Mediterranean Lingua Franca

The Lingua franca of the Mediterranean or Sabir ("know") was a pidgin language used as a lingua franca in the Mediterranean Basin from the 11th to the 19th century and is the original basis for the word lingua franca. The name "lingua franca" in Italian means "free" or "open language" (in the sense of "without boundaries"). The generic description "lingua franca" has hence become common for any language used by speakers of different languages to communicate with one another. Based mostly on Latin, Catalan, Italian and Provençal in the eastern Mediterranean at first, it later came to have more Spanish and Portuguese elements, especially on the Barbary coast (today referred to as the Maghreb). It also borrowed from Turkish, French, Greek and Arabic. This mixed language was used for communication throughout the medieval and early modern Middle East as a commercial and diplomatic language. It was also the language used between slaves of the bagnio, Barbary pirates and European renegades in pre-colonial Algiers.

Klappentext

The Lingua franca of the Mediterranean or Sabir ("know") was a pidgin language used as a lingua franca in the Mediterranean Basin from the 11th to the 19th century and is the original basis for the word lingua franca. The name "lingua franca" in Italian means "free" or "open language" (in the sense of "without boundaries"). The generic description "lingua franca" has hence become common for any language used by speakers of different languages to communicate with one another. Based mostly on Latin, Catalan, Italian and Provençal in the eastern Mediterranean at first, it later came to have more Spanish and Portuguese elements, especially on the Barbary coast (today referred to as the Maghreb). It also borrowed from Turkish, French, Greek and Arabic. This mixed language was used for communication throughout the medieval and early modern Middle East as a commercial and diplomatic language. It was also the language used between slaves of the bagnio, Barbary pirates and European renegades in pre-colonial Algiers.