IXTEKVOCALIC, " X " AND " L " IX OLD POIITUGUESE. 429 



as it does, the Latin form in consequence of the law to which 

 we have just referred. 



There is also another or second law of the same era, especially 

 characteristic of the Portuguese language : The letter L in the 

 middle of the ivord disappears while it remains unchanged in 

 nearly all the Romance languages, except in a few cases. 



In the Roumanian, Genovese and French Proven(^al lan- 

 guages, it is changed into R; and sometimes in the Provencal 

 language it is turned into U ; in Portuguese it disappears alto- 

 gether, as already stated. 



Examples : 



Lat. filuni >Port. fiu>fio Span, hilo 



Lat. solum >Port. solu>s6o = s6 Span, solo 



Lat. dolet >Port. dole>doe Span, duelo 



What we wish to impress upon the reader is that we had 

 next to us as our neighbours a people of powerful warriors and 

 conquerors, with a rich literature, a people w^ith whom we had 

 tremendous fights, but with whom we nevertheless had long- 

 periods of fraternal intellectual intercourse. In the meantime, 

 in spite of that, our own. characteristics were all the more 

 thoroughly confirmed, and our language was all the more 

 completely individualised, maintaining itself as the Portuguese 

 language, truly Portuguese, and keeping itself unaffected by any 

 influence from our neighbours. 



This tenacious resistance, the evidence of a powerful vitality, 

 is all the more remarkable, as there are great analogies between 

 the two languages. 



In conclusion, even among the cultured classes this external 

 influence was not much felt ; there is no need to mention the 

 bulk of the people, as they are constant, tenacious and vigorous 

 guardians of the foundations of the language, as well as of the 

 nationality itself. 



