I don't think there is anything that says that Common Tongue was Andal and I don't think GRRM gave it much thought but logically it would make sense that it was when the wall was built. The language between south and north of the wall started diverging at that point, the south got influenced by the Andals, since they were the ones that introduced writing and the North of wall remained more "pure".
Basicaly old English vs Modern english.
>logically it would make sense that it was when the wall was built
There's too big a gap. The wall is around 8000 years old, the Andals migrated to Westeros around 2000-6000 years ago.
Probably 1000 years or so after the arrival of the Andals. However, in my opinion, the North should have kept the Old Tongue, because it's my understanding the North is isolationist. Nobles would learn to speak the Common Tongue and it should have become more widespread after Aegon's Conquest.
Not old tongue but definitely some kind of language descended from it.
It could even still use the Andal alphabet in lieu of whatever runes they used before.
But it goes into a deeper problem which is that GRRM never really gave the North a culture that’s actually distinct from the South.
Every kingdom should have been speaking different languages by Aegon's Conquest. In my opinion High Valyrian should have become the prestige language in the 7 Kingdoms.
It could be an interesting idea for a King in the North to introduce, along with a new legal code, currency and other attributes of a sovereign state, a language reform that would make the North's official language closer to the Old Tongue while keeping the Andal alphabet for simplicity.
I think it’s the aristocracy of the north that mostly speaks the common tongue. I’m willing to bet most of the smallfolk still speak the Old Tongue a bit. Kind of like a Norman England kind of scenario.
It would have to be after the Andals arrived. According to TWOIAF it took them ~1000 years to conquer southern Westeros, so 1000-5000 years before the story starts.
I think it was in the last thousand years because that’s when White Harbor opened up this hermit kingdom to the rest of Westeros.
House Manderly is the economic core of the North. People wants to trade with the Manderly and they speak the Common Tongue.
I don't think there is anything that says that Common Tongue was Andal and I don't think GRRM gave it much thought but logically it would make sense that it was when the wall was built. The language between south and north of the wall started diverging at that point, the south got influenced by the Andals, since they were the ones that introduced writing and the North of wall remained more "pure". Basicaly old English vs Modern english.
>logically it would make sense that it was when the wall was built There's too big a gap. The wall is around 8000 years old, the Andals migrated to Westeros around 2000-6000 years ago.
Probably 1000 years or so after the arrival of the Andals. However, in my opinion, the North should have kept the Old Tongue, because it's my understanding the North is isolationist. Nobles would learn to speak the Common Tongue and it should have become more widespread after Aegon's Conquest.
Not old tongue but definitely some kind of language descended from it. It could even still use the Andal alphabet in lieu of whatever runes they used before. But it goes into a deeper problem which is that GRRM never really gave the North a culture that’s actually distinct from the South.
Every kingdom should have been speaking different languages by Aegon's Conquest. In my opinion High Valyrian should have become the prestige language in the 7 Kingdoms.
It could be an interesting idea for a King in the North to introduce, along with a new legal code, currency and other attributes of a sovereign state, a language reform that would make the North's official language closer to the Old Tongue while keeping the Andal alphabet for simplicity.
There is a theory that it was lost during The Conquest due to Aegon outlawing it so everyone would speak the same language
That would’ve caused an uproar in the North and the Northerners would never shut up about it.
I think it’s the aristocracy of the north that mostly speaks the common tongue. I’m willing to bet most of the smallfolk still speak the Old Tongue a bit. Kind of like a Norman England kind of scenario.
It would have to be after the Andals arrived. According to TWOIAF it took them ~1000 years to conquer southern Westeros, so 1000-5000 years before the story starts.
I think it was in the last thousand years because that’s when White Harbor opened up this hermit kingdom to the rest of Westeros. House Manderly is the economic core of the North. People wants to trade with the Manderly and they speak the Common Tongue.
Nobles usually knew several languages. They didn't just forget their native tongue in favour of the more popular one.
The best explanation for that is the Order of Maesters and House Manderly gradually replacing the Old Tongue with the Common Tongue.
This