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Old Catalan
Old Catalan
Old Catalan
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Old Catalan
Medieval Catalan
catalanesc, catalanesch, romanç
Pronunciation[katalaˈnesk], [kətələˈnəsk], [roˈmãnt͡s]
RegionPrincipality of Catalonia, Kingdom of Valencia, Balearic islands, Sardinia
Era9th–16th century, evolved into Modern Catalan by the 16th century[1]
Early forms
Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3–
Glottologoldc1251
Probable linguistic expansion of Old Catalan from the 11th to 15th centuries
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.

Old Catalan, also known as Medieval Catalan, is the modern denomination for Romance varieties that during the Middle Ages were spoken in territories that spanned roughly the territories of the Principality of Catalonia, the Kingdom of Valencia, the Balearic Islands, and the island of Sardinia; all of them then part of the Crown of Aragon. These varieties were part of a dialect continuum with what today is called Old Occitan that reached the Loire Valley in the north and Northern Italy in the east. Consequently, Old Catalan can be considered a dialect group of Old Occitan,[citation needed][2] or be classified as an Occitano-Romance variety side by side with Old Occitan (also known as Old Provençal).[3]

The modern separation of Catalan and Occitan should not be confused with a clear separation between the languages in the mindset of their speakers historically. From the 8th century to the 13th century, there was no clear sociolinguistic distinction between Occitania and Catalonia. For instance, the Provençal troubadour, Albertet de Sestaró, says: "Monks, tell me which according to your knowledge are better: the French or the Catalans? And here I shall put Gascony, Provence, Limousin, Auvergne and Viennois while there shall be the land of the two kings." (Monges, causetz, segons vostre siensa qual valon mais, catalan ho francés?/ E met de sai Guascuenha e Proensa/ E lemozí, alvernh’ e vianés/ E de lai met la terra dels dos reis.)[citation needed] In Marseille, a typical Provençal song is called "Catalan song".[4] Moreover, the dialects of Modern Catalan were still considered to be part of the same language as the dialects of Occitan in the 19th century, when Catalans still could call their language Llengua llemosina,[5] using the name of the Limousin dialect as a metonymy for Occitan.

Phonology

[edit]

Consonants

[edit]
Consonants of Old Catalan[6][7]
Labial Dental/
Alveolar 		Palatal Velar
plain labialised
Nasal m n ɲ (ŋ)
Stop voiceless p t k kʷ
voiced b d ɡ ɡʷ
Affricate voiceless ts tʃ
voiced dz dʒ
Fricative voiceless f s ʃ
voiced v z (ʒ)
Approximant central j w
lateral l ʎ
Rhotic r ~ ɾ

Laterals

[edit]

It is believed that Old Catalan featured a sequence /jl/ that contrasted with /ʎ/ in non-initial positions. The former came from the Latin groups C'L, G'L, LE, and LI and was written as ⟨yl⟩ and ⟨il⟩, whereas the latter was written ⟨ll⟩. The palatal lateral has remained unchanged in modern Catalan, but the /jl/ sequence has coalesced into /ʎ/ in most dialects (including all the Western bloc and most of Central Catalan) removing the distinction. In a minority of dialects (such as Insular Catalan, where it remains unchallenged and some towns in the provinces of Girona and Barcelona such as Vic and its surrounds and towns in Selva, where it has more or less remained the traditional pronunciation), the /l/ was dropped, yielding a merger with /j/ instead.[8]

Around the 12th century, word-initial /l/ became /ʎ/, but it continued to be spelled as ⟨l⟩ until the 15th century, when it was replaced by the modern ⟨ll⟩ spelling.[9]

Latin words with ⟨ll⟩ would also come to be pronounced /ʎ/ just like in Spanish, but and unlike Spanish /ʎ/ could also appear word-finally.

Labiodentals

[edit]

/v/ began to merge into /b/ in some dialects around the 14th century, a process called betacism.[10] Now, the distinction is maintained only in Valencia, the Balearic Islands, and towns in southern Tarragona.[11]

Affricates

[edit]

Like other Western Romance languages, soft ⟨c⟩ (i.e. before either ⟨e⟩ or ⟨i⟩) and ⟨ç⟩ was pronounced /ts/, and it would only later merge into /s/. Likewise ⟨z⟩ was pronounced /dz/, and it would only later merge into /z/ (due to final-obstruent devoicing final ⟨z⟩ was also pronounced /ts/, as ⟨ç⟩). Instances of intervocalic /dz/ would be kept although with the rather different ⟨tz⟩ spelling: compare Catalan/Occitan dotze 'twelve', tretze 'thirteen', setze 'sixteen' with Old French doze, treze, seze. Later instances of intervocalic /z/ from Greek and Arabic would also give the rise of a second /dz/, which would keep the ⟨tz⟩ spelling.

Also due to final-obstruent devoicing, word-final instances of /dʒ/ would devoice to /tʃ/ (such as final -⟨ig⟩: puig 'hill', mig 'half'). Other instances of /tʃ/ (mostly borrowed non-native), came to be spelled with the rather different ⟨tx⟩ spelling: fletxa 'arrow' (< Old French fleche, now flèche), botxí 'executioner' ( < Old French bouchier 'butcher'), caputxa 'hood' (< Italian cappuccio), butxaca 'pocket' ( < obscure) and remain with such spelling to this day.

Fricatives

[edit]

The affricate /dʒ/ originating from soft ⟨g⟩ and nonvocalic ⟨i⟩ would later deaffricate to /ʒ/.

The phoneme /ʃ/, which would initially only appear in intervocalic and word-final positions, would almost unanimously originate from instances of /ks/ (Latin ⟨x⟩), */sts/ (Latin ⟨sc⟩), */ksts/ (Latin ⟨xc⟩), */ks/ from /ps/ (Latin ⟨ps⟩) and more rarely from palatalized /ss/. Due to the abundance of the first group of words, the spelling ⟨x⟩ would be adopted for /ʃ/, including in intervocalic instances (like in Portuguese but unlike Modern Catalan which spells such instances with ⟨ix⟩). Later /ʃ/ would also appear at word-initial position from palatalized /s/.

Non-geminated intervocalic /s/ was voiced and gave the original /z/ sound (later ⟨z⟩ would also merge with the latter sound). Geminated intervocalic instances of ⟨s⟩, as in ⟨ss⟩, would result in /s/, a spelling still retained to this day.

Main article: Phonological history of Catalan

Vowels

[edit]
Vowels of Old Catalan[6]
 Front  Central  Back 
Close i   u  
Close-mid e   ə o  
Open-mid ɛ ɔ
Open a  

The system features a modification of the original Proto-Romance /e/ and /ɛ/. First, /e/ was centralized to /ə/ in Eastern Catalan (but remained /e/ in the Western variety) and then, /ɛ/ was raised to /e/.

In Modern Central Catalan (and in the eastern half of the island of Menorca and most towns of Ibiza including Ibiza City), stressed /ə/ has been fronted to /ɛ/, thus partially inverting the original Proto-Romance distribution still found in Italian and Portuguese. Balearic varieties (such as Majorcan, Minorcan in the western half of the island of Menorca and Ibizan in Sant Antoni de Portmany) still keep stressed /ə/.

