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Latin

 
Dictionary: Lat·in   (lăt'n) pronunciation
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n.
    1. The Indo-European language of the ancient Latins and Romans and the most important cultural language of western Europe until the end of the 17th century.
    2. The Latin language and literature from the end of the third century B.C. to the end of the second century A.D.
    1. A member of a Latin people, especially a native or inhabitant of Latin America.
    2. A Latino or Latina.
  3. A native or resident of ancient Latium.
adj.
  1. Of, relating to, or composed in Latin: a Latin scholar; Latin verse.
    1. Of or relating to ancient Rome, its people, or its culture.
    2. Of or relating to Latium, its people, or its culture.
  3. Of or relating to the languages that developed from Latin, such as Italian, French, Spanish, and Portuguese, or to the peoples that speak them.
    1. Of or relating to the peoples, countries, or cultures of Latin America.
    2. Of or relating to Latinos or their culture.
  5. Of or relating to the Roman Catholic Church.

[Middle English, from Old French and from Old English lǣden, both from Latin Latīnus, from Latium, an ancient country of west-central Italy.]


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Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: Latin language
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Indo-European language of the Italic group; ancestor of the modern Romance languages. Originally spoken by small groups of people living along the lower Tiber River, Latin spread with the growth of Roman political power, first throughout Italy and then through most of western and southern Europe and the central and western Mediterranean coastal regions of Africa. The earliest known Latin inscriptions date from the 7th century BC; Latin literature dates from the 3rd century BC. A gap soon appeared between literary (classical) Latin and the popular spoken language, Vulgar Latin. The Romance languages developed from dialects of the latter. During the Middle Ages and much of the Renaissance, Latin was the language most widely employed in the West for scholarly and literary purposes. Until the latter part of the 20th century, its use was required in the liturgy of the Roman Catholic church.

For more information on Latin language, visit Britannica.com.

Classical Literature Companion: Latin language
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Latin language 1. Latin was the language of the city of Rome and the territory of Latium to the south; it spread with the power of Rome until it became the language of most of western Europe. It is known to have been one of several related dialects which formed the Italic group in the Indo-European family of languages, but it is not at all close to Greek, although the latter is also Indo-European. Its nearest Italic relative is Faliscan, and it is markedly different from the other main branch of Italic, Osco-Umbrian (Oscan was spoken in the Samnite territories, and Umbrian in central Italy to the north-east of Rome; both are known only from inscriptions, proper names, and the writings of early grammarians). It is possible that both Latin and Osco-Umbrian developed separately out of one common Italic language, but it is perhaps more likely that Latin resulted from the fusion of one Italic-speaking people with a pre-existing population of Latium. Exactly how and when Italic speakers came into Italy is not clear, nor are the reasons for the development of their different dialects. Other languages spoken in Italy in early historical times were Greek in the south, Celtic in the north, and the (non-Indo-European) language of Etruria, all of which exercised some influence upon Latin. The Latin alphabet seems not to have been derived directly from the Greek but to be partly of Etruscan origin.

In the course of its long history, Latin has undergone considerable change. Scholars of the late republic and early empire did not find archaic Latin easy to understand or attractive (see LIVIUS ANDRONICUS, SALII, and TWELVE TABLES). Polybius, writing in the second century BC of the ‘first Carthaginian treaty’ (perhaps 509 BC), says that even the best scholars after much study had difficulty in interpreting some of it.

The following periods can be distinguished: early Latin, up to about 100 BC; classical (or ‘Golden Age’) Latin, from 100 BC to the death of Livy, occurring soon after the death of the emperor Augustus in AD 14 (the literary activity of Cicero and Caesar gives special importance to the years 81–43 BC; see also CLASSIC); ‘Silver Latin’, the term which describes the post-classical period up to about AD 150, and marks a falling off from the preceding Golden Age; and late Latin, from AD 150, which merges into medieval Latin.

2. Silver Latin. The period of Silver Latin, broadly from the time of the deaths of Livy and Augustus, say AD 14, to about 150, is a period of what can generally be considered a decline from previous greatness. It is characterized by the development of rhetoric, which led to a striving for novelty and effect, over and above meaning, and is marked by exaggerated emphases, antitheses, and epigrams. These trends are seen most clearly in the prose of Tacitus and the poetry of Lucan.

3. Spoken or colloquial Latin. These terms cover the easy ‘everyday speech’ (sermo cotidiānus) of educated people. The plays of Plautus and Terence provide the best evidence for this style, but also important are the letters of Cicero, especially those to his intimate friend Atticus, with their very free syntax. In similar vein, although poetic, are Horace's Satires and Epistles, and parts of Catullus. Interesting in this respect is the Satyricon of Petronius, which ranges from cultured urbanity to coarse vulgarity.

4. Vulgar Latin. Vulgar Latin is the spoken Latin of the uneducated classes in Rome, Italy, and the provinces. It is known from inscriptions and especially graffiti, a few texts such as the Satyricon of Petronius (see 3 above), and the early development of the Romance languages. It is marked by slurred or confused pronunciation, resulting in different spellings, a standardization of originally diverse word forms, a break-down of declensions leading to an increased use of prepositions, a much simpler syntax, and a more natural word-order.

