Latin appears to have been the original language of the Salic law. It was probably composed in the beginning of the fifth century, before the era (A.D. 421) of the real or fabulous Pharamond. The preface mentions the four cantons which produced the four legislators; and many provinces - Franconia, Saxony, Hanover, Brabant, etc. - have claimed them as their own. See an excellent Dissertation of Heineccius, de Lege Salica, tom. iii. Sylloge iii. p. 247-267.