Part 30

110 Hervas (Catalogo, i. 37) mentions the following works, published during the sixteenth century, bearing on the science of language:—“Introductio in Chaldaicam Linguam, Siriacam, atque Armenicam, et decem alias Linguas,” a Theseo Ambrosio. Papiæ, 1539, 4to. “De Ratione communi omnium Linguarum et Litterarum Commentarius,” a Theodoro Bibliandro. Tiguri, 1548, 4to. It contains the Lord’s Prayer in fourteen languages. Bibliander derives Welsh and Cornish from Greek, Greek having been carried there from Marseilles, through France. He states that Armenian differs little from Chaldee, and cites Postel, who derived the Turks from the Armenians, because Turkish was spoken in Armenia. He treats the Persians as descendants of Shem, and connects their language with Syriac and Hebrew. Servian and Georgian are, according to him, dialects of Greek.

Other works on language published during the sixteenth century are:—“Perion. Dialogorum de Linguæ Gallicæ origine ejusque cum Græca cognatione, libri quatuor.” Parisiis, 1554. He says that as French is not mentioned among the seventy-two languages which sprang from the Tower of Babel, it must be derived from Greek. He quotes Cæsar (de Bello Gallico, vi. 14) to prove that the Druids spoke Greek, and then derives from it the modern French language!

The works of Henri Estienne (1528-1598) stand on a much sounder basis. He has been unjustly accused of having derived French from Greek. See his “Traicté de la Conformité du Langage français avec le grec;” about 1566. It contains chiefly syntactical and grammatical remarks, and its object is to show that modes of expression in Greek, which sound anomalous and difficult, can be rendered easy by a comparison of analogous expressions in French.

The Lord’s Prayer was published in 1548 in fourteen languages, by Bibliander; in 1591 in twenty-six languages, by Roccha (“Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana,” a fratre Angelo Roccha: Romæ, 1591, 4to.); in 1592 in forty languages, by Megiserus (“Specimen XL. Linguarum et Dialectorum ab Hieronymo Megisero à diversis auctoribus collectarum quibus Oratio Dominica est expressa:” Francofurti, 1592); in 1593, in fifty languages, by the same author (“Oratio Dominica L. diversis linguis,” cura H. Megiseri: Francofurti, 1593, 8vo.).

111 At the beginning of the seventeenth century was published “Trésor de l’Histoire des Langues de cet Univers,” par Claude Duret; seconde edition: Iverdon, 1619, 4to. Hervas says that Duret repeats the mistakes of Postel, Bibliander, and other writers of the sixteenth century.

Before Duret came Estienne Guichard, “l’Harmonie Etymologique des Langues Hebraique, Chaldaique, Syriaque—Greque—Latine, Françoise, Italienne, Espagnole—Allemande, Flamende, Anglaise, &c.:” Paris, 1606.

Hervas only knows the second edition, Paris, 1618, and thinks the first was published in 1608. The title of his book shows that Guichard distinguished between four classes of languages, which we should now call the Semitic, the Hellenic, Italic, and Teutonic: he derives, however, Greek from Hebrew.

I. I. Scaliger, in his “Diatriba de Europæorum Linguis” (Opuscula varia: Parisiis, 1610), p. 119, distinguishes eleven classes: Latin, Greek, Teutonic, Slavonic, Epirotic or Albanian, Tartaric, Hungarian, Finnic, Irish, British in Wales and Brittany, and Bask or Cantabrian.

112 “Initium oris et communis eloquii, et hoc omne quod loquimur, Hebræam esse linguam qua vetus Testamentum scriptum est, universa antiquitas tradidit.” In another place (Isaia, c. 7) he writes, “Omnium enim fere linguarum verbis utuntur Hebræi.”

113 “Mansit lingua per Adam primitus data, ut putamus, Hebræa, in ea parte hominum, quæ non pars alicujus angeli, sed quæ Dei portio permansit.”

114 Guichard went so far as to maintain that as Hebrew was written from right to left, and Greek from left to right, Greek words might be traced back to Hebrew by being simply read from right to left.

115 Among the different systems of Rabbinical exegesis, there is one according to which every letter in Hebrew is reduced to its numerical value, and the word is explained by another of the same quantity; thus, from the passage, “And all the inhabitants of the earth were of one language.” (Gen. xi. 1), is deduced that they all spoke Hebrew, שכה being changed for its synonym לשון, and הקרש, (5 + 100 + 4 + 300 = 409) is substituted for its equivalent אחת (1 + 8 + 400 = 409). _Coheleth_, ed. Ginsburg, p. 31.