It is assumed that during the preliterary period, all Catalan dialects featured a weak realization of the pretonic vowels. Around the 13th century, pretonic /a/ and /e/ began to be confused in writing in the Eastern dialects, and the confusion later spread to all unstressed instances of /a/ and /e/, a process that was almost complete by the 15th century.[12][13]

Final post-tonic /e, o/ were lost[6] during the formation of Catalan. According to some historic studies,[14] final nasals were velarised and assimilated before being lost in Modern Catalan: pan [ˈpãŋ] → [ˈpã] → [ˈpa] (pa 'bread').

Orthography

[edit]

Current Catalan orthography is mostly based on mediaeval practice, but some of the pronunciations and conventions have changed.

  • Accents (such as ⟨´⟩ and ⟨`⟩) and the diaeresis ⟨¨⟩ were used less frequently.
  • The tilde ⟨~⟩ was sometimes used above a vowel to replace a following ⟨m⟩ or ⟨n⟩.
  • The interpunct ⟨·⟩ was often used to indicate elision and hyphenation.[example needed]
  • ⟨c⟩ in front of ⟨e⟩, ⟨i⟩; ⟨ç⟩ and final ⟨z⟩ (also spelled ⟨ç⟩, and ⟨s⟩ after merging with /s/) represented /ts/ instead of modern /s/: Old Catalan /ˈtsɛl/, modern cel /ˈsɛl/
  • ⟨ch⟩, ⟨ph⟩, ⟨rh⟩ and ⟨th⟩ represented /k/, /f/, /r/ and /t/. Mediaeval scribes often confused them with ⟨c⟩, ⟨f⟩, ⟨r⟩ and ⟨t⟩
  • ⟨ch⟩ represented /tʃ/, especially in the Valencian variant
  • ⟨ch⟩ at the end of the word was used for /k/ , instead of modern ⟨c⟩, until the early 20th century; for example, modern amic was written amich ("friend").
  • ⟨yl⟩, ⟨il⟩, were used for the sequence /jl/. In the modern language, it has come to be pronounced /ʎ/ or /j/ depending on the dialect. Both are now written as ⟨ll⟩: modern mirall was written mirail or mirayl ("mirror"), cf. Latin miraculus.
  • Initial /ʎ/, which appeared in the 12th century from initial /l/, was written as ⟨l⟩ until the 15th century to maintain connections with Latin etyma.[9] In the modern language, it is written as ⟨ll⟩: e.g. modern llibre was written libre ("book"). Cf. Latin liber.
  • ⟨h⟩ was frequently omitted: modern haver was written aver ("to have"), cf. Latin habere.
  • ⟨h⟩ was sometimes used to mark hiatus: modern veí was written vehi ("neighbour")
  • Final unvoiced obstruents were often written as such. In the modern language, the characters for their voiced counterparts may be used to reflect Latin etymology: modern fred was written fret ("cold"), cf. Latin frigidus.

History

[edit]

Early Middle Ages

[edit]
Les Homilies d'Organyà (12th century), first written in Catalan.

By the 9th century, the Catalan language had developed from Vulgar Latin on both sides of the eastern end of the Pyrenees mountains (counties of Rosselló, Empúries, Besalú, Cerdanya, Urgell, Pallars and Ribagorça), as well as in the territories of the Roman province and later archdiocese of Tarraconensis to the south.[15] From the 8th century on, the Catalan counts extended their territory southwards and westwards, conquering territories then occupied by Muslims, bringing their language with them.[15]

This phenomenon gained momentum with the separation of the County of Barcelona from the Carolingian Empire in 988 AD.[15] By the 9th century, the Christian rulers occupied the northern parts of present-day Catalonia, usually termed "Old Catalonia", and during the 11th and 12th centuries they expanded their domains to the region north of the Ebro river, a land known as "New Catalonia".[15] During the 13th century, the Catalans expanded to the Land of Valencia and across to the Balearic Islands and Alghero in Sardinia.[15]

Greuges of Guitard Isarn, Lord of Caboet (c. 1080–1095)[16][17]

Hec est memoria de ipsas rancuras que abet dominus Guitardus Isarnus, senior Caputense, de rancuras filio Guillelm Arnall et que ag de suo pater, Guilelm Arnall; et non voluit facere directum in sua vita de ipso castro Caputense che li comannà. Et si Guilelm Arnal me facia tal cosa que dreçar no·m volgués ho no poqués, ho ssi·s partia de mi, che Mir Arnall me romasés aisí com lo·m avia al dia che ad él lo commanné. Et in ipsa onor a Guillelm Arnal no li doné negú domenge ni establiment de cavaler ni de pedó per gitar ni per metre quan l·i comanné Mir Arnall.

Lines 1–4. Passages in Catalan Romance in italics

According to historian Jaume Villanueva (1756–1824), the first attested Catalan sentence is thought to be found in an 8th-century manuscript from Ripoll that has since been lost. It was a whimsical note in 10th- or early 11th-century calligraphy: Magister m[eu]s no vol que em miras novel ("my master does not want you to watch me, newbie").[18]

During the 11th century, several feudal documents (especially oaths and complaints) written in macaronic Latin began to exhibit elements of Catalan, with proper names or even sentences in Romance.[19] Of special historical and linguistic importance is the Memorial of Complaints of Ponç I[20] (c. 1050–1060), featuring whole sentences in Romance.[19] By the end of the 11th century, documents written completely or mostly in Catalan began to appear, like the Complaints of Guitard Isarn, Lord of Caboet (c. 1080–1095), or The Oath of peace and truce of count Pere Ramon (1098).[19] Catalan shares many features with Gallo-Romance languages, which are mostly located in France and Northern Italy. Old Catalan diverged from Old Occitan between the 11th and 14th centuries.[21]

Late Middle Ages

[edit]

Catalan lived a golden age during the Late Middle Ages, reaching a peak of maturity and cultural plenitude.[15] Examples of this can be seen in the works of Majorcan polymath Ramon Llull (1232–1315), the Four Great Chronicles (13th–14th centuries), and the Valencian school of poetry which culminated in Ausiàs March (1397–1459).[15]

By the 15th century, the city of Valencia had become the center of social and cultural dynamism, and Catalan was present all over the Mediterranean world.[15] The belief that political splendor was correlated with linguistic consolidation was voiced through the Royal Chancery, which promoted a highly standardized language.[15]

The outstanding[15] novel of chivalry Tirant lo Blanc (1490), by Joanot Martorell, shows the transition from medieval to Renaissance values, something than can also be seen in the works of Bernat Metge and Andreu Febrer.[15] During this period, Catalan was what Costa Carreras terms "one of the 'great languages' of medieval Europe".[15] The flowering of the Renaissance was closely associated with the advent of the printing press, and the first book produced with movable type in the Iberian Peninsula was printed in Valencia in 1474: Trobes en llaors de la Verge maria ("Poems of praise of the Virgin Mary").[15]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]

