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83-620: Over the years, it has created databases on Latin literature , Bible texts, texts in Arabic and Coptic , Ancient Greek papyri and inscriptions, Founding Fathers of the United States : Benjamin Franklin and others, and also Persian literature in translation. It also funds external projects such as the Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources and the complete works of C.P.E. Bach . PHI

166-561: A continual development over several centuries, the beginnings of formal Latin literature started with the regular performance of comedies and tragedies in Rome in 240 BC, one year after the conclusion of the First Punic War . These initial comedies and tragedies were adapted from Greek drama by Livius Andronicus , a Greek prisoner of war who had been brought to Rome as a slave in 272 BC. Andronicus translated Homer 's Odyssey into Latin using

249-759: A familiar vocabulary, giving it poetic value by combinations of words and by rich sound effects. Rome's leading poets had great technical skill in the choice and arrangement of language. They had an intimate knowledge of the Greek poets, whose themes appear in almost all Roman literature. until 75 BC Old Latin 75 BC – 200 AD Classical Latin 200–700 Late Latin 700–1500 Medieval Latin 1300–1500 Renaissance Latin 1300– present Neo-Latin 1900– present Contemporary Latin Latin Latin ( lingua Latina , pronounced [ˈlɪŋɡʷa ɫaˈtiːna] , or Latinum [ɫaˈtiːnʊ̃] )

332-526: A faster pace. It is characterised by greater use of prepositions, and word order that is closer to modern Romance languages, for example, while grammatically retaining more or less the same formal rules as Classical Latin. Ultimately, Latin diverged into a distinct written form, where the commonly spoken form was perceived as a separate language, for instance early French or Italian dialects, that could be transcribed differently. It took some time for these to be viewed as wholly different from Latin however. After

415-671: A few in German , Dutch , Norwegian , Danish and Swedish . Latin is still spoken in Vatican City, a city-state situated in Rome that is the seat of the Catholic Church . The works of several hundred ancient authors who wrote in Latin have survived in whole or in part, in substantial works or in fragments to be analyzed in philology . They are in part the subject matter of the field of classics . Their works were published in manuscript form before

498-404: A few. Famous and well regarded writers included Petrarch, Erasmus, Salutati , Celtis , George Buchanan and Thomas More . Non fiction works were long produced in many subjects, including the sciences, law, philosophy, historiography and theology. Famous examples include Isaac Newton 's Principia . Latin was also used as a convenient medium for translations of important works first written in

581-501: A logical unit. Latin can be used with conciseness, as in the works of Sallust and Tacitus . Or it can have wide, sweeping phrases, as in the works of Livy and the speeches of Cicero . Latin lacks poetic vocabulary that marks the Greek poetry. Some earlier Latin poets tried to make up for this deficiency by creating new compound words, as the Greeks had done. But Roman writers seldom invented words. Except in epic poetry, they tended to use

664-448: A long poem, De rerum natura . One of the most prolific writers of the period was Marcus Terentius Varro . Referred to as "the most learned of the Romans" by Quintillian , he wrote about a remarkable variety of subjects, from religion to poetry, but only his writings on agriculture and the Latin language are extant in their complete form. The emperor Augustus took a personal interest in

747-548: A native language, Medieval Latin was used across Western and Catholic Europe during the Middle Ages as a working and literary language from the 9th century to the Renaissance , which then developed a classicizing form, called Renaissance Latin . This was the basis for Neo-Latin which evolved during the early modern period . In these periods Latin was used productively and generally taught to be written and spoken, at least until

830-551: A result, the list has variants, as well as alternative names. In addition to the historical phases, Ecclesiastical Latin refers to the styles used by the writers of the Roman Catholic Church from late antiquity onward, as well as by Protestant scholars. The earliest known form of Latin is Old Latin, also called Archaic or Early Latin, which was spoken from the Roman Kingdom , traditionally founded in 753 BC, through

913-407: A separate language, existing more or less in parallel with the literary or educated Latin, but this is now widely dismissed. The term 'Vulgar Latin' remains difficult to define, referring both to informal speech at any time within the history of Latin, and the kind of informal Latin that had begun to move away from the written language significantly in the post-Imperial period, that led ultimately to

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996-499: A separate work, greatly influenced later poetic theories. It stated the basic rules of classical writing as the Romans understood and used them. After Virgil died, Horace was Rome's leading poet. The Latin elegy reached its highest development in the works of Tibullus , Propertius , and Ovid . Most of this poetry is concerned with love. Ovid wrote the Fasti , which describes Roman festivals and their legendary origins. Ovid's greatest work,

