History of Latin
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2008-05-25T10:21:02Z
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/* Vulgar Latin */
[[Image:Duenos inscription.jpg|thumb|right|The [[Duenos inscription]], from the [[6th century BC]], is the second-earliest known [[Old Latin|Latin]] text.]]
'''[[Latin]]''' is a member of the family of [[Italic languages]], and its alphabet, the [[Latin alphabet]], emerged from the [[Old Italic alphabet]]s, which in turn were derived from the [[Greek alphabet|Greek]] and [[Phoenician alphabet|Phoenician]] scripts. Latin was first brought to the [[Italian peninsula]] in the [[9th century BC|9th]] or [[8th century BC]] by migrants from the north, who settled in the [[Latium]] region, specifically around the River [[Tiber]], where the [[ancient Rome|Roman civilization]] first developed. Latin was influenced by the [[Italo-Celtic|Celtic dialects]] in [[northern Italy]] and the non-[[Indo-European languages|Indo-European]] [[Etruscan language]] in [[Central Italy]], and by [[Ancient Greek|Greek]] in [[southern Italy]].
Although surviving [[Latin literature]] consists almost entirely of [[Classical Latin]], an artificial, highly stylized and polished [[literary language]] from the [[1st century BC]], the actual spoken language of the Roman Empire was [[Vulgar Latin]], which significantly differed from Classical Latin in grammar, vocabulary, and eventually pronunciation. Also, although Latin remained the main written language of the Roman Empire, [[Greek language|Greek]] came to be the language spoken by the well-educated elite, as most of the literature studied by Romans was written in Greek. In the eastern half of the Roman Empire, which became the [[Byzantine Empire]], the Greek [[Koine]] of [[Hellenistic civilization|Hellenism]] remained current and was never replaced by Latin.
==Origins==
{{main|Italic languages|Old Latin|History of the Latin case system}}
[[Image:Iron Age Italy.png|thumb|300px|Approximate distribution of languages in Iron Age [[Italy]] during the sixth century BC.]]
The '''Italic''' subfamily is a member of the [[Centum]] branch of the [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European]] language family. It includes the [[Romance languages]] (among others, [[French language|French]], [[Italian language|Italian]], [[Spanish language|Spanish]], [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]], [[Romanian language|Romanian]]), and a number of extinct languages.
'''Old Latin''' (also called '''Early Latin''' or '''Archaic Latin''') refers to the period of [[Latin]] texts before the age of [[Classical Latin]].
Broadly speaking, in stressed syllables the Indo-European simple vowels — ''(*a), *e, *i, *o, *u''; short and long — are usually retained in Latin. The [[Schwa#Schwa indogermanicum|schwa indogermanicum]] (''*ə'') appears in Latin as ''a'' (cf. IE ''*pəter'' > L ''pater''). Diphthongs are also preserved in Old Latin, but in Classical Latin some tend to become monophthongs (for example ''oi'' > ''ū'' or ''oe'', and ''ei'' > ''ē'' > ''ī'').<ref>{{cite book|last=Ramat|first=Anna G.|coauthors=Paolo Ramat|year=1998|title=The Indo-European Languages|publisher=[[Routledge]]|pages=272–75|isbn=0–415–06449–X}}</ref>
Other phonological characteristics of older Latin are the case endings ''-os'' and ''-om'' (later Latin ''-us'' and ''-um''). In many locations, classical Latin turned intervocalic /s/ into /r/. This had implications for [[declension]]: early classical Latin, ''honos'', ''honoris''; Classical ''honor'', ''honoris'' ("honor"). Some Old Latin texts preserve /s/ in this position, such as the [[Carmen Arvale]]'s ''lases'' for ''[[lares]]''.
From the original eight [[Grammatical case|case]]s of [[Proto-Indo-European language|Proto-Indo-European]], Latin inherited six: [[nominative]], [[vocative]], [[accusative case|accusative]], [[genitive]], [[dative case|dative]], and [[ablative]]. The Indo-European [[locative]] survived in the declensions of some place names and nouns, such as ''Roma'' “Rome” (locative ''Romae'') and ''domus'' “home” (locative ''domī'' “at home”). Vestiges of the [[instrumental case]] may remain in adverbial forms ending in ''-ē''.<ref>Ibid., p. 313</ref>
==Classical Latin==
{{main|Classical Latin}}
[[Image:Commentarii de Bello Gallico.jpg|thumb|[[Julius Caesar]]'s [[Commentarii de Bello Gallico]] is one of the most famous classical Latin texts.]]
