{"id":5129,"date":"2024-05-28T10:36:10","date_gmt":"2024-05-28T10:36:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fasttxt.es\/en\/?p=5129"},"modified":"2024-10-21T12:08:18","modified_gmt":"2024-10-21T12:08:18","slug":"the-galician-portuguese-language-and-its-literary-importance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fasttxt.es\/en\/blog\/the-galician-portuguese-language-and-its-literary-importance","title":{"rendered":"The Galician-Portuguese language and its literary importance"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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In past publications, we have dealt with some of the historical languages that were forged in the Hispanic context during the Middle Ages as a result of the progressive transformation and dismemberment of what some scholars were accustomed to call ‘Vulgar Latin’ (i.e. the spoken Latin language); among these languages are Catalan, Asturian, Mozarabic and Castilian itself. Continuing with this thematic line, in today’s article we are going to focus on the Galician-Portuguese language.<\/p>

Galician-Portuguese<\/strong>, also known as Old Galician or Medieval Portuguese, was the Romance language that developed during the medieval period throughout the northwestern part of the Iberian Peninsula, from the Cantabrian Sea to the Douro River. The evolution of this language gave rise to the current Galician <\/strong>and Portuguese <\/strong>languages.<\/p>

History of Galician-Portuguese<\/strong><\/h2>

During the Middle Ages, in the territory of the kingdom of Galicia \u2014in the political orbit of the kingdom of Le\u00f3n\u2014 the Galician-Portuguese language was gradually formed, which is considered to be fully constituted as an independent language around the 10th century, although the first written testimonies did not appear until the 12th century. And it was precisely in the 12th century when the southern part of this territory broke away and became part of the kingdom of Portugal, a fact that materialized in the year 1139, once Count Alfonso Henr\u00edquez, from the Portucalense county, began to call himself ‘king’, breaking the ties that linked him to the Leonese monarchy.<\/p>

On the other hand, the kingdom of Galicia only existed as an independent political entity for a short period of time, specifically between 910 and 1109, when Galicia was definitively reincorporated into the kingdom of Le\u00f3n (after the death of Alfonso VI). However, the denomination of the kingdom of Galicia, as an administrative entity incorporated into Castile in 1230, was retained during the \u201cAncient Regime\u201d, until it was officially replaced with the Spanish administrative reformation of 1833.<\/p>

Be that as it may, during the medieval centuries the linguistic unity of Galician-Portuguese was maintained, and Galician-Portuguese literary manifestations in prose and verse appeared, where the troubadour lyric, both sacred and profane, would have a special prominence. However, the main testimonies are to be found in documents reflecting notarial, administrative and judicial acts. In fact, since the end of the 12th century, Galician-Portuguese, which was already the usual language of oral communication among all social classes in the far west of the peninsula, has been displacing Latin in official documentation.<\/p>

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Galician-Portuguese lyric poetry: origins<\/strong><\/h2>

One of the most outstanding aspects linked to the Galician-Portuguese language is the emergence of a whole series of literary forms that will have a very important role in the medieval Hispanic context. In this sense, Galician-Portuguese lyric poetry developed mainly between the 12th and 14th centuries, coinciding with what in historiography is usually referred to as the Full Middle Ages.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Although most of the poets referred to came from Galicia and northern Portugal, it was also cultivated by many authors in other parts of the Iberian Peninsula, a fact that shows the importance of Galician-Portuguese as a language of culture<\/strong>.<\/p>

The main genres of Galician-Portuguese lyric poetry have their origin in the literature of the Proven\u00e7al troubadours. The Provencal influence reached the Portugal-Galicia area through three main routes: the city of Barcelona, as an obligatory transit point for the cultural contributions coming from the French Midi; through the marriages arranged between the peninsular monarchies and the Occitan princesses; and, finally, through the Camino de Santiago<\/strong> (Way of St. James).<\/p>

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Galician-Portuguese lyrical genres: the cantigas<\/em><\/strong><\/h2>