 
Columbia Encyclopedia: Latin language
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Latin language, member of the Italic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages. Latin was first encountered in ancient times as the language of Latium, the region of central Italy in which Rome is located (see Italic languages). Roman conquests later spread Latin throughout Italy and the vast Roman Empire. Numerous documents, such as Latin inscriptions and literary works, furnish much information about the language, as do the comments of ancient scholars and various related dialects and languages. After the ancient Romans began to develop a literature (in the 3d cent. B.C.), a gap emerged between literary, or classical, Latin and Vulgar Latin, which was the popular (spoken) form of the language. This division had become considerable by the beginning of the Roman Empire. It is especially from Vulgar Latin, carried by the soldiers and colonists of Rome throughout the Roman Empire, that the modern Romance languages are descended.

Classical Latin

Classical Latin, distinguished by its formality and elegance, was greatly influenced in vocabulary, grammar, and style by Greek. By the end of the Roman Republic (1st cent. B.C.) classical Latin had become a suitable medium for the greatest poetry and prose of the day. Grammatically, classical Latin featured five declensions and six cases in its inflection of the noun; there was no definite article. Noun subclassifications included three genders (masculine, feminine, and neuter) and two numbers (singular and plural). Verb inflection was highly developed, expressing tense, mood, voice, person, and number. Latin is written in the Roman alphabet, which was apparently derived from the Etruscan alphabet. The latter, in turn, was adapted from the Greek alphabet (see Greek language).

Vulgar Latin

Vulgar Latin differed from classical Latin in its increased use of prepositions, its less frequent employment of inflection, its greater regularity of word order, and, to some extent, in its vocabulary. Classical Latin was more formal and elegant stylistically. With the triumph of Christianity in the 4th cent. A.D., Vulgar Latin grew in literary significance, as evidenced by the Vulgate, St. Jerome's translation of the Bible into Vulgar Latin. The new religion stressed equality before God, and its advocates tried to reach as many in the empire as possible through the everyday speech of the common people.

Latin in the Modern World

Latin survives as the official tongue of Vatican City and as the official language of communication of the Roman Catholic Church. Until the 1960s, it was also the language of the Roman Catholic liturgy and is still so used under certain conditions. During the Middle Ages it flourished as the language of the universities, scholars, and writers. It was the language of diplomacy in Europe as late as the 17th cent. and was still widely used in scholarly writing in the 19th cent. Today, although the language has a diminished role in the school curriculum, Latin roots continue to serve as a major source for the derivation of new terms in the sciences and technologies.

Bibliography

See C. D. Buck, Comparative Grammar of Greek and Latin (3d ed. 1948); E. Pulgram, The Tongues of Italy: Prehistory and History (1958); A. M. Gessman, The Tongue of the Romans (1970); R. S. Conway, The Making of Latin (1983); L. R. Palmer, The Latin Language (new ed. 1988).

History 1450-1789: Latin
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Latin continued to be taught, studied, and even spoken in the early modern period. Knowledge of Latin was a sign of social prestige. It was the international language used to conduct the day-to-day business of church and state. It was, above all, the language of the educated and governing classes. University courses were taught in Latin, scholars wrote in Latin, and most official correspondence was conducted in Latin.

Latin remained a living language throughout the Middle Ages and into the early modern period. Medieval Latin, however, differed considerably from the language spoken within the Roman Empire. New words had filtered their way into the language to meet the needs of political, ecclesiastical, and academic institutions, which were almost entirely medieval products. Words had changed meaning over the centuries, some of the grammatical rules had been altered, vernacular words had crept in, and spelling and pronunciation were inconsistent. Efforts were made by humanist scholars to stress the importance of classical Roman authors, particularly Cicero, Virgil, and Horace, as models for their own writings. Medieval Latin was considered by many humanists to be barbarous in comparison with the elegance of classical Latin. Not all scholars agreed, however. Many expressed their concern that an emphasis on the beauty of pagan classical Latin would corrupt the church and its theology.

Lorenzo Valla's (1407–1457) ambitious Elegantiae linguae latinae libri sex (printed 1471; Six books of the elegances of the Latin language) was a widely circulated work that proposed such reforms. Valla, like Desiderius Erasmus (1466?–1536), never advocated a slavish imitation of the classical authors. Other humanists, however, were proponents of Ciceronianism, the view that Cicero, considered by many to be the best Latin author of the classical world, should be the model for contemporary Latin usage. This meant that Ciceronians would only use words and constructions found in Cicero's writings. This movement was especially popular in Rome since Ciceronian language lent the majesty and authority of imperial Rome to the ideology and theology of the Renaissance papacy.