'''Classical Latin''' is the form of the [[Latin]] language used by the [[ancient Rome|ancient Romans]] in what is usually regarded as "classical" [[Latin literature]]. Its use spanned the Golden Age of Latin literature—broadly the [[1st century BC]] and the early [[1st century]] AD—possibly extending to the Silver Age—broadly the 1st and [[2nd century|2nd centuries]].
What is now called "Classical Latin" was, in fact, a highly stylized and polished [[writing|written]] [[literary language]] (cf. [[acrolect]]) selectively constructed from [[Old Latin]], of which far fewer works remain. Classical Latin is the product of the reconstruction of early Latin in the prototype of [[Attic Greek]]. Classical Latin differs from the earliest Latin literature, such as that of [[Cato the Elder]], [[Plautus]], and to some extent [[Lucretius]], in a number of ways. It diverged from Old Latin in that the early ''-om'' and ''-os'' endings shifted into ''-um'' and ''-us'' ones, and some lexical differences also developed, such as the broadening of the meaning of words (e.g., ''forte'' meant not only "surprisingly" but also "hard"). Classical Latin was pronounced with a [[stress accent]], unlike Greek's [[pitch accent]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Allen|first=W. Sidney|year=1989|title=Vox Latina|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|pages=83-84|isbn=0–521–22049–1}}</ref>
The spoken Latin of the common people of the [[Roman Empire]], especially from the 2nd century onward, is generally called [[Vulgar Latin]]. Vulgar Latin differed from Classical Latin in its vocabulary and grammar, and as time passed, it came to differ in pronunciation as well.
===Golden Age===
The '''[[Golden_Age_%28metaphor%29|golden age]] of [[Latin literature]]''', in [[Latin]] '''''Latinitas aurea''''', is a period consisting roughly of the time from [[75 BC]] to AD [[14]], covering the end of the [[Roman Republic]] and the reign of [[Augustus Caesar]]. Many Classicists believe that this period represents the peak of Latin literature, and that its usage of the artificial and heavily stylized [[literary language]] known as [[Classical Latin]] represents the ideal norm which other writers should follow. Classical Latin continued to be used into the [[Silver Age of Latin literature]], the 1st and 2nd centuries.
===Silver Age===
In reference to [[Roman Empire|Roman]] literature, the '''Silver age''' covers the first two centuries A.D. directly after the [[Golden age of Latin Literature|Golden age]] (which was the first century B.C., and the start of the first century A.D.) Literature from the Silver age has traditionally, perhaps unfairly, been considered inferior to that of the Gold age. Silver Latin itself may be subdivided further into two periods: a period of radical experimentation in the latter half of the first century AD, and a renewed [[Neoclassicism]] in the second century AD.
Under the reigns of [[Nero]] and [[Domitian]], poets like [[Seneca the Younger]], [[Lucan (poet)|Lucan]] and [[Statius]] pioneered a unique style that has alternately delighted, disgusted and puzzled later critics.
==Vulgar Latin==
{{main|Vulgar Latin}}
[[Image:pompeii-graffiti.jpg|frame|Vulgar Latin, as in this political [[graffiti]] at [[Pompeii]], was the language of the ordinary people of the [[Roman Empire]], distinct from the [[Classical Latin]] of literature.]]
'''Vulgar Latin''' (in Latin, ''sermo vulgaris'') is a blanket term covering the [[vernacular]] dialects of the [[Latin|Latin language]] spoken mostly in the western [[Roman province|provinces]] of the [[Roman Empire]] until those dialects, diverging still further, evolved into the early [[Romance languages]] — a distinction usually assigned to about the [[9th century|ninth century]].
This spoken Latin differed from the [[literary language]] of [[classical Latin]] in its pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar. Some features of Vulgar Latin did not appear until the late Empire. Other features are likely to have been in place in spoken Latin, in at least its [[basilect]]al forms, much earlier. Most definitions of "vulgar Latin" mean that it is a spoken language, rather than a written language, because the evidence suggests that spoken Latin broke up into divergent [[dialect]]s during this period. Because there are few phonetic transcriptions the daily speech of Latin speakers during the period in question (eg. the [[Appendix Probi]], students of vulgar Latin must study it mainly through indirect methods.
