Dante and the Vernacular vs. Grammar

In his treatise De Vulgari Eloquentia, Dante Alighieri addresses the nature of vernacular dialects and their relationship to what was then called “Grammar.” To a modern reader, it is common to view the Romance languages—Italian, French, Spanish, and Romanian—as direct descendants of Latin. However, this is a modern genealogical construct. In Dante’s era, the term “Latin” was rarely used in a linguistic sense; instead, the language studied in school was referred to simply as Grammatica.

The prevailing understanding was that Grammar (Latin) was an invented, synthetic language. It was not seen as the biological “ancestor” of the Romance tongues, but as a stable, unchanging standard. Even some modern linguists acknowledge a version of this: the Romance languages did not descend from the formal, literary Latin we study today, but from “Proto-Romance” or “Vulgar Latin”—the actual speech of the people, which differed significantly in form and category from the highly structured literary standard.

The Function of a Synthetic Standard

The importance of Grammar was rooted in its role as an a-historical medium. Because it was perceived as a “perfected” construction rather than a naturally changing dialect, it served two primary purposes:

1. Universal Communication: It provided a social and intellectual standard that allowed speakers of disparate vernaculars (such as a Frenchman and an Italian) to communicate through a shared, stable system.

2. Temporal Continuity: It acted as a bridge across centuries. Because Grammar was unchanging, a scholar in the 14th century could engage directly with the works of Cicero from the 1st century BC, unhindered by the linguistic drift that characterizes spoken languages.

Furthermore, learning Grammar was viewed as an intellectual advancement. By mastering Latin, a speaker of a vernacular like French would discover grammatical distinctions—such as the dative or ablative cases—that might be absent in their native speech but were thought to represent deeper levels of human cognition and semantics.

Parallels in the Indo-Aryan Tradition

This perception of language was not unique to Western Europe. A strikingly similar phenomenon occurred in India with Sanskrit. While modern linguistics categorizes North Indian languages like Hindi and Bengali as descendants of Sanskrit, the traditional Indian view was that Sanskrit was a “perfected” or “refined” speech (Saṃskṛtam). It was not regarded as a naturally evolving language, but as one intentionally polished and preserved.

When European scholars first encountered Sanskrit in the 18th and 19th centuries, they were struck by its manifest similarities to Latin and Greek. However, the disparity between Sanskrit and the living North Indian languages was so great that some early scholars struggled to see the connection, viewing the vernaculars as entirely separate entities or “degenerate” imitations. The religious significance of Sanskrit further reinforced this need for stability; the Paninian school of linguistics was founded on the necessity of absolute phonetic and grammatical precision to ensure the efficacy of liturgical prayers.

The Importance of Contextual Translation

The historical nuance of the word “Grammar” highlights a significant challenge in translation. Modern translators often replace the word grammatica in Dante’s texts with “Latin” to assist the reader. However, this practice obscures the original conceptual framework. By substituting a modern ethnic or historical label for the word “Grammar,” we lose sight of the fact that thinkers like Dante viewed the language as a distinct, artificial abstraction of human thought rather than merely an older version of their own speech.

In conclusion, “Grammar” was historically understood as an unchanging, perfected standard that served as the bedrock of civilization, religious practice, and intellectual inquiry. Whether in the form of Latin in Europe or Sanskrit in India, these languages were valued precisely because they stood outside the flow of historical time, providing a consistent lens through which to view human cognition and maintain cultural continuity.

In close to 80 years of Independence the ideals of the Indian power elite have been predicated on a pastiche of sentimentality and emotional incontinence. What little political theory that escapes the clutches of sentimentality is mired in kitsch i.e. naïve and gratuitous imitation.

We believe that these limitations on our intellectual life have led to the relative ruder-lessness of Indian leadership, in the past 80 years we have not been at the forefront of a single world historical event, the only award we might win is that of being laggards.

These failures of thought have real material implications- most clearly demonstrated by the fact that our best and brightest, and now even the most ordinary and unremarkable all dream of one day fleeing this country for another. The people have voted with their feet and their wallets, and the verdict on our country is in the negative.

Is it not a shame that 80 years after independence one the chief ambitions of an Indian to go live in Britain? Or Canada? Or America? Were the detractors of independence, right? That we are incapable of governing ourselves? And which other country sends its best and brightest, its future leaders to be educated in another country? Where the children of the ruling class hold citizenships of every other country but their own, what does this say about the loyalties of these people? This is not the behavior of a sovereign nation; this is the behavior of a vassal state.

And it is the fate of a vassal to be strip mined of its wealth, resources, and its people, its culture deracinated and turned into a pastiche. To be a vassal state is bad enough to be the citizen of a vassal state is an even worse fate, this is a fate that we wish to avoid for our country and its peoples. The fate of the Philippines or Thailand is not worth pursuing.

Good roads and clean air are basic requirements we aim for greatness we look up to the sort of society that put a man on the moon, our ambitions are not limited to trying to turn our country into Basically-fine-istan. We aim for greatness for the nation and its people.

We aim to complete and fulfil the dreams of our forefathers, we aim to achieve Purna-swaraj, and Purna-swaraj begins with Swarajya of the mind, we do not care to ingratiate ourselves to established figures or established norms, we believe that the norms and ideals that have governed Indian political life for the last eight decades belong in the waste basket of history.

We offer a program of politics and life that aims to light the flame of life in you, we believe the State must govern in the path of Dharma and the individual must strive for excellence, and that both should revere that which is Noble, Holy and True.

We say down with mediocrity, down with corruption and down with cowardice.

Welcome we are in for exciting times ahead.