116 Hermathena Joannis Goropii Becani: Antuerpiæ, 1580. Origines Antverpianæ, 1569. André Kempe, in his work on the language of Paradise, maintains that God spoke to Adam in Swedish, Adam answered in Danish, and the serpent spoke to Eve in French.

Chardin relates that the Persians believe three languages to have been spoken in Paradise; Arabic by the serpent, Persian by Adam and Eve, and Turkish by Gabriel.

J. B. Erro, in his “El mundo primitivo,” Madrid, 1814, claims Bask as the language spoken by Adam.

A curious discussion took place about two hundred years ago in the Metropolitan Chapter of Pampeluna. The decision, as entered in the minutes of the chapter, is as follows:—1. Was Bask the primitive language of mankind? The learned members confess that, in spite of their strong conviction on the subject, they dare not give an affirmative answer. 2. Was Bask the only language spoken by Adam and Eve in Paradise? On this point the chapter declares that no doubt can exist in their minds, and that “it is impossible to bring forward any serious or rational objection.” See Hennequin, “Essai sur l’Analogie des Langues,” Bordeaux, 1838. p. 60.

117 Guhrauer’s Life of Leibniz, ii. p. 129.

118 Guhrauer, vol. ii. p. 127. In his “Dissertation on the Origin of Nations,” 1710, Leibniz says:—“The study of languages must not be conducted according to any other principles but those of the exact sciences. Why begin with the unknown instead of the known? It stands to reason that we ought to begin with studying the modern languages which are within our reach, in order to compare them with one another, to discover their differences and affinities, and then to proceed to those which have preceded them in former ages, in order to show their filiation and their origin, and then to ascend step by step to the most ancient tongues, the analysis of which must lead us to the only trustworthy conclusions.”

119 Nicolaes Witsen, Burgomaster of Amsterdam, travelled in Russia, 1666-1677; published his travels in 1672, dedicated to Peter the Great. Second edition, 1705. It contains many collections of words.

120 Catherinens der Grossen Verdienste um die Vergleichende Sprachkunde, von F. Adelung. Petersburg, 1815. Another letter of his to the Vice-Chancellor, Baron Schaffiroff, is dated Pirmont, June 22, 1716.

121 Collectanea Etymologica, ii. 255. “Malim sine discrimine Dialectorum corrogari Germanicas voces. Puto quasdam origines ex superioribus Dialectis melius apparituras; ut ex Ulfilæ Pontogothicis, Otfridi Franciscis.”

122 Monde primitif analysé et comparé avec le monde moderne: Paris, 1773.

123 Catalogo, i. 63.

124 “Mas se deben consultar gramaticas para conocer su caracter proprio por medio de su artificio gramatical.”—_Catalogo_, i. 65. The same principle was expressed by Lord Monboddo, about 1795, in his Ancient Metaphysics, vol. iv. p. 326. “My last observation is, that, as the art of a language is less arbitrary and more determined by rule than either the sound or sense of words, it is one of the principal things by which the connection of languages with one another is to be discovered. And, therefore, when we find that two languages practise these great arts of language,—derivation, composition, and flexion,—in the same way, we may conclude, I think, with great certainty, that the one language is the original of the other, or that they are both dialects of the same language.”

125 Catalogo, ii. 468.

126 Ibid. i. 49. Witsen, too, in a letter to Leibniz, dated Mai 22, 1698, alludes to the affinity between the Tataric and Mongolic languages. “On m’a dit que ces deux langues (la langue Moegale et Tartare) sont différentes à peu près comme l’Allemand l’est du Flamand, et qu’il est de même des Kalmucs et Moegals.”—_Collectanea Etymologica_, ii. p. 363.

127 Leibniz held the same opinion (see Hervas, Catalogo, i. 50), though he considered the Celts in Spain as descendants of the Iberians.

128 Catalogo, i. 30. “Verá que la lengua llamada _malaya_, la qual se habla en la península de Malaca, es matriz de inumerables dialectos de naciones isleñas, que desde dicha península se extienden por mas de doscientos grados de longitud en los mares oriental y pacífico.”

