Vernacular

The Renaissance movement began with a resurgence in classical learning, including the study and proper use of Latin. However, Latin was the language of scholars, not the common person. As more people became literate, many authors began to write in their own vernacular, or native language, to reach this wider audience. At the same time, many writers attempted to demonstrate that their native languages were just as good as Latin, as Rabelais did when he published his Gargantua and Pantagruel in his native French. In addition, many writers produced works defending the decision to use vernacular, of which Joachim du Bellay's Defence and Illustration of the French Language is one of the most famous. "I do not, however, consider our vulgar tongue, as it now is, to be so vile, so abject as do these ambitious admirers of the Greek and Latin tongues," says Bellay, arguing against the...