The Origins Of Latin

The Origins Of Latin What is The History Of The Latin Language ChaptersAt The Beginning Was Archaic LatinThe Periods of  Classical LatinFrom Medieval Latin to the Renaissance LatinFrom Neo-Latin to Contemporary LatinThe old city of Rome, the former capital of the Roman Empire and birthplace of the Latin language is covered with inscriptions written in Latin and dating from 2000 years ago (by jillmackie)The Latin language was the first language to be born in Europe and to have been used commonly throughout the continent.Despite Latin being a dead language today, it makes no doubts for historians than the Latin language, during the hegemony of the Roman Empire, was comparable to English today, as an international language.The Roman Empire that extended from the Portuguese  shores of the Atlantic Ocean all the way to the banks of the Euphrates in what is today Iran, had made Latin the official language of any newly conquered land, or province.Most people know that Latin was the idioms spoken by the Roman and it is common knowledge that France, Spai n, Portugal and Italy have all inherited from the Latin culture.But what are the true story of Latin and its origins?Officially, a language is declared extinct  when the last native speakers of the said language die. For Latin, it was many centuries ago.But even though Latin is a dead language, what is essentially the same alphabet as the one the Romans used, is the same one we write in English today.Some people consider that, because of the Latin alphabet and languages directly descendant of Latin like Spanish, French, Portuguese  and Italian, are so widely used across the world, Latin is alive and well.Even Southeast Asian countries such as Indonesia or Malaysia, use the Latin alphabet to write their  language even though this one has no Latin roots whatsoever.What is the history of Latin?It is what Superprof is going to answer in this article.After Dante popularised the Italian language over Latin in Latin, Chaucer did the same with Middle English in England. Until then only Lati n was used to write books. But Chaucer was instrumental in popularising English as a medium of the literary composition.As Latin is replaced by Middle English, it is still the scientific idiom used by scholars and academics all across Europe.From then Latin started to gradually decline in literature but it remained the language of scientists.Many of the philosophers and scientists of the time kept using Latin to write their books. Francis Bacon (1596-1650) and Isaac Newton (1643-1727) are probably the most famous English examples.Latin remains the common language to transmit scientific, philosophic or religious knowledge and it was understood by all the lettered people of Europe.Isaac Newton, the famous English scientist of the 18th century, wrote most of his work in Latin.From Neo-Latin to Contemporary LatinStill today, Latin remains as one of the official languages of the Vatican city and The Catholic Church.Linguists use the term of neo-Latin to refer to the Latin idiom in use si nce the Italian Renaissance.Around the times when the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantine Empire) fell, Gutenberg was inventing its printing press in Germany and helped to spread Latin texts more easily thanks to the mass printing of those.However, from the 18th century, Latin was only used for scientific texts and some Latin poetry.This explains why at least 90% of scientific words in English come from Latin.Nowadays, debate still happens on whether Latin should keep being taught in schools or not. But if you are interested why not teach yourself?Find out all of the benefits you could derive from learning Latin!