[[Image:Hocgracili.jpg|thumb|350px|A replica of the Old Roman Cursive inspired by the [[Vindolanda tablets]]]]
Our knowledge of Vulgar Latin comes from three chief sources. First, the [[comparative method]] can reconstruct the underlying forms from the attested Romance languages, and note where they differ from classical Latin. Second, various [[Prescription and description|prescriptive grammar]] texts from the late Latin period condemn linguistic errors that Latin users were likely to commit, providing insight into how Latin speakers used their language. Finally, the [[solecism]]s and non-Classical usages that occasionally are found in late Latin texts also shed light on the spoken language of the writer. Another source lies in the [[wax tablet]]s which have been excavated across the empire. The [[Roman cursive]] script was used widely on [[wax tablet]]s such as those found at [[Vindolanda]] on [[Hadrian's Wall]].
==Romance languages==
{{main|Romance languages}}
[[Image:Map-Romance Language World.png|300px|right|thumb|''Romance languages'' in the world:<br>'''<font color="#0000FF">Blue</font>''' – French; '''<font color="00B927">Green</font>''' – Spanish; '''<font color="#FF8400">Orange</font>''' – Portuguese; '''<font color="#FFFF00">Yellow</font>''' – Italian; '''<font color="#FF0000">Red</font>''' – Romanian]]
The '''Romance languages''', a major branch of the [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European language family]], comprise all languages that descended from [[Latin]], the language of the [[Roman Empire]]. The Romance languages have more than 600 million native speakers worldwide, mainly in the [[Americas]], [[Europe]], and [[Africa]]; as well as in many smaller regions scattered through the world.
All Romance languages descend from [[Vulgar Latin]], the language of soldiers, settlers, and slaves of the [[Roman Empire]], which was substantially different from the [[Classical Latin]] of the Roman literati. Between 200 BC and 100 AD, the expansion of the Empire, coupled with administrative and educational policies of Rome, made Vulgar Latin the dominant native language over a wide area spanning from the [[Iberian Peninsula]] to the Western coast of the [[Black Sea]]. During the Empire's decadence and after its collapse and fragmentation in 5th century, Vulgar Latin began to evolve independently within each local area, and eventually diverged into dozens of distinct languages. The oversea empires established by [[Spanish Empire|Spain]], [[Portuguese Empire|Portugal]] and [[French colonial empires|France]] after the 15th century then spread Romance to the other continents — to such an extent that about 2/3 of all Romance speakers are now outside Europe.
In spite of multiple influences from pre-Roman languages and from later invasions, the [[phonology]], [[morphology (linguistics)|morphology]], [[lexicon]], and [[syntax]] of all Romance languages are predominantly derived from Vulgar Latin. As a result, the group shares a number of linguistic features that set it apart from other Indo-European branches. In particular, with only one or two exceptions, Romance languages have lost the [[declension]] system of Classical Latin, and as a result have a relatively rigid [[Subject Verb Object|SVO]] sentence structure and make extensive use of [[Adposition|prepositions]].
*''[[de vulgari eloquentia]]''
==Medieval Latin==
{{main|Medieval Latin|Ecclesiastical Latin}}
[[Image:Carmina Cantabrigiensia Manuscr-C-fol436v.jpg|thumb|Page with medieval Latin text from the [[Carmina Cantabrigiensia]] (Cambridge University Library, Gg. 5. 35), 11. cent.]]
'''Medieval Latin''' refers to the [[Latin]] used in the [[Middle Ages]], primarily as a medium of scholarly exchange and as the liturgical language of the medieval [[Roman Catholicism|Roman Catholic Church]]. It is therefore largely synonymous with the term '''''Ecclesiastical Latin''''' (sometimes called '''''Church Latin'''''), which refers to the [[Latin]] language as used in documents of the [[Roman Catholic Church]] and in its Latin [[liturgy|liturgies]].
==Renaissance Latin==
{{main|Renaissance Latin}}
'''Renaissance Latin''' is a name given to the Latin written during the European [[Renaissance]] in the 14th-16th centuries, particularly distinguished by the distinctive [[Latin]] style developed by [[Renaissance humanism|the humanist movement]].
