Reading time: 10-15 minutes A language is never monolithic! Although brief labels are useful for conversation, to say ‘I speak English’ is a complicated thing; its meaning is dependent on person, time and place. The language you use differs according to who you are and who you learned your language from, and who you areContinue reading “Latin: Language, Society and Some Sociolinguistics”
Category Archives: Latin
Grave Language: The Epitaph of Pope Gregory V
There have been great popes in the history of the papacy, men who have influenced countless people, both during and after their lives, with their words, deeds and faith. Gregory V was not one of them. Born in c. 972 in what is now southern Austria, Bruno of Carinthia was well connected from birth. HeContinue reading “Grave Language: The Epitaph of Pope Gregory V”
As Julius Caesar said, “Wehnee, weedee, weekee!”
Or: Why do I pronounce Latin words like that? A question came up recently in the middle of an enjoyably linguistic conversation, concerned with the way I personally pronounce Latin words. The question was essentially ‘why?’ My interlocutor, a friend with only a little Latin learning, was curious about how I pronounce certain letters. WhatContinue reading “As Julius Caesar said, “Wehnee, weedee, weekee!””
Grave Language: The Epitaph of Lucius Cornelius Scipio
Tombs can make linguists very happy. In the effort to commemorate and praise the deceased, many places of interment include written text, known as epitaphs (from Greek epí ‘on’ and táphos ‘tomb’). Being inscribed in stone, these samples of language survive very well and can offer a much-appreciated window into an era of a languageContinue reading “Grave Language: The Epitaph of Lucius Cornelius Scipio”
The Decline and Fall of the Latin Neuter
There are many significant differences between Latin and its linguistic descendants, the Romance languages. One that stands out from the rest is grammatical gender. Latin has three genders for its nouns: masculine, feminine and neuter. However, in French, Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan, Italian and all the other many Romance varieties that lack official use and support,Continue reading “The Decline and Fall of the Latin Neuter”
Re-Reduplication in La-Latin
* In previous posts, I’ve written about the idea of stems and its importance for Latin. Simply put, the stem of a Latin noun, adjective or verb is an intermediate stage between the root (the meaningful part of the word) and the grammatical endings that make the word complete. In the second of the twoContinue reading “Re-Reduplication in La-Latin”
Latin Stems – Part II
Verbs and Verbal Stems * A Recap In part one, we looked at the idea of stems and how it works in Latin nouns and adjectives. We saw that Latin nouns and adjectives can be broken into three parts. root + stem vowel + case-number affix By “root”, we meet the meaningful part of anyContinue reading “Latin Stems – Part II”
Latin Stems!
An Invaluable Tool for a Latinist’s Toolkit * If there is one thing that I urge all Latin learners to get to grips with, it is the concept of stems. My passion for this topic is so great that I have structured my own Latin course around it, including and using it from the outset.Continue reading “Latin Stems!”
Rhotacism, and how it can help your Latin
If you have studied a little Latin, you may have come across an important, yet rather annoying group of nouns. They belong to the third declension, are neuter in gender and end in -us in the nominative singular. They include words like tempus ‘time’, corpus ‘body’ and pectus ‘chest’. They look like nice second-declension nouns,Continue reading “Rhotacism, and how it can help your Latin”
