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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
    Lingua Latina
    Pronunciation /laˈtiːna/
    Spoken in Roman Empire, Medieval Europe (as lingua franca)
    Total speakers Second language only
    Language family Indo-European
    Official status
    Official language in  Vatican City
    Regulated by Opus Fundatum Latinitas[1]
    Language codes
    ISO 639-1 la
    ISO 639-2 lat
    ISO 639-3 lat
    Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode.

    Latin (lingua Latīna, pronounced [laˈtiːna]) is an Italic language historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Roman conquest, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe. Romance languages such as Italian, French, Catalan, Romanian, Spanish, and Portuguese are descended from Latin, while many others, especially European languages, including English, have inherited and acquired much of their vocabulary from Latin. It was the international language of science and scholarship in central and western Europe until the 17th century, then it was gradually replaced by vernacular languages, especially French, becoming the new lingua franca of Europe. There are two main varieties of Latin: Classical Latin, the literary dialect used in poetry and prose, and Vulgar Latin, the form of the language spoken by ordinary people. Vulgar Latin was preserved as a spoken language in much of Europe after the decline of the Roman Empire, and by the 9th century diverged into the various Romance languages.

    After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, Latin survived as the lingua franca of educated classes in the West, and this survival was reinforced by the adoption of Latin by the Catholic Church. In this milieu, it survived as a mother tongue at least into the second millennium A.D. and is referred to as Medieval Latin. The Renaissance briefly reinforced the position of Latin as a spoken language, through its adoption by the Renaissance Humanists. After the 16th century, the popularity of Medieval Latin began to decline, although it remained in use for academic discourse and publication until the 18th century. Few people still speak it in the present day[citation needed].

    Latin lives on in the form of Ecclesiastical Latin used for edicts and papal bulls issued by the Catholic Church. Much Latin vocabulary is used in science, academia, and law. Classical Latin, the literary language of the late Republic and early Empire, is still taught in many primary, grammar, and secondary 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.

    Contents

    History

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

    Latin is a member of the Italic languages. In the 9th or 8th century BC, the Italic languages were brought to the Italian peninsula by migrating tribes, and the dialect spoken in Latium around the River Tiber, where Roman civilization would develop, evolved into Latin.

    Although surviving Roman literature consists almost entirely of Classical Latin, the actual spoken language of the Western Roman Empire among ordinary people was what is known as Vulgar Latin, which differed from Classical Latin in grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation.[citation needed]

    Orthography

    Main article: Latin alphabet
    A replica of the Old Roman Cursive inspired by the Vindolanda tablets
    The language of Rome has had a profound impact on later cultures, as demonstrated by this Latin Bible from 1407

    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

    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.

    Legacy

    The expansion of the Roman Empire spread Latin throughout Europe, and, eventually, Vulgar Latin began to diverge into various dialects. Vulgar Latin gradually evolved into a number of distinct Romance languages by the 9th century. 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. Many of these "daughter" languages, including Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan, Occitan, Romansh and Romanian flourished, the differences between them growing greater and more formal over time.

    Out of the Romance languages, Italian is the most conservative descendant of Latin in terms of vocabulary,[2] and Sardinian is the most conservative in terms of phonology.[3]

    Some of the differences between Classical Latin and the Romance languages have been used in attempts to reconstruct Vulgar Latin. For example, the Romance languages have distinctive stress on certain syllables, whereas Latin had this feature in addition to distinctive length of vowels. In Italian and Sardo logudorese, there is distinctive length of consonants as well as stress; in Spanish and Portuguese, only distinctive stress; while in French length (for most speakers) and stress are no longer distinctive. Another major distinction between Romance and Latin is that Romance languages, excluding Romanian, have lost grammatical case.[4]

    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.

    Latin mottos are adopted by many organizations.

    Pronunciation

    Main article: Latin spelling and pronunciation

    Grammar

    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 runs. Puella currit.)
    2. Genitive: used when the noun is the possessor of an object (example: "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 (example: "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 opposed to 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 six general tenses in Latin (present, imperfect, future, perfect, pluperfect, and future perfect), 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 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, as above) form.
    3. The third principal part is the first person 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.