Bibliography

[edit]
Revisions and contributorsEdit on WikipediaRead on Wikipedia

Old Catalan

View on Grokipedia
from Grokipedia
Old Catalan is the earliest documented stage of the , a Western Romance language that evolved from in the eastern region between the 11th and 15th centuries. This period marks the transition from Latin-dominated texts interspersed with Romance elements to fully vernacular writings, primarily in the territories of the Crown of , including modern-day , , the [Balearic Islands](/page/Balearic Islands), and parts of . The language's emergence was shaped by its proximity to Occitan, with which it shared close genetic ties until diverging more distinctly by the , while also incorporating influences from Aragonese, , and Germanic substrates due to historical conquests and migrations. The first clear attestations of Old Catalan appear in the late 11th and early 12th centuries, initially in legal and administrative documents such as fragments of the Forum Iudicum (a Visigothic legal code adapted into Romance). By the mid-12th century, more substantial vernacular texts emerged, with the Homilies d'Organyà—a collection of sermons—representing one of the oldest complete literary works in Catalan, dating to around 1200. This era saw the language's rapid expansion alongside the political and commercial growth of the Crown of Aragon, which by the 13th century extended across the Mediterranean, fostering a rich body of and . Linguistically, Old Catalan featured a seven-vowel system inherited from , along with characteristic Romance innovations like the spirantization of intervocalic stops (e.g., /b/ to [β]) and the development of a compound using haver (to have) as an auxiliary. Lexical borrowings were prominent, including terms from the (e.g., alqueria for farmstead) and Occitan influences in courtly literature, while early texts reveal dialectal variation, with central and Valencian forms showing distinct phonological traits like . Notable syntactic developments included the gradual of for animate direct objects, which became more systematic by the 15th century. The 13th and 14th centuries constituted the zenith of Old Catalan's literary prestige, with prose works like Ramon Llull's philosophical treatises (e.g., Llibre de meravelles, c. 1286) and historical chronicles by Bernat Desclot and Ramon Muntaner elevating it to a vehicle for intellectual and administrative expression across the Aragonese domains. flourished too, influenced by troubadours, as seen in the works of Ausiàs March in the , blending themes with emerging . However, the period ended amid political shifts, including the 1412 Compromise of Caspe—which placed a Castilian prince on the throne of —and the subsequent with Castile in 1479, which initiated a decline in Catalan's institutional use and set the stage for later efforts.

History

Origins and Early Attestations

Old Catalan emerged from the spoken in the northeastern , particularly within the former of Tarraconensis, during the transition from to the . This evolution began around the 8th and 9th centuries, as local Latin dialects diverged into distinct Romance varieties amid the collapse of Roman authority, Visigothic rule, and the initial phases of Muslim conquest in the early 8th century. Pre-Roman substrates, such as Iberian languages spoken by indigenous populations, contributed lexical and possibly phonological influences to this emerging speech, while interactions with neighboring early Romance forms in southern further shaped its development. The earliest potential attestations of Old Catalan date to the 8th century, including a now-lost manuscript from the monastery of Ripoll, documented by 19th-century historian Jaume Villanueva, which reportedly contained a vernacular note in 10th- or early 11th-century script. By the late 10th and early 11th centuries, documents begin to show elements of Catalan in a macaronic Latin context. The first substantial written evidence in Old Catalan appears in the 11th century, including the Complaints of Guitard Isarn (c. 1080–1095), a feudal lord's legal grievances against vassals outlining breaches of obligations, and the Oath of Pere Ramon (1098), a count's pledge for peace and truce amid regional conflicts. The Homilies d'Organyà, a collection of sermons from the late 11th century (c. 1060–1080), stands as one of the earliest known religious texts in the language, translated from Latin and preserved in an early Gothic script. These texts illustrate the vernacular's role in everyday feudal, judicial, and ecclesiastical affairs. The socio-political expansion of Old Catalan was tied to the consolidation of the under Carolingian and subsequent local rule, as well as the early stages of the , which promoted its use beyond the Pyrenean frontiers. By the , the language had established itself across proper, the future regions of , and the through conquest and settlement. The Old Catalan period is generally dated from the late to the , with written attestations solidifying after 1000 CE as administrative needs outpaced Latin exclusivity.

Development in the Middle Ages

During the 13th century, Old Catalan expanded significantly alongside the territorial growth of the Crown of Aragon, which incorporated new regions through military conquests, including the in 1229, the Kingdom of Valencia around 1238–1239, and in 1324. These expansions facilitated the spread of Catalan as an administrative and spoken language among diverse populations, leading to the emergence of regional variants by the , particularly in and the Balearics, where local substrates influenced lexical and phonetic developments. The integration of these territories not only increased the language's geographic reach across the western Mediterranean but also enriched its vocabulary through contact with non-Catalan speakers, such as Arabic-speaking Muslims in . In the of the 13th century, Old Catalan gained prominence in administrative contexts, particularly within the royal chancery, where it began appearing in official documents from the 1240s onward to communicate with Latin-illiterate subjects and assert royal authority during expansions. By the (14th–15th centuries), it evolved into a fully developed , reaching its "" with sophisticated and that reflected the Crown's cultural prestige. This period saw Catalan used in diverse genres, from legal texts to chronicles, establishing it as a vehicle for both governance and intellectual expression across the expanded domains. Old Catalan absorbed key influences from neighboring languages during this era. Arabic loanwords entered via the and interactions in Al-Andalus-influenced regions, with examples including tafaner (nosy person, from Arabic tafannana, to pry) and agricultural terms like albercoc (, from al-barqūq). Occitan exerted a strong literary impact through troubadour , as early Catalan poets like those in the courts of the Crown of initially composed in Occitan or an Occitanized register, adopting motifs of and poetic forms that later transitioned into native Catalan works. Latin remained dominant in ecclesiastical and legal texts, contributing technical vocabulary and reinforcing administrative standardization, while also serving as a model for formal styles. Standardization advanced through consistent use in chancery documents and historiographical works, such as the Four Great Chronicles of the , which include Jaume I's Llibre dels feyts (late , an autobiographical account of conquests), Bernat Desclot's Llibre del rei En Pere (late , on Pere el Gran), Ramon Muntaner's Crònica (early , praising monarchs), and Pere III's Crònica (14th century, with high literary quality). These texts, written in a relatively prose, promoted a chancery koine that bridged regional variants and elevated Catalan as the language of royal history and administration. By the late , Old Catalan began transitioning to Middle Catalan amid political shifts, including the union with Castile, marked by phonological changes like vowel reductions in unstressed syllables (e.g., emerging schwa-like realizations in Eastern varieties) and lexical shifts, such as the disuse of certain verbs like meter in periphrastic constructions. These developments reflected increasing Spanish interference and a decline in prestige, setting the stage for further evolution while preserving core medieval features.

