History of Latin
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Latin
Latin is a member of the broad family of Italic languages. Its alphabet, the Latin alphabet,
emerged from the Old Italic alphabets, which in turn were derived from the Greek and
Phoenician scripts. Historical Latin came from the prehistoric language of the Latium region,
specifically around the River Tiber, where Roman civilization first developed. How and when
Latin came to be spoken by the Romans are questions that have long been debated. Various
influences on Latin of Celtic dialects in northern Italy, the non-Indo-European Etruscan language
in Central Italy, and the Greek of southern Italy have been detected, but when these influences
entered the native Latin is not known for certain.
Surviving Latin literature consists almost entirely of Classical Latin in its broadest definition. It
includes a polished and sometimes highly stylized literary language sometimes termed Golden
Latin, which spans the 1st century BC and the early years of the 1st century AD. However,
throughout the history of ancient Rome the spoken language differed in both grammar and
vocabulary from that of literature, and is referred to as Vulgar Latin. In addition to Latin, the
Greek language was often spoken by the well-educated elite, who studied it in school and
acquired Greek tutors from among the influx of enslaved educated Greek prisoners of war,
captured during the Roman conquest of Greece. In the eastern half of the Roman Empire, which
became the Byzantine Empire, the Greek Koine of Hellenism remained current and was never
replaced by Latin. It continued to influence the Vulgar Latin that evolved into the Eastern
Romance languages.
Origins
Main article: Italic languages
The Forum inscription (Lapis Niger, "black stone"), one of the oldest known Latin inscriptions, from the
6th century BC; it is written boustrophedon, albeit irregularly; from a rubbing by Domenico Comparet.
The name Latin derives from the Italic tribal group named Latini that settled around the 10th
century BC in Latium, and the dialect spoken by these people.[1]
The Italic languages form a centum subfamily of the Indo-European language family. These
include the Romance, Germanic, Celtic, and Hellenic languages, and a number of extinct ones.
Broadly speaking, in initial syllables the Indo-European simple vowels — (*a), *e, *i, *o, *u;
short and long — are usually retained in Latin. The 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).[2] In non-initial
syllables, there was more vowel reduction. The most extreme case occurs with short vowels in
medial open syllables (i.e. short vowels followed by at most a single consonant, occurring
neither in the first nor last syllable): All are reduced to a single vowel, which appears as i in most
cases, but e (sometimes o) before r, and u before an l which is followed by o or u. In final
syllables, short e and o are usually raised to i and u, respectively.
Consonants are generally more stable. However, the Indo-European voiced aspirates bh, dh, gh,
gwh are not maintained, becoming f, f, h, f respectively at the beginning of a word, but usually b,
d, g, v elsewhere. Note that non-initial dh becomes b next to r or u, e.g. *h₁rudh- "red" > rub-,
e.g. rubeō "to be red"; *werdh- "word" > verbum. s between vowels famously becomes r, e.g.
flōs "flower", gen. flōris; erō "I will be" vs. root es-; aurōra "dawn" < *ausōsā (cf. Germanic
*aust- > English "east", Vedic Sanskrit uṣāā s "dawn"); soror "sister" < *sosor < *swezōr <
*swésōr (cf. Old English sweostor "sister").
Of the original eight cases of Proto-Indo-European, Latin inherited six: nominative, vocative,
accusative, genitive, dative, and ablative. The Indo-European locative survived in the declensions
of some place names and a few common 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.[3]
It is believed that the earliest surviving inscription is a seventh-century B.C. pin known as the
Praenestine fibula, which reads Manios med fhefhaked Numasioi "Manius made me for
Numerius".[4]
Old Latin
The Duenos inscription, from the 6th century BC, is the second-earliest known Latin text.
Main article: Old Latin
Old Latin (also called Early Latin or Archaic Latin) refers to the period of Latin texts before
the age of Classical Latin, extending from textual fragments that probably originated in the
Roman monarchy to the written language of the late Roman republic about 75 BC. Almost all the
writing of its earlier phases is inscriptional.
Some 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, honosis; Classical honor, honoris ("honor"). Some
Latin texts preserve /s/ in this position, such as the Carmen Arvale's lases for lares.
Classical Latin
Main article: Classical Latin
Julius Caesar's Commentarii de Bello Gallico is one of the most famous classical Latin texts of the Golden
Age of Latin. The unvarnished, journalistic style of this upper-class general has long been taught as a
model of the urbane Latin officially spoken and written in the floruit of the Roman republic.
Classical Latin is the form of the Latin language used by the ancient Romans in Classical Latin
literature. In the latest and narrowest philological model 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 centuries. It was a polished written literary language based
on the refined spoken language of the upper classes. Classical Latin differs from Old Latin: the
earliest inscriptional language and the earliest authors, such as Ennius, Plautus and others, in a
number of ways; for example, 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.[5] In
the broadest and most ancient sense, the classical period includes the authors of Early Latin, the
Golden Age and the Silver Age.
Golden Age
The golden age of Latin literature 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. In the
currently used philological model this period represents the peak of Latin literature. Since the
earliest post-classical times the Latin of those authors has been an ideal norm of the best Latin,
which other writers should follow.
Silver Age
In reference to Roman literature, the Silver age covers the first two centuries AD directly after
the Golden age. Literature from the Silver Age is more embellished with mannerisms.
