Navarrese Romance

Navarrese
Navarrese Romance
Romance navarrocode: arg promoted to code: an
Treasury register in the Court of Auditors of Navarre of 1402 (AGN, Comptos Reg. 267)
Native to	Northern Spain
Region	Kingdom of Navarre
Ethnicity	Navarrese
Era	10–17th centuries
Language family	Indo-European Italic Latino-Faliscan Latinic Romance Italo-Western Western Romance (disputed) Pyrenean–Mozarabic? Navarro-Aragonese Navarrese
Early forms	Old Latin Vulgar Latin Proto-Romance (unclassified) Navarro-Aragonese
Writing system	Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3	None (mis)
Glottolog	None
Navarrese Romance

Navarrese Romance, simplified as Navarrese is one of the extinct Iberian Romance, which was used during the 10th to 17th centuries in the Kingdom of Navarre. In addition to the use of Medieval Latin, present as a general phenomenon throughout Western Europe, and Occitan, more sporadically, practically all medieval Navarrese documentation, both public and private, is written in Navarrese Romance. ^{[1] [2]}

According to linguists, this Romance dialect, both because of its birth in a geographical environment that supported the Basque and because of its secular coexistence with it, the origin and development of Navarrese offers problems and peculiar characteristics in the history of Spanish linguistics. Despite the volume of legal and chronicle texts of the Navarrese Romance until the beginning of the 20th century it was considered that they were composed in Castilian or Provençal or in a mixture of both. ^{[1] [3]}

Philological context

In 1980, Ricardo Cierbide summarized the fact that throughout the centuries, especially since the end of the 15th century, Navarrese and non-Navarrese showed ignorance of the linguistic fact of the existence of Navarrese Romance and considered it purely and simply as Castilian. These positions have lasted until 1970, with specific exceptions. ^[4]

In his work on Navarrese literature, Carlos Mata Induráin , professor of literature at the University of Navarra, said that Navarrese Romance is the Romance dialect derived from Latin in Navarrese territory, traditionally studied together with Navarro-Aragonese, although with its own linguistic features that allow it to be differentiated, as demonstrated by the studies of Fernando González Ollé and Carmen Saralegui, as well as Ricardo Cierbide, among others. ^[5] This author also emphasizes that Navarrese Romance was the official language of the Navarrese Court, since it facilitated contacts with the other Christian kingdoms. ^[6]

The birth and emergence of Romance: Romanization as a basis

According to González Ollé, the birth of Navarrese Romance, with the exception of the Ribera de Navarra, occurs in a Basque-speaking environment where it develops and, through it and at its expense, it spreads socially and territorially. This original situation is common with Castilian, at least in part, depending on the scope that each person grants, with respect to the latter, to the Basque substratum, which is indubitable in the case of Navarre, where ordinary personal coexistence - not just the strict adstratum - has been maintained until the present (to a very variable degree, depending on the times and areas). ^[7]

This genesis requires the conjunction of several factors:

• The Romanization of a large part of the current territory known as Navarre with an increasingly horizontal extension and vertical public intensity according to the contributions regularly made by archaeology and onomastics. ^[8]
• Due to the role played, the Vascones, according to written sources, constitute an element of support for the Roman conquest favoring this cooperative work as a motivating factor for the growing foundations on the territory converted into the place of passage of the Roman troops that participated in the fights against the Cantabri and Astures. ^[9]

The deployment of the Roman road network through this territory, both main roads (between Bordeaux and Astorga or between Tarragona and Astorga) and more secondary ones (between Pamplona and Zaragoza via Santacara, or between Gallipienzo and Eslava up to Olite and Cascante) favours the proliferation of Mansio at their foot. ^[9]

• It is quite plausible and possible that, after the disappearance of Roman authority, there was a recovery of the Vascones' territory during the final stage of the Roman Empire. However, this process would be slowed down, and even gradually reversed, with the formation of the Iberian Romance languages, which possibly had various initial foci in their genesis. ^[10]

One such focus could be located in the space bathed by the middle course of the Aragon River, between Tiermas and Gallipienzo, as well as by the Onsella River (Valdonsella), a region later disputed by the County of Aragon and the Kingdom of Pamplona where the birth is verified, first, of the Kingdom of Pamplona, as well as the County of Aragon that, later, will become a kingdom, even sharing the occupants of the throne, but with an expansion greater in land and time than the previous one until the end of the Middle Ages. In those early stages there is documentary evidence of the emergence of Sancho I of Pamplona in the surroundings of the Sierra de Leyre. ^[11]

