Latin Language

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Introduction; Ancient Literary Latin; Ancient Spoken Latin; Medieval Latin; New Latin or Modern Latin

Introduction

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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

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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-ad14). This period is famed for the prose works of Julius Caesar, Cicero, and Livy and for the poetry of Catullus, Lucretius, Virgil, 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.

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