrogothic Kingdom
10043-536: The expanding Goths appear to have preserved their Gothic language during their migration suggests that their movement involved a fairly large number of people. By the mid-3rd century AD, the Wielbark culture had contributed to the formation of the Chernyakhov culture in Scythia. This strikingly uniform culture came to stretch from the Danube in the west to the Don in the east. It is believed to have been dominated by
10164-508: The first one in Catalan since the end of the Civil War, Avui , began to be published in 1976. Since the Spanish transition to democracy (1975–1982), Catalan has been institutionalized as an official language, language of education, and language of mass media; all of which have contributed to its increased prestige. In Catalonia , there is an unparalleled large bilingual European non-state linguistic community. The teaching of Catalan
10285-538: The historian Dexippus , pushed the invaders to the north where they were intercepted by the Roman army under Gallienus . He won an important victory near the Nessos ( Nestos ) river, on the boundary between Macedonia and Thrace , the Dalmatian cavalry of the Roman army earning a reputation as good fighters. Reported barbarian casualties were 3,000 men. Subsequently, the Heruli leader Naulobatus came to terms with
10406-477: The imposition of the political and cultural characteristics of the dominant groups. Since the political unification of 1714, Spanish assimilation policies towards national minorities have been a constant. The process of assimilation began with secret instructions to the corregidores of the Catalan territory: they "will take the utmost care to introduce the Castilian language, for which purpose he will give
10527-524: The islands of Mallorca, Menorca, Ibiza, Sardinia, Corsica and much of Sicily, in the Vall d "Aran and Cerdaña". The defeat of the pro-Habsburg coalition in the War of Spanish Succession (1714) initiated a series of laws which, among other centralizing measures, imposed the use of Spanish in legal documentation all over Spain. Because of this, use of the Catalan language declined into the 18th century. However,
10648-588: The language as a whole, synonymous with "Catalan". Both uses of the term have their respective entries in the dictionaries by the Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua (AVL) and the Institut d'Estudis Catalans (IEC). (See also status of Valencian below). By the 9th century, Catalan had evolved from Vulgar Latin on both sides of the eastern end of the Pyrenees , as well as the territories of
10769-606: The language in features closer to Occitan (and French ). There is evidence that, at least from the 2nd century AD, the vocabulary and phonology of Roman Tarraconensis was different from the rest of Roman Hispania. Differentiation arose generally because Spanish, Asturian , and Galician-Portuguese share certain peripheral archaisms (Spanish hervir , Asturian and Portuguese ferver vs. Catalan bullir , Occitan bolir "to boil") and innovatory regionalisms (Spanish novillo , Asturian nuviellu vs. Catalan torell , Occitan taurèl "bullock"), while Catalan has
10890-410: The last decades of the 3rd century, large numbers of Carpi are recorded as fleeing Dacia for the Roman Empire, having probably been driven from the area by Goths. In 332, Constantine helped the Sarmatians to settle on the north banks of the Danube to defend against the Goths' attacks and thereby enforce the Roman border. Around 100,000 Goths were reportedly killed in battle, and Aoric , son of
11011-622: The lexical similarity between Catalan and other Romance languages is: 87% with Italian; 85% with Portuguese and Spanish; 76% with Ladin and Romansh ; 75% with Sardinian; and 73% with Romanian. During much of its history, and especially during the Francoist dictatorship (1939–1975), the Catalan language was ridiculed as a mere dialect of Spanish . This view, based on political and ideological considerations, has no linguistic validity. Spanish and Catalan have important differences in their sound systems, lexicon, and grammatical features, placing
11132-486: The linguistic census held by the Government of Catalonia in 2013) and it is understood almost universally. According to 2013 census, Catalan was also very commonly spoken in the city of 1,501,262: it was understood by 95% of the population, while 72.3% over the age of two could speak it (1,137,816), 79% could read it (1,246.555), and 53% could write it (835,080). The share of Barcelona residents who could speak it (72.3%)
11253-461: The linguistic varieties subsumed under the cover term Occitan language (see also differences between Occitan and Catalan and Gallo-Romance languages ). Thus, as it should be expected from closely related languages, Catalan today shares many traits with other Romance languages. Some include Catalan in Occitan, as the linguistic distance between this language and some Occitan dialects (such as
11374-543: The middle of the 2nd century, the Wielbark culture shifted southeast towards the Black Sea . During this time the Wielbark culture is believed to have ejected and partially absorbed peoples of the Przeworsk culture. This was part of a wider southward movement of eastern Germanic tribes, which was probably caused by massive population growth. As a result, other tribes were pushed towards the Roman Empire , contributing to
11495-489: The most temperate and disguised measures so that the effect is achieved, without the care being noticed". From there, actions in the service of assimilation, discreet or aggressive, were continued, and reached to the last detail, such as, in 1799, the Royal Certificate forbidding anyone to "represent, sing and dance pieces that were not in Spanish". The use of Spanish gradually became more prestigious and marked
