When was classical Latin created? A brief outline of the history of the Latin language What kind of language is Latin?

ISO 639-1: ISO 639-2: ISO 639-3: See also: Project: Linguistics

Latin language(self-name - lingua Latina), or Latin, is the language of the Latin-Faliscan branch of the Italic languages of the Indo-European language family. Today it is the only Italian language actively used (it is a dead language).

Latin is one of the most ancient written Indo-European languages.

The largest representative of the archaic period in the field of literary language is the ancient Roman comedian Plautus (c. -184 BC), from whom 20 comedies in their entirety and one in fragments have survived to our time. However, it should be noted that the vocabulary of Plautus’s comedies and the phonetic structure of his language are already significantly approaching the norms of classical Latin of the 1st century BC. e. - beginning of the 1st century AD e.

Classical Latin

Classical Latin means a literary language that reached its greatest expressiveness and syntactic harmony in the prose works of Cicero (-43 BC) and Caesar (-44 BC) and in the poetic works of Virgil (-19 BC). ), Horace (-8 BC) and Ovid (43 BC - 18 AD).

The period of formation and flourishing of the classical Latin language was associated with the transformation of Rome into the largest slave-owning state in the Mediterranean, which subjugated vast territories in the west and southeast of Europe, northern Africa and Asia Minor. In the eastern provinces of the Roman state (Greece, Asia Minor and the northern coast of Africa), where the Greek language and highly developed Greek culture were widespread at the time of their conquest by the Romans, the Latin language did not become widespread. Things were different in the western Mediterranean.

By the end of the 2nd century BC. e. The Latin language dominates not only throughout Italy, but also, as the official state language, penetrates into the regions of the Iberian Peninsula and present-day southern France conquered by the Romans. Through Roman soldiers and traders, the Latin language in its spoken form found access to the masses of the local population, being one of the most effective means of Romanizing the conquered territories. At the same time, the closest neighbors of the Romans are most actively Romanized - the Celtic tribes who lived in Gaul (the territory of present-day France, Belgium, partly the Netherlands and Switzerland). The Roman conquest of Gaul began in the second half of the 2nd century BC. e. and was completed at the very end of the 50s of the 1st century BC. e. as a result of prolonged military operations under the command of Julius Caesar (Gallic wars 58-51 BC). At the same time, Roman troops came into close contact with the Germanic tribes that lived in vast areas east of the Rhine. Caesar also makes two trips to Britain, but these short-term expeditions (in and 54 BC) did not have serious consequences for relations between the Romans and the British (Celts). Only 100 years later, in 43 AD. e. , Britain was conquered by Roman troops, who remained there until 407 AD. e. Thus, for about five centuries, until the fall of the Roman Empire in 476 AD. e. , the tribes that inhabited Gaul and Britain, as well as the Germans, are strongly influenced by the Latin language.

Postclassical Latin

It is customary to distinguish the language of Roman fiction from classical Latin, the so-called. the post-classical (post-classical, late antique) period, chronologically coinciding with the first two centuries of our chronology (the so-called era of the early empire). Indeed, the language of prose writers and poets of this time (Seneca, Tacitus, Juvenal, Martial, Apuleius) is distinguished by significant originality in the choice of stylistic means; but since the norms of the grammatical structure of the Latin language developed over the previous centuries are not violated, the indicated division of the Latin language into classical and post-classical has more literary than linguistic significance.

Late Latin

The so-called period stands out as a separate period in the history of the Latin language. Late Latin, the chronological boundaries of which are the III-VI centuries - the era of the late empire and the emergence, after its fall, of barbarian states. In the works of writers of this time - mainly historians and Christian theologians - many morphological and syntactic phenomena already found their place, preparing the transition to new Romance languages.

