When one finds practically the same "tags" of verse in such different dialects as Danish and romaic, German and Italian, one cannot imagine that these sprang up independently in Denmark, Greece, Germany, and Florence.
"Europa's Fairy Book"
Joseph Jacobs
In Passow's collection of romaic Folk Songs there is one entitled Maurianos and the King, which is in substance our story; and it is probably the existence of this folk-song which causes M. Gaston Paris to place our tale among the romances derived from Byzantium.
"Old French Romances"
William Morris
As the English is to the Anglo-Saxon, so are the Danish, Swedish, and Norwegian, to the old Norse; so also the Modern High German to the Moeso-Gothic; so the Modern Dutch of Holland to the Old Frisian; so, moreover, amongst the languages of a different stock, are the French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanese and Wallachian to the Latin, and the romaic to the Ancient Greek.
"The English Language"
Robert Gordon Latham