Note 184 — Fabre d’Olivet (continued 2)

This Ballad tongue, or rather Romance, was a mixture of corrupt Latin, Teutonic, and ancient Gallic. It was called thus, in order to distinguish it from the pure Latin and French. The principal dialects of the Romance tongue were the langue d’oc, spoken in the south of France, and the longue d’oïl, spoken in the north. It is from the langue d’oïl that the French descend. The langue d’oc, prevailing with the troubadours who cultivated it, disappeared with them in the fourteenth century and was lost in numberless obscure provincial dialects. Voyez (Le Troubadour), poésies occitaniques, à la Dissert., vol. i.