''[[Ad fontes]]'' was the general cry of the humanists, and as such their Latin style sought to purge Latin of the [[medieval Latin]] vocabulary and stylistic accretions that it had acquired in the centuries after the fall of the Roman Empire. They looked to golden age Latin literature, and especially to [[Cicero]] in [[prose]] and [[Virgil]] in [[poetry]], as the arbiters of Latin style. They abandoned the use of the [[Sequence (poetry)|sequence]] and other accentual forms of [[metre in poetry|metre]], and sought instead to revive the Greek formats that were used in [[Latin poetry]] during the Roman period. The humanists condemned the large body of medieval Latin literature as "[[High Medieval|gothic]]" — for them, a term of abuse — and believed instead that only ancient Latin from the Roman period was "real Latin".
The humanists also sought to purge written Latin of medieval developments in its [[orthography]]. They insisted, for example, that ''ae'' be written out in full wherever it occurred in classical Latin; medieval scribes often wrote ''e'' instead of ''ae''. They were much more zealous than medieval Latin writers that ''t'' and ''c'' be distinguished; because the effects of [[palatalization]] made them [[homophone]]s, medieval scribes often wrote, for example, ''eciam'' for ''etiam''. Their reforms even affected [[handwriting]]; Humanists usually wrote Latin in a script derived from [[Carolingian minuscule]], the ultimate ancestor of most contemporary [[lower-case]] [[typeface]]s, avoiding the [[black-letter]] scripts used in the Middle Ages. [[Erasmus]] even proposed that the [[Latin regional pronunciation|then-traditional pronunciations]] of Latin be abolished in favour of his [[Latin spelling and pronunciation|reconstructed version]] of [[classical Latin]] pronunciation.
The humanist plan to remake Latin was largely successful, at least in [[education]]. Schools now taught the humanistic spellings, and encouraged the study of the texts selected by the humanists, to the large exclusion of later Latin literature. On the other hand, while humanist Latin was an elegant [[literary language]], it became much harder to write books about [[law]], [[medicine]], [[science]] or contemporary [[politics]] in Latin while observing all of the Humanists' norms about vocabulary purging and classical usage. Because humanist Latin lacked precise vocabulary to deal with modern issues, their reforms accelerated the process of turning Latin from a workday language to an object of antiquarian study. Their attempts at literary work, especially poetry, often have a strong element of [[pastiche]]. Their efforts turned Latin from a [[classical language|classical]], but still useful language, into a truly [[extinct language]]. Latin vocabulary continued to be used by the creators of [[New Latin]], but extensive discourses on contemporary subjects in Latin gradually ceased to be written during this period.
==New Latin==
{{main|New Latin}}
'''New Latin''' (or '''Neo-Latin''') is a post-medieval version of [[Latin]], now used primarily in [[International Scientific Vocabulary]] [[cladistics]] and [[systematics]]. The term came into widespread use towards the end of the [[1890s]] among [[Linguistics|linguists]] and [[scientist]]s.
[[Classics|Classicist]]s use the term "Neo-Latin" to describe the use of the Latin language for any purpose, scientific or literary, after the [[Renaissance]] (for which purpose they often use the date [[1600]]), although, for example, the editors of the [[I Tatti Renaissance Library]] call their [[Renaissance]] Latin language texts Neo-Latin as well.
==Recent Latin==
{{main|Recent Latin}}
[[Image:akihitum-et-michikam.jpg|thumb|300px|A Recent Latin inscription at [[Salamanca University]] commemorating the visit of the then-Prince "[[Akihito|Akihitus]]" and Princess "[[Empress Michiko of Japan|Michika]]" of Japan on 28 February 1985]]
Recent Latin is the form of Latin used from the early twentieth century down to the present. Unlike all previous varieties of Latin, it is neither recognized officially nor used as a textual vehicle for original literature, philosophy, or science; instead, it is primarily used as a form of entertainment, practiced among a small group of Latin devotees.
==Notes==
<references/>
==External links==
* [http://books.google.com/books?id=m2QSAAAAIAAJ&dq=etymological+dictionary+of+the+Latin+language+&pg=PA1&ots=HXVVUTZtvs&sig=DCAtQurlc5fRvU3lGjyeXyxBbt8&prev Latin Etymology], An Etymological Dictionary of the Latin Language
==References==
{{cite book
| last = Allen
| first = J.H.
| coauthors = James B. Greenough
| title = New Latin Grammar
| publisher = Ginn and Company
| date = 1931
| location = Boston
| id = ISBN 1585100277}}
{{latinperiods}}
{{Language histories}}
[[Category:Latin language]]
[[Category:Language histories|Latin]]
[[fr:Histoire du latin]]
[[fi:Latinan historia]]