What is Latin? Latin language history & Latin language timeline, Latin literature

Good 👍 👍 👍 👍 👍

Q.: Quid est lingua Latina? R.: Instrumentum est, quod ad vexandos discipulos adhibetur.

I appreciate your open and honest teaching style. Thank you.

How did Latin become a Legal base Language.. or use in legal terminologies

Bit late to this. But I’d say dead would just be described in this sense that it’s never going to be someone’s first language. Thinking in native tongue is always going to be more intertwined to your brain

Most folks are familiar with the similar evolution of Greek versions from the early tribes, to their fusion in the Koine, Byzantine then Katharevousa and modern.
Likewise English, old - middle - modern.
But few may know that ancient Egyptian still echoes in Coptic.

Would you consider discussing the neo-Latinate IALs (international auxiliary languages), like Latino sine Flexione, Interlingua and Occidental-Interlingue?

bla bla bla get to the point

What fascinates most is that there're a latin terms for cell phones and computers.

Language is as dynamic as the people that speak them. Any language that remains unchanged for hundreds of years is a language not to be trusted.....

latin is more alive than esperanto lmao

sources?

So the Latin language that Julius Caesar spoken is that of the golden era which ties more into the classical?

Does anyone know what power latin is? Not the word power but the language?

As someone writing his Ph.D. thesis about Neo-Latin literature, I really cannot stress enough how great people’s misconceptions are about Latin literature and how essential Latin actually as been for Western history and culture. If I mention the terms “Middle-Latin” and “Neo-Latin”, people look at me like, “Honestly sounds like a cool niche subject, but never heard of it.” And it’s really not their fault but partly actually that of Latin philology which, until the last ~50 years or less, looked down on most post-classical authors except maybe those of the absolute highest esteem (let’s say Erasmus and the poet Konrad Celtis as German examples).
One simply has to consider the following: it was only around 1600 fucking AD that German printing presses started to print more texts in German than in Latin.

Late (by 4 years) but how were the events of the Punic Wars remembered if not by the written word? I know historians, then as now, wrote of events that happened centuries before but weren’t there contemporary historians? No minutes of senate meetings? I ask because his timeline reads as though nothing of written Latin was much known before Plautus.

Wow, honestly didn’t expect a reply, let alone from the host! I should have led with I really enjoy your channels. Cheers from the Windy City.

Your handwriting is really cool

The Latin Language (Lingua Latina) was the language spoken by the Romans and spread by them throughout Europe, Northern Africa and the Middle East. The Latin doesn't have anything to do with the Spanish-speaking Mestizo people of the Americas. Latin is the linguistic and cultural heritage of the Italians and the rest of the Latin European: French, Romanians, Portuguese and Spaniards. Being Latins basically means speaking a Latin-derived language (Roman-ce Languages) coming from a country whose laws are based on Roman Laws and whose Religion is Roman Christian Catholicism.

I just came here from your "vulgar latin is not a thing" video. I'm curious: do you use the term here to simplify things or did you change your mind? I mean, did you think there was "vulgar latin" but then you investigated more and learned it wasn't a thing?.

As long as Latin stays in use it will necessarily have innovations. We can preserve the style and grammar, but it is absolutely impossible to avoid new vocabulary and new phrases as long as the language is alive. If today we use the terms and phrases our ancestors couldn't have even imagined in the 19th century, it doesn't mean we are using "improper" English, Spanish, German, Russian, Japanese, Ukrainian etc. Latin has fixed grammar, as it is a "standardized" literary language - so be it. But we shouldn't absolutely avoid innovations if we don't want the language to die out.

Yep told y’all. The Italiano’s started Latin

an enjoyable watch! i was confused about all the different versions, but now I have a clearer picture. thanks!

You are giving a multi-faceted illustration of how Latin is not a "dead" language.