Ibid. ii. 10. “De esta península de Malaca han salido enjambres de pobladores de las islas del mar Indiano y Pacífico, en las que, aunque parece haber otra nacion, que es de negros, la _malaya_ es generalmente la mas dominante y extendida. La lengua malaya se habla en dicha península, continente del Asia, en las islas Maldivas, en la de Madagascar (perteneciente al Africa), en las de Sonda, en las Molucas, en las Filipinas, en las del archipiélago de San Lázaro, y en muchísimas del mar del Sur desde dicho archipiélago hasta islas, que por su poca distancia de América se creian pobladas por americanos. La isla de Madagascar se pone á 60 grados de longitud, y á los 268 se pone la isla de Pasqua ó de Davis, en la que se habla otro dialecto malayo; por lo que la extension de los dialectos malayos es de 208 grados de longitud.”

129 Catalogo, ii. 134.

130 Ibid. ii. 135.

131 The first volume appeared in 1806. He died before the second volume was published, which was brought out by Vater in 1809. The third and fourth volumes followed in 1816 and 1817, edited by Vater and the younger Adelung.

132 Evidence of this is to be found in Strahlenberg’s work on the “North and East of Europe and Asia,” 1730; with tabula polyglotta, &c.; in Messerschmidt’s “Travels in Siberia,” from 1729-1739; in Bachmeister, “Idea et desideria de colligendis linguarum speciminibus:” Petropoli, 1773; in Güldenstädt’s “Travels in the Caucasus,” &c.

133 The empress wrote to Nicolai at Berlin to ask him to draw up a catalogue of grammars and dictionaries. The work was sent to her in manuscript from Berlin, in 1785.

134 “Glossarium comparativum Linguarum totius Orbis:” Petersburg, 1787. A second edition, in which the words are arranged alphabetically, appeared in 1790-91, in 4 vols., edited by Jankiewitsch de Miriewo. It contains 279 (272) languages, _i.e._ 171 for Asia, 55 for Europe, 30 for Africa, and 23 for America. According to Pott, “Ungleichheit,” p. 230, it contains 277 languages, 185 for Asia, 22 for Europe, 28 for Africa, 15 for America. This would make 280. It is a very scarce book.

135 The Singhalese call Pali, Mungata; the Burmese, Magadabâsâ.

136 Works, vol. iii. p. 72.

137 M. M.’s Buddhism and Buddhist Pilgrims, p. 23.

138 Méthode pour déchiffrer et transcrire les noms Sanscrits qui se rencontrent dans les livres chinois, inventée et démontrée par M. Stanislas Julien: Paris, 1861, p. 103.

139 “Fan-chou (brahmâkshara), les caractères de l’écriture indienne, inventée par Fan, c’est-à-dire Fan-lan-mo (brahmâ).”—_Stanislas Julien, Voyages des Pèlerins Bouddhistes_, vol. ii. p. 505.

140 Sir Henry Elliot’s Historians of India, p. 259.

141 See Professor Flügel, in Zeitschrift der D. M. G., xi., s. 148 and 325.

142 Elliot’s Historians of India, p. 96. Al Birúni knew the Harivanśa, and fixes the date of the five Siddhântas. The great value of Al Birúni’s work was first pointed out by M. Reinaud, in his excellent “Mémoire sur l’Inde,” Paris, 1849.

143 In the Persian work Mujmalu-t-Tawárikh, there are chapters translated from the Arabic of Abu Saleh ben Shib ben Jawa, who had himself abridged them, a hundred years before, from a Sanskrit work, called “Instruction of Kings” (Râjanîti?). The Persian translator lived about 1150. See Elliot, l. c.

144 Sâlotar is not known as the author of such a work. Śâlotarîya occurs instead of Śâlâturîya, in Rája Rádhakant; but Śâlâturîya is a name of Pâņini, and the teacher of Suśruta is said to have been Divodâsa. An Arabic translation of a Sanskrit work on veterinary medicine by Châņakya is mentioned by Háji Chalfa, v. p. 59. A translation of the Charaka from Sanskrit into Persian, and from Persian into Arabic, is mentioned in the Fihrist, finished 987 A. D.

145 See Vans Kennedy, “Notice respecting the Religion introduced by Akbar:” Transactions of the Literary Society of Bombay: London, 1820, vol. ii. pp. 242-270.