Navarrese, Aragonese and Old Riojan: breaking old postulates

At the beginning of the 20th century it has been linked to Aragonese, calling both the Navarro-Aragonese language, although with a clear inaccuracy since serious and balanced comparative studies were lacking, there being an abundant bibliography on the ancient texts and modern dialects of Aragon that had hardly any counterpart with its congeners of Navarre. ^[1] The authority of Ramón Menéndez Pidal in this matter established the compound Navarro-Aragonese, ^[12] seconded, without further study, by other authors, assuming the lack of a substantial differentiation between Navarrese and Aragonese, even Old Riojan and reaching the rank of generally accepted doctrine that they were simple names of the same language, but without being able to affirm how it has proceeded to affirm this identity given the lack of a regular process of previous studies that would contribute to such an affirmation. ^[2]

On the contrary, during the last third of the 20th century, initial efforts were perceived to alleviate this perspective, so bleak, of the state of knowledge of the Navarrese Romance ^[13] with the doctoral thesis of Ricardo Cierbide, Romance navarro antiguo: (siglos 10 al 15: estudio realizar sobre documentos originales), presented at the Complutense University of Madrid in 1970, ^[14] and with the extensive article by Fernando González Ollé, El romance navarro, whose objective was to demonstrate the existence of a Romance language of its own in this territory. Both facts were decisive in the change of direction in this matter in the following decades. ^[15]

Early on (1975) we have the doctoral thesis, promoted by the Chair of Historical Grammar at the University of Zaragoza, on The Navarrese Romance in the manuscripts of the ancient charter of the Fuero General of Navarre where the author, María Ángeles Líbano Zumalacárregui, (later professor of Spanish Language at the University of the Basque Country) ^[16] collaborated with this contribution to the critical edition of the so-called Fuero Antiguo that ended up integrated into the Fuero General de Navarra ^[17] initiated in the Department of Medieval History of that university. ^[18] With her research, numerous spellings and phonetic, morphological and syntactical elements that characterize the Navarrese Romance used in its writing are provided. ^[19]

In 1993 she presented her doctoral thesis Carmela Pérez-Salazar Resano published her thesis in 1995 on The Navarrese Romance in royal documents of the 14th century (1322-1349), ^[20] a linguistic study of a diplomatic documentary collection, with about 300 royal documents written in Latin, in Navarrese Romance and Old French, to demonstrate that the development of this romance towards Castilian solutions was due more to its own evolution than to Castilianization. ^[21] In 1995, along the same lines, Cristina Tabernero Sala presented her research on The configuration of vocabulary in the Navarrese Romance: a study of royal documents from the 13th and 14th centuries, ^[22] where the author defends the lexical identity of the Navarrese Romance during the Middle Ages, while delving into the lexical relationships of this romance with Aragonese, French and Occitan. ^[21]

Finally, a year later (1996), Manuel Alvar published his Manual de dialectología hispánica: El español de España ^[23] where for the first time in a dialectology manual Navarrese has an entry. ^[24] It was written by Fernando González Ollé, who proceeds to justify the precarious attention deserved that is usually placed under Navarro-Aragonese, although without deserving any attention of its own while, on the contrary, there are other cases of dialectological individualization derived from the existence of medieval political divisions or by their continuation as traditional or administrative regions. ^[24] Also in the same book, separately, also precedes the chapter on Aragonese signed by Manuel Alvar himself. ^[21]

Historical context

Song of Roncesvalles (p. 1v-2r) in Navarrese Romance.

The oldest known text in Navarrese Romance seems to be the granting of the Fuero de Jaca in 1171 to the inhabitants of Sangüesa ^[25] by Sancho VI of Navarre:

Historical linguistic demography considers that, apart from the use in the cities of medieval Navarre of languages such as Gascon, Castilian or Provençal. During the Late Middle Ages Navarrese Romance was spoken more intensely south of the valleys of the Ega, Arga and Aragon rivers.

