Gallo-Sicilian
| Gallo-Italic of Sicily | |
|---|---|
| Italian: Gallo-italico di Sicilia | |
| Native to | Northwest Italy |
| Region | Central and eastern Sicily |
|
Native speakers
|
60,000 (2006) |
|
Indo-European
|
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
| Glottolog | None |
Gallo-Italic of Sicily (Italian: Gallo-italico di Sicilia) is a group of Gallo-Italic languages found in about 15 isolated communities of central eastern Sicily. Forming a language island in the Sicilian language, it dates back to migrations from northern Italy during the reign of Norman Roger I of Sicily and his successors.
Towns inhabited by the new immigrants became known as the "Lombard communities" (Latin: oppida Lombardorum, Sicilian: cumuna lummardi). The settlers, known as the Lombards of Sicily, actually came principally from the Aleramici fiefdoms of Piedmont and Liguria, "Lombardy" being the name for the whole northern Italy during the Middle Ages. In addition to a common place of origin, the colonizers brought their Gallo-Italic languages. These languages added to the Gallic influence of the developing Sicilian language (influences which included Norman and Old Occitan) to become the Gallo-Italic of Sicily language family.
Although Roger I took 30 years to take complete control of Sicily (from 1061 to 1091), by 1080 he had effective control of much of the island. During this conquest, some areas of central Sicily became depopulated as some, but far from all, of its Muslim population was expelled. Roger and his Norman successors encouraged migration to the region, especially by those closely allied with the Latin Church. Most of the migration was from northern Italy, particularly from his wife's family holdings in Piedmont and Liguria.
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