Are the Glosas Emilianenses the first written words in Romance?

The Glosas Emilianenses: the first written Romance?

Las Glosas Emilianenses

between 950 and 1100. In the margins of a Latin codex from the monastery of San Millán de la Cogolla, in La Rioja, a monk wrote short notes explaining Latin words in his own Romance…

Where: Spain, La Rioja, San Millán de la Cogolla, Castile

What happened

In the margins of a Latin codex from the monastery of San Millán de la Cogolla, in La Rioja, a monk wrote short notes explaining Latin words in his own Romance speech, and two of them in Basque. These Glosas Emilianenses are traditionally called the first written Spanish; Gómez-Moreno and Menéndez Pidal dated them to the 10th century, but palaeographers such as Ruiz Asencio now place them in the last quarter of the 11th. Whether their language is Castilian is also debated: Lapesa called it Navarro-Aragonese, others Castilian-Riojan. And they may not be the oldest: the Nodicia de kesos, a list of cheeses from near León dated 974-980, also contains early Romance. What is certain is that a thousand years ago someone chose to write the language people actually spoke.

Say it

En San Millán de la Cogolla un monje escribió las primeras palabras en romance.

In San Millán de la Cogolla a monk wrote the first words in Romance.

Why it matters

They mark the moment when Spanish begins to exist on paper, separate from Latin; San Millán is honoured as the 'cradle of Spanish', with the Suso and Yuso monasteries on the UNESCO World Heritage list.

Connected

• From Vulgar Latin to Castilian (c. 218 BC–1250)
• From Vulgar Latin to Castilian (c. 218 BC–1250)
• The Cantar de mio Cid (between 1140 and 1207)
• The Cantar de mio Cid (between 1140 and 1207)

• Before: The Caliphate of Córdoba
• After: Alfonso VI takes Toledo

Sources

1. Las Glosas (Códice Emilianense 60) — Real Academia de la Historia
2. Vestigios del castellano antiguo: Las Glosas (Rinconete, Llanos Navarro García) — Centro Virtual Cervantes
3. La datación y procedencia de las Glosas Emilianenses y Silenses (C. García Turza y J. García Turza, Brocar) — Universidad de La Rioja
4. El español en el mundo. Anuario 2018 (Bueno, p04) — Centro Virtual Cervantes
5. De cómo el castellano llegó a ser el español (Rafael Lapesa, 1978) — Centro Virtual Cervantes
6. Presentada la Edición crítico-filológica de las Glosas Emilianenses y Silenses — Fundación San Millán de la Cogolla