This document is a scholarly paper published in July 1941 as Volume V, Number 1 of the Publications of the Institute of National Language in Manila. The Institute, established to develop a Filipino national language, commissioned this essay by the renowned Filipino historian, Gregorio F. Zaide. The paper, originally a lecture, provides a comprehensive historical narrative on the Tagalog language. It traces Tagalog's origins as one of the principal languages of the Philippines, highlights the contributions of Spanish friar grammarians and lexicographers who first studied and documented it, and emphasizes its crucial role as the unifying language of the Propaganda Movement and the 1896 Philippine Revolution, utilized by national heroes like José Rizal, Andres Bonifacio, and Emilio Jacinto. Its publication during the final year of the Philippine Commonwealth era reflects the nation's intensified commitment to solidifying a distinct national identity through language just prior to the outbreak of World War II in the Pacific.
Ang Wikang Tagalog sa Larangan ng Kasaysayan