Once upon a time, Europe was inhabited by people who speak the languages that today are called dead, that is, those who have come out of colloquial use. One of them is the Latin language. The history of its development begins even before our era, but people still use it today, in the 21st century. Learning this language is a compulsory discipline in many educational institutions. What is Latin for? Who is studying it? The answers are in this article.
Antiquity
The native land of Latin is Ancient Rome. People for whom this language was native lived in the 2nd century BC. But they learned to write much later. The history of the development of the Latin language is closely connected with antiquity. This term refers to civilization that existed before the Middle Ages. Modern people know about it thanks to the cultural achievements of the Romans and the ancient Greeks. The Romans adopted a lot from the more educated inhabitants of Hellas, including literary traditions.
First writing
The history of the Latin language, like any other, is subject to periodization. Linguists and historians distinguish archaic, classical and post-classical periods. While the Romans were an unorganized nation, they spoke in archaic Latin. But the stronger the Roman Empire became, the more actively developed the culture, and with it the language. Spelling formed, speech became more diverse. The Romans began to speak and write in the language that today is called classical Latin. And then some inquisitive citizens of the empire began to translate the works of the Greeks and even create something new. With the advent of ancient Greek and Roman literature, the development of world prose and poetry begins.
Literature
The study of any field in art is, first of all, the history of the development of the Latin language. The appearance of Rome and the development of its culture had a huge impact on the culture of the whole world. First, laws and liturgical literature in Latin appeared in this state. Then the writers declared themselves. The first person in ancient Rome who was seriously interested in poetic forms was Livy Andronic. But he did not begin to compose something of his own, but merely translated the great poem of Homer. Roman children for a long time studied writing on the book about the wonderful wanderings of Odysseus.
First books
An interesting history of the development of the Latin language and literature is associated with the no less entertaining political life of ancient Rome. Wars and other misfortunes gave rise to a new generation of poets and writers who no longer translated foreign works, but created primordially Roman compositions. Gnei Nevi, for example, wrote a tragedy dedicated to one of the Punic wars.
In addition, like every nation, the Romans had their own legends, on the basis of which poets created literary works. Myths of Ancient Rome are studied by schoolchildren and students. Knowledge of this epic is necessary because it was from here that the ancient Roman writers drew plots. And they, in turn, borrowed traditions and later authors. The history of the emergence and development of the Latin language is also associated with such names as Plavt, Virgil, Horace. The sayings of Roman philosophers, writers, politicians and gladiators are also used in modern speech. Although rare in the original.
What languages are descended from Latin?
For those who study seriously Italian, Spanish or French, Latin is very important. The history of its development is one of the sections of romance - a science that studies a large number of languages, the progenitor of which was the speech of the inhabitants of Ancient Rome. Latin is a compulsory discipline in the departments of philology and linguistics. Although training there usually comes down to translating texts, memorizing proverbs and learning the basics of grammar. But even this is enough to understand how many words of French, Italian or any other language from the Romanesque group are borrowed from the contemporaries of Virgil and Horace.
Middle Ages
In the Middle Ages, Latin was primarily the language of the church. And since absolutely everything depended on the church, this language was present in all areas of life. Scientists of this era carefully collected the literary heritage of antiquity, studied and perfected Latin, devoted numerous works to such an important topic as the history of the development of the Latin language. Briefly, it is divided into several stages. In addition to archaic, classical and postclassical, medieval Latin is also distinguished.
Even at sunset of the Middle Ages, only dark, uneducated people did not speak Latin. In Europe, official documents and business correspondence were conducted exclusively in this language. Changes took place in the world in general and in society in particular, and this could not but affect speech. It developed, new lexical units appeared. But even when this language began to fade into the background, it remained a compulsory subject in all educational institutions.
Latin was perhaps the main subject for future lawyers, what can we say about doctors. In the novel The Life of M. de Moliere, M. Bulgakov ironically describes the educational system of this era. The main character of the book, the famous author of comedies Moliere, studied Latin so intensely in his youth that sometimes it seemed to him that his name was not Jean-Baptiste, but Zhoganes Baptistus.
Hippocrates Translations
When the valiant Roman warriors defeated the highly developed Greeks, they were able to take advantage not only of the Hellenic cultural achievements, but also of the scientific ones. The first thing we started with was the study of the works of Hippocrates. This pundit, as you know, was the founder of ancient Greek healing. The history of the development of the Latin language in medicine originates precisely from these translations.
The medicine
Some ancient Greek terms are forever included in the speech of the Romans. They borrowed a lot from the defeated people, but after a while they got their own doctors. The most famous of them is Claudius Galen. This scientist has written over a hundred works. He paid special attention to the terms, believing that they are an important part of medical practice. But the first healers in ancient Rome were still captive Greeks. Slaves eventually got free, taught in schools. Initially, all terms were exclusively Greek, but the history of the development of the Latin language and medical terminology are interconnected. Borrowings from the language of Hippocrates every year in the speech of Roman doctors became less and less.
Works of Celsus
A huge contribution to the development of medical terminology was made by Aulus Cornelius Celsus. This person was a versatile person, was a supporter of the replacement of traditional Greek medical terms with Latin ones. Celsus wrote his works in his native language. The works of this doctor became the prerequisite for the creation of modern medical terminology.
In the dark Middle Ages, the development of medicine stopped. As, however, and all other scientific branches. Society ruled the church. Ignorance flourished. For almost a millennium in European medicine there have been no shifts. Arabs, meanwhile, have achieved much in this area. And when they remembered medicine in Europe, the first thing we started in the development of medical practice was translations into Latin of Arabic treatises, which, by the way, were nothing more than translations from Greek.
Renaissance
In the period from the fourteenth to the sixteenth century, everything was revived in Europe, and above all medicine. Doctors again turned to antique originals. In these centuries, a universal medical language was created. Doctors living in different European countries should have understood each other. Textbooks and dictionaries were published. And in the XV century the work of a forgotten Roman physician Celsus was discovered in one of the libraries. The work of the Roman was republished, and his terminology is used by doctors around the world today.
Vesalius Andreas is a great doctor and anatomist of that era. This scientist compiled an anatomical table, based on the reprinted works of the Roman author. In addition to existing Greekisms, he became the creator of new Latin terms. However, many of them later went out of use.
Roman law
Latin influence had a considerable influence on legal terminology. The history of the development of jurisprudence takes its roots from the theory of Roman law. That it is the source of the formation of terminology in many languages. The reason is the accuracy of the wording. Latinism has become the property of the modern legislative system. A huge role here was played by the fact that in the legal sphere medieval documents were compiled exclusively in Latin. As a result, an international terminology fund was created.
In some languages, words related to legal vocabulary are pronounced today in Latin without any changes. A large number of Latinisms are present primarily in Romance languages. In the German group there are fewer such loans.
Philology
Future linguists also study Latin. The role of this language is great in the system of humanitarian education. From him came all the Romance languages. Borrowings from the speech of the ancient Romans are present today in the vocabulary of the French, Italians, and Spaniards. Therefore, for students of Romance philology, the Latin language is so important. The history of the development of grammar, phonetics and other sections of linguistics - all this is necessary to know for in-depth study of a foreign language.
Latin had a huge impact on the formation and development of many modern languages, so it’s worth studying not only for future lawyers and doctors. A person studying the Latin language enriches his vocabulary and facilitates the process of remembering new words. It is the Latin alphabet that is the basis of all European languages and the phonetic base of transcription.
Latin also relates to the modern Russian language. It contains more than ten thousand words that came from the language of the ancient Romans.