Ancient Rome was an independent, distinctive culture and civilization. He represented the final stage of antiquity. The ancient Greeks made a huge contribution to the development of this state. But what language did the Romans speak, did they follow the Greeks in everything? Many sources report that the language of this people was Latin. What is the reason for this, let's try to figure it out.
Multilingual power
The government languages of the Roman Empire were Greek and Latin. The consumption of these two languages in the Roman state had geographical and functional reasons. Latin was preferred in the western regions of the country, and Greek in the eastern regions. Later, such differentiation led the empire to isolation.
What language did the Romans speak and why? When the Roman state flourished, immigrants from the higher guilds tried to learn both official languages. In some regions they spoke autochthonous languages, for example, Celtic. So, the Latin and Greek languages were very close to each other, especially on the Balkan Peninsula, Sicily, southern Italy.
Greek language preferred
The ancient Romans, in the first place, are the heirs of Greek enlightenment, so they sought to speak this language. Those who used Latin did not use the classical language, but "vulgar", "folk". What language did the ancient Romans speak and write? The educated elite chose Greek. It was in this language that the epic poem of Virgil - "Aeneid" was written. She told about the history of Rome, based on the myths of ancient Greece. In the homes of the Romans, it was an honor to speak Greek, the language of Homer.
The Romans were fascinated by the Greek cultural heritage, architectural structures, fashion trends, culinary art, gardening developments, therefore this language was respected. Teachers and servants from Greece were hired in the homes of the Romans. This does not mean that they did not know Latin at all, sometimes they could use it, but only modified (not pure). It was from such "folk" Latin that the languages of the Romanesque group later arose : Spanish, French, Italian.
Greek became the official language in the eastern part of the empire. In the Roman Senate, they spoke in the ancient Greek language. During the reign of Alexander the Great, the competitors of the Greek language in the east of the country were Coptic, Armenian, Aramaic. Jews preferred to speak Hebrew here. Greek began to lose its significance. Researchers very carefully studied what language the ancient Romans spoke.
Lingua franca
What is the lingua franca, and what language did the ancient Romans speak and write in the east of the empire? If someone from the west came to the eastern part of the country, then he used precisely the lingua franca. This is an adverb in which people who did not know their native language spoke. Such an adverb for one million merchants of Rome was the "common Greek" language - Koyne.
In "vulgar Latin" they spoke in Lazio. Latin was more preferred in religion. Respected by her Virgil and Emperor Claudius. After the mixing of the Roman military, the colonists, the autonomous population, folk Latin spread more strongly throughout the continent.
Griko is a descendant of Greek in Italy
What language the Romans spoke and why, is already clear. But in connection with which new adverbs were formed? The eastern empire around Constantinople and the cities of southern Italy still left the language of communication Greek. The name of the beautiful city of Naples is of Greek origin. More than 30,000 inhabitants of southern Italy to this day communicate in the language of greco. This is the Peloponnesian dialect, which completely coincides with the Greek language.
Where did the Italian come from?
What language the Romans spoke is no longer a mystery. Today, in the territory of the former Roman Empire, modern Italy is located. The official language here, as well as in some other countries, is Italian. In ancient Rome, people spoke Latin. The name "Latin" comes from the area in which Rome was founded. It was from folk Latin that the Italian language took its roots.
Dante, Bocaccio, Petrarch - the founders of the Italian language. They wrote in Florentine dialect, which received wide promotion in the Renaissance. This dialect was called by many a common people. Nevertheless, it was he who laid the foundation of the modern Italian language. Over 70 million inhabitants of the Earth communicate today in this language.
Italian is very smooth and melodious, almost all of his words end in vowels. The Italian alphabet is quite simple, as it consists of only 26 letters. Later it was declared superiority of the Italian language over Latin. He received the right to be called a literary language in the 17th-18th centuries. Famous philosophers began to speak on it, scientific papers were published, and theater performances were presented.
The Italian literary language received the support of the media after World War II. Internal migration has reduced the differences between dialects, so the proportion of classical Italian has increased. But many humanities have retained the status of the international language in Latin. Information about what language the Romans spoke helps to solve many modern puzzles.