New Latin grammars were written with the hope of replacing the popular medieval grammars, such as the Doctrinale (c. 1199) of Alexander de Villa Dei, but this did not achieve wide success until the second half of the sixteenth century. Likewise, medieval spellings of certain words continued to be used into the sixteenth century despite efforts to restore the classical spelling. Latin pronunciation, too, varied significantly from region to region, as speakers tended to follow the norms of their mother tongue. Therefore, when Englishmen, Germans, and Italians were in the same room, they spoke Latin to each other, but with such different pronunciations that they sometimes could not be understood. The Italian pronunciation was most widely accepted because many people studied Latin in Italy, where they acquired this pronunciation.

By the seventeenth century, however, the attempts by humanists to restore classical Latin became overshadowed by the rise of the vernacular languages and the discoveries of the scientific revolution. Many European vernacular languages, such as French, English, and Italian, were highly developed and had become classical languages in their own right by this time. Each could boast of their own great writers, such as Dante (1265–1321) and Shakespeare (1564–1616). Furthermore, people still had to come up with new words to describe the new discoveries in science and technology that surpassed those of the Romans. Although scholars of the scientific revolution were trained in classical Latin, the number of academic works written in the vernacular began to increase rapidly. For example, Galileo Galilei (1564–1642) published some of his scientific results in Italian, Isaac Newton (1642–1727) in English, and Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz (1646–1716) in French. It took a long time before Latin was altogether replaced by the vernacular languages. In the early modern period, the choice of Latin still offered a writer several advantages. First, a work in Latin reached a broader audience since Latin was an international language. Second, Latin offered a more stable and standardized medium, while the vernacular languages were in a state of flux and changing rapidly. As society changed, the need for knowing Latin declined, and by the nineteenth century the vernacular languages had all but taken over.

Bibliography

Benner, Margareta, and Emin Tengström. On the Interpretation of Learned Neo-Latin. Göteborg, 1977.

Grafton, Anthony. "The New Science and the Traditions of Humanism." In The Cambridge Companion to Renaissance Humanism, edited by Jill Kraye, pp. 203–223. Cambridge, U.K., and New York, 1996.

Jensen, Kristian. "The Humanist Reform of Latin Teaching." In The Cambridge Companion to Renaissance Humanism, edited by Jill Kraye, pp. 63–81. Cambridge, U.K., and New York, 1996.

The Right Way of Speaking Latin and Greek: A Dialogue. In Collected Works of Erasmus, vol. 26. Edited by Maurice Pope. Toronto, 1985.

Tunberg, Terence. "Neo-Latin Literature and Language." In Encyclopedia of the Renaissance, edited by Paul F. Grendler et al. Vol. 4, pp. 289–294. New York, 1999.

—MILTON KOOISTRA

History Dictionary: Latin
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The language of ancient Rome. When Rome became an empire, the language spread throughout southern and western Europe.

  • The modern Romance languages — French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, and a few others — are all derived from Latin.
  • During the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, Latin was the universal language of learning. Even in modern English, many scholarly, technical, and legal terms, such as per se and habeas corpus, retain their Latin form.

    • Word Tutor: Latin
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    pronunciation

    IN BRIEF: n. - Any dialect of the language of ancient Rome.

    pronunciation Fools laugh at the Latin language. — Ovid

    Wikipedia: Latin
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    For other uses, see Latins and Latin (disambiguation).
    Latin
    Latin: Lingua latina
    Latin inscription in the Colosseum
    Alt text
    Pronunciation /laˈtiːna/
    Spoken in Roman Republic, Roman Empire, Medieval Europe, Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia (as lingua franca), Vatican City
    Total speakers —
    Language family Indo-European
    Official status
    Official language in Holy See
    Regulated by Anciently, Roman schools of grammar and rhetoric.[1] In contemporary time, Opus Fundatum Latinitas.[2]
    Language codes
    ISO 639-1 la
    ISO 639-2 lat
    ISO 639-3 lat
    The range of Latin, AD 60
    Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode.

    Latin (lingua lătīna, pronounced [laˈtiːna]) is an Italic language[3] originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. With the Roman conquest, Latin was spread to countries around the Mediterranean, including a large part of Europe. Romance languages, such as Catalan, French, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, and Spanish are descended from Latin,[4] while many others, especially European languages, have inherited and acquired much of their vocabulary from it. It was the international language of science and scholarship in central and western Europe until the 17th century, when it was gradually replaced by vernacular languages.

    Contents

    Legacy

    The Latin heritage has been delivered in these broad genres:

    • Inscriptions
    • Latin literature
    • Latin words and concepts in modern languages and scientific terminology
    • An extensive tradition of instruction in the Latin language, including grammars and dictionaries

    Most inscriptions have been published in an internationally agreed upon, monumental, multi-volume series termed the Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum (CIL). Authors and publishers vary but the format is approximately the same: volumes detailing inscriptions with a critical apparatus stating the provenience and relevant information. The reading and interpretation of these inscriptions is the subject matter of the field of epigraphy. In addition to the approximately 180,000 known inscriptions the works of several hundred ancient authors who wrote in Latin have survived in whole or in part, in substantial works or in fragments to be analyzed in philology. They are in part the subject matter of the field of classics. Their works were published in manuscript form before the invention of printing and now exist in carefully annotated printed editions, such as the Loeb Classical Library by Harvard University Press.