1079-695: A small number of Latin services held in the Anglican church. These include an annual service in Oxford, delivered with a Latin sermon; a relic from the period when Latin was the normal spoken language of the university. In the Western world, many organizations, governments and schools use Latin for their mottos due to its association with formality, tradition, and the roots of Western culture . Canada's motto A mari usque ad mare ("from sea to sea") and most provincial mottos are also in Latin. The Canadian Victoria Cross

1162-429: A sort of informal language academy dedicated to maintaining and perpetuating educated speech. Philological analysis of Archaic Latin works, such as those of Plautus , which contain fragments of everyday speech, gives evidence of an informal register of the language, Vulgar Latin (termed sermo vulgi , "the speech of the masses", by Cicero ). Some linguists, particularly in the nineteenth century, believed this to be

1245-565: A spoken and written language by the scholarship by the Renaissance humanists . Petrarch and others began to change their usage of Latin as they explored the texts of the Classical Latin world. Skills of textual criticism evolved to create much more accurate versions of extant texts through the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and some important texts were rediscovered. Comprehensive versions of authors' works were published by Isaac Casaubon , Joseph Scaliger and others. Nevertheless, despite

1328-432: A strictly left-to-right script. During the late republic and into the first years of the empire, from about 75 BC to AD 200, a new Classical Latin arose, a conscious creation of the orators, poets, historians and other literate men, who wrote the great works of classical literature , which were taught in grammar and rhetoric schools. Today's instructional grammars trace their roots to such schools , which served as

1411-474: A traditional Latin verse form called Saturnian meter . In 235 BC, Gnaeus Naevius , a Roman citizen, continued this tradition of producing dramas that were reworkings of Greek originals, or fabula palliata , and he expanded on this by producing a new type of drama, fabula praetexta , or tragedies based on Roman myths and history, starting in 222 BC. Later in life, Naevius composed an epic poem in Saturnian meter on

1494-689: A vernacular, such as those of Descartes . Latin education underwent a process of reform to classicise written and spoken Latin. Schooling remained largely Latin medium until approximately 1700. Until the end of the 17th century, the majority of books and almost all diplomatic documents were written in Latin. Afterwards, most diplomatic documents were written in French (a Romance language ) and later native or other languages. Education methods gradually shifted towards written Latin, and eventually concentrating solely on reading skills. The decline of Latin education took several centuries and proceeded much more slowly than

1577-582: A vivid picture of the public and private life among the Roman governing class. Cicero's works on oratory are our most valuable Latin sources for ancient theories on education and rhetoric. His philosophical works were the basis of moral philosophy during the Middle Ages. His speeches inspired many European political leaders and the founders of the United States. Julius Caesar and Sallust were significant historical writers of Cicero's time. Caesar wrote commentaries on

1660-432: A young man who is accidentally changed into a donkey. The story is filled with tales of love and witchcraft. Pagan Latin literature showed a final burst of vitality from the late 3rd century till the 5th centuries – Ammianus Marcellinus in history, Quintus Aurelius Symmachus in oratory, and Ausonius and Rutilius Claudius Namatianus in poetry. The Mosella by Ausonius demonstrated a modernism of feeling that indicates

1743-411: Is Veritas ("truth"). Veritas was the goddess of truth, a daughter of Saturn, and the mother of Virtue. Switzerland has adopted the country's Latin short name Helvetia on coins and stamps, since there is no room to use all of the nation's four official languages . For a similar reason, it adopted the international vehicle and internet code CH , which stands for Confoederatio Helvetica ,

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1826-659: Is Sulpicia . In prose, Livy produced a history of the Roman people in 142 books. Only 35 survived, but they are a major source of information on Rome. From the death of Augustus in AD 14 until about 200, Roman authors emphasized style and tried new and startling ways of expression. During the reign of Nero from 54 to 68, the Stoic philosopher Seneca wrote a number of dialogues and letters on such moral themes as mercy and generosity. In his Natural Questions , Seneca analyzed earthquakes, floods, and storms. Seneca's tragedies greatly influenced

1909-857: Is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages . Latin was originally spoken by the Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio ), the lower Tiber area around Rome , Italy. Through the expansion of the Roman Republic it became the dominant language in the Italian Peninsula and subsequently throughout the Roman Empire . By the late Roman Republic , Old Latin had evolved into standardized Classical Latin . Vulgar Latin refers to