Phonology

Consonants

The consonantal inventory of Old Catalan, spanning roughly the 12th to 15th centuries, comprised a set of stops (/p, b, t, d, k, g/), nasals (/m, n, ɲ/), laterals (/l, ʎ/), rhotic (/r/), fricatives (/f, s, z, ʃ, ʒ/), and affricates (/ts, dz, tʃ, dʒ/), reflecting evolution from Vulgar Latin while maintaining distinctions typical of early Western Romance varieties. This system included voiced and voiceless pairs for sibilants and affricates, with /ɲ/ and /ʎ/ arising prominently from palatal developments, and /ɣ/ representing a velar fricative derived from Latin /k/ in certain contexts. Key sound changes shaped this inventory from Latin, notably palatalization of velars /k, g/ before front vowels, where Latin /k/ yielded affricates like /ts/ or /tʃ/ (e.g., Latin centum > Old Catalan cent /tsɛnt/ 'hundred'), and /g/ produced /dʒ/ or /ʒ/ in similar environments. Intervocalic weakened stops to fricatives or , such as Latin /p, t, k/ becoming /β, ð, ɣ/ (e.g., Latin sapere > Old Catalan saber /saˈβe/ 'to know'), a process common across Romance but variable in Catalan by position and dialect. shifts also occurred, with Latin clusters like /sj/ or /skj/ evolving to /ʃ/ (e.g., Latin scaena > Old Catalan escena /əsˈʃenə/ 'scene'), and affricates from /kt, ks/ yielding /tʃ/ or /ts/. Specific features included the distinction between /ʎ/ (from Latin /lj/ or /kl, gl/, e.g., Latin filium > Old Catalan fill /fiʎ/ 'son') and /j/ (from Latin /j/ or other palatals), preserving a lateral-palatal contrast not merged until later stages. By the 14th century, central dialects saw the merger of /v/ with /b/ (betacism), resulting in a single /b ~ β/ phoneme (e.g., Latin vīvere > Old Catalan viure /ˈbiuɾə/ 'to live'), though peripheral areas like Valencia retained the distinction longer. Deaffrication affected intervocalic affricates, such as /dʒ/ > /ʒ/ (e.g., Latin rubea > Old Catalan roja /ˈɾoʒə/ 'red' fem.), while word-final positions often showed devoicing to /tʃ/ or /ts/. Dialectal variation marked the system, with Western Old Catalan retaining voiced affricates like /dz/ (e.g., in forms from Latin /dʒ/ sequences), whereas Eastern varieties simplified them to fricatives /z/ or /ʒ/ earlier, influencing later regional divergences. Examples like Latin medĭcu > Old Catalan metge /ˈmedʒə/ 'doctor' illustrate affrication and lenition interplay, with /dʒ/ preserved in some attestations before further weakening.

Vowels

The vowel system of Old Catalan, spanning roughly from the 12th to the 15th centuries, exhibited a robust inventory that distinguished between stressed and unstressed positions, reflecting evolutionary patterns from Vulgar Latin while showing dialectal variations, particularly between Eastern and Western varieties. In stressed syllables, Old Catalan maintained a seven-vowel system comprising the high vowels /i/ and /u/, the mid vowels /e/ and /o/, the mid-open vowels /ɛ/ and /ɔ/, and the low vowel /a/. This inventory arose from Late Latin shifts, where stressed Ĕ evolved into /ɛ/ and Ŏ into /ɔ/, without the diphthongization seen in other Romance languages like Castilian (e.g., Latin TĔRRA > Old Catalan [tɛrə] 'land'). The distinction between mid-close /e, o/ and mid-open /ɛ, ɔ/ was generally maintained, though occasional mergers occurred in certain contexts or dialects. Unstressed vowels underwent significant reduction, typically simplifying to a three-vowel system of /ə/, /a/, and /o/ in atonic positions. This reduction involved the centralization of mid vowels, with /e/ and /o/ often shifting to the central schwa /ə/, especially in Eastern dialects where unstressed /e/ centralized early, preceding further stressed vowel changes. For instance, unstressed /a/ and /e/ could both map to [ə], while /o/ retained a more back quality as . Western varieties showed less extreme centralization, preserving more distinctions. Major vocalic shifts in Old Catalan included monophthongization processes often described in terms of diphthong resolution, such as Latin AU developing into /aw/ before simplifying to /o/ (e.g., Latin CAUSA > Old Catalan *causa > [kɔzə] 'thing', later cosa). Additionally, final post-tonic /e/ and /o/ were frequently lost through apocope, shortening words and altering prosodic shape (e.g., Latin DOMO > [dom] 'house'). These changes contributed to the language's compact syllable structure. Old Catalan avoided hiatus through contractions and syncope, merging adjacent s or eliding them in proclitic-pretonic sequences. A representative example is Latin DE + ILLA > [dɛʎa] 'of her', where the prepositional contracts with the following , often incorporating palatalization effects on the onset . Such processes ensured smooth vocalic flow and prevented clashes. Prosodically, Old Catalan inherited Latin stress patterns, with lexical stress falling on varying syllables without the fixed accentuation that characterizes modern standard Catalan. Stress remained mobile and morphologically conditioned, influencing quality and reduction but without introducing new fixed rules during this period.

Orthography

Spelling Conventions

Old Catalan orthography was fundamentally derived from conventions, adapting the Latin alphabet to represent the evolving Romance of the . Letters such as and were employed for the velar stops /k/ and /g/ before back vowels <a, o, u>, while before front vowels <e, i>, palatalized variants were indicated using <ç> for the voiceless /ts/ (later developing into /s/) and for the voiced /dʒ/ (later /ʒ/). This system reflected the phonetic shifts from , where sibilant distinctions were preserved through consistent but regionally variable scribal practices. Common digraphs played a key role in denoting palatal sounds, with representing the palatal lateral approximant /ʎ/, as seen in forms like from Latin *FILIU 'son'. Similarly, indicated the palatal nasal /ɲ/, as in

from Latin *pinea 'pine cone', and distinguished the voiceless alveolar fricative /s/ in intervocalic positions from its voiced counterpart, such as in

'to pass' versus single for /z/. These digraphs emerged from Latin geminates and clusters, ensuring clarity in manuscript transcription despite the absence of a fully standardized system during the medieval period. Vowels were represented without systematic distinction for the central reduced vowel /ə/, which was uniformly spelled as in unstressed positions, reflecting the common Romance tendency toward schwa in atonic syllables. The letter served dual purposes, denoting the high front vowel /i/ or the /j/, often interchangeably with in early texts, as in for /fɛts/ 'facts' or <çent> for /tsɛnt/ 'hundred'. This flexibility highlighted the orthography's etymological ties to Latin while accommodating spoken variations. Scribal practices exhibited notable variability across regions and periods, with inconsistencies in digraph usage and vowel notations common in 12th- and 13th-century documents from and . By the , Valencian demonstrated greater consistency, particularly in spellings and digraphs, influenced by the growing literary tradition in that area. Such differences underscore the decentralized nature of Old Catalan writing, shaped by local phonetic realizations and production.