Medieval Latin

Medieval, or Christianized Latin is primarily liturgical (liturgical) texts - hymns, chants, prayers. At the end of the 4th century, Saint Jerome translated the entire Bible into Latin. This translation, known as the Vulgate (that is, the People's Bible), was recognized as equivalent to the original by the Catholic Council of Trent in the 16th century. Since then, Latin, along with Hebrew and Greek, has been considered one of the sacred languages of the Bible. The Renaissance left us a huge number of scientific works in Latin. These are medical treatises by physicians of the Italian school of the 16th century: “On the structure of the human body” by Andreas Vesalius (), “Anatomical observations” by Gabriel Fallopius (), “Anatomical works” by Bartolomeo Eustachio (), “On contagious diseases and their treatment” by Girolamo Fracastoro () and others. The teacher Jan Amos Comenius () created his book “The World of Sensual Things in Pictures” (“ORBIS SENSUALIUM PICTUS. Omnium rerum pictura et nomenclatura”) in Latin, in which the whole world is described with illustrations, from inanimate nature to the structure of society. Many generations of children from different countries of the world studied from this book. Its latest Russian edition was published in Moscow, in

Stylistic features of liturgical Latin

Pronunciation and spelling

Consonants

		Labiolabial	Labiodental	Dental	Palatal	Postopalatines		Throat
		Labiolabial	Labiodental	Dental	Palatal	simple	ogub- linen	Throat
explosive	voiced	B /b/		D /d/		G /ɡ/
explosive	deaf	P /p/		T /t/		C or K /k/ 1	QV /kʷ/
fricatives	voiced			Z /z/²
fricatives	deaf		F /f/	S /s/				H /h/
nasal		M /m/		N /n/		G/N [ŋ] ³
rhotic				R /r/ 4
approximant (semivowels)				L /l/ 5	I /j/ 6		V /w/ 6

In early Latin, the letter K was regularly written before A, but in classical times it survived only in a very limited set of words.
/z/ is an "import phoneme" in classical Latin; the letter Z was used in Greek loanwords in place of zeta (Ζζ), which is supposed to have denoted the sound [z] by the time of its inclusion in the Latin alphabet. Between vowels this sound could be doubled, i.e. . Some believe that Z could represent the affricate /dz/, but there is no reliable evidence for this.
Before velar consonants /n/ was assimilated at the place of articulation into [ŋ], as in the word quinque["kʷiŋkʷe]. In addition, G denoted the velar nasal sound [ŋ] before N ( agnus: ["aŋnus]").
Latin R indicated either an alveolar quaver [r], like the Spanish RR, or an alveolar flap [ɾ], like the Spanish R not at the beginning of a word.
It is assumed that the phoneme /l/ had two allophones (much like in English). According to Allen (Chapter 1, Section v), it was a velarized alveolar lateral approximant [ɫ] as in English full at the end of a word or before another consonant; in other cases it was an alveolar lateral approximant [l], as in English look.
V and I could denote both vowel and semivowel phonemes (/ī/ /i/ /j/ /ū/ /u/ /w/).

PH, TH, and CH were used in Greek loanwords in place of phi (Φφ /pʰ/), theta (Θθ /tʰ/), and chi (Χχ /kʰ/), respectively. Latin did not have aspirated consonants, so these digraphs were most often read as P (later F), T, and C/K (with the exception of the most educated people who were familiar with Greek).

The letter X stood for the consonant combination /ks/.

Doubled consonants were indicated by doubled letters (BB /bː/, CC /kː/, etc.). In Latin, the longitude of sounds had a distinctive meaning, for example anus/ˈanus/ (old woman) or Anus/ˈaːnus/ (ring, anus) or annus/ˈanːus/ (year). In early Latin, double consonants were written as single consonants; in the 2nd century BC e. they began to be denoted in books (but not in inscriptions) by a crescent-shaped diacritic known as "sicilius" (apparently similar to ň ). Later they began to write the familiar double consonants.

(1) The phoneme /j/ occurs at the beginning of words before a vowel or in the middle of words between vowels; in the second case it is doubled in pronunciation (but not in writing): iūs/juːs/, cuius/ˈkujjus/. Since such a doubled consonant makes the preceding syllable long, in dictionaries the preceding vowel is marked with a macron as long, although in reality this vowel is usually short. Prefixed and compound words retain /j/ at the beginning of the second word element:: adiectīuum/adjekˈtiːwum/.

(2) Apparently, by the end of the classical period /m/ at the end of words was pronounced weakly, either voiceless, or only in the form of nasalization and lengthening of the preceding vowel. For example, decem("10") should have been pronounced [ˈdekẽː]. This hypothesis is supported not only by the rhythms of Latin poetry, but also by the fact that in all Romance languages the final M was lost. For simplicity, and also due to the incomplete proof of this hypothesis, M is usually considered to always represent the phoneme /m/.

