ROMANCE LANGUAGES 



ROMAN NUMERALS 



pictures of scenes and characters, could not be 

 so classed, but its companion epic with its 

 frankly mythical adventures fills all the re- 

 quirements. Later Greek romances introduced 

 many of the themes which were common in the 

 popular medieval and early modern stories, 

 notably the wanderings of parted lovers and 

 their final reunion. 



During tho medieval period the romances 

 which were so popular in Europe were in verse, 

 adapted to recital by minstrels. Great national 

 or local her isuully the central figures, 



and around their names were woven the most 

 About Charlemagne, Roland, 

 Alexander, Arthur, Richard the Lion-Hearted, 

 the heroes of the Trojan War, great cycles grew 

 up. which -ed on from one bard to 



another, each amending or adding to the ma- 

 terial received as he saw fit. In the days of 

 chivalry, love became one of the main motives 

 for the action, though it was very often the 

 artificial platonic love of knight for noble lady, 

 r than a more human sentiment. 



Gradually, even before the invention of 

 printing, prose began to take the place of po- 

 et ry in the making of romance. The cycle re- 

 lating to Arthur, for instance, came into Eng- 

 land in prose form in Malory's Morte d' Arthur. 

 In the cases of the Spanish Cid and the French 

 Roland, however, verse always remained the 

 classic form of the narrative. By gradual 

 growth the romance led to the novel, but some 

 of the greatest novelists have been in the main 

 writers of romances rather than of the type 

 more correctly called novels. Thus, Scott's 

 works stand as the greatest of historical ro- 

 mances; most of Stevenson's tales are pure ro- 

 mances of adventure; while Hawthorne ranks 

 among the greatest of romance writers. A.MC c. 



ROMANCE LANGUAGES, those languages 

 of the world which have a common origin in 

 Latin, such as French, Italian, Spanish and 

 Portuguese. 



Whenever Rome conquered a country it sent 

 colonists to "Romanize" the province, and these 

 colonists, of course, took their language with 

 them. This was not the literary Latin used in 

 the classics studied in the schools to-day, but 

 what is called vulgar Latin, meaning simply 

 the everyday speech of ordinary people, like 

 soldiers, tradesmen and farmers. This language 

 was not only modified by the original language 

 of the conquered country, but it was also sub- 

 jected to the changes every language undergoes 

 when used by uneducated speakers. Thus, the 

 Romance languages, though springing from the 



same Roman tongue, are distinct from one an- 

 other; each is a characteristic product of the 

 country in which it developed. 



In addition to those already mentioned, the 

 Romance group includes Provencal, or I.:nl\ 

 French, which was the language of the trouba- 

 dours who sang their ballads and romances dur- 

 ing the Middle Ages; modern Rumanian and 

 Romansh, the latter a general name for the dia- 

 lects in certain parts of Switzerland and the 

 Tyrol, and in the region north of the Adriatic 

 Sea. 



Consult Grandgent's Introduction to Yuli/ar 

 Latin. 



Related Subjects. The reader is referred to 



the following: articles in these volumes : 



French Language Provengal Language 



Italian Language and Literature 



Latin Troubadour 



RO'MAN NUMERALS, nu'meralz, the num- 

 ber symbols of the Latin language, used to-day 

 for numbering clock faces, for marking books, 

 particularly the pages of long prefaces, the 

 chapters and the volumes of a series; for in- 

 scriptions on monuments and public buildings, 

 and for numerous less important uses. But for 

 all calculations in mathematics and in science, 

 in business and in everyday life, the Arabic 

 system has been used since the twelfth century 

 (see ARABIC NUMERALS). 



The Roman system of counting, like most 

 others, is by tens. This is because the counting 

 of all primitive people was done on the fingers. 

 In the beginning it was not a letter system, al- 

 though it is now written with the capital let- 

 ters of the Latin alphabet. Most of the earlier 

 symbols were derived from the Etruscans, a 

 people that lived in the north of Italy many 

 hundreds of years before the time of Christ. 

 The symbol / was not the capital /, but was 

 simply the most obvious mark for one, a verti- 

 cal stroke. The symbol^ for two, three and 

 four, II, III and ////, are equally obvious. The 

 origin of X (ten) was probably a crossed /. 

 C (100) and M (1,000) stand for centum and 

 mille, the Latin words for one hundred and 

 one thousand, but in the beginning they, too, 

 were expressed by Etruscan symbols which 

 scarcely resembled the letters now used. These 

 symbols may sometimes be found in the earli- 

 est printed books. The other signs are V (five), 

 L (fifty) and D (500), There is no zero. All 

 other numbers are made from combinations of 

 the seven symbols given. 



Numbers are written from left to right, and 

 are made thus: an M is put down for every 



