Toledo

[macmaster at RISEUP.NET]

A lot would depend on the nature of the settlement;
if the Visigoths settled in communities and farmed themselves, the
language is more likely to have survived than if they were widely
scattered as 'lords of the manor' surrounded by romance speaking servants,
neighbors, etc.
The 'barbarian' groups that kept their language after entering the former
empire were largely those who were of the first sort (the Anglo-Saxons,
Slavs, Alemanni) while those of the second sort (Bulgars, Franks,
Burgundians, Normans) have long since disappeared and would seem to have
been absorbed quickly.


raul catalan ramos wrote:
> I have "argued" about this point with my friends several times.From my
> point of view, according to the number of words inherited from east
> germanic, it is very unlikely the employ of gothic by goths in Hispania,
> becasuse most of germanic words in nowadays spanish is limited to only a
> handful examples (as "guerra" (written "Werra"  in the ancient sources ,
> meaning "war") or "bosque" meaning "forest", both of them nearby the same
> as the italian words for war, "guerra", and   forest,"bosco"). On the
> other hand, the lack of written sources in gothic can't be used to deny
> the employ of gothic among goths in hispania, because the written sources
> from this period are closely related to the highest elites of society,
> whose focus was the roman (and then bizantine) culture and the employ of
> Latin. I agree with the idea that
> gothic vanished in a few generations, but I think that it must endured for
>  some time in rural areas far from the cities.
>
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