146 Elliot, Historians of India, p. 249.

147 Müllbauer, Geschichte der Katholischen Missionen Ostindiens, p. 134.

148 Elliot, Historians of India, p. 248.

149 Ibid. pp. 259, 260. The Tarikh-i-Badauni, or Muntakhabu-t-Tawárikh, written by Mulla Abdu-l-Kádir Maluk, Shah of Badáún, and finished in 1595, is a general history of India from the time of the Ghaznevides to the 40th year of Akbar. The author is a bigoted Muhammedan and judges Akbar severely, though he was himself under great obligations to him. He was employed by Akbar to translate from Arabic and Sanskrit into Persian: he translated the Râmâyaņa, two out of the eighteen sections of the Mahâbhârata, and abridged a history of Cashmir. These translations were made under the superintendence of Faizi, the brother of the minister Abu-l-Fazl. “Abulfacel, ministro de Akbar, sevalió del Amarasinha y del Mahabhárata, que traduxo en persiano el año de 1586.”—_Hervas_, ii. 136.

150 See M. M.’s History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature, p. 327.

151 History of the Settlements of the Europeans in the East and West Indies, translated from the French of the Abbé Bernal by J. Justamond: Dublin, 1776, vol. i. p. 34.

152 Müllbauer, p. 67.

153 Ibid. p. 80. These Brahmans, according to Robert de Nobili, were of a lower class, not initiated in the sacred literature. They were ignorant, he says, “of the books Smarta, Apostamba, and Sutra.”—_Müllbauer_, p. 188. Robert himself quotes from the Âpastamba-Sûtra, in his defence, ibid. p. 192. He also quotes Scanda Purâna, p. 193; Kadambari, p. 193.

_ 154 The Ezour-Veda_ is not the work of Robert de Nobili. It was probably written by one of his converts. It is in Sanskrit verse, in the style of the Pûraņas, and contains a wild mixture of Hindu and Christian doctrine. The French translation was sent to Voltaire and printed by him in 1778, “L’Ezour Vedam traduit du Sanscritam par un Brame.” Voltaire expressed his belief that the original was four centuries older than Alexander, and that it was the most precious gift for which the West had been ever indebted to the East. Mr. Ellis discovered the Sanskrit original at Pondichery. (Asiatic Researches, vol. xiv.) There is no evidence for ascribing the work to Robert, and it is not mentioned in the list of his works. (Bertrand, la Mission du Maduré, Paris, 1847-50, t. iii. p. 116; Müllbauer, p. 205, _note_.)

155 In 1677 a Mr. Marshall is said to have been a proficient in Sanskrit. Elliot’s Historians of India, p. 265.

156 See an excellent account of this letter in an article of M. Biot in the “Journal des Savants,” 1861.

157 Sidharubam seu Grammatica Samscrdamica, cui accedit dissertatio historico-critica in linguam Samscrdamicam, vulgo Samscret dictam, in qua hujus linguæ existentia, origo, præstantia, antiquitas, extensio, maternitas ostenditur, libri aliqui in ea exarati critice recensentur, et simul aliquæ antiquissimæ gentilium orationes liturgicæ paucis attinguntur et explicantur autore Paulino a S. Bartholomæo. Romæ, 1790.

158 The earliest publications were the “Bhagavadgîta,” translated by Wilkins, 1785; the “Hitopadeśa,” translated by Wilkins, 1787; and the “Sakuntalâ,” translated by W. Jones, 1789. Original grammars, without mentioning mere compilations, were published by Colebrooke, 1805; by Carey, 1806; by Wilkins, 1808; by Forster, 1810; by Yates, 1820; by Wilson, 1841. In Germany, Bopp published his grammars in 1827, 1832, 1834; Benfey, in 1852 and 1855.

159 Halhed had published in 1776 the “Code of Gentoo Laws,” a digest of the most important Sanskrit law-books made by eleven Brahmans, by the order of Warren Hastings.

160 “On the Origin and Progress of Language,” second edition, Edinburgh, 1774. 6 vols.

161 “I have supposed that language could not be invented without supernatural assistance, and, accordingly, I have maintained that it was the invention of the Dæmon kings of Egypt, who, being more than men, first taught themselves to articulate, and then taught others. But, even among them, I am persuaded there was a progress in the art, and that such a language as the Shanskrit was not at once invented.”—_Monboddo, Antient Metaphysics_, vol. iv. p. 357.

