HISTORIA Y ORIGEN DEL LATÍN

Latin Language, language of ancient Rome and the neighboring territory of

Latium. With the spread of Roman power Latin was carried to every part of the
known ancient world and became the dominant tongue of western Europe. It was
the language of scholarship and diplomacy until the 18th century and of the
Roman Catholic liturgy until the late 20th century.

The Latin language was not native to Italy but was brought into the Italian
Peninsula in prehistoric times by Italic peoples who migrated from the north.
Latin is a member of the Italic subfamily of the Indo-European languages; among
non-Italic Indo-European languages, it is related especially closely to Sanskrit and
Greek and to the Germanic and Celtic subfamilies. In Italy, Latin was originally
the dialect of the region around Rome. Within the Italic languages Latin, Faliscan,
and other dialects formed a Latinian group distinct from other Italic languages,
such as Oscan and Umbrian. Early Latinian inscriptions survive from the 6th
century BC; the oldest texts clearly in Roman Latin date mostly from the 3rd
century BC. Latin was influenced by Celtic dialects in northern Italy, by the non-
Indo-European Etruscan language in central Italy, and by Greek, which was
spoken in southern Italy as early as the 8th century BC. Under the influence of the
Greek language and its literature, which was first translated into Latin in the
second half of the 3rd century BC, Latin gradually developed into a great literary
tongue.

Ancient Literary Latin

The Latin literary language may be divided into four periods, corresponding in
general to the periods of Latin literature.
The Early Period

(240-70 BC). This period includes the writings of Ennius, Plautus, and Terence.

The Golden Age

(70 BC-AD 14). This period is famed for the prose works of Julius Caesar,
Cicero, and Livy and for the poetry of Catullus, Lucretius, Vergil, Horace, and
Ovid. During this period, in both prose and poetry, the Latin language developed
into a highly artistic medium of expression and attained its greatest richness and
flexibility.

The Silver Age

(14-130). This period is characterized by a striving both for rhetorical elaboration

and ornament and for concise and epigrammatic expression, the latter qualities
being found especially in the works of the philosopher and dramatist Seneca and
in those of the historian Tacitus.

The Late Latin Period

Extending from the 2nd century to the 6th century AD (circa 636), this period
includes the Patristic Latin of the Fathers of the Church. During the Late Latin
period invading barbarian tribes brought into the language numerous foreign
forms and idioms; this corrupted Latin was termed the lingua Romana and was
distinguished from the lingua Latina, the classical tongue cultivated by the
learned.

Ancient Spoken Latin

The colloquial speech of cultured Romans appears in the works of various writers,
notably in the comedies of Plautus and Terence, the letters of Cicero, the Satires
and Epistles of Horace, and the Satyricon of Petronius Arbiter. It is characterized
by freedom of syntax, by the presence of numerous interjections, and by the
frequent use of Greek words. This colloquial speech of polite society (sermo
cotidianus) is not to be confused with the sermo plebeius, the language of the
uneducated classes, which shows a greater disregard for syntax, a love of new
words, and a striving for simplicity, especially in word order. The sermo plebeius
is known as Vulgar Latin, a term that sometimes includes the sermo cotidianus of
the more educated Romans. The Romance languages developed not from the
literary Latin language but from the sermo plebeius of the Late Latin period, when
it was also known as lingua Romana. For instance, equus (“horse”) fell out of use,
and caballus (“nag,” “packhorse”) provided the Romance words for horse
(cheval, caballo); similarly, the Romance word for head (tête, testa) comes not
from Latin caput, but from a Latin slang word for head (testa), literally “pot.”

Medieval Latin

Latin was the language of letters in western Europe in the Middle Ages. The Latin
of this period is termed Medieval Latin or Low Latin. Even for the people in
general, Latin continued to be a living language, because the church provided a
huge mass of ecclesiastical literature in both prose and poetry. The language,
however, underwent many changes. The syntax was further simplified, new words
were adopted from various sources, and new meanings came into existence;
nevertheless, Latin changed far less during this period than did either French or
English.

New Latin or Modern Latin

In the 15th and 16th centuries New Latin, also called Modern Latin, came into
existence. The writers of the Renaissance produced a new and brilliant Latin
literature that was closely imitative of Latin classical writers and especially of
Cicero. Almost all books of importance, scientific, philosophical, and religious,
were written in Latin at this time, including the works of the Dutch scholar
Desiderius Erasmus, the English philosopher Francis Bacon, and the English
physicist Isaac Newton, and Latin was the medium of diplomatic intercourse
among European nations. Not until the end of the 17th century did Latin cease to
be an international tongue. During the 18th and 19th centuries, however, it
remained the language of classical scholarship, and even in the 20th century
scholarly treatises are sometimes composed in Latin. The Roman Catholic church
still uses Latin as the language of its official documents.

In the modern teaching of Latin, several methods of pronunciation have been

accepted. The continental method is based on the pronunciation of modern
European languages, the chief continental pronunciation today being that used by
the Roman Catholic church, which favors a pronunciation similar to that of
Italian. In the English method, Latin words are pronounced as in English, each
syllable, however, being pronounced separately. The Roman method is a
conjectural reconstruction of Latin pronunciation of the Ciceronian period. This
method is in use in schools and colleges both in the U.S. and abroad. Proper
names, however, when mentioned out of their Latin context, are still pronounced
according to the principles governing the language of the particular country; thus,
the pronunciation of the name Cicero would be in Germany Tsítsero, in Italy
Chíchero, in Spain Thíthero, in France Siséro, in England Sísero.

Latin in antiquity has less flexibility and grace than Greek; its vocabulary was
more limited, and it was less able to express abstract ideas. The Romans realized
the limitations of their tongue and borrowed many words from the Greeks. Latin,
rigorous in syntax and weighty in diction, has vigor and precision and has proved
throughout the centuries an admirable vehicle for the expression of serious
thought. Its survival has been twofold: Not only has literary Latin itself remained
in use to the present time, but it also lives on in the Romance languages, which
represent the modern evolution of Vulgar Latin; Italian, in particular, may be
described as modern Latin (see Romance Languages). English has borrowed
extensively from Latin, both directly, and indirectly through French. The Latin
language is significant not only because of its literature, but also because a study
of its development provides information on the history of language in general and
specifically on the origin and development of several major languages of modern
Europe.

Todas las lenguas romances, son niveles de latín vulgar.

1"Latin Language," Microsoft® Encarta® 96 Encyclopedia. © 1993-1995 Microsoft

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