Practically speaking, although in the central parts of France the northern and southern dialects melt into each other, the Loire may be considered as a line of demarcation between two languages; the term language being employed because, in the Middle Ages, whatever may be their real difference, their northern tongue and the southern tongue were dealt with not as separate dialects, but as distinct languages--the southern being called Provençal, the northern Norman-French. Of these two languages (for so they will in the following pages be called, for the sake of convenience) the southern, or Provençal, approaches the dialects of Spain; the Valencian of Spain and the Catalonian of Spain being Provençal rather than standard Spanish or Castilian. The southern French is sometimes called the Langue d'Oc, and sometimes the Limousin. § 68. The Norman-French, spoken from the Loire to the confines of Flanders, and called also the Langue d'Oyl, differed from the Provençal in (amongst others) the following circumstances. 1. It was of later origin; the southern parts of Gaul having been colonized at an early period by the Romans. 2. It was in geographical contact, not with the allied languages of Spain, but with the Gothic tongues of Germany and Holland. § 69. It is the Norman-French that most especially bears upon the history of the English language. _Specimen from the Anglo-Norman poem of Charlemagne._ Un jur fu Karléun al Seint-Denis muster, Reout prise sa corune, en croiz seignat sun chef; E ad ceinte sa espée: li pons fud d'or mer. Dux i out e dermeines e baruns e chevalers. Li emperères reguardet la reine sa muillers. Ele fut ben corunée al plus bel e as meuz. Il la prist par le poin desuz un oliver, De sa pleine parole la prist à reisuner: "Dame, véistes unkes hume nul de desuz ceil Tant ben séist espée no la corone el chef! Uncore cunquerrei-jo citez ot mun espeez." Cele ne fud pas sage, folement respondeit: "Emperere," dist-ele, trop vus poez preiser. "Uncore en sa-jo un ki plus se fait léger, Quant il porte corune entre ses chevalers; Kaunt il met sur sa teste, plus belement lui set" In the northern French we must recognise not only a Celtic and a Classical, but also a Gothic element: since Clovis and Charlemagne were no Frenchmen, but Germans. The Germanic element in French has still to be determined. In the northern French of _Normandy_ there is a second Gothic element, viz., a Scandinavian element. See § 76. * * * * * QUESTIONS. 1. What are the _present_ languages of Wales, the Isle of Man, the Scotch Highlands, and Ireland? 2. What are the _present_ languages of Germany and Holland? How are they related to the _present_ language of England? How to the original language of England?