| Glosas Emilianenses | |
|---|---|
| Royal Academy of History | |
 Page 72 of the Aemilianensis 60 codex | |
| Type | Religious |
| Date | 9th-11th centuries |
| Place of origin | Monasteries of San Millán de la Cogolla |
| Discovered | 20th century |
TheGlosas Emilianenses (Spanish for "glosses of [the monastery of Saint] Millán/Emilianus") areglosses written in the 10th or 11th century to a 9th-centuryLatincodex called theAemilianensis 60;[1] the name Glosas Emilianenses is also sometimes applied to the entire codex. Thesemarginalia are important as early attestations of both anIberian Romancevariety (similar to modernSpanish orNavarro-Aragonese) and of medievalBasque. The codex is now in Madrid, but came from the monastic library atSan Millán de la Cogolla.The anonymous author of the glosses is presumed to be a monk atSan Millán de Suso, one of two monastic sites in the village.
The codex itself is a compilation of several codices, includingVerba seniorum,Passio martyrum Cosmae et Damiani,Sermones beati Augustini.[1] It also contains glosses and marginalia that are written in three languages:
Aemilianensis 60 has been publicized as the earliest known codex with inscriptions in Basque, though other codices are posited.[citation needed]
The Glosses were formerly considered to include the first instances of early Spanish. San Millán de la Cogolla's reputation as the "birthplace of the Spanish language" was important in its designation as aWorld Heritage Site ("cultural" type) in 1997.[2] However, in November 2010, theRoyal Spanish Academy declared that the first appearances of written Spanish can be found in theCartularies of Valpuesta, 9th-century documents from theprovince of Burgos. These cartularies include, like the glosses, a mix of Latin and Iberian Romance vocabulary, but are earlier in date.[3][4] The cartularies do not however present a Romance grammatical structure distinct from Latin, so in that regard the glosses are still the first.
The monasteries of San Millán de Suso (6th century) and San Millán de Yuso (11th century) are two monasteries situated in the village ofSan Millán de la Cogolla,La Rioja, Spain. The two monasteries' namesSuso andYuso mean the "upper" and the "lower" inarchaic Castilian, respectively. The monasteries are named after SaintEmilian of Cogolla (Spanish:Millán).
The name of the glosses,Glosas Emilianenses, which can be translated as "Emilian glosses", refers to the name of the monastery where they were preserved and most likely composed.The codex is known asAemilianensis 60 (Aemilianus is Latin forEmilian, "Millán" or "Emiliano" in modernSpanish)
The anonymous author of the glosses is believed to have been a monk at the Suso, or upper, monastery.The codex was preserved in the monastery library at Yuso (the lower re-foundation of the monastery) until it was confiscated during theTrienio Liberal as part of theexpropriation of monastic property which took place in Spain in the 19th century.[5]The manuscript's current location is theRoyal Academy of History inMadrid, which holds other material from the monastic library such as theSan Millán Beatus. The monastic library retains theBecerro Galicano.
There have been calls for the codex to be returned to La Rioja.[6]In 2023 the government of the autonomous community was considering making a formal request.[5]
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The original place where the glosses were written is uncertain (M. C. Díaz y Díaz has proposed thePyrenees),[1] but it is often assumed to be San Millán.
The vernacular language inLa Rioja, the province where the monastery is situated, is now Spanish. However, there are some Basquetoponyms in the locality, e.g.Ezcaray.[7]At the time the Glosses were composed, the monastery was located in theKingdom of Navarre much of which was Basque-speaking. Medieval Basque and Iberian Romance would have been thevernacular languages in the region surrounding the monastery. The variety of Iberian Romance spoken at San Millán perhaps had the character of abridge language,[8] facilitating communication and cultural exchange between different linguistic groups.
The glosses are not the only manuscript from the monastery to contain a linguistic mix. Another example is its medievalcartulary known as theBecerro Galicano, which is of considerable philological interest. It has been said that this supposedly Latin text is "profoundly influenced by early Castilian, to which an abundance of Basque names is added to form a singularly complex linguistic mix".[9]
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The significance of the glosses was recognised in the early twentieth century. The key researcher in their discovery wasManuel Gómez-Moreno Martínez. His main focus of study at the time was architecture, but he recognised their importance, made a transcript and mentioned them in a periodical dealing with Spain's cultural heritage, theBoletín de la Sociedad Española de Excursiones. He brought them to the attention of the philologistRamón Menéndez Pidal, who discussed them in hisOrígenes del español (1926).[5]
Some of the marginalia are grammar notes, others are additions, and others, glosses.There is still some debate as to whether theIberian Romance language of the glosses should be classed as an early form of Castilian or of Aragonese, although some recent studies show that most features belong indeed to the latter.[10] It is not the only text to be difficult to classify: other texts traditionally assumed to be in Old Spanish, like theKharjas, are proved to be in a different medieval Romance,Mozarabic, which happens to be classified along with Aragonese in a Pyrenean-Mozarabic group. Some scholars have proposed that it is anachronistic to classify such varieties of Ibero-Romance according to dialectal labels based on geographical particularism before the thirteenth century, leaving the Glosas to be understood as "in an unspecialized informal register of Ibero-Romance".[11]
The longest gloss appears on page 72 of the manuscripts. The SpanishphilologistDámaso Alonso called this little prayer the "first cry of the Spanish language" (in Spanish:"el primer vagido de la lengua española"[12]).
Old text[citation needed] (some of the paleographic abbreviations cannot be rendered properly in Unicode)
Con o aiutorio de nuestro
dueno duenoχρο, dueno
ſalbatore, qual dueno
yet ena honore et qual
duenno tienet ela
mandatione con o
patre con o ſpu ſco
en oſ ſieculoſ de lo ſieculoſ. facanoſdſ ompeſ
tal serbitio fere ke
denante ela sua face
gaudioſo ſeyamuſ. Amen.
Translation
With the help of our
lord Lord Christ, Lord
Savior, Lord
who is in honor,
Lord that has
command with
the Father, with the Holy Spirit
for ever and ever.
God Omnipotent, make us
do such a service that
before His face
joyful we are. Amen.
Comparison of some words used in the glosses, along with their current corresponding forms in Aragonese, Spanish and Latin language. English translation provided.
| Glosses | Aragonese | Spanish | Latin | Translation to English |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| de loſ (delo) | de los,d'os | de los | <DE ILLOS | of the (masculine, plural article) |
| ela | a, la, l' | la | <ILLA | the (feminine singular article) |
| ena, enoſ | en a, en os | en la, en los | <IN ILLAM, IN ILLOS | in the (Latin accusative, feminine singular and masculine plural articles) |
| fere | fer | hacer[13] | <FACERE | to make |
| ſieculoſ | sieglos | (sieglos >) siglos | <SAECULA | centuries |
| yet | ye | es | <EST | is (3rd person, singular, verb "to be") |
Only two of the glosses inAemilianensis 60 (of a total of about one thousand) are actually in Basque.[7] These short texts (only 6 words in total) can be seen on the 1974 plaque. However, it has been suggested that some of the Romance glosses reflect the influence of the Basque language, the implication being that their author was a fluent Basque-speaker.
