A HISTORY history OF FRENCH LITERATURE

A HISTORY
OF FRENCH LITERATURE

CHAPTER I
THE ORIGINS OF FRENCH AND OF FRENCH LITERATURE

AMONG those languages which have shared the intellectual
and literary hegemony of Europe the most important
belong to the Greek, to the Latin, or to the Germanic group.
French is of Latin origin, and is historically derived with no
solution of continuity, so that without undue paradox it might
almost be said that the language of the French today is a form
of late Latin. It is true that Virgil and Cicero would find it as
difficult to make themselves understood on the boulevards as it
would have been for an African or a Scythian in the Forum; but
nevertheless there is an unbroken thread in the historical series
of past ages, so that it is impossible to say precisely at what
moment Latin ceased to exist in France and French took its
place. We are restricted to general conclusions based on the
changes in the sounds (Phonology) or in the form of words
(Morphology), and we say that it was about this time or near
that date, within half a century or so, that certain changes or
developments occurred.

French is, then, a Latin idiom. And what differentiates it
from English, in which the majority of words is also of Latin
derivation? The answer must be that in French it is not a
question of vocabulary alone, but also of grammatical construc­
tion, whereas the framework of English is Teutonic.

But neither French nor Latin has always existed in the land.
There was once a Gaul, and we still speak of the esprit gaulois

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Publication Information: Book Title: A History of French Literature. Contributors: C. H. Conrad Wright - author. Publisher: Oxford University Press. Place of Publication: New York. Publication Year: 1912. Page Number: 3.