Late Latin
Main article: Late Latin
Late Latin is the administrative and literary language of Late Antiquity in the late Roman
empire and states that succeeded the Western Roman Empire over the same range. By its
broadest definition it is dated from about 200 AD to about 900 AD when it was replaced by
written Romance languages. Opinion concerning whether it should be considered classical is
divided. The authors of the period looked back to a classical period they believed should be
imitated and yet their styles were often classical. According to the narrowest definitions, Late
Latin did not exist and the authors of the times are to be considered medieval.
Vulgar Latin
Main article: Vulgar Latin
Vulgar Latin, as in this political graffito 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 vernacular dialects of the
Latin language spoken from earliest times in Italy until the latest dialects of the Western Roman
Empire, diverging still further, evolved into the early Romance languages – whose writings
began to appear about the 9th century.
This spoken Latin differed from the literary language of Classical Latin in its grammar and
vocabulary. It is likely to have evolved over time, with some features not appearing until the late
Empire. Other features are likely to have been in place much earlier. Because there are few
phonetic transcriptions of the daily speech of these Latin speakers (to match, for example, the
post-classical Appendix Probi) Vulgar Latin must be studied mainly by indirect methods.
A replica of the Old Roman Cursive inspired by the Vindolanda tablets
Knowledge of Vulgar Latin comes from a variety of sources. First, the comparative method
reconstructs items of the mother language from the attested Romance languages. Also,
prescriptive grammar texts from the Late Latin period condemn some usages as errors, providing
insight into how Latin was actually spoken. The solecisms and non-Classical usages occasionally
found in late Latin texts also shed light on the spoken language. A windfall source lies in the
chance finds of wax tablets such as those found at Vindolanda on Hadrian's Wall. The Roman
cursive script was used on these tablets.
Romance languages
Main article: Romance languages
The Romance languages, a major branch of the Indo-European language family, comprise all
languages that descended from Latin, the language of the Roman Empire. The Romance
languages have more than 700 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 that of the Roman literati. Between
200 BC and AD 100, the expansion of the Empire and the administrative and educational policies
of Rome made Vulgar Latin the dominant vernacular language over a wide area which stretched
from the Iberian Peninsula to the west coast of the Black Sea. During the Empire's decline and
after its collapse and fragmentation in the 5th century, Vulgar Latin began to evolve
independently within each local area, and eventually diverged into dozens of distinct languages.
The overseas empires established by Spain, Portugal and France after the 15th century then
spread these languages to other continents – about two thirds of all Romance speakers are now
outside Europe.
In spite of the multiple influences of pre-Roman languages and later invasions, the phonology,
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.
Ecclesiastical Latin
Main article: Ecclesiastical Latin
Ecclesiastical Latin (sometimes called Church Latin) is a broad and analogous term referring
to the Latin language as used in documents of the Roman Catholic Church, its liturgies (mainly
in past times) and during some periods the preaching of its ministers. Ecclesiastical Latin is not a
single style: the term merely means the language promulgated at any time by the church. In
terms of stylistic periods, it belongs to Late Latin in the Late Latin period, Medieval Latin in the
Medieval Period, and so on through to the present. One may say that, starting from the church's
decision in the early Late Latin period to use a simple and unornamented language that would be
comprehensible to ordinary Latin speakers and yet still be elegant and correct, church Latin is
usually a discernible substyle within the major style of the period. Its authors in the New Latin
period are typically paradigmatic of the best Latin and that is true in contemporary times. The
decline in its use within the last 100 years has been a matter of regret to some, who have formed
organizations inside and outside the church to support its use and to use it.
Medieval Latin
Main article: Medieval Latin
Page with medieval Latin text from the Carmina Cantabrigiensia (Cambridge University Library, Gg. 5.
35), 11th century
Medieval Latin, the literary and administrative Latin used in the Middle Ages, exhibits much
variation between individual authors, mainly due to poor communications in those times between
different regions. The individuality is characterised by a different range of solecisms and by the
borrowing of different words from Vulgar Latin or from local vernaculars. Some styles show
features intermediate between Latin and Romance languages; others are closer to classical Latin.
The stylistic variations came to an end with the rise of nation states and new empires in the
Renaissance period, and the authority of early universities imposing a new style: Renaissance
Latin.
Renaissance Latin
Main article: 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 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 and other accentual forms of meter, 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 "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 in distinguishing t from c: because the effects of palatalization made them homophones,
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 typefaces, avoiding the black-letter scripts
used in the Middle Ages. Erasmus even proposed that the then-traditional pronunciations of Latin
be abolished in favour of his 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,
largely to the 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 of vocabulary purging
and classical usage. Because humanist Latin lacked precise vocabulary to deal with modern
issues, their reforms accelerated the transformation of Latin from a working language to an
object of antiquarian study. Their attempts at literary work, especially poetry, often have a strong
element of pastiche.
New Latin
A Recent Latin inscription at Salamanca University commemorating the visit of the then-Prince "Akihitus"
and Princess "Michika" of Japan on 28 February 1985
Main article: New Latin
New Latin (or Neo-Latin) is a post-medieval version of Latin, now used primarily in
international scientific vocabulary and systematics. The term came into widespread use towards
the end of the 1890s among linguists and scientists.
Classicists 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 1500),
although, for example, the editors of the I Tatti Renaissance Library call their Renaissance Latin
language texts Neo-Latin as well. Such Contemporary Latin includes ecclesiastical use, as well
as translations from modern languages into Latin and the occasional poetry. Under the name
"Living Latin", some have advocated reviving the language as a means of spoken
communication.
