Europe was once inhabited by people who spoke languages that today are called dead, that is, out of colloquial use. One of them is Latin. The history of its development begins before our era, but people still use it today, in the 21st century. The study of 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 birthplace of Latin is Ancient Rome. People for whom this language was native lived as early as 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 a 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 historiansdistinguish archaic, classical and postclassical periods. While the Romans were an unorganized people, they spoke archaic Latin. But the stronger the Roman Empire became, the more actively culture developed, and with it the language. Spelling was formed, speech became more diverse. The Romans began to speak and write in what is today 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 artistic 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 emergence 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 announced themselves. The first person in ancient Rome who became seriously interested in poetic forms was Livius Andronicus. But he did not compose anything of his own, but only translated the great poem of Homer. Roman children studied writing for a long time from the book about the wonderful wanderings of Odysseus.
First books
An interesting history of the development of the Latin language and literature is connected 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 createdoriginal Roman writings. Gnaeus Nevius, 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 the poets created literary works. The 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 from them, 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 Plautus, Virgil, Horace. Sayings of Roman philosophers, writers, politicians and gladiators are also used in modern speech. Although rare in the original.
What languages are derived from Latin?
For those who study Italian, Spanish or French seriously, 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 subject at the faculties 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 Romance 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 languagepresent in all walks of life. Scientists of this era carefully collected the literary heritage of antiquity, studied and improved 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 the end 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 almost the main subject for future lawyers, let alone doctors. In the novel The Life of Monsieur de Moliere, M. Bulgakov ironically describes the educational system of this era. The protagonist of the book, the famous comedy writer Molière, studied Latin so intensely in his youth that at times it seemed to him that his name was not Jean-Baptiste, but Joganes Baptistus.
Hippocratic translations
When the valiant Roman soldiers defeated the highly developed Greeks, they were able to take advantage of not only the cultural achievements of the Hellenes, but also scientific ones. The first thing we started with was studying the works of Hippocrates. This learned man, as you know, was the founder of ancient Greek medicine. History of developmentLatin in medicine originates from these translations.
Medicine
Some ancient Greek terms have forever entered the speech of the Romans. They adopted a lot from the defeated people, but after a while they also had their own doctors. The most famous of them is Claudius Galen. This scientist wrote more than a hundred works. He paid special attention to terms, believing that they are an important part of medical practice. But the first healers in ancient Rome were still captive Greeks. Slaves eventually received freedom, 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 became less and less every year in the speech of Roman doctors.
Works of Celsus
Aulus Cornelius Celsus made a huge contribution to the development of medical terminology. This man was a versatile person, he was a supporter of replacing traditional Greek medical terms with Latin ones. Celsus wrote his works in his native language. The works of this doctor became a prerequisite for the creation of modern medical terminology.
In the gloomy Middle Ages, the development of medicine stopped. As, however, and all other scientific branches. The Church ruled the society. Ignorance flourished. For almost a millennium, there has been no change in European medicine. The Arabs, meanwhile, have achieved a lot in this area. And when medicine was remembered in Europe, the firstwhere they started in the development of medical practice - this is with translations into Latin of Arabic treatises, which, by the way, were nothing more than translations from Greek.
Renaissance
In the period from the 14th to the 16th century, everything was reborn in Europe, and above all medicine. Doctors again turned to ancient originals. In these centuries, a universal medical language was created. Doctors living in different European countries had to understand each other. Textbooks and dictionaries were published. And in the XV century, the work of the forgotten Roman physician Celsus was discovered in one of the libraries. The Roman's work has been republished, and his terminology is still used by physicians around the world today.
Vesalius Andreas - the great physician and anatomist of that era. This scientist compiled an anatomical table based on the reprinted works of a Roman author. In addition to existing Greekisms, he became the creator of new Latin terms. However, many of them later fell into disuse.
Roman Law
The Latin language also had a considerable influence on legal terminology. The history of the development of jurisprudence originates from the theory of Roman law. It is it that is the source of the formation of terminology in many languages. The reason lies in the accuracy of the wording. Latinisms have 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 drawn up exclusively in Latin. As a result, an international terminological fund was created.
In somelanguages, words related to legal vocabulary are still pronounced today in Latin without any changes. A large number of Latinisms are present primarily in the Romance languages. There are fewer such borrowings in the Germanic group.
Philology
Future linguists also study Latin. The role of this language is great in the system of liberal education. All Romance languages originated from it. Borrowings from the speech of the ancient Romans are present today in the vocabulary of the French, Italians, and Spaniards. Therefore, for students studying 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 a deep study of a foreign language.
Latin has had a huge impact on the formation and development of many modern languages, so it is worth studying it not only for future lawyers and doctors. A person studying Latin enriches his vocabulary and facilitates the process of memorizing new words. It is the Latin alphabet that is the basis of all European languages and the phonetic base of transcription.
Latin is also related to the modern Russian language. It contains more than ten thousand words that came from the language of the ancient Romans.
