Languages in Europe Circa 1200 A.D.
John Kasab
27 Sept. 1998

This is a brief description of available languages in the Mythic Europe
of the Ars Magica system.  It is assumed that the campaign takes place
around 1200 A.D., but most of the information is accurate within a
century of that date.  The information focuses on Celtic and other West
European languages because of the author's interest.

One overriding note is that even when a nation or provence speaks one
language more or less uniformly, it is still possible to travel ten miles
and encounter mutually incomprehensible versions of the same language.  A
modern example of this is Swiss German, Bavarian German, and modern High
German.  Exactly where the linguistic line is drawn between having
different dialects or different languages is well beyond the scope of
this meager listing.  Use your good judgement.

--- Celtic Languages ---

Goidelic or Gaelic: Irish Gaelic, Scots Gaelic (Erse), Manx Gaelic

[N.B. The languages begin to diverge in the C. 10th because of geographical
separation.  Irish is originally written in the Ogam (or Ogham) alphabet.
In this period, Scots Gaelic is written in the Irish dialect.]

Brythonic: Breton, Cornish, Cumbrian, Welsh

[N.B. Cornish and Breton are mutually intelligible until the C. 15th.
Welsh in 1200 A.D. is Old Welsh.  In 1200 A.D., Cumbrian is probably
similar to northern Welsh.  Literature in these languages is written in the
period from the C. 12th to the C. 15th.]


--- Germanic Languages ---

Germanic: Bavarian German, Dutch, English (Old English, Anglo-Saxon),
   Frisian, High German, Low German, Yiddish

West Scandinavian: Faeroese, Icelandic, Norwegian

East Scandinavian: Danish, Gotlandish, Scanian, Swedish

[N.B. The various Scandinavians languages became distinct starting in the
12th century.  Old Norse is still the language used for the Icelandic
sagas.  You may consider the Scandinavian languages presented to all be
dialects of Norse.

Dutch includes Flemish dialects in Belgium.  I do not know how widespread
Yiddish might be in Mythic Europe given how Jews are treated by society at
large, but it is probably prevalent in mostly Jewish villages.  High German
dialects include Franconian, Swabian, Swiss, and Rhenish.

Old English (Anglo-Saxon) and Frisian are still very closely related.
English has probably begun to absorb some elements of French in the 150
years since the Norman invasion, but this French influence is most
prevalent in the southeast.  Also, most English nobles at this time speak
French in court.  Major English dialects include Mercian, Middle English,
and Northumbrian.  ]


--- Romance or Latinate Languages ---

Latin, Catalan, Dalmatian, French (Langue d'Oil), Italian, Occitan
   (Langue d'Oc), Portuguese, Romanian, Rhaetian, Sardinian, Castillian
   (Spanish)

[N.B.  Some other contemporary Latinate languages from the north of Italy
include Faliscan, Oscan, Umbrian, and Venetic, but these are mostly dead by
1200.  The major dialects of Langue d'Oil are Normand (Norman French),
Picard, and French.  The major dialects of Langue d'Oc are Catalan and
Provencal.  The dividing line is roughly the Loire River.

Castillian and Portuguese are very similar languages.  Major Italian
dialects are regionally based, and include Corsican, Lombard, Neapolitan,
Roman, Sardinian, Sicilian, and Tuscan.  Rhaetian, which includes several
(mutually incomprehensible) languages, is spoken in the Piedmont region.]


--- Slavic Languages ---

Baltic: Latvian, Lithuanian, Old Prussian (Wendish)

West Slavonic: Czech, Moravian, Polish, Slovak, Sorbian

South Slavonic: Bulgarian, Macedonian, Serbo-Croat, Slovene

East Slavonic: Russian, Belorussian, Ukranian

[N.B.  Most South and East Slavonic languages use the Cyrillic alphabet.
Croatian uses the Latin alphabet although the spoken language is very close
to Serbian.]


--- Other ---

Albanian: Gheg dialect is spoken in the north; Tosk dialect, the south.

Arabic: Spoken through most of the Islamic world.  Local languages
   also exist.

Armenian: Classical Armenian (Grabar) uses the 38-letter alphabet
   developed by St. Mesrop.  Spoken in Kingdom of Lesser Armenia and in
   some areas through Anatolia and the Caucasus.

Basque: spoken in the western Pyrenees.

Berber: spoken in Moorish Spain and Northern Africa.

Caucasian languages: A wide variety of languages are spoken in the
   Caucasian mountains, with only a passing similarity to each other.
   They are not Indo-European languages.

Finnish: Major dialects include Estonian, Sami (northern Norway and
   Sweden), and Suomi (in Finland).

Greek: The official language of the Byzantine Empire.

Magyar: spoken in the middle Danube basin (Hungary).

Maltese: spoken on Malta, oddly enough.

Persian (a.k.a. Farsi): One of the more prominent languages of the
   Islamic world.


References include correspondence on the Ars Magica mailing list (the
Berklist), especially Jakob Ryngen, Michael DeVerteuil, and Patrick Juola.
The main source is the Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language.