    For more details on this topic, see Latin literature.

    There has also been a major Latin influence in English. In the medieval period, much of this borrowing occurred through ecclesiastical usage established by Saint Augustine of Canterbury in the 6th century, or indirectly after the Norman Conquest, through the Anglo-Norman language. From the 16th to the 18th centuries, English writers cobbled together huge numbers of new words from Latin and Greek roots. These words were dubbed "inkhorn" or "inkpot" words, as if they had spilled from a pot of ink. Many of these words were used once by the author and then forgotten, but some were so useful that they survived. Imbibe and extrapolate are inkhorn terms created from Latin words. Many of the most common polysyllabic English words are simply adapted Latin forms, in a large number of cases adapted by way of Old French.

    History of Latin

    Main article: History of Latin

    Latin has been divided into historical phases, each of which is distinguished by minor differences in vocabulary, usage, spelling, morphology and syntax. In addition to the historical phases, Ecclesiastical Latin refers to the styles used by the writers of the Roman Catholic Church in all historical phases from Late Latin on.

    Old, early or archaic Latin

    Main article: Old Latin

    The earliest known is Old Latin, a phase of the early and middle Roman republic attested in inscriptions and the earliest surviving Latin works of literature.

    Classical Latin

    Main article: Classical Latin

    Old Latin was followed in the late republic and empire by Classical Latin, a conscious creation of the orators, poets, historians and other literate men, who wrote the great works of classical literature, and was taught in the schools of grammar and rhetoric. The concepts of today's instructional grammars originated in these schools, which served as a sort of informal language academy to maintain and perpetuate the classical language.[5][6]

    Late Latin

    Main article: Late Latin

    After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, literary Latin survived as the lingua franca of educated classes in the West. The population of the Eastern Roman Empire, later known as Byzantine, used a form of Greek that evolved into modern Greek, even though the administration assumed names and titles that had come from Latin. The eastern empire survived until it was conquered by the Ottoman Empire.

    Vulgar Latin

    Main article: Vulgar Latin

    Philological analysis of Old Latin works, such as the plays of Plautus, which contain dialogue purporting to be the speech of the common people, indicates that contemporaneous with the literary and official language was a spoken language, which has from ancient times been called Vulgar Latin (sermo vulgi in Cicero), the language of the vulgus or "common people." Since the vulgus spoke — but did not write their language — it can only be known through words and phrases cited by classical authors or in inscriptions.[7]

    As vulgar Latin was not under the control or encouragement of the schools of rhetoric, there is no reason to expect any uniformity of speech either diachronically or geographically. Just the opposite must have been true: European populations learning Latin developed their own dialects of the language.[8] This is the situation that prevailed when the Migration Period, ca. 300-700 AD, brought an end to the unity and peace of the Roman world and removed the stabilizing influence of its institutions on the language. A post-classical phase of Latin appeared, Late Latin, in which the spoken forms reappeared, and which is regionalized. Starting about the 5th or 6th centuries, Late Latin contains minor features that are germinal to the development of the Romance languages.

    One of the tests as to whether a given Latin feature or usage was in the spoken language is to compare its reflex in a Romance language with the equivalent structure in classical Latin. If it appeared in the Romance language but was not preferred in classical Latin, then it passes the test as being vulgar Latin. For example, grammatical case in nouns is present in classical Latin but not in the Romance languages, excluding Romanian. One might conclude that case endings in regions other than Romania were already wholly or partly missing in the spoken language even while being insisted upon in the written. (Even in Romanian there are as many case endings for nouns as there are for pronouns in the other languages; cf. Romanian endings i, lor with the Italian pronouns gli, loro). Also, much of the vocabulary that went into the Romance languages came from Vulgar Latin rather than classical. The following examples follow the formula, classical Latin word/vulgar Latin word/ Italian word/ French word: ignis/focus/fuoco/feu, equus/caballus/cavallo/cheval, loquor/parabolare/parlare/parler, pulcher/bellus/bello/bel (or belle).[9] In each case French does not use the classical Latin word. The words actually used: focus, caballus, etc., must have been in the Vulgar Latin vocabulary.

    The expansion of the Roman Empire had spread Latin throughout Europe. Vulgar Latin began to diverge into various dialects and many of these into distinct Romance languages by the 9th century at very latest, when the earliest known writings appeared. The languages must already have been in place. These were, for many centuries, only oral languages, Latin still being used for writing. For example, Latin was still the official language of Portugal until 1296, when Portuguese replaced it. Portuguese had already developed and was in use under the umbrella of the vulgar language.

    Medieval Latin

    Main article: Medieval Latin
    The language of Rome has had a profound impact on later cultures, as demonstrated by this Latin Bible from 1407

    The term Medieval Latin refers to the written Latin in use during that portion of the post-classical period when no corresponding Latin vernacular existed. The spoken language had developed into the various incipient Romance Languages; however, in the educated and official world Latin continued without its spoken base. Moreover, this Latin spread into lands that had never spoken Latin, such as the Germanic and Slavic nations. It became useful as a means of international communication between the member states of the Holy Roman Empire and its allies.