1992-482: Is a facility funded as a gift to the nation by the Packard Humanities Institute. The Packard Campus is the site where the nation's library acquires, preserves and provides access to the world's largest and most comprehensive collection of motion pictures, television programs, radio broadcasts and sound recordings. The Packard Campus is home to nearly 7 million collection items. It provides staff support for

2075-626: Is a reversal of the original phrase Non terrae plus ultra ("No land further beyond", "No further!"). According to legend , this phrase was inscribed as a warning on the Pillars of Hercules , the rocks on both sides of the Strait of Gibraltar and the western end of the known, Mediterranean world. Charles adopted the motto following the discovery of the New World by Columbus, and it also has metaphorical suggestions of taking risks and striving for excellence. In

2158-515: Is also concerned with early education of children. The institute is independent of the David and Lucile Packard Foundation and is not associated in any way with any Hewlett-Packard Company foundations. Its current president is former professor David Woodley Packard , who has served as a director, but never an officer, of Hewlett Packard. In 1997 with the approval of the United States Congress

2241-548: Is found in any widespread language, the languages of Spain, France, Portugal, and Italy have retained a remarkable unity in phonological forms and developments, bolstered by the stabilising influence of their common Christian (Roman Catholic) culture. It was not until the Muslim conquest of Spain in 711, cutting off communications between the major Romance regions, that the languages began to diverge seriously. The spoken Latin that would later become Romanian diverged somewhat more from

2324-661: Is modelled after the British Victoria Cross which has the inscription "For Valour". Because Canada is officially bilingual, the Canadian medal has replaced the English inscription with the Latin Pro Valore . Spain's motto Plus ultra , meaning "even further", or figuratively "Further!", is also Latin in origin. It is taken from the personal motto of Charles V , Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain (as Charles I), and

2407-958: Is taught at many high schools, especially in Europe and the Americas. It is most common in British public schools and grammar schools, the Italian liceo classico and liceo scientifico , the German Humanistisches Gymnasium and the Dutch gymnasium . Occasionally, some media outlets, targeting enthusiasts, broadcast in Latin. Notable examples include Radio Bremen in Germany, YLE radio in Finland (the Nuntii Latini broadcast from 1989 until it

2490-531: The Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum (CIL). Authors and publishers vary, but the format is about the same: volumes detailing inscriptions with a critical apparatus stating the provenance and relevant information. The reading and interpretation of these inscriptions is the subject matter of the field of epigraphy . About 270,000 inscriptions are known. The Latin influence in English has been significant at all stages of its insular development. In

2573-578: The Academy Film Archive . This collection is the largest known assemblage of theatrical trailers on film, consisting of over 60,000 coming attractions, advertisements, theatrical snipes, film excerpts, television spots, and public service announcements. Latin literature Latin literature includes the essays, histories, poems, plays, and other writings written in the Latin language. The beginning of formal Latin literature dates to 240 BC, when

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2656-777: The David and Lucile Packard Foundation purchased the former high-security storage facility operated by the Federal Reserve Board . The facility is located inside Mount Pony in Culpeper, Virginia . With Congress and the Library of Congress the facility was transformed into the National Audio-Visual Conservation Center, which completed construction in mid-2007, called the Packard Campus (PCAVC). The Library of Congress Packard Campus for Audio Visual Conservation

2739-562: The Holy See , the primary language of its public journal , the Acta Apostolicae Sedis , and the working language of the Roman Rota . Vatican City is also home to the world's only automatic teller machine that gives instructions in Latin. In the pontifical universities postgraduate courses of Canon law are taught in Latin, and papers are written in the same language. There are

2822-512: The Metamorphoses weaves various myths into a fast-paced, fascinating story. Ovid was a witty writer who excelled in creating lively and passionate characters. The Metamorphoses was the best-known source of Greek and Roman mythology throughout the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. It inspired many poets, painters, and composers. One of the few female poets of ancient Rome whose work has survived

2905-561: The Middle Ages , borrowing from Latin occurred from ecclesiastical usage established by Saint Augustine of Canterbury in the 6th century or indirectly after the Norman Conquest , through the Anglo-Norman language . From the 16th to the 18th centuries, English writers cobbled together huge numbers of new words from Latin and Greek words, dubbed " inkhorn terms ", as if they had spilled from a pot of ink. Many of these words were used once by

