[MR] BBC Travel: Birthplace of Written Spanish

[Garth Groff and Sally Sanford]

Noble Friends,

A few months a ago My Lady Sarah Sinclair bookmarked a BBC Travel piece on
what is thought by scholars to be the birthplace of written Spanish, the
twin monasteries of San Millán de Suso and San Millán de Yuso in Spain's La
Rioja region. I finally came back to that story today, and it is
fascinating.

The still active San Millán de Yuso monastery preserves the earliest known
examples of the Iberio-Romance language in the form of marginal notes on
manuscript pages. Dating from the 10th century, these notes are
pronunciation guides to translations of Latin prayers into the local
vernacular language that would evolve into Spanish. Some entries are in the
Basque language.

Near-by San Millán de Suso, which is no longer occupied, is preserved as a
cultural site.

The story, including several striking photos of the monasteries, can be
found at
http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20190616-is-this-the-birthplace-of-written-spanish
.

More on these monasteries can be found at
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monasteries_of_San_Millán_de_la_Cogolla .

Yours Aye,

Mungo Napier, Laird of Mallard Lodge  🦆