Some include Catalan in Occitan, as the linguistic distance between this language and some Occitan dialects such as the Gascon language is similar to the distance between different Occitan dialects. Catalan was considered a dialect of Occitan until the end of the 19th century [ 14 ] and still today remains its closest relative.
Occitan is an official language of Catalonia, Spain, where a subdialect of Gascon known as Aranese is spoken in the Val d'Aran. Unlike other Romance languages such as French or Spanish , Occitan does not have a single written standard form, nor does it have official status in France, home to most of its speakers. Instead, there are competing norms for writing Occitan, some of which attempt to be pan-dialectal, whereas others are based on a particular dialect.
These efforts are hindered by the rapidly declining use of Occitan as a spoken language in much of southern France, as well as by the significant differences in phonology and vocabulary among different Occitan dialects. While the term would have been in use orally for some time after the decline of Latin, as far as historical records show, the Italian medieval poet Dante was the first to have recorded the term lingua d'oc in writing. Other Romance languages derive their word for "yes" from the Latin sic , "thus [it is], [it was done], etc.
The name "Occitan" was attested around as occitanus , a crossing of oc and aquitanus Aquitanian. One of the oldest written fragments of the language found dates back to , shown here in italics mixed with non-italicized Latin:. Carolingian litanies c. Occitan was the vehicle for the influential poetry of the medieval troubadours trobadors and trobairitz : At that time, the language was understood and celebrated throughout most of educated Europe. With the gradual imposition of French royal power over its territory, Occitan declined in status from the 14th century on.
Occitan's greatest decline occurred during the French Revolution , in which diversity of language was considered a threat. The translation was given the official Roman Catholic Imprimatur by vicar general A. Because the geographical territory in which Occitan is spoken is surrounded by regions in which other Romance languages are used, external influences may have influenced its origin and development.