    Cut loose from its corrective spoken base and severed from the vanished institutions of the Roman empire that had supported its uniformity, mediaeval Latin lost the precise knowledge of correctness; for example, suus ("his/her own") and eius ("his/her") are used interchangeably, an error that would have been swiftly corrected in the schools of classical Rome. In classical Latin sum and eram are used as auxiliary verbs in the perfect and pluperfect passive, which are compound tenses. Mediaeval Latin might use fui and fueram instead.[10] Furthermore the meanings of many words have changed and new vocabulary has been introduced from the vernacular.

    While these minor changes are not enough to impair comprehension of the language, they introduce a certain flexibility not in it previously. The style of each individual author is characterized by his own uses of classically incorrect Latin to such a degree that he can be identified just by reading his Latin. In that sense mediaeval Latin is a collection of individual Latins united loosely by the main structures of the language. Some are more classical, others less so.[10] As the majority of these writers were influential members of the Christian church: bishops, monks, philosophers, etc., the term Ecclesiastical Latin does not accurately apply; the majority were ecclesiastical by occupation but there was no uniform language of the church; that was a product of the Renaissance. Late Latin is sometimes classified as mediaeval, sometimes not. Certainly many of the individual Latins were influenced by the vernaculars of their authors.

    Renaissance Latin

    Main article: Renaissance Latin

    The Renaissance briefly reinforced the position of Latin as a spoken language, through its adoption by the Renaissance Humanists. Often led by members of the clergy, they were shocked by the accelerated dismantling of the vestiges of the classical world and the rapid loss of its literature. They strove to preserve what they could. It was they who introduced the practice of producing revised editions of the literary works that remained by comparing surviving manuscripts, and they who attempted to restore Latin to what it had been. They corrected mediaeval Latin out of existence no later than the 15th century and replaced it with more formally correct versions supported by the scholars of the rising universities, who attempted, through scholarship, to discover what the classical language had been.

    Language characteristics

    Throughout its entire history the Latin language retained the same major characteristics and is on that account classified as one language. These characteristics are reflected best in the classical Latin period and are introduced in this article rather than in the Classical Latin article.

    Over its 2500-3000 year history the language varied considerably in minor ways. In general, a native speaker in one historical period understood the Latin of another only with difficulty or not at all. Persons educated in Latin, however, were able through study to broaden their horizons to two or more periods, an event that always commanded the respect of their peers. Queen Elizabeth I of England and her close relatives, for example, who received the best classical education from tutors hired for the purpose from Oxford University, were respected at home and abroad for their command of Latin and ancient Greek. Elizabeth could when required slip easily from French or Spanish into Latin for the convenience of foreign dignitaries.

    Pronunciation

    Main article: Latin spelling and pronunciation

    Pronounciation of Latin by the Romans in ancient times can be reconstructed from evidence in the modern Romance languages, transliteration to and from Greek, and the statements of ancient authors themselves.

    Latin spelling seems to have been a fairly close representation of the pronunciation, but some distinctions did not show up in the spelling. In particular all vowels could be either long or short, the letter N before G, or X (and probably G before N) represented IPA /ŋ/ (like English ng in sing) and the letters I and V each functioned sometimes as a vowel and sometimes as a consonant. In modern texts, V is generally printed as U / u when a vowel and V / v when a consonant. (Some newer editions, such as the Oxford Latin Dictionary, use V for upper case and u for lower case.) Less commonly, I is printed as I / i when a vowel and J / j when a consonant.

    Most of the letters are pronounced the same as in English, but note the following:

    Consonants:
    • c = /k/ (never "soft c")
    • g = /g/ (never "soft g")
    • t = /t/ (never as in English nation)
    • v (consonantal u) = /w/
    • j (consonantal i) = /j/ (like English y in you)
    Vowels:
    • a = /a/ when short and /aː/ when long.
    • e = /ɛ/ (as in pet) when short and /eː/ (somewhat as in English they) when long.
    • i = /ɪ/ (as in pin) when short and /iː/ (as in machine) when long
    • o = /ɔ/ (as in British English got) when short and /oː/ (somewhat as in holy) when long.
    • u = /ʊ/ (as in put) when short and /uː/ (as in true) when long.

    Orthography

    Main article: Latin alphabet
    The Duenos inscription, from the 6th century BC, is the earliest known Old Latin text.

    To write Latin, the Romans used the Latin alphabet, derived from the Old Italic alphabet, which itself was derived from the Greek alphabet. The Latin alphabet flourishes today as the writing system for the Romance, Celtic, Germanic (including English), and some Slavic (such as Polish) languages, among others.