    Instruction

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

    The linguistic element of Latin courses offered in secondary schools and in universities is primarily geared toward an ability to translate Latin texts into modern languages, rather than using the language for the purpose of oral communication, as many modern concepts, such as those encountered in technology, have no accepted modern linguistic equivalents, and no formal organization for adopting new words. Thus the skills of reading and writing are heavily emphasized, while speaking and listening skills are de-emphasized (usually passively, through omission).

    However, there is a growing movement, sometimes known as the Living Latin movement, whose supporters believe that Latin can be taught in the same way that modern "living" languages are taught, i.e., as a means of both spoken and written communication. This approach to learning the language assists speculative insight into how ancient authors spoke and incorporated sounds of the language stylistically; patterns in Latin poetry and literature can be difficult to identify without an understanding of the sounds of words.

    Living Latin instruction is provided in the Vatican, and some institutions in the U.S. like the University of Kentucky. In Great Britain, 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 Paddington Bear, Winnie the Pooh, Olivia, Tintin, Asterix, Harry Potter, 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.

    Modern use

    Main article: Recent 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.

    Today, Latin terminology 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). The Latin terms are used in isolation, as technical terms.

    The largest organization that still uses Latin in official contexts is the Roman Catholic Church (particularly in the Latin Rite). 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.

    In situations when lingual neutrality is preferred, such as in scientific names for organisms, Latin is typically the language of choice, followed by Greek.

    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 due to 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.

    The University Orator at the University of Cambridge makes a speech in Latin marking the achievements of each of the honorands at the annual Honorary Degree Congregations. These degree ceremonies as well as the formal proceedings of other degree ceremonies are conducted in Latin. Harvard, Princeton, Brown, as well as Bard College also hold a portion of their graduation ceremonies in Latin.[citation needed]

    Also Latin Grammar has been taught in most Italian schools since the 18th century, for example in the Classico (School of fine arts) and Scientifico (Science school) Latin is still one of the primary subjects, together with Italian and Mathematics.

    See also

    Language

    Culture

    Historical periods


    Ages of Latin
    v • d • e
    —75 BC 75 BC – 200 200 – 900 900 – 1300 1300 – 1500 1500 – present 1900 – present
    Old Latin Classical Latin Late Latin Medieval Latin Renaissance Latin New Latin Contemporary Latin
    See also: History of Latin, Latin literature, Vulgar Latin, Ecclesiastical Latin, Romance languages, Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum


    Notes

    1. ^ Opus Fundatum Latinitas is an organ of the Roman Catholic Church, and regulates Latin only with respect to its official status in the Vatican City
    2. ^ Grimes, Barbara F. (October 1996). Barbara F. Grimes. ed. Ethnologue: Languages of the World. Consulting Editors: Richard S. Pittman & Joseph E. Grimes (thirteenth ed.). Dallas, Texas: Summer Institute of Linguistics, Academic Pub. ISBN 1-55671-026-7. 
    3. ^ Foreign Languages: Italian, specifically, "Sardinian in fact conserves many archaic features from Latin which disappeared in Italian, such as the hard k-sound in words like chelu, where Italian has cielo."
    4. ^ Columbia University Language Resource Center

    References

    • Bennett, Charles E., Latin Grammar (Allyn and Bacon, Chicago, 1908)
    • N. Vincent: "Latin", in The Romance Languages, M. Harris and N. Vincent, eds., (Oxford University Press 1990), ISBN 0-19-520829-3
    • Waquet, Françoise, Latin, or the Empire of a Sign: From the Sixteenth to the Twentieth Centuries (Verso, 2003) ISBN 1-85984-402-2; translated from the French by John Howe.
    • Wheelock, Frederic, Latin: An Introduction (Collins, 6th ed., 2005) ISBN 0-06-078423-7
    • Frank Palmer Grammar

    External links

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    Wikipedia
    Latin edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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    Translations: Latin
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    Home > Library > Literature & Language > Translations

    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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    Copyrights:

    Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
    Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
    Classical Literature Companion. The Concise Oxford Companion to Classical Literature. Copyright © 1993, 2003 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.  Read more
    Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/  Read more
    History 1450-1789. Encyclopedia of the Early Modern World. Copyright © 2004 by The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
    History Dictionary. The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Edited by E.D. Hirsch, Jr., Joseph F. Kett, and James Trefil. Copyright © 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.  Read more
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