With the arrival on the throne of Navarre of the first French dynasties, the language seems to become a national issue (compared to the foreign ones who began to be constant in the Navarrese court), promoting its progressive use, to the detriment of Latin, in official documentation. It would be the Navarrese Romance language that, from the 13th century and especially the 14th century, would be predominant in the court and in the Chancery of Navarre, and in which a large part of the documentation of the Navarrese royalty would be written. In 1255, during the homage of loyalty paid to Theobald II of Navarre, several Navarrese lords promised to respect "your people of the French language and any other language that may be in your service". ^[26] Language, or lack of it, was a determining requirement explicitly communicated to the occupant of the throne during the ceremony of the elevation of the king to determine the natives of the country and the "man of another land, or of foreign place or of foreign language" at the time of appointments to positions. ^{[27] [25]}

Furthermore, it was expressly identified as the official language of the kingdom in 1329, in the Cortes of Olite, and was designated in the documentation as the language of Navarre, ^[28] and was expressly reinstated in 1350, during the royal coronation of Charles II of Navarre, ^[29] or in 1390, during the coronation of his successor Charles III of Navarre. ^[30] In a singular way, both the General Charter of Navarre , the masterpiece of medieval Navarrese private law, and its improvements are written in Navarrese Romance. ^{[31] [18]}

From the 15th century onwards, contact between Navarrese Romance and Castilian would produce a phenomenon of convergence between the two languages, a phenomenon that would lead to their complete replacement by Castilian in the 16th century. ^[32]

Documentary context

Codex of the General Charter of Navarre (14th century), written in Navarrese Romance.

Privilege of the Union written in Navarrese Romance

In addition to the Liber Regum, which is the first Hispanic chronicle written in the vernacular and perhaps the first romance text of Hispanic literature, ^[34] the Crónica d'Espayña by García de Eugui, the Crónica by Garcí López de Roncesvalles and the Crónica de los Reyes de Navarra by the Charles, Prince of Viana, ^[35] we must mention the genealogical news that collect, at the end, some manuscripts of the Fuero General de Navarra. Under the name of Corónicas navarras ^[36] they have been edited by Antonio Ubieto Arteta, for whom these brief texts had an independent life prior to their inclusion in the legal compilation. ^[37]

Also worth mentioning in this section is the account From Estella to Seville. Accounts of a Journey (1352). ^{[37] [38]}

The manuscript entitled Book of Generations ^[39] with a 16th century letter copies a work by Martín de Larraya that was written between 1258 and 1270. Its historical and literary value is scarce, but the linguistic one is more interesting since it contains a relatively early text, but the copy is late and in it still persist with intensity multiple features of the Navarrese dialect, since from the end of the 15th century and even before the language of the Navarrese documentation appears deeply Castilianized. The same generally happens with other contemporary Navarrese historical texts: the Chronicle of the Kings of Navarre by Diego Ramírez de Ávalos de la Piscina or in the Sum of the Chronicles of Navarre by an anonymous author. ^[37]

Survivals

As with the area where Aragonese was formerly spoken and which underwent a process of Castilianization, the Castilian vocabulary and speech of central, southern, and eastern Navarre have maintained until recently or retain today identifying features of Navarrese Romance, such as the aversion to words with proparoxytones.

Specifically, the following are attributable to the survival of linguistic forms of Navarrese:

• In the Eslava area, the oldest people used the ending -i for the first person of the imperfect tense, just as in present-day Ansó Aragonese. Example: teníai.
• The most widespread Navarrism is the anthroponym Javier (Xabier, Xavier), adapted to many Western languages, coming from the Basque Etxeberri, which means new house.
• In Navarrese regional law, the term municipal domain and the regional neighbourhoods still exist.
• It is possible that the Salacenco demonym for the inhabitants of the Salazar Valley is of Navarrese origin, as is the survival of the name Selva de Irati (Irati Forest), which in Spanish would be forest because the use of jungle for this type of plant formation has long since been lost.

Orthography

Much like many other Romance languages, Navarrese is written in the Latin script with its own variations.

Medieval spellings for phonemes in Navarrese ^[40]

Phoneme	Spelling(s)	Usage notes
[wa]	⟨oa⟩
[ʎ]	⟨yll⟩, ⟨ill⟩, ⟨lli⟩, ⟨yl⟩, ⟨ll⟩, ⟨l⟩, ⟨lg⟩, ⟨li⟩, ⟨il⟩
[ɲ]	⟨ynn⟩, ⟨yn⟩, ⟨nni⟩, ⟨jnn⟩, ⟨inn⟩, ⟨nn⟩, ⟨ng⟩, ⟨yn⟩, ⟨ny⟩, ⟨in⟩, ⟨ni⟩
[ʃ]	⟨x⟩, ⟨xc⟩, ⟨sc⟩, ⟨xs⟩, ⟨iss⟩, ⟨yss⟩, ⟨ss⟩	⟨x⟩ is most commonly found in texts of non-native speakers and sparsely in texts written by native speakers.
[t͡ʃ]	⟨ch⟩, ⟨z⟩, ⟨ç⟩, ⟨s⟩, ⟨g⟩	⟨ch⟩ is the most common spelling.
[t͡s]	⟨ts⟩, ⟨tz⟩, ⟨ç⟩, ⟨z⟩	[t͡s] was represented by ⟨ç⟩ and ⟨z⟩ in word-final position.