11616-517: The name Gutones . The equation between Gutones and later Goths is disputed by several historians. Around 15 AD, Strabo mentions the Butones, Lugii , and Semnones as part of a large group of peoples who came under the domination of the Marcomannic king Maroboduus . The "Butones" are generally equated with the Gutones. The Lugii have sometimes been considered the same people as
11737-521: The north in the forest steppe , suggesting Gothic domination of this area. Peter Heather on the other hand, contends that the extent of Ermanaric's power is exaggerated. Ermanaric's possible dominance of the Volga - Don trade routes has led historian Gottfried Schramm to consider his realm a forerunner of the Viking -founded state of Kievan Rus' . In the western part of Gothic territories, dominated by
11858-452: The north". It is unknown if Goths were involved in these first raids. Gregory Thaumaturgus attributes a third attack to Goths and Boradoi, and claims that some, "forgetting that they were men of Pontus and Christians," joined the invaders. An unsuccessful attack on Pityus was followed in the second year by another, which sacked Pityus and Trabzon and ravaged large areas in the Pontus . In
11979-507: The other hand, there are several language shift processes currently taking place. In the Northern Catalonia area of France, Catalan has followed the same trend as the other minority languages of France, with most of its native speakers being 60 or older (as of 2004). Catalan is studied as a foreign language by 30% of the primary education students, and by 15% of the secondary. The cultural association La Bressola promotes
12100-528: The percentage of speakers to the population of each area where Catalan is spoken. The web site of the Generalitat de Catalunya estimated that as of 2004 there were 9,118,882 speakers of Catalan. These figures only reflect potential speakers; today it is the native language of only 35.6% of the Catalan population. According to Ethnologue , Catalan had 4.1 million native speakers and 5.1 million second-language speakers in 2021. According to
12221-460: The population self-identifies with both Catalan and Spanish equally, 36.4% with Catalan and 47.5% only Spanish. In 2003 the same studies concluded no language preference for self-identification within the population above 15 years old: 5% self-identified with both languages, 44.3% with Catalan and 47.5% with Spanish. To promote use of Catalan, the Generalitat de Catalunya (Catalonia's official Autonomous government) spends part of its annual budget on
12342-404: The promotion of the use of Catalan in Catalonia and in other territories, with entities such as Consorci per a la Normalització Lingüística (Consortium for Linguistic Normalization). In Andorra , Catalan has always been the sole official language. Since the promulgation of the 1993 constitution , several policies favoring Catalan have been enforced, such as Catalan medium education. On
12463-539: The region as Oium. In the 360s, Athanaric , son of Aoric and leader of the Thervingi, supported the usurper Procopius against the Eastern Roman Emperor Valens . In retaliation, Valens invaded the territories of Athanaric and defeated him , but was unable to achieve a decisive victory. Athanaric and Valens thereupon negotiated a peace treaty, favorable to the Thervingi, on a boat in the Danube river, as Athanaric refused to set his feet within
12584-474: The rest of the territories. (% of the population 15 years old and older). (% of the population 15 years old and older). Goths The Goths were a Germanic people who played a major role in the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the emergence of medieval Europe . They were first reported by Graeco-Roman authors in the 3rd century AD, living north of the Danube in what
12705-469: The rule of Maroboduus. Prior to this, it is probable that both the Gutones and Vandals had been subjects of the Marcomanni. Sometime after settling Gothiscandza , Jordanes writes that the Goths defeated the neighbouring Vandals. Wolfram believes the Gutones freed themselves from Vandalic domination at the beginning of the 2nd century AD. In his Geography from around 150 AD, Ptolemy mentions
12826-509: The scale of the invasion. After failing to storm some towns on the coasts of the western Black Sea and the Danube ( Tomi , Marcianopolis ), the invaders attacked Byzantium and Chrysopolis . Part of their fleet was wrecked, either because of the Goth's inexperience in sailing through the violent currents of the Propontis or because they were defeated by the Roman navy. Then they entered
12947-506: The scheming of Fritigern. Athanaric received a warm reception by Theodosius, praised the Roman Emperor in return, and was honoured with a magnificent funeral by the emperor following his death shortly after his arrival. In 382, Theodosius decided to enter peace negotiations with the Thervingi, which were concluded on 3 October 382. The Thervingi were subsequently made foederati of the Romans in Thrace and obliged to provide troops to
13068-569: The social level, including in schools and the University of Barcelona . The Catalan language and culture were still vibrant during the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939), but were crushed at an unprecedented level throughout the subsequent decades due to Francoist dictatorship (1939–1975), which abolished the official status of Catalan and imposed the use of Spanish in schools and in public administration in all of Spain , while banning
