The Glosas Emilianenses (Spanish for "glosses of [the monastery of Saint] Millán/Emilianus") are glosses written in the 10th or 11th century to a 9th-century[1] Latin codex called the Aemilianensis 60; the name Glosas Emilianenses is also sometimes applies to the entire codex. These marginalia are important as early attestations of both an Iberian Romance variety (similar to modern Spanish or Navarro-Aragonese) and of medieval Basque. The codex is now in Madrid, but came from the monastic library at San Millán de la Cogolla.The anonymous author of the glosses is presumed to be a monk at San Millán de Suso, one of two monastic sites in the village.
The glosses are written in three languages:
Aemilianensis 60 has been publicized as the earliest known codex with inscriptions in Basque, though other codices are posited.
The Glosses were formerly considered to include the first instances of early Spanish. San Millán de la Cogolla's reputation as the "birthplace of the Spanish language" was important in its designation as a World Heritage Site ("cultural" type) in 1997.[2] However, in November 2010, the Royal Spanish Academy declared that the first appearances of written Spanish can be found in the Cartularies of Valpuesta, 9th century documents from the province of Burgos. These cartularies include, like the glosses, a mix of Latin and Iberian Romance vocabulary, but are earlier in date.[3] [4]
See main article: Monasteries of San Millán de la Cogolla. The monasteries of San Millán de Suso (6th century) and San Millán de Yuso (11th century) are two monasteries situated in the village of San Millán de la Cogolla, La Rioja, Spain. The two monasteries' names Suso and Yuso mean the "upper" and the "lower" in archaic Castilian, respectively. The monasteries are named after Saint Emilian of Cogolla (Spanish; Castilian: Millán), and the name of the glosses, Glosas Emilianenses, can be translated as "Emilian glosses", in reference to the name of this monastery, where they were discovered and most likely composed. The anonymous author of the glosses is believed to have been a monk at the Suso, or upper, monastery.
The codex is known as Aemilianensis 60 (Aemilianus is Latin for Emilian, "Millán" or "Emiliano" in modern Spanish) and was preserved in the monastery library at Yuso (the lower re-foundation of the monastery).
The manuscript's current location is the Royal Academy of History in Madrid, although there have been calls for it to be taken back to La Rioja.[5]
The original place where the glosses were written is uncertain (M. C. Díaz y Díaz proposes the Pyrenees), but it is often assumed to be San Millán.At the time the Glosses were composed, the monastery was located in the Kingdom of Navarre. Much of the kingdom was Basque-speaking. Medieval Basque and Iberian Romance would have been the vernacular languages in the region surrounding the monastery. The vernacular language in La Rioja, the province where the monastery is situated, is now Spanish, but there are some Basque toponyms in the locality, e.g. Ezcaray.
The glosses are not the only manuscript from the monastery to contain a linguistic mix. Another example is its medieval cartulary known as the Becerro Galicano. It has been said that this supposedly Latin text is "profoundly influenced by early Castilian, to which an abundance of Basque names is added to form a singularly complex linguistic mix".[6]
The significance of the glosses was recognised in the early twentieth century. Manuel Gómez-Moreno Martínez brought them to the attention of the philologist Ramón Menéndez Pidal.
The codex is a compilation of several codices, including Verba seniorum, Passio martyrum Cosmae et Damiani, Sermones beati Augustini.[1]
Some of the marginalia are grammar notes, others are additions and others, glosses.There is still some debate as to whether the Iberian Romance language of the glosses should be classed as an early form of Castilian or of Aragonese, although some recent studies show that most features belong indeed to the latter.[7] It is not the only text to be difficult to classify: other texts traditionally assumed to be in Old Spanish, like the Kharjas, are proved to be in a different medieval Romance, Mozarabic, which happens to be classified along with Aragonese in a Pyrenean-Mozarabic group. Some scholars have proposed that it is anachronistic to classify such varieties of Ibero-Romance according to dialectal labels based on geographical particularism before the thirteenth century, leaving the Glosas to be understood as "in an unspecialized informal register of Ibero-Romance".[8]
The longest gloss appears on page 72 of the manuscripts. The Spanish philologist Dámaso Alonso called this little prayer the "first cry of the Spanish language" (in Spanish: "el primer vagido de la lengua española"[9]).
Comparison of some words used in the glosses, along with their current corresponding forms in Aragonese, Spanish and Latin language. English translation provided.
| Glosses | Translation to English | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| de loſ (delo) | de los, d’os | de los | < DE ILLOS | of the (masculine, plural article) | |
| ela | a, l’ | la | < ILLA | the (feminine, singular article) | |
| ena, enoſ | en a, en os | en la, en los | < IN ILLAM, IN ILLOS | in the (feminine, singular and masculine, plural articles) | |
| fere | fer | hacer[10] | < FACERE | to make | |
| ſieculoſ | sieglos | (sieglos >) siglos | < SAECULU | centuries | |
| yet | ye | es | < EST | is (3rd person, singular, verb "to be") |
Only two of the glosses in Aemilianensis 60 (of a total of about one thousand) are actually in Basque.[11] These short texts (only 6 words in total) can be seen on the 1974 plaque. However, it has been suggested that some of the Romance glosses reflect the influence of the Basque language, the implication being that their author was a fluent Basque-speaker.