The Monastic Rules of Visigothic Iberia - eTheses Repository ...

other, had been in Constantinople on a diplomatic mission and no-doubt possessed a
pragmatic ability of the language at least. Indeed, the presence of Greek-speakers from the
East was to continue for a few centuries yet; in the ninth century, for example, a certain monk
named George came from Palestine to Cordoba. 173 That is not to say, however, that Greek
would have been particularly widespread; Isidore himself could probably not speak or read
Greek. Various errors in his Etymologies with regards to his Greek knowledge bring into
question his ability to use it properly, leading Brehaut (1912) to conclude: “it appears certain
[...] that he was completely cut off from that world of thought, both Christian and pagan,
which was expressed in the Greek language” (ibid.: 20). 174 Since knowledge of Greek was
scant amongst even the most learned Visigoths, then, it cannot be normally expected from
those lower down the social strata.
It is doubtful that there existed monoglot Gothic-speaking Iberians in the peninsula in
any large number by the seventh century, if many Gothic speakers at all. However, it was
clearly still spoken in the Late Roman west: Sidonius, for example, complains of having to
listen to it in his villa, 175 and it was still possible for Cyrila, a fifth century Arian bishop, to
pretend that he knew no Latin when under fire from his Catholic counter-part. 176 An
interesting comment from the Chronica pseudo-Isidoriana suggests that king Recceswinth
(649-72) was “sapientissimus in lingua barbara”, suggested by Ferreiro (1987: 303) to imply
Germanic. However, overall there is not a strong case for its widespread retention in the
173 Eulogius Memoriale sanctorum 2.10.23, “sed cum ibidem uapulare asperius Dei Ecclesiam
incursatione tyranorum reperisset, Hispaniam quoque eorum, quibus missus fuerat consult,
aggreditur”.
174 Henderson (2007: 6) describes Isidore as a “Latinate Christian authority who had no Hebrew and
little Greek”, which is further qualified in a footnote (20), “next-to-no-Greek”.
175 Poems 12.
176 Victor of Vita Historia persecutionis 2.55.
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