With regards to if and how the language should be allowed to change, I think that Arabic is a great example. The classical language or Fusha remains relatively conservative, which allows people to be able to read the Qur'an and other old texts, while the "dialects" (essentially different languages if you ask me) continue to develop and change. This combination of a standard, relatively unchanging, literary language (that still can be and is spoken!) alongside more colloquial versions of the language that freely develop even until different variations are barely intelligible to each other, is ideal to me. It seems to me to be what the situation of Latin and the Romance languages was for much of the middle ages until the latter were standardized themselves. Anyway that's just my two cents.

Wow I see you were really careful in not using the word Greek or Greece and it’s influence on Latin and Rome
But it was very interesting as Grade 3 subject

I don't want Latin to Die I love Latin

The Latin alphabet is almost identical to the Euboean Greek alphabet that was transported from Greece to Italy by colonists... The Romans added very few letters to it.

Thinking of the manner in which the Roman empire extended itself, like tentacles, probing into the hinterlands and rubbing shoulders ultimately with barbarians of every shade and tongue, it would seem logical that Latin would quickly begin a process of metamorphosis in adapting to the realities of those who spoke it day in and day out. The soldier building Hadrian's wall might end up interacting with a Gaelic speaker and vice versa, in the south, east, west, everywhere it was a matter of survival, daily interaction, we pick up phrases, ways of expressing things, words are adopted. Really, it is amazing it remained as stable as it did. My Latin is terrible, but if I read something from 1500, (my experience is with Latin chant music) I'm pretty sure if Plautus could see it he would understand it. Having punctuation, capitals, etc certainly make reading Latin easier for me. I struggle at the best of times, but if it is messy hand script with no spaces or anything it is like omg impossible. The letters don't even look normal to modern eyes with the best glasses on. I love singing in Latin, so that is my main interest, and of course it is ecclesiastical pronunciation mostly, but I do try to get it right. Someone once asked me if I was Italian after hearing me lol. (I'm not)

Wait till BiggusDickus sees this

When we speak Latin (or listen to rock stars such as you guys speak Latin), I describe project that not as one of "living Latin" but rather as "live Latin".

My Dad and his 7 siblings were all born in the US to a pair of Italian immigrant parents. His parents were both from Avellino, Campania, in Southern Italy. He and his sibs were all taught Italian before learning English. His parents, for the most part, spoke no English at all throughout their lives. His mother, my grandmother, learned to speak a little English as she got older, i.e., in her senior years after all her children were adults. My Dad was the youngest child in the family. He learned English from his siblings, friends, and while attending public school. In high school, he learned to read and write Latin and then to speak it... but I don't think he really spoke it in a way anyone would call conversational. (Side Note: My Dad was Salutatorian of his high school class. Not bad for a pre-war Italian kid from very poor, illiterate, immigrant parents. 🙂) During WW2, he served in France and Germany as a US Army combat soldier. During that time, he learned to speak both French and German. I wouldn't say he spoke those languages fluently, but he spoke them close to fluently. He always said that his background of speaking Italian and English, and then learning to read and write Latin, made learning French and German a piece of cake for him.

So latin is bassically italian slang?

Do you know there is a cartoon arcade movie that mocks a very LATIN phrase "TURAZA" or Turazzan. I know in my Spanish dialect that word means "your people" or "we your people" or your race, so why is this Corp. Using this word for a vile alien reptilian enemy species? I DONT LIKE THAT ONE BIT! Just thought you should know. Or am I over reacting. My instincts tell me otherwise.

Are Haitians Latinos?

Source is Dacia România from to day

I just started learning latin for fun but I think I'm most interested in Vulgar Latin and then the golden age latin. I like roots

its giving khan academy vibes

AWESOME VIDEO!! THANK YOU! I LEARNED ALOT!!!

