Commentary Par XVIII 72

The phrase nostra favella has caused minor difficulty among those who (rightly) understand the noun usually to refer to vernacular speech and who therefore wonder why Dante uses this term for words that are Latin, and not Italian.  The rhyme position obviously forced Dante's hand a little here.  Most readers understand, along with Steiner (comm. to this verse) and, even more pointedly, Momigliano (DDP Momigliano.Par.XVIII.70-72), that we should take the phrase more broadly and as referring to human speech in general.