162 Origin and Progress of Language, vol. vi. p. 97.

163 Antient Metaphysics, vol. iv. p. 322.

164 Conjugationssystem: Frankfurt, 1816.

165 New edition in 1856, much improved.

166 Second edition, 1859 and 1861. Pott’s work on the Language of the Gipsies, 1846; his work on Proper Names, 1856.

167 “Although the Old Friesian documents rank, according to their dates, with Middle rather than with Old German, the Friesian language appears there in a much more ancient stage, which very nearly approaches the Old High-German. The political isolation of the Friesians, and their noble attachment to their traditional manners and rights, have imparted to their language also a more conservative spirit. After the fourteenth century the old inflections of the Friesian decay most rapidly, whereas in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries they rival the Anglo-Saxon of the ninth and tenth centuries.”—_Grimm_, _German Grammar_ (1st ed.), vol. i p. lxviii.

168 The dialects of Swabia (the Allemannish), of Bavaria and Austria, of Franconia along the Main, and of Saxony, &c.

169 Über das Leben und die Lehre des Ulfila, Hannover, 1840. Über das Leben des Ulfila von Dr. Bessell, Göttingen, 1860.

170 Bessell, l. c. p. 38.

171 Sozomenus, H. E. vii. 6.

172 Auxentius thus speaks of Ulfilas, (Waitz, p. 19:) “Et [ita prædic]-ante et per Cristum cum dilectione Deo Patri gratias agente, hæc et his similia exsequente, quadraginta annis in episcopatu gloriose florens, apostolica gratia Græcam et Latinam et Goticam linguam sine intermissione in una et sola eclesia Cristi predicavit.... Qui et ipsis tribus linguis plures tractatus et multas interpretationes volentibus ad utilitatem et ad ædificationem, sibi ad æternam memoriam et mercedem post se dereliquid. Quem condigne laudare non sufficio et penitus tacere non audeo; cui plus omnium ego sum debitor, quantum et amplius in me laboravit, qui me a prima etate mea a parentibus meis discipulum suscepit et sacras litteras docuit et veritatem manifestavit et per misericordiam Dei et gratiam Cristi et carnaliter et spiritaliter ut filium suum in fide educavit.

“Hic Dei providentia et Cristi misericordia propter multorum salutem in gente Gothorum de lectore triginta annorum episkopus est ordinatus, ut non solum esset heres Dei et coheres Cristi, sed et in hoc per gratiam Cristi imitator Cristi et sanctorum ejus, ut quemadmodum sanctus David triginta annorum rex et profeta est constitutus, ut regeret et doceret populum Dei et filios Hisdrael, ita et iste beatus tamquam profeta est manifestatus et sacerdos Cristi ordinatus, ut regeret et corrigeret et doceret et ædificaret gentem Gothorum; quod et Deo volente et Cristo aucsiliante per ministerium ipsius admirabiliter est adinpletum, et sicuti Josef in Ægypto triginta annorum est manifes[tatus et] quemadmodum Dominus et Deus noster Jhesus Cristus Filius Dei triginta annorum secundum carnem constitutus et baptizatus, cœpit evangelium predicare et animas hominum pascere: ita et iste sanctus, ipsius Cristi dispositione et ordinatione, et in fame et penuria predicationis indifferenter agentem ipsam gentem Gothorum secundum evangelicam et apostolicam et profeticam regulam emendavit et vibere [Deo] docuit, et Cristianos, vere Cristianos esse, manifestavit et multiplicavit.