    The ancient Romans did not use punctuation; macrons (although they did use apices to distinguish between long and short vowels); the letters j, u or w; lowercase letters (although they did have a cursive script); or interword spacing (though dots were occasionally placed between words that would otherwise be difficult to distinguish). So, a sentence originally written as:

    LVGETEOVENERESCVPIDINESQVE

    would be rendered in a modern edition as

    Lugete, O Veneres Cupidinesque

    or with macrons

    Lūgēte, Ō Venerēs Cupīdinēsque.

    and translated as

    Mourn, O Venuses and Cupids
    A replica of the Old Roman Cursive inspired by the Vindolanda tablets

    The Roman cursive script is commonly found on the many wax tablets excavated at sites such as forts, an especially extensive set having been discovered at Vindolanda on Hadrian's Wall in Britain. Curiously enough, most of the Vindolanda tablets show spaces between words, though spaces were avoided in monumental inscriptions from that era.

    Grammar

    Mergefrom.svg
    		 It has been suggested that Latin numbers: 1-10‎ be merged into this article or section. (Discuss)
    Main article: Latin grammar

    Latin is a synthetic, fusional language: affixes (often suffixes, which usually encode more than one grammatical category) are attached to fixed stems to express gender, number, and case in adjectives, nouns, and pronouns—a process called declension. Affixes are attached to fixed stems of verbs, as well, to denote person, number, tense, voice, mood, and aspect—a process called conjugation.

    Nouns

    Main article: Latin declension

    There are six main Latin noun cases. These play a major part in determining a noun's syntactic role in the sentence, so word order is not as important in Latin as it is in some other languages, such as English. Because of noun cases, words can often be moved around in a sentence without significantly altering its meaning, though the emphasis will have been altered. The cases, with their most important uses, are these:

    1. Nominative: used when the noun is the subject of the sentence or phrase, or when functioning as a predicative of the subject. The thing or person acting (e.g., The girl ran. Puella cucurrit.)
    2. Genitive: used when the noun is the possessor of an object (e.g., "the horse of the man", or "the man's horse"—in both of these cases, the word man would be in the genitive case when translated into Latin). Also indicates material of which something greater is made (e.g., "a group of people"; "a number of gifts"—people and gifts would be in the genitive case). Some nouns are genitive with special verbs and adjectives too. (e.g., The cup is full of wine. Poculum plenum vini est. The master of the slave had beaten him. Dominus servi eum verberaverat.)
    3. Dative: used when the noun is the indirect object of the sentence, with special verbs, with certain prepositions, and if used as agent, reference, or even possessor. (e.g., The merchant hands over the stola to the woman. Mercator feminae stolam tradit.)
    4. Accusative: used when the noun is the direct object of the sentence/phrase, with certain prepositions, or as the subject of an infinitive. The thing or person having something done to them. (e.g., The slave woman carries the wine. Ancilla vinum portat.)
    5. Ablative: used when the noun demonstrates separation or movement from a source, cause, agent, or instrument, or when the noun is used as the object of certain prepositions; adverbial.
    6. Vocative: used when the noun is used in a direct address. The vocative form of a noun is the same as the nominative except for second declension nouns ending in -us. The -us becomes an -e or if it ends in -ius (such as filius) then the ending is just -i (fili) (as distinct from the plural nominative (filii). (e.g., "Master!" shouted the slave. "Domine!" servus clamavit.)

    There is also a seventh case, called the Locative case, used to indicate a location and services (corresponding to the English "in" or "at"). This is far less common than the other six cases of Latin nouns and usually applies to cities, small towns, and small islands, along with a few common nouns. In the first and second declension singular, its form coincides with the genitive (Roma becomes Romae, "in Rome"). In the plural, and in the other declensions, it coincides with the dative and ablative (Athenae becomes Athenis, "at Athens").

    Latin lacks definite and indefinite articles; thus puer currit can mean either "the boy runs" or "a boy runs".

    Verbs

    Main article: Latin conjugation

    Verbs in Latin are usually identified by four main conjugations, groups of verbs with similarly inflected forms. The first conjugation is typified by active infinitive forms ending in -āre, the second by active infinitives ending in -ēre, the third by infinitives ending in -ere, and the fourth by active infinitives ending in -īre. However, there are exceptions to these rules. Further, there is a subset of the 3rd conjugation, the -iō verbs, which behave somewhat like the 4th conjugation. There are five general tenses in Latin (present, imperfect, future, perfect and pluperfect), three grammatical moods (indicative, imperative and subjunctive, in addition to the infinitive, participle, gerund, gerundive and supine), three persons (first, second, and third), two numbers (singular and plural), two voices (active and passive), and a few aspects. Verbs are described by four principal parts:

    1. The first principal part is the first person (or third person for impersonal verbs) singular, present tense, indicative mood, active voice form of the verb (or passive voice for verbs lacking an active voice).
    2. The second principal part is the present infinitive active (or passive for verbs lacking an active) form.
    3. The third principal part is the first person (or third person for impersonal verbs) singular, perfect indicative active (or passive when there is no active) form.
    4. The fourth principal part is the supine form, or alternatively, the nominative singular, perfect passive participle form of the verb. The fourth principal part can show either one gender of the participle, or all three genders (-us for masculine, -a for feminine, and -um for neuter). It can also be the future participle when the verb cannot be made passive. Most modern Latin dictionaries, if only showing one gender, tend to show the masculine; however, many older dictionaries will instead show the neuter. The fourth principal part is sometimes omitted for intransitive verbs, although strictly in Latin these can be made passive if used impersonally.

