Klarinet Archive - Posting 000479.txt from 1998/09

From: ROBERT HOWE <arehow@-----.net>
Subj: [kl] Re: Occian
Date: Tue, 15 Sep 1998 07:12:14 -0400

A writer enquired about the Occian language (Language d'oc). This was a
Romantic language used in Southern France from Medieval-Renaissance
times to early in this century. It contained influences of Celtic and
Latin. It was also used in courtly affairs, as a less formal, more
sensuous alternative to French or Latin or Italian. (How any tongue
could be more sensuous than Italian is utterly beyond me, this language
d'oc must have been very beautiful indeed). In fact, Dante originally
sketched his Inferno in Occian, but chose to write it in a more
accessible tongue.

Who knows the Songs of the Auvergne by Canteloube? These ravishingly
beautiful songs are in Occian. Listen and weep.

Robert Howe

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