Diacritics and Scribal Practices

In Old Catalan manuscripts, diacritics were employed sparingly to clarify and prosody, reflecting the transitional nature of the language's orthographic development from Latin influences. The (´) appeared occasionally to denote stressed syllables, particularly in cases where stress deviated from expected patterns, as seen in forms like <mà> representing the stressed /ma/ for 'hand'. Similarly, the diaeresis (¨ or ·) was used to indicate and prevent diphthongization, for example in <co·llir> 'to gather', where it separated the vowels to maintain distinct syllables. These marks were not systematic but emerged in response to the need for disambiguation in vernacular texts, often influenced by the scribe's familiarity with Latin prosodic notations. Abbreviations were a prevalent scribal in Old Catalan manuscripts, aimed at economizing space and time in production, especially in legal, religious, and literary codices. Common contractions included for ('that') and for

('for' or 'by'), while suspensions omitted final letters or syllables, marked by symbols such as tildes (~), dots, or horizontal strokes over the abbreviated form. These conventions drew heavily from Latin scribal traditions but adapted to Romance morphology, with variations depending on regional workshops; for instance, a superscript or often replaced nasal endings. Such abbreviations required readers' familiarity with , contributing to the interpretive challenges of medieval texts. Scribal practices in Old Catalan were shaped by dominant scripts and multilingual contexts, with early texts (11th-12th centuries) frequently using , a clear and legible style imported via Frankish cultural exchanges in . By the 13th to 15th centuries, Gothic script—both textualis and forms—prevailed, characterized by angular letters and denser layouts suited to the growing volume of vernacular production; this is evident in manuscripts like the 14th-century translations of ' works, written in Gothic cursive with colored initials. The multilingual environment, involving , Occitan troubadour influences, and Aragonese administration, led scribes to blend conventions, such as Occitan-inspired spellings in border regions, fostering a hybrid orthographic flexibility. Punctuation in Old Catalan manuscripts remained minimal and inconsistent, prioritizing rhetorical pauses over modern syntactic clarity, with reliance on word spacing, initial capitals, and rubrics for structural guidance. Marks like the punctus (a simple dot) served as a versatile , period, or question indicator, while more elaborate forms such as the punctus elevatus (a raised comma-like mark) appeared in liturgical or scholarly texts to denote intonation. This sparse system reflected broader medieval European practices, where aided oral reading aloud rather than silent perusal. The advent of marked a pivotal evolution in Old Catalan scribal practices, shifting toward greater phonetic consistency and reduced reliance on abbreviations. Following the publication of the first Catalan book, Obres e trobes en lahors de la Verge Maria in in 1474, incunabula adopted more uniform spellings that approximated pronunciation, diminishing idiosyncratic manuscript variations and promoting a proto-standard across the Crown of . This transition, accelerated by the printing press's demand for fixed type, laid groundwork for later while preserving core Old Catalan features like etymological consistency.

Morphology

Nominal System

The nominal system of Old Catalan distinguished two grammatical genders—masculine and feminine—and two numbers—singular and . Nouns and adjectives inflected to mark these categories, with the plural generally formed by adding the -s to the singular stem. For instance, the feminine 'house' appears as in the plural, while the masculine 'man' (derived from Latin ) becomes . The case system in Old Catalan had largely transitioned to an analytic structure, using prepositions to express functions that were synthetically marked in Latin. Nouns showed no morphological distinction between nominative and accusative forms, relying instead on and prepositions for syntactic roles. The preposition served genitive and partitive purposes, as in expressions indicating possession or origin (e.g., 'house of a man'). Early Old Catalan texts preserved faint remnants of a binary case system (nominative vs. oblique), primarily in articles and certain masculine nouns, but this distinction faded by the 13th century. Nouns followed three principal declension classes inherited from Latin patterns, adapted to the reduced inflectional system: feminine nouns typically ended in -a (from Latin first-declension -a stems, e.g., 'woman'); masculine nouns derived from Latin second-declension -us stems ended in -u or -o (e.g., 'son' from ); and a third class encompassed masculine and formerly neuter nouns merging from Latin third- and fourth-declension stems, often in -o or -e (e.g., 'man' from third-declension ). These classes determined assignment and ending patterns, with minimal variation beyond gender and number marking. Adjectives agreed with the nouns they modified in and number, usually appearing postnominally. For example, 'good advice' features the masculine singular form concordant with the masculine noun . Feminine forms often substituted -a for the masculine ending (e.g., 'good woman'), and plurals added -s (e.g., 'good houses'). Comparatives were periphrastic, employing <més> 'more' (e.g., <més bon cossell> 'better advice'), while superlatives used 'very' or intensified forms. Possessives functioned as adjectives preceding the noun, inflecting for and number to agree with the possessed item, without a dedicated . Forms included (masculine singular, e.g., 'my father'), (feminine singular, e.g., 'my house'), (masculine plural, e.g., 'my sons'), and (feminine plural, e.g., 'my houses'). Third-person possessives used <son/sa> or <seu/seva>, reflecting analytic possession via prepositions when needed (e.g., 'my father's house').

Verbal System

Old Catalan verbs were organized into three main conjugation classes, distinguished primarily by the theme vowel in the and non-finite forms: the first class ended in -ar (e.g., 'to '), the second in -er or -re (e.g., 'to fear'), and the third in -ir (e.g., 'to live'). These classes largely determined the stem formation across tenses and moods, with regular patterns derived from , though some irregular verbs (e.g., those with stem changes or suppletion) existed, particularly in the third class where metaphonic alternations like high-mid vowel shifts (e.g., vs. ) were more common in medieval texts. The tense system included synthetic forms for present, imperfect, and , alongside analytic constructions for perfective and aspects. The present indicative followed standard patterns, such as , , , , , for . The indicative was formed with -ava for first-conjugation verbs (e.g., 'I was loving') and analogous endings for others, reflecting Latin imperfect origins. The indicative used endings like -í, -ares, -à, -àm, -àsts, -aren (e.g., <amí> 'I loved'). The perfect tenses employed the auxiliary 'to have' plus the past participle (e.g., 'I have loved'), establishing completed action. appeared in both analytic form, using the infinitive plus a form of with possible clitics (e.g., or 'I will do it'), predominant in early medieval texts (11th–14th centuries, comprising about 61% of occurrences), and synthetic form (e.g., <amaré> 'I will love'), which emerged later and gained frequency by the 15th–16th centuries. Moods encompassed indicative for factual statements, subjunctive for hypothetical or subordinate contexts, and imperative for commands. The present subjunctive retained Latin-like forms, such as , , , , , for (e.g., 'that he love'). The imperfect subjunctive derived from Latin indicative, yielding endings like -as(s) e, -as(s) es, -as(s) e, -as(s) im, -as(s) iu(s), -as(s) en (e.g., <amàs> 'that I might love'), used in conditional or past hypothetical clauses. Imperative forms were identical to present indicative in the first and second persons (e.g., , 'love!'), with singular second drawing from subjunctive (e.g., 'love!'). Negative imperatives often employed subjunctive forms (e.g., 'don't love!'). Aspect was primarily conveyed through tense distinctions, with imperfect for ongoing or habitual actions and preterite for completed events, supplemented by periphrastic constructions like 'to go' plus gerund for progressive aspect (e.g., 'your son was playing'). Voice included active as the default, with passive formed analytically using 'to be' plus past participle (e.g., <és amat> 'he is loved'), common in legal and narrative texts to express result or state. Late Old Catalan texts show innovations like the synthetic future <amaré>, signaling a shift toward more fused morphology.

