Pannonian Romance


Pannonian Romance was an Eastern Romance language spoken by romanized Celtic and Illyrian peoples that developed in Pannonia, between modern day Vienna and Belgrade after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. Despite the Romanized population being mentioned in several Annals, no works of literature and few traces in modern languages survive. It is not clear to what degree Celtic vocabulary was retained, and to what degree the Pannonian Romance language was a distinct language or a language continuum between Rhaeto Romance and Eastern Romance or perhaps a Creole language of the languages present in Pannonian Basin. The language suffered many setbacks under Huns, Germanic, Avar, Slavic, Turkic and Magyar invaders and new overlords, triggering waves of emigration. Nevertheless, it probably lasted until the 10th century, in isolated settlements. The descendants of the speakers suffered worst during the Mongol invasion of Hungary with 50–80% of settlements destroyed and massacred. The demise of Pannonian Romance shows some similarities with that of other romance languages that were replaced and assimilated in Britain, Africa, and Germany, lasting only a few centuries.

History

The Romanized population of Pannonia survived Barbarian invasions, although they were reduced to a few thousands by the 6th century, living mainly in fortified villages like Keszthely and Fenékpuszta.
There were other places in Pannonia where the local population continued to speak forms of Vulgar Latin after the 5th century: Pécs, Sopron, Szombathely, Dunaújváros. Many Christian relics with inscriptions in Latin have been found in these towns.
But it was on the western shore of Lake Balaton where a peculiar society of craftsmen formed, called the Keszthely culture, of which more than 6,000 artisan tombs and many products are left.
Romance dialects disappeared due to assimilation with German and Slavic invaders in border areas of the Roman limes near the Danube river in Pannonia, Raetia and Noricum, but in the former Pannonian provinces Romance speaking herders and a population of skilled artisans and craftsmen survived around in the area of Lake Balaton.
Nominal control of the area switched between Huns, Gepids and Lombards, Avars, Moravians, and Franks after the Avars were defeated by Charlemagne. Part of the Roman population may have emigrated with the Lombards in 568 to Italy, particularly from settlements that lay directly on the Amber Road. The Franks document some of their missionary activity and efforts to incorporate Pannonia into their empire including in the Annales regni Francorum. The Gesta Hungarorum that describes the Hungarians conquest from 900 of the area, describes four ethnicities upon the arrival of the Magyars in Pannonia. In the chapter De pace inter ducem et ruthenos, the Gesta Hungarorum names Slavs, Bulgars, and makes a distinction between Vlachs and the Pastoral Romans, the Romanized Pannonians.
The grave inscriptions and mentions of the language disappear from the beginning of the 9th century, the Roman craftsmen of the "Keszthely culture" are assimilated, Roman pastoralists are no longer mentioned and the language, Pannonian Romance, soon disappears with them in the 10th century.

Geographic distribution and demise

The area where and for how long the language was spoken can be hypothesised from written records, gravestone inscriptions, archaeological excavation of houses characterized by Romanized architecture and furnishings, oral tradition and linguistic remnants in successor languages.

Inner Pannonia

Pannonian Romance was spoken around Lake Balaton in western Hungary, mainly in the fortified villages of Keszthely and Fenékpuszta.

Lower Limes

Romanized tombs of Pannonians of the 6th century were found include Pécs,
Possibly in Szentendre and Visegrád or Pote Navata, but unclear how much influence from Avar and Slavic speakers. Speakers disappears or assimilated before 8th century Dunaújváros. Early Slavic and Avarian settlement activity was concentrated along the Danube south of Aquinicum, only expanding up river into the Roman towns after 6th century.

Upper Limes

At the time of late Slavic and Avarian expansion up the Danube, Pannonia Superior towns still had an substantial Roman population as attested to by coin dated graves. In Tokod the population had shrunk considerably in the 5th century but can be attested into the 6th century. Carnuntum suffered a population collapse after being transferred to Hun control and was described by a witness Ammianus Marcellinus, as an abandoned and rotting nest in the 5th century. The rest population of the area moved to settlements close to what would become Hainburg. Further up river on the Danube Roman graves from 6th century Vindobona were documented, and although Vienna had a continues population, when the last Romanized inhabitants were assimilated after the 6th century is uncertain. Place names along the Tullnina rivers suggest a continued rural Roman population above Tulln. Many Roman town names are kept or adapted, Zeiselmauer-Zeizinmure, Vindobona-Vienna. The Vienna Woods is catalogued as Cumeoberg or Comagenus mons into the Carolingian era. Vita S. Severini notes the emigration of the Roman population of Lauriacum in the 8th century.

Along the Amber Road

Romanized tombs of Szombathely, Sopron, Hegykő and Oggau.

Climate

The area around Lake Balaton has an almost Mediterranean climate, similar to the one of the subalpine lakes in the north of Italy which enabled wine production. The terrain of Transdanubia surrounding the lake is varied with gentle hills, valleys, basins, mountains, swamps and plains.
According to Alexandru Magdearu, this special mild climate is one of the reasons of why the Pannonians remained in Keszthely and did not flee during the Barbarian incursions towards the relatively near coasts of the Adriatic Sea.

Language

Some words in Pannonian Romance were of Celtic or Illyrian origin. According to the linguist Roxana Curcă, the main source of evidence on this extinct language are the numerous toponyms in the area of Lake Balaton and some anthroponyms, hydronyms and ethnonyms that come from the Keszthely culture.
The name Keszthely could be related to the Istrian–Venetian castei, which means "castle", and is probably an original word of the Pannonian Romance language, according to the Austrian linguist Julius Pokorny. He also posits that the word Pannonia is derived via Illyrian from a Proto-Indo-European root *pen- "swamp, water, wet". If true, that would suggest that the pre-Roman language of Pannonia was an Illyrian language.
According to Romanian linguist Alexandru Rosetti, Pannonian Romance probably contributed to the creation of the 300 basic words of the "Latin substratum" of the Balkan Romance languages.
Some scholars argue that the Pannonian Romance lacks clear evidences of existence, because no written sources exist. However, according to Árthur Sós, in some of the 6000 tombs of the Keszthely culture, there are words in vernacular Latin. This is the case, for example, of a gold pin with the inscription BONOSA.