A Comparative Grammar of the Modern Aryan Languages of India v1.c4.62.2

v1.c4.62.2

To refer once more to Latin, it is well known that most of the words forming the present Romance languages are derived from what is called "low Latin," which is merely the speech of the vulgar as distinguished from that of the higher classes and from the literary style. Thus, to take one instance out of many, the word for "horse," *cheval*, *cavallo*, *caballo*, is from the Latin *caballus*, a word used by the peasantry, and only occasionally admitted into the higher style. The classical equivalent *equus* has left no direct descendant, though in modern times the words "equipage," "equitation," and so forth, have been coined from it. We are not so much concerned with the general fact as with the reasons of it, and these are so important to our subject that they must be noticed in full. The first reason is this. It is well known that the modern French, Spanish, etc., were originally mere colloquial languages, and took their rise from the corruptions introduced into the Latin spoken by the lower classes in Italy by the barbarous Teutonic tribes, who invaded and overran the countries which owned the Roman sway.