References

1. "Romance navarro" (in Spanish). Gran Enciclopedia de Navarra. Retrieved 2025-06-05.
2. González Ollé 1972, p. 46-47.
3. González Ollé 1972, p. 46.
4. Cierbide 1980, p. 395.
5. Mata Induráin 2007, p. 29.
6. Mata Induráin 2007, p. 29-30.
7. González Ollé 1997, p. 654.
8. García, García; Luisa, María (1995). La Ocupación del territorio navarro en Época Romana. Cuadernos de Arqueología de la Universidad de Navarra. pp. 231–270. ISSN   1133-1542 . Retrieved 2025-06-07.
9. González Ollé 1997, p. 655.
10. González Ollé 1997, p. 656-657.
11. González Ollé 1997, p. 657.
12. Menéndez Pidal 1956, p. 465-466.
13. González Ollé 1972, p. 53-54.
14. Cierbide Martinena, Ricardo (1970), Romance navarro antiguo: (siglos X al XV : estudio realizado sobre documentos originales) (in Spanish), Universidad Complutense de Madrid, retrieved 2025-06-07
15. Sarasa Echeverría 2024, p. 34-35.
16. "Mª Angeles Líbano Zumalacarregui - Grupo de Investigación Sociedad, Poder y Cultura (siglos XIV-XVIII) - UPV/EHU". Grupo de Investigación Sociedad, Poder y Cultura (siglos XIV-XVIII) (in Spanish). Retrieved 2025-06-07.
17. Jimeno Aranguren, Roldán (2016). Los fueros de Navarra. Primera edición. ISBN   978-84-340-2285-0 . Retrieved 2025-06-07.
18. Líbano Zumalacárregui 1977, p. 11.
19. Líbano Zumalacárregui 1977, p. 189-198.
20. Pérez-Salazar Resano, Carmela (1993), El romance navarro en documentos reales del Siglo XIV (1322-1349) (in Spanish), Universidad de Navarra, retrieved 2024-10-28
21. Sarasa Echeverría 2024, p. 35.
22. Tabernero Sala, Cristina (1995), La configuración del vocabulario en el romance navarro: estudio sobre documentos reales de los siglos XIII y XIV (in Spanish), Universidad de Navarra, retrieved 2025-06-07
23. Alvar López, Manuel (1996). Manual de dialectología hispánica: El español de España. Ariel España. ISBN   978-84-344-8217-3 . Retrieved 2025-06-07.
24. González Ollé 1996, p. 305.
25. Miranda García, Fermín (2012-06-01), La afirmación ideológica de la monarquía navarra y el empleo del romance en el entorno de 1200 (in Spanish), e-Spania. Revue interdisciplinaire d’études hispaniques médiévales et modernes, doi:10.4000/e-spania.21080, ISSN   1951-6169 , retrieved 2025-06-07
26. González Ollé 1987, p. 707.
27. "Alzamiento del rey". Diccionario panhispánico del español jurídico. Real Academia Española. Retrieved 2025-06-07.
28. Lacarra, José María (1972), Las cortes de Olite de 1329 y la sucesión al reino de Navarra, Cuadernos de historia de España, pp. 303–321, ISSN   0325-1195 , retrieved 2025-06-07
29. González Ollé 1987, p. 705-706.
30. González Ollé 1987, p. 705.
31. Iribarren, José María (1984). Vocabulario navarro. Pamplona: Institución Príncipe de Viana. ISBN   978-84-86020-07-1.
32. Martínez Pasamar, Concepción; Tabernero Sala, Cristina (2012). Hablar en Navarra: las lenguas de un reino (1212-1512). Departamento de Cultura, Turismo y Relaciones Institucionales. ISBN   978-84-15375-10-4 . Retrieved 2025-06-07.
33. Martínez Pasamar, Concepción (2023), La lengua del Privilegio de la Unión (1423-1841), Ayuntamiento de Pamplona = Iruñeko Udala, pp. 236–271, ISBN   978-84-89590-35-9 , retrieved 2025-06-07
34. Martin, Georges (2010-02-11), Libro de las generaciones y linajes de los reyes ¿Un título vernáculo para el Liber regum (in Spanish), e-Spania. Revue interdisciplinaire d’études hispaniques médiévales et modernes, doi:10.4000/e-spania.19852, ISSN   1951-6169 , retrieved 2025-06-07
35. Viana, Carlos de (1971). Crónica de los reyes de Navarra. Reimpresión facsímil de la de José Yanguas y Miranda (Pamplona 1843). Textos medievales. Vol. 27. Valencia: Anubar Ediciones. ISBN   84-7013-019-6 . Retrieved 2025-06-07.
36. Ubieto Arteta, Antonio (1989). Corónicas navarras. Textos medievales. Vol. 14. Valencia: Anubar Ediciones. ISBN   84-7013-234-2 . Retrieved 2025-06-07.
37. González Ollé 1970, p. 59.
38. Sánchez Villar, María Desamparados (1974). Desde Estella a Sevilla. Cuentas de un viaje (1352). Textos medievales. Vol. 7. Valencia. ISBN   84-7013-015-3 . Retrieved 2025-06-07.
39. Ferrandis Martínez, Josefa (1968). Libro de las generaciones. Textos medievales. Vol. 23. Valencia: Anubar Ediciones. ISBN   84-7013-011-0 . Retrieved 2025-06-07.
40. Ciérvide 1970, p. 271.