2988-452: The Middle Ages . Latin literature features the work of Roman authors, such as Cicero , Virgil , Ovid and Horace , but also includes the work of European writers after the fall of the Empire; from religious writers like Aquinas (1225–1274), to secular writers like Francis Bacon (1561–1626), Baruch Spinoza (1632–1677), and Isaac Newton (1642–1727). Although literature in Latin followed

3071-559: The Roman Rite of the Catholic Church at the Vatican City . The church continues to adapt concepts from modern languages to Ecclesiastical Latin of the Latin language. Contemporary Latin is more often studied to be read rather than spoken or actively used. Latin has greatly influenced the English language , along with a large number of others, and historically contributed many words to

3154-553: The Romance languages . During the Classical period, informal language was rarely written, so philologists have been left with only individual words and phrases cited by classical authors, inscriptions such as Curse tablets and those found as graffiti . In the Late Latin period, language changes reflecting spoken (non-classical) norms tend to be found in greater quantities in texts. As it

3237-647: The UCLA and Packard Humanities film library. PHI Santa Clarita also holds 400,000 archive films from Paramount Pictures , Warner Brothers , Columbia Pictures , 20th Century Fox and Republic Pictures . PHI Santa Clarita also holds and is transferring the Hearst Metrotone News collection, newsreels made from 1915 to 1975, on a Scanity motion picture film scanner . Since 2010, the Packard Humanities Institute Collection has been held at

3320-622: The Western Roman Empire fell in 476 and Germanic kingdoms took its place, the Germanic people adopted Latin as a language more suitable for legal and other, more formal uses. While the written form of Latin was increasingly standardized into a fixed form, the spoken forms began to diverge more greatly. Currently, the five most widely spoken Romance languages by number of native speakers are Spanish , Portuguese , French , Italian , and Romanian . Despite dialectal variation, which

3403-561: The British Crown. The motto is featured on all presently minted coinage and has been featured in most coinage throughout the nation's history. Several states of the United States have Latin mottos , such as: Many military organizations today have Latin mottos, such as: Some law governing bodies in the Philippines have Latin mottos, such as: Some colleges and universities have adopted Latin mottos, for example Harvard University 's motto

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3486-490: The Elder . Cato wrote the first Latin history of Rome and of other Italian cities. He was the first Roman statesman to put his political speeches in writing as a means of influencing public opinion. Early Latin literature ended with Gaius Lucilius , who created a new kind of poetry in his 30 books of Satires (2nd century BC). He wrote in an easy, conversational tone about books, food, friends, and current events. Traditionally,

3569-599: The English lexicon , particularly after the Christianization of the Anglo-Saxons and the Norman Conquest . Latin and Ancient Greek roots are heavily used in English vocabulary in theology , the sciences , medicine , and law . A number of phases of the language have been recognized, each distinguished by subtle differences in vocabulary, usage, spelling, and syntax. There are no hard and fast rules of classification; different scholars emphasize different features. As

3652-525: The Gallic and civil wars in a straightforward style to justify his actions as a general. He wrote descriptions of people and their motives. The birth of lyric poetry in Latin occurred during the same period. The lyrics of Catullus , whom the writer Aulus Gellius called "the most elegant of poets", are noted for their emotional intensity. Contemporary with Catullus, Lucretius expounded the Epicurean philosophy in

3735-462: The Greeks had already written about. Even when they copied the Greeks, their translations were not straightforward replicas of the original Greek works. Only fragments of their plays have survived. Considerably more is known about early Latin comedy, as 26 Early Latin comedies are extant – 20 of which were written by Plautus ; the remaining six were written by Terence . These men modeled their comedies on Greek plays known as New Comedy , but treated

3818-580: The Grinch Stole Christmas! , The Cat in the Hat , and a book of fairy tales, " fabulae mirabiles ", are intended to garner popular interest in the language. Additional resources include phrasebooks and resources for rendering everyday phrases and concepts into Latin, such as Meissner's Latin Phrasebook . Some inscriptions have been published in an internationally agreed, monumental, multivolume series,

3901-721: The Library of Congress National Film Preservation Board, the National Film Preservation Board and the national registries for film and recorded sound. PHI has worked on the restoration of two historic theaters: Using the experience and knowledge of helping make the Packard Campus (PCAVC), Packard started a new project in Santa Clarita. Opened in 2014, Packard Humanities Institute in Santa Clarita, California has film vaults for media preservation . The facility has one of