Vowels

	front row		middle row		back row
	long	brief	long	brief	long	brief
high lift	I /iː/	I /ɪ/			V /uː/	V /ʊ/
medium rise	E /eː/	E /ɛ/			O /oː/	O /ɔ/
low rise			A /aː/	A /a/

Each vowel letter (with the possible exception of Y) represents at least two different phonemes: a long vowel and a short vowel. A can stand for either short /a/ or long /aː/; E can represent either /ɛ/ or /eː/, etc.

Y was used in Greek loanwords in place of the letter upsilon (Υυ /ʏ/). Latin originally did not have front rounded vowels, so if a Roman could not pronounce this Greek sound, he would read upsilon as /ʊ/ (in Archaic Latin) or as /ɪ/ (in Classical and Late Latin).

AE, OE, AV, EI, EV were diphthongs: AE = /aɪ/, OE = /ɔɪ/, AV = /aʊ/, EI = /eɪ/ and EV = /ɛʊ/. AE and OE in the post-Republican period became monophthongs /ɛː/ and /eː/, respectively.

Other spelling notes

The letters C and K both represent /k/. In archaic inscriptions, C is usually used before I and E, while K is used before A. However, in classical times, the use of K was limited to a very small list of native Latin words; in Greek borrowings, kappa (Κκ) is always rendered with the letter C. The letter Q allows one to distinguish between minimal pairs with /k/ and /kʷ/, for example cui/kui/ and qui/kʷiː/.

In early Latin, C stood for two different phonemes: /k/ and /g/. Later, a separate letter G was introduced, but the spelling C remained in abbreviations for a number of ancient Roman names, for example Gāius(Gai) was written in abbreviation C., A Gnaeus(Gney) like Cn.

The semivowel /j/ was regularly doubled between vowels, but this was not shown in writing. Before the vowel I, the semivowel I was not written at all, for example /ˈrejjikit/ ‘threw back’ was more often written reicit, but not reiicit.

Longitude of vowels and consonants

In Latin, the length of vowels and consonants had a distinctive meaning. The length of consonants was indicated by doubling them, but long and short vowels were not distinguished in standard writing.

Nevertheless, there were attempts to introduce a distinction for vowels. Sometimes long vowels were indicated by double letters (this system is associated with the ancient Roman poet Accius ( Accius)); There was also a way to mark long vowels using an "apex" - a diacritic similar to an acute (the letter I in this case simply increased in height).

In modern editions, if it is necessary to indicate the length of vowels, a macron is placed above long vowels ( ā, ē, ī, ō, ū ), and above short ones - breve ( ă, ĕ, ĭ, ŏ, ŭ ).

Morphology

Latin, like Russian, is predominantly synthetic. This means that grammatical categories are expressed by inflection (declension, conjugation), and not by function words.

Declension

There are 6 cases in Latin:

Three genders, as in Russian:

Male (genus masculinum)
Female (genus feminum)
Average (genus neutral)

Divided into 5 declensions.

Conjugation

Latin verbs have 6 tense forms, 3 moods, 2 voices, 2 numbers and 3 persons.

Latin verb tenses:

Present tense (praesens)
Imperfect past tense
Past perfect tense (perfectum)
Plusquamperfect, or antecedent (plusquamperfectum)
Future tense, or future first (futurum primum)
Pre-future tense, or future second (futurum secundum)

First (persona prima)
Second (persona secunda)
Third (persona tertia)

Parts of speech

In Latin there are nouns ( lat. Nomen Substantivum), numerals and pronouns, inflected by cases, persons, numbers and genders; adjectives, except those listed, modified by degrees of comparison; verbs conjugated according to tenses and voices; supin - verbal noun; adverbs and prepositions.

Syntax

As in Russian, a simple sentence most often consists of a subject and a predicate, with the subject in the nominative case. The pronoun as a subject is used extremely rarely, since it is usually already contained in the personal form of the predicate. The predicate can be expressed by a verb, a nominal part of speech, or a nominal part of speech with an auxiliary verb.

Thanks to the synthetic structure of the Latin language and, as a consequence, the rich system of declensions and conjugations, the order of words in a sentence is not of decisive importance. However, as a rule, the subject is placed at the beginning of the sentence, the predicate at the end, and the direct object before the control verb, that is, the predicate.