Bibliography

• Cierbide, Ricardo (1980), En torno a la problemática lingüística en la Navarra medieval (El romance navarro) (in Spanish), vol. 12, Fontes linguae vasconum: Studia et documenta, pp. 395–402, ISSN   0046-435X , retrieved 2025-06-06
• Líbano Zumalacárregui, Ángeles (1977). El romance navarro en los manuscritos del fuero antiguo del Fuero General de Navarra. Inst. Príncipe de Viana. ISBN   978-84-235-0086-4.
• Mata Induráin, Carlos (2007). Navarra-Literatura. Gobierno de Navarra. ISBN   84-235-2446-9.
• Menéndez Pidal, Ramón (1956). Orígenes del español. Estado lingüístico de la Península Ibérica hasta el siglo XI (4 ed.). Espasa-Calpe. ISBN   8423947521.
• Sarasa Echeverría, Sergio (2024), El léxico navarro y su pervivencia más allá de la Edad Media: Estudio de voces de raigambre navarroaragonesa en un inventario navarro del siglo XVIII (in Spanish), vol. 7, RILEX. Revista sobre investigaciones léxicas, pp. 33–58, doi: 10.17561/rilex.7.2.8321 , ISSN   2605-3136 , retrieved 2025-06-06
• Ciérvide, Ricardo (1970). "El romance navarro antiguo". Fontes linguae vasconum: Studia et documenta (in Spanish). 6 (1): 271. ISSN   0046-435X . Retrieved 2025-06-06.
  • González Ollé, Fernando (1970). Vascuence y romance en la historia lingüística de Navarra (in Spanish). Vol. L. Madrid: Boletín de la Real Academia Española. pp. 31–76. ISSN   0210-4822 . Retrieved 2025-06-07.
• González Ollé, Fernando (1972). Cofradía Gastronómica del Pimiento Seco (ed.). Vascuence y romance en la historia lingüística de Navarra (in Spanish). Pamplona. Retrieved 2025-06-07.
• González Ollé, Fernando (1997). La función de Leire en la génesis y difusión del romance navarro, con noticia lingüística de su documentación (I) (in Spanish). Vol. 58. Príncipe de Viana. pp. 653–708. ISSN   0032-8472 . Retrieved 2025-06-07.
• González Ollé, Fernando (1996). "Navarro". Manual de dialectología hispánica: el español de España. Ariel lingüística (in Spanish). Ed. Ariel. pp. 305–316. Retrieved 2025-06-07.
• González Ollé, Fernando (1987). Reconocimiento del romance navarro bajo Carlos II (1350) (in Spanish). Vol. 48. Príncipe de Viana. pp. 705–710. ISSN   0032-8472 . Retrieved 2025-06-07.