3984-534: The Romans' interest in rhetoric, the art of speaking and persuading. Public speaking had great importance for educated Romans because most of them wanted successful political careers. When Rome was a republic , effective speaking often determined who would be elected or what bills would pass. After Rome became an empire , the ability to impress and persuade people by the spoken word lost much of its importance. But training in rhetoric continued to flourish and to affect styles of writing. A large part of rhetoric consists of

4067-461: The United States the unofficial national motto until 1956 was E pluribus unum meaning "Out of many, one". The motto continues to be featured on the Great Seal . It also appears on the flags and seals of both houses of congress and the flags of the states of Michigan, North Dakota, New York, and Wisconsin. The motto's 13 letters symbolically represent the original Thirteen Colonies which revolted from

4150-552: The University of Kentucky, the University of Oxford and also Princeton University. There are many websites and forums maintained in Latin by enthusiasts. The Latin Misplaced Pages has more than 130,000 articles. Italian , French , Portuguese , Spanish , Romanian , Catalan , Romansh , Sardinian and other Romance languages are direct descendants of Latin. There are also many Latin borrowings in English and Albanian , as well as

4233-425: The ability to present a familiar idea in a striking new manner that attracts attention. Latin authors became masters of this art of variety. Latin is a highly inflected language, with many grammatical forms for various words. As a result, it can be used with a pithiness and brevity unknown in English. It lends itself to elaboration, because its tight syntax holds even the longest and most complex sentence together as

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4316-425: The benefit of those who do not understand Latin. There are also songs written with Latin lyrics . The libretto for the opera-oratorio Oedipus rex by Igor Stravinsky is in Latin. Parts of Carl Orff 's Carmina Burana are written in Latin. Enya has recorded several tracks with Latin lyrics. The continued instruction of Latin is seen by some as a highly valuable component of a liberal arts education. Latin

4399-409: The careful work of Petrarch, Politian and others, first the demand for manuscripts, and then the rush to bring works into print, led to the circulation of inaccurate copies for several centuries following. Neo-Latin literature was extensive and prolific, but less well known or understood today. Works covered poetry, prose stories and early novels, occasional pieces and collections of letters, to name

4482-415: The classicised Latin that followed through to the present are often grouped together as Neo-Latin , or New Latin, which have in recent decades become a focus of renewed study , given their importance for the development of European culture, religion and science. The vast majority of written Latin belongs to this period, but its full extent is unknown. The Renaissance reinforced the position of Latin as

4565-412: The country's full Latin name. Some film and television in ancient settings, such as Sebastiane , The Passion of the Christ and Barbarians (2020 TV series) , have been made with dialogue in Latin. Occasionally, Latin dialogue is used because of its association with religion or philosophy, in such film/television series as The Exorcist and Lost (" Jughead "). Subtitles are usually shown for

4648-429: The decline in written Latin output. Despite having no native speakers, Latin is still used for a variety of purposes in the contemporary world. The largest organisation that retains Latin in official and quasi-official contexts is the Catholic Church . The Catholic Church required that Mass be carried out in Latin until the Second Vatican Council of 1962–1965 , which permitted the use of the vernacular . Latin remains

4731-405: The educated and official world, Latin continued without its natural spoken base. Moreover, this Latin spread into lands that had never spoken Latin, such as the Germanic and Slavic nations. It became useful for international communication between the member states of the Holy Roman Empire and its allies. Without the institutions of the Roman Empire that had supported its uniformity, Medieval Latin

4814-427: The elegance and Classicism of their style. Examples of these were Anthony Alsop and Vincent Bourne , who were noted for the ingenious way that they adapted their verse to describing details of life in the 18th century while never departing from the purity of Latin diction. One of the last to be noted for the quality of his Latin verse well into the 19th century was Walter Savage Landor . Much Latin writing reflects

4897-426: The end of classical literature as such. Writers who laid the foundations of Christian Latin literature during the 4th century and 5th century included the church fathers Augustine of Hippo , Jerome , and Ambrose , and the first great Christian poet, Prudentius . Some Latin writing by Christian women also survives: the prison diary of the martyr Perpetua of Carthage , and an account of a Christian pilgrimage by

4980-419: The epigram achieved the stinging quality still associated with it. Juvenal satirized vice. The historian Tacitus painted an unforgettably dark picture of the early empire in his Histories and Annals , both written in the early 2nd century. His contemporary Suetonius wrote biographies of the 12 Roman rulers from Julius Caesar through Domitian . The letters of Pliny the Younger described Roman life of