Galician-Portuguese lyric poems are generically called cantigas<\/em><\/strong>. However, there are several well-differentiated sub-genres:<\/p>

Cantigas de amor (songs of love)<\/em><\/p>

They are, in essence, the transposition into Galician-Portuguese of the Provencal song, a typical composition of this genre in which the troubadour addresses his beloved to express his love (a cultural tradition of courtly love). These songs usually lack a refrain and have a well-defined metrical structure. In terms of subject matter, almost all the compositions deal with the theme of the poet’s coita<\/em> (sadness), caused by the disdain or rejection (sanha<\/em>) of his lady, who is referred to as senhor<\/em>, which at the time had both a masculine and feminine meaning.\u00a0<\/p>

Cantigas de amigo (friendship songs)<\/em><\/p>

It is an exclusive genre of Galician-Portuguese lyric poetry, with no precedent in Provencal literature. A woman always speaks, in situations that are repeated frequently (pilgrimages, etc.) and the theme is always love (the feminine sentiment).\u00a0 In these compositions the exaltation of nature is of great importance. Together with the Mozarabic carols and the Christmas carols, they are part of the primitive Hispanic lyric of popular origin.<\/p>

Cantigas de escarnio y de maldecir (songs of scorn and cursing)<\/em><\/p>

Its Provencial precedent is the \u00absirvent\u00e9s\u00bb<\/em>, a poetic composition typical of Occitan literature with a satirical theme. It is common in these poems to criticize the vices of the upper classes in a burlesque tone.<\/p>

Cantigas de Santa Mar\u00eda (Songs of Santa Maria)<\/em><\/p>

Probably the most representative example of the Galician-Portuguese literature. The manuscript of the Songs of Santa Maria, written at the court of King Alfonso X the Wise<\/strong> in the second half of the 13th century, is one of the most important collections of monodic song in Western medieval literature. Troubadour and paraliturgical in style, it differs from the overtly profane themes of the troubadours of the rest of Europe and the sacred music of the time.<\/p>

It is a collection of more than four hundred compositions in honor of the Virgin Mary, as King Alfonso states in the prologue to the work:<\/p>

E o que quero \u00e9 dizer loor da Virgen, Madre de nostro Sennor\u2026 e por aquest seu quero seer oy m\u00e1is seu trobador e rog\u00f3-lle que me queira por seu trobador e que queira meu trobar receber\u2026<\/em><\/p>

[And what I want is to praise the Virgin, the Mother of our Lord… and for that reason, I only want to be her troubadour today, and I pray that she accepts me as her troubadour and deigns to receive my verses<\/em>].<\/p>

There are doubts about the direct authorship of King Alfonso X of Castile (1221-1284), but nobody questions his participation as composer in some of them.<\/p>

The Cantigas de Santa Mar\u00eda<\/em> can be divided into two groups: the narrative<\/strong> ones, which contain stories and miracles related to the Virgin, and the purely lyrical<\/strong> ones, which include more serious, profound, almost mystical poems, in which, instead of singing the miracles of the Virgin, they reflect on her, as in a prayer.<\/p>

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In view of this, we have been able to observe how Galician and Portuguese have a common origin in the Galician-Portuguese language, which had a very significant importance in the medieval Hispanic context, especially from a cultural point of view. At FAST.txt<\/a>, in addition to offering content of interest through these publications, we have the best translators both into Galician<\/strong> and Portuguese<\/strong>; so, if you need to translate any type of document into one of these two languages, do not hesitate to contact us: trust in FAST.txt<\/a>.<\/p>

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Carlos S\u00e1nchez Luis<\/em><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In past publications, we have dealt with some of the historical languages that were forged in the Hispanic context during the Middle Ages as a result of the progressive transformation and dismemberment of what some scholars were accustomed to call ‘Vulgar Latin’ (i.e. the spoken Latin language); among these languages are Catalan, Asturian, Mozarabic and … Leer m\u00e1s<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":5130,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5129","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-translation-and-interpretation-services"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t