Salvē Lūcī, grātiās tibi prō pelliculīs tuīs, ūtilēs attractīvaeque sunt. Possīsne dē postclassicā prōnūntiātiōne linguæ latīnæ, quam Cōnstantīnus sīve Theodosius locūtī sint, pelliculam facere ? Quia nōn sciō num ut lingua prōto-rōmānica aut ut lingua latīna classica, aut ut aliquis aliud prōnūntiāta est. Grātiās tibi iterum agō, valē !🏛🫒🏺🌿

I need a translation in Contemporary Latin for "Atlantic Daylight Time".
This recently new term originally was Atlantic Daylight Savings Time, which the word Savings was removed, so you understand the context of the phrase.
The problem I have is the word "Daylight".
As well, I need a correct form of the phrase in Contemporary Latin. The results I was given varied.
Typical word arrangement was in reverse to English.
Example:
Tempus Dies Lux Atlanticus.
The problem with this phrase is Daylight becomes 2 words.
I would appreciate help from anyone who can assert correct grammar, from a certified linguistics point. THANKS

A very good introduction to Latin & its place in modern language studies. But ....
You totally ignored the 1st 501 years, according to your timeline, of the language. The problem, as I see it, is in Latin teaching, which concentrates on getting exam passes, certainly in the UK, as I'm aware from personal knowledge. I'd be interested to know your views on this, since it relates to my primary interest - the development of languages generally.

"The wine-dark sea"!

Thank you Luca ❤

The transition from "Old Latin" to "Classical Latin" seems quite political to me. I'd love to hear more about the shaping and creation of Latin by those forces.

I am mostly untrained in language, so, as an outsider, Latin seems contrived to me. But, I had only one semester of Latin. I've been working on learning Spanish for a few years which seems a little more organic and grass roots than Latin. Not surprising. I've also been learning German at the same time, which is a interesting combination.

Now, I have just started Greek and I often find myself laughing. Learning Greek makes me feel like I am a contortionist. My goal isn't so much to speak any of the languages, but to understand history and people. For context, I have an Industrial Design background.

I am currently learning Latin. At dinner time my family has trivia around the table with the kids. We were going over the moghs of the year when we got to December. I thought to myself, Decem is ten in Latin. But its the twelth month. I had to look it up. I had totally forgotten that there was a calendar change in Julius Caesar's time. I wonder why they didnt change December or October to something dufferent. Anyways, i thought it was neat I recognized decem in December from my studies on Latin.

To me a real language is a living language or maybe not necessarily a lg really used by the people but at least consistent in its pronunciation.
For me, the dialects of the English which are strongly coloured by the other systems of pronunciation (African, Indian English or faulty pronunciation of the Europeans) are not real, similiarly I found badly pronounced latin as an artificial language. The other way round, I find carefully planned elfic languages (by J.R. Tolkien) as real, no one ever spoke them though. So, authentic latin for me, is real ancient latin, which was spoke, and if the rules of pronounciation are consistant and followed by its speaker - I find it OK, no matter if it is contemporary latin with words like: "tv set", "computer", or "telephone". With the exception of ecclesial latin, based on many centuries tradition, or Italian mode of latin pronunciation, in which it follows the pronunciation of a language which is an obvious descentant of latin (and alike in many ways), I find such latins as arificial and non-authentic, including reading classical texts with terrible English accent (the same for recitation of sanskrit verses and prayers). I don't like such attidute to the language which, in my opinion, is always consistant in the terms of pronunciation in the first place, and in the terms of grammar and vocabulary - in the second.
The language is always based on phonetic rules, without that it is not language. You can invent any grammar rules or any word, if it is possible to be pronunced by a human - it OK (it's how languages of the world work). But in term of pronuncing, the system of producing and joining sound MUST be consistant, this is the core of the language. When we learn a foreign language, we make obvios mistakes - it's unavoidable, but we should always aim at a normal language, a means of communication but also a tool constructed for us as humans. All languages which evolved freely are such tools, with consistant systems of pronunciation in each and every case. When such a system is distorted, the language is difficult to pronunce, sounds artificial or disgusting for natives and has a tendency to evolve into a consistent system of pronunciation (like it has happened with modern Indian English), that is into a natural way of producting and joining sounds, which is not the case when a slavic person learns English, or an Englin learns Latin or Sanskrit, unless the person does it properly.

Salve! Ego loquor Latinus!