When constructing sentences, the following phrases are used:

Accusativus cum infinitivo(accusative with indefinite) - used with verbs of speech, thought, sensory perception, expression of will and some other cases and is translated as a subordinate clause, where the part in the accusative case becomes the subject, and the infinitive becomes the predicate in a form consistent with the subject.

Nominativus cum infinitivo(nominative with indefinite) - has the same structure as the previous phrase, but with a predicate in the passive voice. When translating, the predicate is conveyed by the active form of the 3rd person plural with an indefinite personal meaning, and the phrase itself is conveyed by a subordinate clause.

Subordinate clauses with conjunction cum historicum, as a rule, are subordinate clauses of time, translated with the conjunction “when”.

Notes

Literature

// Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: In 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional ones). - St. Petersburg. , 1890-1907.
Tronsky I. M. Historical grammar of the Latin language. - M., 1960 (2nd ed.: M., 2001).
Yarkho V.N., Loboda V.I., Katsman N.L. Latin language. - M.: Higher School, 1994.
Dvoretsky I. Kh. Latin-Russian dictionary. - M., 1976.
Podosinov A.V., Belov A.M. Russian-Latin dictionary. - M., 2000.
Belov A. M. Ars Grammatica. A book about the Latin language. - 2nd ed. - M.: GLK Yu. A. Shichalina, 2007.
Lyublinskaya A. D. Latin paleography. - M.: Higher School, 1969. - 192 p. + 40 s. ill.
Belov A. M. Latin accent. - M.: Academia, 2009.
A brief dictionary of Latin words, abbreviations and expressions. - Novosibirsk, 1975.
Miroshenkova V. I., Fedorov N. A. Textbook of the Latin language. - 2nd ed. - M., 1985.
Podosinov A.V., Shaveleva N.I. Introduction to the Latin language and ancient culture. - M., 1994-1995.
Nisenbaum M. E. Latin language. - Eksmo, 2008.
Kozlova G. G. Self-instruction manual of the Latin language. - Flint Science, 2007.
Chernyavsky M.N. Latin language and basics of pharmaceutical terminology. - Medicine, 2007.
Baudouin de Courtenay I. A. From lectures on Latin phonetics. - M.: LIBROKOM, 2012. - 472 p.

Links

Latin is one of the languages of the Italic language group, once widespread on the territory of the Apennine Peninsula. Initially, Latin was spoken by a tribe of Latins who lived in the central part of the Apennine Peninsula, called Latium. The center of this area was the city of Rome. Gradually, with the growth of the Roman state and the formation of the Roman Empire, the Latin language spread far beyond the territory of modern Italy - Latinization covered all of Central and Southern Europe, northern Africa in the south, the Iberian Peninsula in the west, part of the British Isles in the north, and the Eastern Mediterranean in the east.
For many centuries, Latin was the language of culture, literature and science throughout Europe. To this day, Latin, although considered a dead language, has not lost its role as the universal language of science, understandable to scientists from all countries of the world.