5063-554: The first Punic War, in which he had fought. Other epic poets followed Naevius. Quintus Ennius wrote an historical epic, the Annals (soon after 200 BC), describing Roman history from the founding of Rome to his own time. He adopted the Greek dactylic hexameter, which became the standard verse form for Roman epics. He became well known for his tragic dramas. Successors in this field include Marcus Pacuvius and Lucius Accius . These three writers rarely used episodes from Roman history , but they wrote Latin versions of tragic themes that

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5146-406: The first stage play in Latin was performed in Rome. Latin literature flourished for the next six centuries. The classical era of Latin literature can be roughly divided into several periods: Early Latin literature , The Golden Age , The Imperial Period and Late Antiquity . Latin was the language of the ancient Romans as well as being the lingua franca of Western and Central Europe throughout

5229-406: The growth of tragic drama in Europe. His nephew Lucan wrote the Pharsalia (about 60), an epic poem describing the civil war between Caesar and Pompey . The Satyricon (about 60) by Petronius was the first picaresque Latin novel. Only fragments of the complete work survive. It describes the adventures of various low-class characters in absurd, extravagant, and dangerous situations, often in

5312-877: The height of Latin literature has been assigned to the period from 81 BC to AD 17, although recent scholarship has questioned the assumptions that privileged the works of this period over both earlier and later works. This period is usually said to have begun with the first known speech of Cicero and ended with the death of Ovid . Cicero has traditionally been considered the master of Latin prose. The writing he produced from about 80 BC until his death in 43 BC exceeds that of any Latin author whose work survives in terms of quantity and variety of genre and subject matter, as well as possessing unsurpassed stylistic excellence. Cicero's many works can be divided into four groups: (1) letters, (2) rhetorical treatises, (3) philosophical works, and (4) orations. His letters provide detailed information about an important period in Roman history and offer

5395-504: The invention of printing and are now published in carefully annotated printed editions, such as the Loeb Classical Library , published by Harvard University Press , or the Oxford Classical Texts , published by Oxford University Press . Latin translations of modern literature such as: The Hobbit , Treasure Island , Robinson Crusoe , Paddington Bear , Winnie the Pooh , The Adventures of Tintin , Asterix , Harry Potter , Le Petit Prince , Max and Moritz , How

5478-412: The language of the Roman Rite . The Tridentine Mass (also known as the Extraordinary Form or Traditional Latin Mass) is celebrated in Latin. Although the Mass of Paul VI (also known as the Ordinary Form or the Novus Ordo) is usually celebrated in the local vernacular language, it can be and often is said in Latin, in part or in whole, especially at multilingual gatherings. It is the official language of

5561-440: The large areas where it had come to be natively spoken. However, even after the fall of Western Rome , Latin remained the common language of international communication , science, scholarship and academia in Europe until well into the early 19th century, by which time modern languages had supplanted it in common academic and political usage. Late Latin is the literary language from the 3rd century AD onward. No longer spoken as

5644-412: The late seventeenth century, when spoken skills began to erode. It then became increasingly taught only to be read. Latin grammar is highly fusional , with classes of inflections for case , number , person , gender , tense , mood , voice , and aspect . The Latin alphabet is directly derived from the Etruscan and Greek alphabets . Latin remains the official language of the Holy See and

5727-431: The later part of the Roman Republic , up to 75 BC, i.e. before the age of Classical Latin . It is attested both in inscriptions and in some of the earliest extant Latin literary works, such as the comedies of Plautus and Terence . The Latin alphabet was devised from the Etruscan alphabet . The writing later changed from what was initially either a right-to-left or a boustrophedon script to what ultimately became

5810-421: The less prestigious colloquial registers , attested in inscriptions and some literary works such as those of the comic playwrights Plautus and Terence and the author Petronius . While often called a "dead language", Latin did not undergo language death . By the 6th to 9th centuries, natural language change eventually resulted in Latin as a vernacular language evolving into distinct Romance languages in

5893-428: The literary works produced during his years of power from 27 BC to AD 14. This period is sometimes called the Augustan Age of Latin Literature. Virgil published his pastoral Eclogues , the Georgics , and the Aeneid , an epic poem describing the events that led to the creation of Rome. Virgil told how the Trojan hero Aeneas became the ancestor of the Roman people. Virgil provided divine justification for Roman rule over