“Ubi et ex invidia et operatione inimici thunc ab inreligioso et sacrilego indice Gothorum tyrannico terrore in varbarico Cristianorum persecutio est excitata, ut Satanas, qui male facere cupiebat, nolens faceret bene, ut quos desiderabat prevaricatores facere et desertores, Cristo opitulante et propugnante, fierent martyres et confessores, ut persecutor confunderetur, et qui persecutionem patiebantur, coronarentur, ut hic, qui temtabat vincere, victus erubesceret, et qui temtabantur, victores gauderent. Ubi et post multorum servorum et ancillarum Cristi gloriosum martyrium, imminente vehementer ipsa persecutione, conpletis septem annis tantummodo in episkopatum, supradictus sanctissimus vir beatus Ulfila cum grandi populo confessorum de varbarico pulsus, in solo Romanie a thu[n]c beate memorie Constantio principe honorifice est susceptus, ut sicuti Deus per Moysem de potentia et violentia Faraonis et Egyptorum po[pulum s]uum l[iberav]it [et Rubrum] Mare transire fecit et sibi servire providit, ita et per sepe dictum Deus confessores sancti Filii sui unigeniti de varbarico liberavit et per Danubium transire fecit, et in montibus secundum sanctorum imitationem sibi servire de[crevit] ..... eo populo in solo Romaniæ, ubi sine illis septem annis, triginta et tribus annis veritatem predicavit, ut et in hoc quorum sanctorum imitator erat [similis esset], quod quadraginta annorum spatium et tempus ut multos ..... re et .... a[nn]orum ..... e vita.” .. “Qu[i] c[um] precepto imperiali, conpletis quadraginta annis, ad Constantinopolitanam urbem ad disputationem ..... contra p ... ie ... p. t. stas perrexit, et eundo in .... nn .. ne. p ... ecias sibi ax ..... to docerent et contestarent[ur] .... abat, et inge . e .... supradictam [ci]vitatem, recogitato ei im .... de statu concilii, ne arguerentur miseris miserabiliores, proprio judicio damnati et perpetuo supplicio plectendi, statim cœpit infirmari; qua in infirmitate susceptus est ad similitudine Elisei prophete. Considerare modo oportet meritum viri, qui ad hoc duce Domino obit Constantinopolim, immo vero Cristianopolim, ut sanctus et immaculatus sacerdos Cristi a sanctis et consacerdotibus, a dignis dignus digne [per] tantum multitudinem Cristianorum pro meritis [suis] mire et gloriose honoraretur.”

“Unde et cum sancto Hulfila ceterisque consortibus ad alium comitatum Constantinopolim venissent, ibique etiam et imperatores adissent, adque eis promissum fuisset conci[li]um, ut sanctus Aux[en]tius exposuit, [a]gnita promiss[io]ne prefati pr[e]positi heretic[i] omnibus viribu[s] institerunt u[t] lex daretur, qu[æ] concilium pro[hi]beret, sed nec p[ri]vatim in domo [nec] in publico, vel i[n] quolibet loco di[s]putatio de fide haberetur, sic[ut] textus indicat [le]gis, etc.”

173 Theodoret. H. E. V., 30.

174 For instances where Old High-German is more primitive than Gothic, see Schleicher, Zeitschrift für V. S., b. iv. s. 266. Bugge, ibid., b. v. s. 59.

175 See Schleicher, Deutsche Sprache, p. 94.

176 Ibid. s. 60.

177 Weinhold, Altnordisches Leben, p. 27; Gunnlaugssaga, c. 7.

178 See Dasent’s Burnt Njal, Introduction.

179 The name Edda is not found before the fourteenth century. Snorri Sturluson does not know the word Edda, nor any collection of ancient poems attributed to Saemund; and though Saemund may have made the first collection of national poetry, it is doubtful whether the work which we possess under his name is his.

180 The people whom we call Wallachians, call themselves Romàni, and their language Romània.

This Romance language is spoken in Wallachia and Moldavia, and in parts of Hungary, Transylvania, and Bessarabia. On the right bank of the Danube it occupies some parts of the old Thracia, Macedonia, and even Thessaly.

It is divided by the Danube into two branches: the Northern or Daco-romanic, and the Southern or Macedo-romanic. The former is less mixed, and has received a certain literary culture; the latter has borrowed a larger number of Albanian and Greek words, and has never been fixed grammatically.

The modern Wallachian is the daughter of the language spoken in the Roman province of Dacia.

The original inhabitants of Dacia were called Thracians, and their language Illyrian. We have hardly any remains of the ancient Illyrian language to enable us to form an opinion as to its relationship with Greek or any other family of speech.

219 B. C., the Romans conquered Illyria; 30 B. C., they took Moesia; and 107 A. D., the Emperor Trajan made Dacia a Roman province. At that time the Thracian population had been displaced by the advance of Sarmatian tribes, particularly the Yazyges. Roman colonists introduced the Latin language; and Dacia was maintained as a colony up to 272, when the Emperor Aurelian had to cede it to the Goths. Part of the Roman inhabitants then emigrated and settled south of the Danube.

In 489 the Slavonic tribes began their advance into Mœsia and Thracia. They were settled in Mœsia by 678, and eighty years later a province was founded in Macedonia, under the name of Slavinia.