The Latin language has given the world a huge amount of terminology in various fields of science. Medicine, biology, philosophy, etc. are rich in Latin words and expressions. Moreover, the names of new types of modern sciences, as well as new terms, are created on the basis of Latin roots by analogy with existing ones.
One of the key meanings of the Latin language is in medicine: the names of diseases, symptoms, organs and body parts are traditionally written in Latin.
In pharmacology, drugs and active ingredients are also named in Latin. In this area, unification is especially important, since without a unified naming system it would be impossible to navigate the huge number of existing and constantly developing new drugs.
It is impossible not to mention the role of the Latin language in botany and zoology. The name of each animal and plant has a complex scientific name in Latin, which allows scientists who speak different languages to clearly understand what kind of living object we are talking about, as well as give similar names to new species that are being discovered to this day. The standard name uses binary nomenclature, i.e. a name consisting of two elements - the name of the genus and the name of the species, for example: Matricāria chamomīlla (Latin “pharmacy chamomile”). Sometimes the name of the subspecies is added to the double name, for example: Felis silvestris catus (Latin for “domestic cat”).
Latin underlies many modern European languages; in addition, borrowings from Latin constitute a significant lexical layer in many languages of the world. Linguists estimate that borrowings from Latin account for approximately 60%, including words borrowed directly from Latin or through some other Romance language. In the Russian language, words of Latin origin, as a rule, are somehow associated with science, education or politics. This is vocabulary known and understood throughout the world - assistant (assistens), glossary (glōssārium), dean (decan), colloquium (colloquium), postulate (postulatum), rector (rector), substance (substantia), effect (effectus).
Many European languages are based on the Latin alphabet. In Russia and other countries that write, for example, in Cyrillic, the Latin alphabet is compulsory to study in school, as part of a mathematics or physics course.
In addition to the Latin alphabet, the Roman numbering system has become widespread throughout the world. And although due to the active use of Arabic numerals its meaning has been somewhat lost, today it is impossible to do without knowledge of Roman numerals. Roman numerals are used to indicate the century (XXI century), the names of some toponyms (XX Party Congress Square), and on clock dials (including the chimes on the Spasskaya Tower).
Native speakers often use popular sayings in Latin, which have become an integral part of the culture of different countries. This includes Latin proverbs and sayings (Si quis dat mannos, ne quaere in dentibus annos - Don't look a gift horse in the mouth), (Mala herba cito crescit - The weed grows quickly), everyday expressions (Acta est fabula - The play is played), expressions from the field of science and law (Testis unus, testis nullus - One witness is not a witness), literary works (Scientia potentia est - Knowledge is power), quotes from great historical figures (Veni, vidi, vici - Came, saw, conquered).
And finally, Latin is the official language of the Vatican; many church services of the Catholic Church are still conducted in it, legislation and other official documents are published.

ISO 639-1: ISO 639-2: ISO 639-3: See also: Project: Linguistics

Latin is one of the most ancient written Indo-European languages.

Classical Latin

Postclassical Latin

Late Latin

Medieval Latin

Stylistic features of liturgical Latin

Pronunciation and spelling

Consonants

		Labiolabial	Labiodental	Dental	Palatal	Postopalatines		Throat
		Labiolabial	Labiodental	Dental	Palatal	simple	ogub- linen	Throat
explosive	voiced	B /b/		D /d/		G /ɡ/
explosive	deaf	P /p/		T /t/		C or K /k/ 1	QV /kʷ/
fricatives	voiced			Z /z/²
fricatives	deaf		F /f/	S /s/				H /h/
nasal		M /m/		N /n/		G/N [ŋ] ³
rhotic				R /r/ 4
approximant (semivowels)				L /l/ 5	I /j/ 6		V /w/ 6

In early Latin, the letter K was regularly written before A, but in classical times it survived only in a very limited set of words.
/z/ is an "import phoneme" in classical Latin; the letter Z was used in Greek loanwords in place of zeta (Ζζ), which is supposed to have denoted the sound [z] by the time of its inclusion in the Latin alphabet. Between vowels this sound could be doubled, i.e. . Some believe that Z could represent the affricate /dz/, but there is no reliable evidence for this.
Before velar consonants /n/ was assimilated at the place of articulation into [ŋ], as in the word quinque["kʷiŋkʷe]. In addition, G denoted the velar nasal sound [ŋ] before N ( agnus: ["aŋnus]").
Latin R indicated either an alveolar quaver [r], like the Spanish RR, or an alveolar flap [ɾ], like the Spanish R not at the beginning of a word.
It is assumed that the phoneme /l/ had two allophones (much like in English). According to Allen (Chapter 1, Section v), it was a velarized alveolar lateral approximant [ɫ] as in English full at the end of a word or before another consonant; in other cases it was an alveolar lateral approximant [l], as in English look.
V and I could denote both vowel and semivowel phonemes (/ī/ /i/ /j/ /ū/ /u/ /w/).

The letter X stood for the consonant combination /ks/.

Vowels

	front row		middle row		back row
	long	brief	long	brief	long	brief
high lift	I /iː/	I /ɪ/			V /uː/	V /ʊ/
medium rise	E /eː/	E /ɛ/			O /oː/	O /ɔ/
low rise			A /aː/	A /a/

Each vowel letter (with the possible exception of Y) represents at least two different phonemes: a long vowel and a short vowel. A can stand for either short /a/ or long /aː/; E can represent either /ɛ/ or /eː/, etc.

Y was used in Greek loanwords in place of the letter upsilon (Υυ /ʏ/). Latin originally did not have front rounded vowels, so if a Roman could not pronounce this Greek sound, he would read upsilon as /ʊ/ (in Archaic Latin) or as /ɪ/ (in Classical and Late Latin).

