The Glosas Emilianenses are glosses written in a Latincodex. These marginalia are important as early examples of writing in a form of Romance similar to Spanish, and in Basque. The anonymous author is assumed to have been a monk at the monastery now known as Suso, one of the twin monasteries of San Millán de la Cogolla. He wrote about a thousand years ago in three languages:
The latter two would have been the vernacular languages in the region surrounding the monastery, although there is a possibility that the author of the glosses was an incomer to the area. campaigns and "razzias" to Christian territory. Green: Caliphate of Cordoba. Dark green: conquests of Almanzor. Khakis: Christian kingdoms. The Glosses were formerly considered to include the first instances of early Spanish. However, in November 2010, the Real Academia Española declared that the first appearances of written Spanish can be found in the Cartularies of Valpuesta, medieval documents in Latin from the province of Burgos.
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. 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". However, should the Romance language of the glosses be classified, San Millánde la Cogolla's former reputation as the "birthplace of the Spanish language" was important in its designation as a World Heritage Site in 1997.
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".
Comparative table
Comparison of some words used in the glosses, along with their current corresponding forms in Aragonese, Spanish and Latin language. English translation provided.
Glosses
Aragonese
Spanish
Latin
Translation to English
de los
de los, d’os
de los
< DE ILLOS
of the
ela
a, l’
la
< ILLA
the
ena, enos
en a, en os
en la, en los
< IN ILLAM, IN ILLOS
in the
fere
fer
hacer
< FACERE
to make
siéculo
sieglo
siglo
< SAECULU
century
yet
ye
es
< EST
is
Basque glosses
Aemilianensis 60 has been publicized as the earliest known codex with inscriptions in Basque, though other codices are posited. Only two of the glosses in Aemilianensis 60 are actually in Basque. These short texts 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.