Syntax

Word Order and Clause Structure

Old Catalan syntax exhibits a default Subject-Verb-Object (SVO) order in unmarked declarative clauses, though the language displays considerable flexibility influenced by information structure and discourse pragmatics, allowing for verb-initial (V1) and verb-second (V2) patterns as well as fronting constructions. In main clauses of 13th-century texts like El Llibre dels Fets, V1 structures account for approximately 47% of declaratives, often signaling topic continuity or thetic judgments, while V2 comprises 44.5% and is typical for subject-verb sequences; postverbal subjects frequently carry informational focus, particularly with unaccusative verbs or in narrative contexts. This flexibility aligns Old Catalan with other early Romance varieties, where topic prominence permits deviations such as object-subject-verb (OSV) for focus or adverbial fronting in XVS clauses, though such patterns are rarer in narrative (1.3% of main clauses) compared to reported speech (3%). Simple declarative clauses often follow SVO in embedded contexts, with preverbal subjects dominating at 79%, but narrative styles in early texts like the Homilies d'Organyà (c. 1200) frequently employ verb-subject-object (VSO) for stylistic effect, as in Dix sent Paul en l'apistola que nulla obra non es bona ni perfeita senes caritad ('Saint Paul said in the epistle that no work is good or perfect without charity'), where the verb dix precedes the subject sent Paul. Relative clauses are introduced by the que ('that'), typically following the head noun without strict constraints beyond the embedded SVO preference, contributing to subordination in complex sentences. clauses achieve illocutionary force through verb-subject inversion, akin to other early , or occasionally via interrogative particles, though direct examples are sparse in preserved texts. Negation employs the preverbal particle no, positioned before the verb to scope over the clause, as in mas carita iames no cadra ('but charity never falls') from the Homilies d'Organyà, where no negates the verb cadra without affecting overall word order. Double negation, involving multiple negative elements yielding an affirmative reading, is rare in Old Catalan, with negation typically realized through a single no or in combination with negative quantifiers like nulla under negative concord rather than reversal. Coordination relies on conjunctions such as e ('and') for additive linking and mas ('but') for contrast, with — without overt subordination—prevalent in early to maintain flow, as seen in Totes les coses del segle son uanitats e caden e tornen enient mas carita iames no cadra ('All the things of the world are vanities and fall and return to nothing, but charity never falls'). This structure often preserves flexible ordering across coordinated clauses, reinforcing the language's topic-driven syntax.

Agreement and Functional Elements

In Old Catalan, subject-verb agreement was marked for and number, reflecting the language's pro-drop nature, where finite verbs inflected to indicate the subject's features, allowing frequent null subjects in both main and embedded clauses. For instance, plural subjects like ells ('they') triggered plural verb forms such as van in ells van ('they go'), while first- plural nós agreed with donam in nós donam-los ('we give them'). This agreement system supported without overt subjects in over 50% of cases, as evidenced in 13th-century texts like El Llibre dels Fets. Adjective-noun agreement operated in and number, with adjectives typically following the noun and inflecting to match its features, a pattern inherited from Latin but adapted to the evolving Romance morphology. Examples include pedres grosses e poques ('large and few stones'), where the feminine plural adjective grosses and poques agrees with the feminine plural pedres. This concord ensured nominal phrases maintained internal coherence, though postnominal positioning was predominant. Pronominal systems in Old Catalan distinguished between strong (tonic) pronouns for emphasis or and weak pronouns that attached to verbs, with doubling beginning to emerge in dative contexts to mark topical objects. Strong pronouns like nós ('we') or ell ('he') appeared in preverbal positions for focus, as in NÓS nos en volem anar ('WE want to go away'), while such as li ('to him') procliticized in subordinate clauses or with negation, exemplified by li don ('I give to him/it'). placement varied proclitically in V2/V3 structures (dixem-li, 'we tell him') or enclitically in V1 thetic clauses (atench-lo, 'he reaches it'), signaling the onset of obligatory doubling with animate datives in later medieval stages. A related development was the gradual grammaticalization of (DOM) for animate direct objects, often involving the preposition a and doubling, which became more systematic by the 15th century. Prepositions in Old Catalan included core forms like a ('to'), de ('of/from'), en ('in/on'), and per ('for/through'), which combined with articles to express relational functions, often contracting in speech and writing. Contractions such as al from a + lo ('to the') were common, as in al rey ('to the king') or al comte Simon ('to Count Simon'), facilitating smoother prosody. These prepositions played a pivotal role in the functional shift from Latin's synthetic case system to analytic marking, replacing nominative-accusative distinctions with prepositional phrases like de la casa ('of the house'). Definite articles derived from Latin ille ('that'), appearing as lo (masculine singular), la (feminine singular), los (masculine plural), and las (feminine plural), agreed in and number with the , as in lo home ('the man') or les malesfeites ('the misdeeds'). Indefinite articles, evolving from Latin unum ('one'), took forms un (masculine) and una (feminine), used for non-specific reference like un home ('a man') or una dona ('a '). In Balearic varieties of Old Catalan, a parallel system from ipse ('self') coexisted, yielding es or sa forms such as sa casa ('the house'), reflecting layered structures. This article system generalized from anaphoric to generic uses, supporting the preposition-driven loss of case morphology.

Lexicon

Core Vocabulary and Etymology

The core vocabulary of Old Catalan, spanning roughly the 11th to 15th centuries, is predominantly inherited from , forming the bulk of everyday terms and reflecting the language's direct descent from the spoken Latin of northeastern Iberia. This inherited constitutes the foundational layer, with words adapting through phonological and morphological processes to suit the emerging Romance vernacular. For instance, basic terms like pare ('') derive directly from Latin pater, while mare ('mother') stems from Latin mater. Similarly, natural elements such as aigua ('') evolved from Latin aqua, and terra ('') from Latin terra. Semantic fields essential to medieval Catalan society—family, nature, and agriculture—were richly represented in this Latin-derived core. Family relations included terms like fill ('son') from Latin filius and filla ('daughter') from Latin filia, emphasizing household structures. In nature and agriculture, words such as cabra ('goat') inherited from Latin capra denoted livestock, while vinya ('vineyard') came from Latin vinea, highlighting the agrarian economy of the region. Abstract concepts also drew from Latin roots, with ver ('true' or 'truth') developing from Latin verum, often extending to notions of veracity in legal and religious texts. These examples illustrate minor semantic shifts, where Latin meanings broadened or specialized to align with local usage, such as cabra retaining its zoological sense but integrating into pastoral contexts. Internal word formation processes further enriched the core lexicon, primarily through suffixation, which allowed speakers to derive nouns from existing roots. Suffixes like -ada formed collectives or action nouns, as in multat ('fine' or 'penalty') from Latin multa (feminine of multus, 'much'), denoting a collective imposition in legal documents. Diminutives were productively added via -et or -eta, creating affectionate or small-scale variants, such as hometa ('little man') from home ('man'), common in narrative and poetic registers. Compounding, though rarer in Old Catalan compared to suffixation, occurred in specific compounds like capcasa ('head of the house'), blending cap ('head') from Latin caput and casa ('house') from Latin casa. Another example is malany ('evil-doer'), combining mal ('bad') from Latin malus with an agentive element, underscoring moral and social concepts in medieval literature. These mechanisms ensured the lexicon's adaptability while preserving its Latin etymological backbone.

