Note 884 — Chapter V

“Also, at the same Cortes, the same King, Don Alfonso X., ordered, if thereafter there should be a doubt in any part of his kingdom about the meaning of any Castilian word, that reference thereof should be had to this city as to the standard of the Castilian tongue [como á metro de la lengua Castellana], and that they should adopt the meaning and definition here given to such word, because our tongue is more perfect here than elsewhere.” (Francisco de Pisa, Descripcion de la Imperial Ciudad de Toledo, ed. Thomas Tamaio de Vargas, Toledo, 1617, fol., Lib. I. c. 36, f. 56.) The Cortes here referred to is said by Pisa to have been held in 1253; in which year the Chronicle of Alfonso X. (Valladolid, 1554, fol., c. 2) represents the king to have been there.