Portal:Language/Language of the month/June 2009

=Leonese language=

Leonese derives directly from Latin and took shape in the early Middle Ages. At that time, Leonese was the official language of the Leonese Kingdom and achieved a high codification grade. Leonese developed a proper codification in the territories of the actual provinces of Llión, Zamora and Salamanca and in the Leonese territories in the actual Portugal, especially in the District of Braganza. So, the local laws called "Fueros" are mainly written in Leonese, and the documentation from the monasteries in this land is also in Leonese.

Middle Ages
The first written text in Leonese is the Nodicia de Kesos (959 or 974); other works in the language include Fueru de Llión, Fueru de Salamanca, Fueru Xulgu, Códice d'Alfonsu XI, ou Disputa d'Elena y María or Llibru d'Alixandre.

Modern era
The modern era signifies a new opportunity for Leonese to show that big writers could also use it for writing important pieces. Writers like Torres Naharro, Juan del Encina, Lucas Fernández or Torres Villarroel in the modern era cultivated Leonese, which however came on the verge of disappearance during the 19th century.

19th and 20th centuries: international research
International philologues of the 19th century, like Gessner, Hanssen, Staaff or Menéndez Pidal, in Europe and America, started to describe Leonese. Some writers like Caitano Bardón (Cuentos en Dialecto Leonés), Luis Maldonado or Aragón Escacena (Entre brumas) restarted the Leonese literature in the early 20th century.