AE, OE, AV, EI, EV were diphthongs: AE = /aɪ/, OE = /ɔɪ/, AV = /aʊ/, EI = /eɪ/ and EV = /ɛʊ/. AE and OE in the post-Republican period became monophthongs /ɛː/ and /eː/, respectively.

Other spelling notes

The letters C and K both represent /k/. In archaic inscriptions, C is usually used before I and E, while K is used before A. However, in classical times, the use of K was limited to a very small list of native Latin words; in Greek borrowings, kappa (Κκ) is always rendered with the letter C. The letter Q allows one to distinguish between minimal pairs with /k/ and /kʷ/, for example cui/kui/ and qui/kʷiː/.

In early Latin, C stood for two different phonemes: /k/ and /g/. Later, a separate letter G was introduced, but the spelling C remained in abbreviations for a number of ancient Roman names, for example Gāius(Gai) was written in abbreviation C., A Gnaeus(Gney) like Cn.

The semivowel /j/ was regularly doubled between vowels, but this was not shown in writing. Before the vowel I, the semivowel I was not written at all, for example /ˈrejjikit/ ‘threw back’ was more often written reicit, but not reiicit.

Longitude of vowels and consonants

In Latin, the length of vowels and consonants had a distinctive meaning. The length of consonants was indicated by doubling them, but long and short vowels were not distinguished in standard writing.

In modern editions, if it is necessary to indicate the length of vowels, a macron is placed above long vowels ( ā, ē, ī, ō, ū ), and above short ones - breve ( ă, ĕ, ĭ, ŏ, ŭ ).

Morphology

Latin, like Russian, is predominantly synthetic. This means that grammatical categories are expressed by inflection (declension, conjugation), and not by function words.

Declension

There are 6 cases in Latin:

Three genders, as in Russian:

Male (genus masculinum)
Female (genus feminum)
Average (genus neutral)

Divided into 5 declensions.

Conjugation

Latin verbs have 6 tense forms, 3 moods, 2 voices, 2 numbers and 3 persons.

Latin verb tenses:

Present tense (praesens)
Imperfect past tense
Past perfect tense (perfectum)
Plusquamperfect, or antecedent (plusquamperfectum)
Future tense, or future first (futurum primum)
Pre-future tense, or future second (futurum secundum)

First (persona prima)
Second (persona secunda)
Third (persona tertia)

Parts of speech

Syntax

When constructing sentences, the following phrases are used:

Subordinate clauses with conjunction cum historicum, as a rule, are subordinate clauses of time, translated with the conjunction “when”.

Notes

Literature

// Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: In 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional ones). - St. Petersburg. , 1890-1907.
Tronsky I. M. Historical grammar of the Latin language. - M., 1960 (2nd ed.: M., 2001).
Yarkho V.N., Loboda V.I., Katsman N.L. Latin language. - M.: Higher School, 1994.
Dvoretsky I. Kh. Latin-Russian dictionary. - M., 1976.
Podosinov A.V., Belov A.M. Russian-Latin dictionary. - M., 2000.
Belov A. M. Ars Grammatica. A book about the Latin language. - 2nd ed. - M.: GLK Yu. A. Shichalina, 2007.
Lyublinskaya A. D. Latin paleography. - M.: Higher School, 1969. - 192 p. + 40 s. ill.
Belov A. M. Latin accent. - M.: Academia, 2009.
A brief dictionary of Latin words, abbreviations and expressions. - Novosibirsk, 1975.
Miroshenkova V. I., Fedorov N. A. Textbook of the Latin language. - 2nd ed. - M., 1985.
Podosinov A.V., Shaveleva N.I. Introduction to the Latin language and ancient culture. - M., 1994-1995.
Nisenbaum M. E. Latin language. - Eksmo, 2008.
Kozlova G. G. Self-instruction manual of the Latin language. - Flint Science, 2007.
Chernyavsky M.N. Latin language and basics of pharmaceutical terminology. - Medicine, 2007.
Baudouin de Courtenay I. A. From lectures on Latin phonetics. - M.: LIBROKOM, 2012. - 472 p.