Borrowings and Semantic Shifts

Old Catalan lexicon was enriched by borrowings from Arabic, primarily entering the language around the 13th century through the Reconquista and the territorial expansions of the Crown of Aragon into al-Andalus. These loanwords, numbering in the hundreds, predominantly pertain to agriculture, irrigation, and scientific concepts, reflecting the cultural and technological exchanges during this period. For instance, alqueria ('farm' or 'small village') derives directly from Arabic al-qaryah ('the village'), denoting rural settlements adopted in newly reconquered areas like Valencia. Similarly, xarop ('syrup') comes from Arabic šarāb ('drink'), illustrating the transmission of culinary and medicinal terms. Germanic borrowings, mainly from Gothic and Frankish due to early medieval conquests and migrations, also contributed to the lexicon, particularly in domains related to , time, and daily life. Examples include alberg ('lodge' or '') and guàrdia ('guard') from Gothic origins, as well as estona ('while') reflecting Frankish influence. Additionally, borrowings from neighboring Aragonese entered through and shared administration, influencing legal and territorial terminology, though specific examples are less distinctly cataloged compared to other sources. Borrowings from Occitan and French also played a notable role, especially via the influence of poetry and culture in the medieval period. Occitan, as a closely related Gallo-Romance , contributed terms associated with and social practices; for example, joglar ('juggler' or '') was adopted from Occitan joglador, referring to performers in circles. vocabulary further exemplifies this, such as cort (''), which, while rooted in Latin, gained refined connotations of aristocratic refinement through Occitan mediation. French influences, though less pervasive, introduced elements via political alliances and trade, enhancing the in administrative and chivalric domains. Latin neologisms, particularly ones, were integrated into Old Catalan with minimal phonetic alteration, serving the needs of religious and scholarly discourse. Terms like ('sacrament') were borrowed directly from sacramentum, retaining their form and meaning in liturgical contexts without significant adaptation. These borrowings supported the growing and legal texts, bridging with emerging Catalan usage. Semantic shifts in Old Catalan often involved broadening or narrowing of meanings, adapting inherited Latin vocabulary to new social and cultural realities. A classic case of broadening is casa, which evolved from Latin casa ('' or '') to denote a general 'house' in everyday usage, expanding its scope to encompass more substantial dwellings amid . Conversely, narrowing appears in vianda, shifting from a broad sense of 'food' or 'provisions' in to a more specific '' or 'dish' in certain culinary contexts. In legal terminology, dret underwent a shift from Latin directum ('straight' or '') to 'right' or '', reflecting its application in juridical texts and customary practices. These changes highlight the dynamic interplay between and in the .

Dialectal Variation

Eastern Dialect Features

The Eastern dialects of Old Catalan were primarily spoken in regions such as Northern Catalonia and the , where they developed distinct traits influenced by proximity to Occitan-speaking areas. These varieties are attested in medieval texts from the 13th to 15th centuries, including works by authors like from Majorca, which exemplify Eastern phonological and morphological patterns. A prominent phonological characteristic of Eastern Old Catalan is the reduction of unstressed vowels to schwa (/ə/), a process that neutralized mid and low vowels in non-stressed positions, leading to forms like ('') pronounced as /ˈka.zə/. This reduction, already evident in medieval texts, contributed to a more centralized compared to other Romance varieties and is particularly associated with Eastern regions like Central and Northern Catalan areas. Additionally, stressed /e/ underwent centralization to [ə] in certain contexts, as part of a where /ɛ/ raised to , a development documented in Old Eastern Catalan and related to broader patterns. retention was another feature, seen in words like ('red'), preserving /ɔi/ from earlier Romance evolutions in Eastern varieties. Morphologically, Eastern Old Catalan favored analytic constructions over synthetic ones in certain verbal paradigms, reflecting a trend toward periphrastic forms for expressing tense and aspect, as observed in annotated corpora of medieval texts. The typically featured -i endings, particularly in third-person singular forms, such as ('that he come') from the verb , a pattern consistent across Old Catalan but prominently attested in Eastern literary sources. This morphological preference aligns with the language's overall evolution toward greater analyticity in Eastern dialects during the medieval period. Lexically, Eastern Old Catalan showed stronger influences from Occitan due to geographical and cultural contacts, resulting in shared vocabulary in core domains that distinguished it from Western varieties affected by Aragonese and Castilian elements. Ramon Llull's prose works, such as Blaquerna, illustrate these lexical preferences alongside phonological centralization to /ə/, highlighting the dialect's role in early Catalan .

Western Dialect Features

The Western dialect of Old Catalan, primarily associated with the regions of and the area in Aragon-influenced territories, represents a conservative branch of the language during the medieval period (roughly 12th to 15th centuries), characterized by closer ties to Iberian Romance varieties and less innovation compared to eastern forms. This dialect is prominently attested in texts from the Kingdom of Aragon's expansion into in the 13th century and later in the poetry of Ausiàs March (c. 1400–1459), a Valencian author whose works showcase regional phonological and lexical traits. Its features reflect substrate influences from Mozarabic and Aragonese, as well as sustained contact with Latin administrative traditions. In , Western Old Catalan retained a fuller set of Latin-derived vowels without the extensive unstressed reductions seen elsewhere, maintaining distinctions like open /e/ and /o/ in stressed positions (e.g., Latin homo > Western home pronounced /ˈome/ with open mid vowels). Voiced were preserved longer in intervocalic contexts, distinguishing it from later devoicing trends in other areas. These traits contributed to a more robust seven-vowel stressed system, with mid vowels /e, ɛ, o, ɔ/ often merging conservatively to /e/ and /o/ in Western varieties rather than centralizing. Morphologically, the synthetic was particularly prevalent in Western texts, formed by attaching -ré (from Latin re- + habeō) to the , as in cantaré 'I will sing', appearing frequently in Valencian chronicles and poetry over analytic alternatives. Masculine plurals often adopted -os endings, especially under Aragonese influence, for nouns ending in or consonants (e.g., óssos 'bears' from ós), adding an epenthetic for ease of articulation. The lexicon of Western Old Catalan shows marked influences from Spanish (via Castilian-Aragonese contact) and (due to reconquest legacies), incorporating terms like alqueria 'farmstead' (from Arabic al-qaryah) and assèquia 'irrigation canal' (from Arabic as-sāqiyah), essential for agricultural contexts in . Spanish borrowings, such as àlgbra 'algebra', entered through shared scholarly and administrative exchanges in the 13th–14th centuries. These elements highlight the dialect's role as a conduit for Iberian , evident in March's verse where Arabic-derived motifs blend with local etymologies.