    Contemporary use

    Main article: Contemporary Latin
    The signs at Wallsend Metro station are in English and Latin as a tribute to Wallsend's role as one of the outposts of the Roman empire.

    Latin lives in the form of Ecclesiastical Latin used for edicts and papal bulls issued by the Catholic Church, and in the form of a sparse sprinkling of scientific or social articles written in it, as well as in numerous Latin clubs. Latin vocabulary is used in science, academia, and law. Classical Latin is taught in many schools often combined with Greek in the study of Classics, though its role has diminished since the early 20th century. The Latin alphabet, together with its modern variants such as the English, Spanish and French alphabets, is the most widely used alphabet in the world. Terminology deriving from Latin words and concepts is widely used, among other fields, in philosophy, medicine, biology, and law, in terms and abbreviations such as subpoena duces tecum, q.i.d. (quater in die: "four times a day"), and inter alia (among other things). These Latin terms are used in isolation, as technical terms. In scientific names for organisms, Latin is typically the language of choice, followed by Greek.

    The largest organization that still uses Latin in official and quasi-official contexts is the Roman Catholic Church (particularly in the Latin Rite). The Tridentine Mass uses Latin, although the Mass of Paul VI is usually said in the local vernacular language, it can be and often is said in Latin, particularly in the Vatican. Indeed, Latin is still the official standard language of the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church, and the Second Vatican Council merely authorized that the liturgical books be translated and optionally used in the vernacular languages. Latin is the official language of the Holy See and the Vatican City-State. The Vatican City is also home to the only ATM where instructions are given in Latin.[11].

    Some films of relevant ancient settings, such as Sebastiane and The Passion of the Christ, have been made with dialogue in Latin for purposes of realism. Occasionally, Latin dialogues are used because of its association with religion or philosophy, in such film/TV series as the Exorcist and Lost (Jughead). Subtitles are usually employed for the benefit of audiences who do not understand Latin. There are also songs written with Latin lyrics.

    Many organizations today have Latin mottos, such as "Semper Paratus" (always ready), the motto of the United States Coast Guard, and "Semper fidelis" (always faithful), the motto of the United States Marine Corps. Several of the states of the United States also have Latin mottos, such as "Montani Semper Liberi" (Mountaineers are always free), the state motto of West Virginia, and "Esse Quam Videri" (To be rather than to seem), that of North Carolina.

    Latin grammar has been taught in most Italian schools since the 18th century: for example, in the Liceo classico and Liceo scientifico, Latin is still one of the primary subjects. Latin is taught in many schools and universities around the world as well.

    Instruction in Latin

    Main article: Instruction in Latin
    A multi-volume Latin dictionary in the University Library of Graz

    The Living Latin movement attempts to teach Latin in the same way that modern living languages are taught, i.e., as a means of both spoken and written communication. Living Latin instruction is provided at the Vatican, and at some institutions in the U.S., such as the University of Kentucky. In the United Kingdom, the Classical Association encourages this approach, and Latin language books describing the adventures of a mouse called Minimus have been published. In the United States, the National Junior Classical League (with more than 50,000 members) encourages high school students to pursue the study of Latin, and the National Senior Classical League encourages college students to continue their studies of the language.

    Many international auxiliary languages have been heavily influenced by Latin. Interlingua, which lays claim to a sizeable following, is sometimes considered a simplified, modern version of the language. Latino sine Flexione, popular in the early 20th century, is a language created from Latin with its inflections dropped.

    Latin translations of modern literature such as Treasure Island, Robinson Crusoe, Paddington Bear, Winnie the Pooh, Olivia, Tintin, Asterix, Harry Potter, "Walter the Farting Dog", Le Petit Prince, Max und Moritz, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and The Cat in the Hat are intended to bolster interest in the language.

    See also

    Language

    Wikipedia
    Latin edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
    Wikisource
    Latin edition of Wikisource, the free-content library

    Culture

    Search Wikiquote Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Latin proverbs
    Search Wikibooks Wikibooks has a book on the topic of
    Search Wiktionary Latin edition of Wiktionary, the free dictionary/thesaurus

    Notes

    1. ^ "Schools". Britannica (1911 ed.). 
    2. ^ Opus Fundatum Latinitas is an organ of the Roman Catholic Church, and regulates Latin with respect to its status as official language of the Holy See and for use by Catholic clergy.
    3. ^ Sandys, John Edwin (1910). A companion to Latin studies. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. pp. 811-812. 
    4. ^ Bryson, Bill (1996). The mother tongue: English and how it got that way. New York: Avon Books. pp. 33-34. 
    5. ^ Pope, Mildred K. From Latin to modern French with especial consideration of Anglo-Norman; phonology and morphology. Publications of the University of Manchester, no. 229. French series, no. 6. Manchester: Manchester university press. p. 3. 
    6. ^ Monroe, Paul (1902). Source book of the history of education for the Greek and Roman period. London, New York: Macmillan Co.. pp. 346-352. 
    7. ^ Herman (2000), pp. 17-18.
    8. ^ Herman (2000) p 8.
    9. ^ Herman (2000), pp. 1-3.
    10. ^ a b Thorley, John (1998). Documents in medieval Latin. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. pp. 13-15. 
    11. ^ Moore, Malcom (28 January 2007). "Pope's Latinist pronounces death of a language". The Daily Telegraph. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1540843/Popes-Latinist-pronounces-death-of-a-language.html. Retrieved 16 September 2009. 