5976-454: The most modern vaults for the storage of nitrate film . The exterior of the facility is ancient Greek architecture made with Italian marble . The interior is made in the style of San Marco, Florence monastery . Packard Humanities Institute in Santa Clarita is partnering with the UCLA Film and Television Archive and UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television in the preservation for both

6059-413: The other varieties, as it was largely separated from the unifying influences in the western part of the Empire. Spoken Latin began to diverge into distinct languages by the 9th century at the latest, when the earliest extant Romance writings begin to appear. They were, throughout the period, confined to everyday speech, as Medieval Latin was used for writing. For many Italians using Latin, though, there

6142-514: The period. Quintilian composed the most complete work on ancient education that we possess. Important works from the 2nd century include the Attic Nights of Aulus Gellius , a collection of anecdotes and reports of literary discussions among his friends; and the letters of the orator Marcus Cornelius Fronto to Marcus Aurelius . The most famous work of the period was Metamorphoses , also called The Golden Ass , by Apuleius . This novel concerns

6225-412: The pilgrim Egeria . During the Renaissance there was a return to the Latin of classical times, called for this reason Neo-Latin . This purified language continued to be used as the lingua franca among the learned throughout Europe, with the great works of Descartes , Francis Bacon , and Baruch Spinoza all being composed in Latin. Among the last important books written primarily in Latin prose were

6308-438: The plots and wording of the originals freely. Plautus scattered songs throughout his plays and added to the humor with puns and wisecracks, as well as comic actions by the actors. Terence's plays were more austere in tone, dealing with domestic situations. His works provided the chief inspiration for French and English comedies of the 17th century AD. The prose of the period is best known through On Agriculture (160 BC) by Cato

6391-518: The works of Swedenborg (d. 1772), Linnaeus (d. 1778), Euler (d. 1783), Gauss (d. 1855), and Isaac Newton (d. 1727), and Latin remains a necessary skill for modern readers of great early modern works of linguistics, literature, and philosophy. Several of the leading English poets wrote in Latin as well as English. Milton's 1645 Poems are one example, but there were also Thomas Campion , George Herbert and Milton's colleague Andrew Marvell . Some indeed wrote chiefly in Latin and were valued for

6474-797: The world of petty crime. Epic poems included the Argonautica of Gaius Valerius Flaccus , following the story of Jason and the Argonauts in their quest for the Golden Fleece, the Thebaid of Statius , following the conflict of Oedipus's sons and the Seven Against Thebes, and the Punica of Silius Italicus , following the Second Punic War and the invasions of Hannibal into Italy. At the hands of Martial ,

6557-518: The world. Although Virgil died before he could put the finishing touches on his poem, it was soon regarded as the greatest work of Latin literature. Virgil's friend Horace wrote Epodes , Odes , Satires , and Epistles . The perfection of the Odes in content, form, and style has charmed readers for hundreds of years. The Satires and Epistles discuss ethical and literary problems in an urbane, witty manner. Horace's Art of Poetry , probably published as

6640-413: Was free to develop on its own, there is no reason to suppose that the speech was uniform either diachronically or geographically. On the contrary, Romanised European populations developed their own dialects of the language, which eventually led to the differentiation of Romance languages . Late Latin is a kind of written Latin used in the 3rd to 6th centuries. This began to diverge from Classical forms at

6723-496: Was much more liberal in its linguistic cohesion: for example, in classical Latin sum and eram are used as auxiliary verbs in the perfect and pluperfect passive, which are compound tenses. Medieval Latin might use fui and fueram instead. Furthermore, the meanings of many words were changed and new words were introduced, often under influence from the vernacular. Identifiable individual styles of classically incorrect Latin prevail. Renaissance Latin, 1300 to 1500, and

6806-441: Was no complete separation between Italian and Latin, even into the beginning of the Renaissance . Petrarch for example saw Latin as a literary version of the spoken language. Medieval Latin is the written Latin in use during that portion of the post-classical period when no corresponding Latin vernacular existed, that is from around 700 to 1500 AD. The spoken language had developed into the various Romance languages; however, in

6889-478: Was shut down in June 2019), and Vatican Radio & Television, all of which broadcast news segments and other material in Latin. A variety of organisations, as well as informal Latin 'circuli' ('circles'), have been founded in more recent times to support the use of spoken Latin. Moreover, a number of university classics departments have begun incorporating communicative pedagogies in their Latin courses. These include

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