Literature

Early Texts and Prose

The earliest surviving example of Old Catalan prose is the Homilies d'Organyà, a collection of religious sermons composed around 1200 in the . This manuscript, discovered in 1904 at the church of Santa Maria d'Organyà, contains six homilies that adapt Latin biblical texts into the for local audiences, marking the first known complete literary work in Catalan and one of the earliest vernacular translations from Latin into a Romance language. The style is straightforward and didactic, with a simple syntactic structure suited to oral delivery in parish settings, emphasizing moral exhortations drawn from scripture such as parables and apostolic teachings. Legal and administrative texts from the 12th and 13th centuries further illustrate the practical application of Old Catalan prose, particularly in wills, oaths, and maritime ordinances. Wills, preserved in ecclesiastical cartularies like that of , reveal a standardized format including invocations, bequests of land or cash (e.g., 10,000 mancusos in a 1076 document), and appointments, often involving 2–4 witnesses who swore oaths on relics or gospels to validate the testament within six months of the testator's . By the mid-12th century, elements of Old Catalan appear alongside Latin, as in the 1152 will of Ferrer de Figuerola, reflecting the vernacular's growing role in documenting family structures, debts, and pious donations amid and feudal changes. The Libre del Consolat de Mar, with roots in the 1272 Costums de Tortosa—a set of 43 maritime customs addressing issues like general average and shipmaster duties—was compiled in Old Catalan by the late , codifying trade practices that influenced Mediterranean . Early chronicles also contributed to prose development, exemplified by the abridged Catalan adaptation of the Latin Gesta Comitum Barcinonensium, produced between 1268 and 1283. This version, updated to include the reign of Jaume I, recounts the history of the counts of from onward, using a narrative style that blends genealogical lists with episodic accounts of conquests and alliances, thereby extending Latin historiographical traditions into the . Stylistically, these early prose works exhibit "translationese," characterized by literal renderings of , such as direct word-for-word adaptations in the Homilies d'Organyà and formulaic phrasing in legal documents (e.g., "solutis debitis meis" for settlements). This approach, common in translations from Latin theological and juridical sources, preserved source fidelity while gradually fostering a standardized prose syntax, as seen in the shift from rigid invocatio-arenga structures in 10th-century wills to more fluid narrative in 13th-century adaptations. The significance of these texts lies in their evidence of a diglossic transition from Latin dominance to use in and legal spheres during the 12th–13th centuries, driven by practical needs like reaching illiterate audiences and administering growing trade. In the church, sermons like the Homilies responded to conciliar directives (e.g., the 813 ) for preaching, while in law, Old Catalan appeared in under 2% of 13th-century royal documents but increased in notarial acts and oaths, signaling broader societal literacy and the Crown of Aragon's administrative evolution. This shift standardized prose forms, laying groundwork for later literary expansion without fully displacing Latin in formal contexts.

Poetry and Major Authors

Old Catalan poetry emerged under strong influence from the Occitan troubadour tradition during the 12th and 13th centuries, with Catalan poets adopting similar courtly lyric forms such as cansos (love songs) and sirventes (satirical or political verses), often anonymously composed for noble audiences. These works emphasized themes of , , and social commentary, blending Occitan linguistic elements with emerging Catalan vernacular features to create a distinct regional style. The proximity of Catalan territories to facilitated this exchange, as Catalan nobles patronized troubadour-like poets who performed at courts in and . Key literary genres in Old Catalan included , though surviving examples are limited to fragments of lost chansons de geste inspired by French models, reflecting heroic narratives of battles and feudal loyalty. These genres often intertwined didactic elements with rhythmic structures, serving both entertainment and edification in monastic and courtly settings. (1232–1315), a prolific Mallorcan writer and philosopher, produced over 250 works in Catalan, pioneering its use for complex intellectual expression through hybrid prose-poetry forms. In Blanquerna (c. 1283–1284), Llull embedded poetic interludes within a narrative framework to explore spiritual journeys and contemplative life, while Llibre d'Amic e Amat (c. 1290) employs allegorical verse dialogues between the Friend () and the Beloved (soul) to convey mystical theology. Llull's innovations extended lyricism into philosophical territory, using rhyme and to make abstract concepts accessible in the vernacular. Ausiàs March (1397–1459), a Valencian knight-poet, marked a pinnacle of Old Catalan lyric with his introspective explorations of love, mortality, and morality across 128 cantos (stanzaic poems). His works, such as those in the Cants d'amor, delved into psychological tensions of desire and disillusionment, employing intricate rhyme schemes that combined assonant (vowel-matching) and consonant (full-matching) patterns for emotional depth. March's poetry bridged medieval courtly traditions with emerging , influencing subsequent Valencian writers through its analytical tone and formal complexity. Old Catalan poets innovated in techniques, transitioning from predominantly assonant schemes in early troubadour-influenced —where only vowels needed to match—to more sophisticated rhymes that enhanced sonic precision and thematic emphasis in 14th- and 15th-century works. This evolution is evident in the poetic elements of Tirant lo Blanc (1490), a chivalric romance by Joanot and Martí Joan de , which incorporates lyrical passages and verse interpolations to evoke epic grandeur and romantic idealism, signaling a shift toward stylistic integration.

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  36. https://munin.uit.no/bitstream/10037/16102/2/thesis.pdf
  37. https://openhumanitiesdata.metajnl.com/articles/10.5334/johd.54
  38. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/366409856_The_Morphological_and_Syntactic_Status_of_the_Analytic_and_Synthetic_Future_in_Medieval_Catalan
  39. https://repositori.upf.edu/bitstreams/e18a04c8-e23e-4c33-924d-a8b85385be20/download
  40. https://www.raco.cat/index.php/CatalanReview/article/download/309353/399330
  41. http://www.bermudez-otero.com/Catalan.pdf
  42. https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/1cbf/d217282844feebbb031528e215c4eb5e6360.pdf
  43. https://millenniumliber.com/en/project/homilies-dorganya/
  44. https://nltaylor.net/pdfs/Will_et_Society.pdf
  45. https://ouclf.law.ox.ac.uk/conflicts-in-13th-century-maritime-law-a-comparison-between-five-european-ports/
  46. https://prussia.online/Data/Book/co/communicating-the-middle-ages/Communicating%2520the%2520Middle%2520Ages%2520%282018%29%2C%2520OCR.pdf
  47. https://buleria.unileon.es/bitstream/handle/10612/6359/The%2520Role%2520of%2520Translation%2520in%2520Medieval%2520Spanish.pdf?sequence=1
  48. https://lletra.uoc.edu/en/theme/the-troubadour/detall
  49. https://www.trob-eu.net/en/about-troubadours.html
  50. https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/2/oa_monograph/chapter/2112312
  51. https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?filename=4&article=1001&context=mip_rmemc&type=additional
  52. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/llull/
  53. https://lletra.uoc.edu/en/author/ramon-llull/detall
  54. https://www.trob-eu.net/en/ramon-llull-and-poetry.html
  55. https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2362&context=clcweb
  56. https://boydellandbrewer.com/book/ausias-march-verse-translations-of-thirty-poems-pb/
  57. https://miocid.wlu.edu/com/com.php
  58. https://davidwacks.uoregon.edu/tag/tirant-lo-blanc/
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