118. M. Bonamy (Mem. de l'Academie des Inscriptions, tom.
xxiv. p. 582-670) has ascertained the 'Lingua Romana
Rustica', which, through the medium of the Romance, has
gradually been polished into the actual form of the French
language. Under the Carlovingian race the kings and nobles
of France still understood the dialect of their German
ancestors.