Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume IX.djvu/474

 456 ITALY (LANGUAGE AND LITEEATURE) finds that it was in use in the 5th century; and in 960 Gonzo attests its use among the educa- ted classes, while Wittekind mentions its being spoken under the name of lingua Rornana by the emperor Otho I. (936-73). Pope Gregory V. (996-'9) delivered his instructions to the people in the same. It was spoken at the court of the emperor Frederick II. (1212-'50) as the linffua Siciliana, of which the oldest authentic specimen is a rude song by Ciullo d'Alcamo (about 1195). The Sienese idiom of Folcachiero is more chaste, but somewhat later in date. Thus, already in the 13th century the Italian language had attained its regular forms in the north, centre, and south of Italy. While other modern European languages, with the exception of the Icelandic, were still in their infancy, Dante (1265-1321) did most of all in developing and consolidating the native ele- ments, legitimating the exotic accessions, and polishing the whole language. In the 14th century the language was still further per- fected by Petrarch and Boccaccio. To the latter part of the 15th century and the begin- ning of the 16th belong the works of artists and scientific men like Leonardo da Vinci, who enriched the language with a new termi- nology, and those of Machiavelli, the father of Italian prose. Pietro Bembo, Giovanni Rucel- lai, Jacopo Sannazaro, Trissino, Ariosto, Tasso, Guarini, and others followed, raising it in re- finement and melody above all other European languages. Angelo Beolco di Ruzzante, a Pa- duan (1502-'42), wrote six comedies, in which each person speaks his native dialect : a method analogous to the use of Prakrit in Indian dramas. Benedetto Varchi, a Florentine (1502 -'65), reformed the orthography and estab- lished the grammar. Grazzini with Leonardo Salviati founded, in the accademia della Crusca at Florence, a tribunal of the language (1582). The influence of French on European languages during the 17th century began to be exerted on the Italian, especially on its syntax. Algarotti was the chief fosterer of this influence. But Monti and Perticari strenuously and successful- ly resisted this denationalization, and restored to their cherished tongue the direction impart- ed to it in the 14th century. The following details relate to the illmtre fatella of Dante, unless a dialect be mentioned. The compara- tive harmony of intonation of the Italian and Spanish languages is a matter of individual preference. We place the Italian first with re- spect to music, but prefer the Spanish as to the numerus or euphony of speech. Only five Ital- ian words end in consonants (three liquids), viz. : il, in, con, non, per. By dropping e and o after liquids only, other words are made to end in them, thus: parlarono, or parlaron; dropping n, parlaro ; also parlor, which is also the infinitive (from parlarc) or the negative imperative. Too many words end in i (plural from e, o, and from a masculine, and second person singular of verbs) ; for instance : Sapete, amid miei, die tutti i eelebri poeti italiani sieno stati eolmi di allori ed onori, nei secoli passati. The sound of h exists only in the lingua toscana. The Spanish has only one rough sibilant, ch (as in our church), whereas the Italian has this, written ce, ci, as well as the sound of our sh (in ship), written tee, sci ; moreover, ge, gi (as in English gem), the double consonants t> and dz (both written z), of which the former supplants the melting sound of the Latin tia, tie, tio, as in tristezza, pazienza, na- zione (for tristitia,patientia, natio), &c. Oggi, fuggire, uccidere, and the like, exaggerate the harshness by a preceding sound of d and t. The ratio of initial and medial consonants to the vowels is as two to one in Latin, while they are about equal in number in Italian. Besides the above mentioned sounds, there are 6, d, f, I, m, n, p, q, u, as in English ; c like k in the same positions as in English, and g hard (writ- ten ch, gh, before e, i) ; j medial sound, like our y in yes, but as final it is a long i; r al- ways rolling; t always hard (in old writings also like z) ; a as in English sun, rose, never as in vision, mission, the i retaining its distinct sound, as in ti-si-o-ne. The letters i, w, x, and y are not used, and ph, th are represented byy, t, as in filosqfia, teatro. H only occurs in ho, hai, ha, hanno (Latin hdbeo, hates, halet, Italent, which Metastasio wrote d, di, d, anno), ami com- bined in ch, gh. The I and n mouilles of the French are written with gli and gn. The vow- els sound as in the words father, pat ; fete, pet ; marine, pin ; note, not ; too, put. The Italian accent is strongly marked, and affects one of the four last syllables of words ; hence its adaptability to pentameter and hexameter verse, and its singularly musical prosody. Rhyme is only accessory. The mark Q is only used for the sake of instruction ; the sign of the grave accent is written on the finals of abbreviated words, such as cittd, merce, d, virtu, do (for eittade, mercede, die, virtude, Lat. quod), &c. In richness of augmentatives and diminu- tives, both of endearment and aversion, the Spanish is equal and the Karalitic (in Greenland) superior to the Italian. The definite article is more multiform than in the cognate languages. This is due to its contraction with prepositions and also with non, thus: del, dalla, al, nello, coi, pel, frai, sttgli, nol, &c. There are two forms of the masculine: il, lo, plural i, gli. The auxiliary verbs are due to the influence of the Teutonic tongues, though faint traces of a similar use of esse and habere may be found in ancient low Latin. Conciseness of expression is obtained by the following means : a, by using the infinitive of a verb as a substantive, thus : il parlar tezzoso, genteel speech ; 6, by joining pronouns, when regimens, to the imperative, infinitive, or gerund, thus : datemelo, give it to me ; il pensarne mi consola, the very thought of it consoles me ; raccontandoglielo, in telling it to him, &c. ; c, by dropping the final e or o after liquids, mostly before words commencing with consonants (see above); d, by dropping final vowels or syllables before both consonants