13189-560: The sole official language of the region. Shortly after the French Revolution (1789), the French First Republic prohibited official use of, and enacted discriminating policies against, the regional languages of France, such as Catalan, Alsatian , Breton , Occitan , Flemish , and Basque . After the French colony of Algeria was established in 1830, many Catalan-speaking settlers moved there. People from
13310-413: The start of the decline of Catalan. Starting in the 16th century, Catalan literature came under the influence of Spanish, and the nobles, part of the urban and literary classes became bilingual . With the Treaty of the Pyrenees (1659), Spain ceded the northern part of Catalonia to France , and soon thereafter the local Catalan varieties came under the influence of French , which in 1700 became
13431-473: The territory of the Goths. A source for this period is the Roman historian Ammianus Marcellinus , who wrote that Hunnic domination of the Gothic kingdoms in Scythia began in the 370s. It is possible that the Hunnic attack came as a response to the Gothic expansion eastwards. Upon the suicide of Ermanaric (died 376), the Greuthungi gradually fell under Hunnic domination. Christopher I. Beckwith suggests that
13552-865: The then General Council of the Pyrénées-Orientales officially recognized Catalan as one of the départment's languages and seeks to further promote it in public life and education. In 1807, the Statistics Office of the French Ministry of the Interior asked the prefects for an official survey on the limits of the French language . The survey found that in Roussillon , almost only Catalan was spoken, and since Napoleon wanted to incorporate Catalonia into France, as happened in 1812,
13673-538: The third year, a much larger force devastated large areas of Bithynia and the Propontis , including the cities of Chalcedon , Nicomedia , Nicaea , Apamea Myrlea , Cius and Bursa . By the end of the raids, the Goths had seized control over Crimea and the Bosporus and captured several cities on the Euxine coast, including Olbia and Tyras , which enabled them to engage in widespread naval activities. After
13794-592: The time of the Nordic Bronze Age and the Lusatian culture . Its inhabitants in the Wielbark period are usually thought to have been Germanic peoples, such as the Goths and Rugii. Jordanes writes that the Goths, soon after settling Gothiscandza , seized the lands of the Ulmerugi (Rugii). The Goths are generally believed to have been first attested by Greco-Roman sources in the 1st century under
13915-403: The use of Catalan in them. Between 1939 and 1943 newspapers and book printing in Catalan almost disappeared. Francisco Franco's desire for a homogeneous Spanish population resonated with some Catalans in favor of his regime, primarily members of the upper class, who began to reject the use of Catalan. Despite all of these hardships, Catalan continued to be used privately within households, and it
14036-609: The use of Spanish in the Catalan educational system. As a result, in May 2022 the Spanish Supreme Court urged the Catalan regional government to enforce a measure by which 25% of all lessons must be taught in Spanish. According to the Statistical Institute of Catalonia , in 2013 the Catalan language is the second most commonly used in Catalonia, after Spanish , as a native or self-defining language: 7% of
14157-472: Was 12,035, resulting in a density of only 22 people per km (58 per sq. mile). The area has the most cloud-free days in France , and was therefore chosen as the place to build: There are 26 communes in French Cerdagne, all of them are parts of the canton of Les Pyrénées catalanes , in the arrondissement of Prades . Below is a list of the communes in alphabetical order . The population data are extracted from
14278-498: Was able to survive Franco's dictatorship. At the end of World War II , however, some of the harsh measures began to be lifted and, while Spanish language remained the sole promoted one, limited number of Catalan literature began to be tolerated. Several prominent Catalan authors resisted the suppression through literature. Private initiative contests were created to reward works in Catalan, among them Joan Martorell prize (1947), Víctor Català prize (1953) Carles Riba award (1950), or
14399-893: Was destroyed by the Eastern Roman Empire in the 6th century, while the Visigothic Kingdom was largely conquered by the Umayyad Caliphate in the early 8th century, with a remnant in Asturias which would go on to initiate the Reconquista under Pelagius . Remnants of Gothic communities in Crimea , known as the Crimean Goths , established a culture that survived for more than a thousand years, although Goths would eventually cease to exist as
14520-640: Was lower than that of the overall Catalan population, of whom 81.2% over the age of 15 spoke the language. Knowledge of Catalan has increased significantly in recent decades thanks to a language immersion educational system. An important social characteristic of the Catalan language is that all the areas where it is spoken are bilingual in practice: together with French in Roussillon, with Italian in Alghero, with Spanish and French in Andorra, and with Spanish in
14641-590: Was repopulated with Valencian speakers. Catalan spelling was standardized in 1913 and the language became official during the Second Spanish Republic (1931–1939). The Second Spanish Republic saw a brief period of tolerance, with most restrictions against Catalan lifted. The Generalitat (the autonomous government of Catalonia, established during the Republic in 1931) made a normal use of Catalan in its administration and put efforts to promote it at
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