    References

    • Bennett, Charles E. (1908). Latin Grammar. Chicago: Allyn and Bacon. 
    • Herman, József; Wright, Roger (Translator) (2000). Vulgar Latin. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press. 
    • Palmer, Frank Robert (1984). Grammar (2nd ed.). Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England; New York, N.Y., U.S.A.: Penguin Books. 
    • Vincent, N. (1990), "Latin", in Harris, M., The Romance Languages, Oxford: Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-520829-3 
    • Waquet, Françoise; Howe, John (Translator) (2003). Latin, or the Empire of a Sign: From the Sixteenth to the Twentieth Centuries. Verso. ISBN 1-85984-402-2. 
    • Wheelock, Frederic (2005). Latin: An Introduction (6th ed.). Collins. ISBN 0-06-078423-7. 

    External links

    v • d • e
    Ages of Latin
    until 75 BC 75 BC – 200 200–900 900–1300 1300–1500 1500–present 1900–present
    See also: History of Latin, Latin literature, Vulgar Latin, Ecclesiastical Latin, Romance languages, Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum

    This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

    Translations: Latin
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    Dansk (Danish)
    n. - latin, latinamerikaner
    adj. - latinsk, romersk, romersk-katolsk, romansk

    idioms:

    • latin alphabet    det latinske alfabet
    • latin American    latinamerikaner

    Nederlands (Dutch)
    Latijn, Latijns, Romaans, rooms-katholiek

    Français (French)
    n. - Latin, (Ling) latin
    adj. - latin, méditerranéen

    idioms:

    • latin alphabet    alphabet latin
    • latin American    Latino-américain, latino-américain

    Deutsch (German)
    n. - Latein, Latiner
    adj. - lateinisch, romanisch, südländisch, römisch

    idioms:

    • latin alphabet    lateinisches Alphabet
    • latin American    lateinamerikanisch, Lateinamerikaner

    Ελληνική (Greek)
    n. - Λατίνος, λατινική (γλώσσα), λατινικά
    adj. - λατινικός

    idioms:

    • latin alphabet    λατινικό αλφάβητο
    • latin American    Λατινοαμερικάνος, λατινοαμερικανικός

    Italiano (Italian)
    latino

    idioms:

    • latin alphabet    alfabeto latino
    • latin Americanow    latino-americano

    Português (Portuguese)
    n. - latim (m), latino (m)
    adj. - latino

    idioms:

    • latin alphabet    alfabeto (m) latino
    • latin American    latino-americano (m)

    Русский (Russian)
    латинский язык, католик, латинский, романский, католический

    idioms:

    • latin alphabet    латинский алфавит
    • latin American    латиноамериканский

    Español (Spanish)
    n. - latín, latino, romance
    adj. - latino, románico

    idioms:

    • latin alphabet    alfabeto latino
    • latin American    latinoamericano

    Svenska (Swedish)
    n. - latin, latiner (invånare i Latium)
    adj. - latinsk, romersk

    中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
    拉丁民族的人, 拉丁语, 拉丁文, 拉丁文的, 拉丁语的, 拉丁人的

    idioms:

    • latin alphabet    拉丁字母
    • latin American    拉丁美洲人, 拉丁美洲的

    中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
    n. - 拉丁民族的人, 拉丁語, 拉丁文
    adj. - 拉丁文的, 拉丁語的, 拉丁人的

    idioms:

    • latin alphabet    拉丁字母
    • latin American    拉丁美洲人, 拉丁美洲的

    한국어 (Korean)
    n. - 라틴어, 고대로마인, 고대카톨릭교도
    adj. - 라틴어의, 로마자의, 고대로마인의

    日本語 (Japanese)
    n. - ラテン語の, ラティウム人の, 古代ローマ人の, ラテン系の人, ラティウム人, 古代ローマ人, ラテン系の, ラテン語, ラテン民族の, ローマカトリック教徒

    idioms:

    • latin alphabet    ラテンアルファベット
    • latin American    ラテンアメリカの

    العربيه (Arabic)
    ‏(الاسم) شخص لاتيني, اللغه اللاتينيه (صفه) لاتيني‏

    עברית (Hebrew)
    n. - ‮לטינית (שפה)‬
    adj. - ‮לטינית, לטיני, של לטינית, של השפות הלטיניות, של הכנסיה הקתולית‬

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    Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
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