Links

Latin, along with Ancient Greek, is one of the most ancient languages of the cultural population of Europe. According to the generally accepted linguistic classification, Latin belongs to the group of “dead” (i.e. not currently used) Italic languages. Italic languages are the languages of the ancient Italic tribes that inhabited Italy from the 2nd half. 1st millennium BC to the first centuries AD inclusive. Thus, Oscan, Umbrian, Siculian and other languages are historically known. In turn, the Italic languages belong to the Indo-European group of languages, which also includes Greek, Indian languages, Iranian, Slavic, Baltic, Germanic and other languages.

The Latin language got its name from the ancient Italic tribe of Latins who inhabited Latium, a historical region in the lower reaches of the Tiber River. The center of Latium was the city of Rome, founded by a Latin tribe in the 8th century BC.

The Latin script was used by the ancient Romans and formed the basis for the writing of most peoples in Western Europe. The Latin alphabet (see table on the next page) goes back to ancient Greek. According to ancient historical tradition, the art of writing was brought to Latium by Greeks from the Peloponnese, who settled on the Palatine Hill in the center of Rome.

There are different versions of the origin of the Latin alphabet and writing. According to the most common version, the direct prototype of the Latin letter was the Greek alphabetic letter, which developed around the 9th century BC. Since numerous Greek cities and settlements had long existed in the southern part of Italy, cultural ties between the Greeks and Latins were established early and were quite stable. Even not far from Rome there was the city of Gabii, where Greek culture dominated and where, according to ancient legend, the future founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus, were taught to read and write.

Of course, one should not think that Latin writing arose “instantly.” All processes in the field of language formation last quite a long time, sometimes spanning many centuries. The Latin language and Latin writing also developed slowly and gradually, and the Latin alphabet in its familiar form was finally formed only at the turn of the 4th-3rd centuries BC. The first monuments of Latin writing (inscriptions on stones and various objects) are distinguished by the archaic style of letters, indicating the relationship of this letter with ancient Greek. In many of the oldest Latin inscriptions, the writing direction is from right to left, and only in the 4th century BC. The direction of writing is finally established from left to right.

Subsequently, the classical Latin letter also underwent some changes. From the 1st century BC. the letters Y and Z began to be used to write words of Greek origin. In post-antique times, a division of letters into uppercase and lowercase arose, punctuation marks and diacritics (signs above and below letters used to clarify the meaning of individual characters) appeared. In the 11th century AD. the letter W was introduced, followed by the letters J and U in the 16th century.

A special and very interesting issue in the history of the Latin language and the entire ancient history of Rome is the relationship of the Latins with the Etruscans - the cultural predecessors and political rivals of Rome. The origin of the Etruscans and their language has not yet been clarified. The Etruscan language belongs to the group of so-called Mediterranean languages (non-Indo-European languages of Southern Europe and the islands of the Mediterranean Sea). The Etruscan alphabet probably arose from the Greek. In the 18th century, a theory of the Etruscan origin of the Latin language appeared, but it is almost impossible to confirm it due to the paucity of information about the Etruscan language (only a small number of inscriptions have survived, in which only about 150 words have been deciphered to this day).

The Etruscans inhabited Etruria - the region northwest of Rome - and had a high culture (this is evidenced by the surviving monuments of Etruscan art). The Romans borrowed a lot from the Etruscans - in the field of art (including military), political culture and in the field of religious rituals. In the 6th century BC. As a result of the Etruscan advance to the south, Rome fell under the rule of kings from the Etruscan Tarquin dynasty. After the expulsion of the last Tarquin (about 510 BC; since then Rome has become a republic), the influence of the Etruscans gradually weakens. In the 5th-4th centuries they almost completely lost their political independence and fell under the rule of Rome. By the beginning of AD The Etruscans were finally Romanized, and their language was gradually forgotten.

The fight against the Etruscans and the victory over them was the first stage in the formation of Roman hegemony in Italy; from the beginning of the 3rd century BC Rome's economic and political rise takes place. By the end of the 3rd century, the central city of Latium united most of the Italian cities and regions under its rule. During the three Punic Wars (mid-3rd century - mid-2nd century), the Romans defeated their strongest rival in the western Mediterranean - Carthage. By the end of the 1st century BC. The entire cultural Mediterranean from Spain to Greece, Asia and Egypt, the territory of modern France, partly England, Germany, as well as other lands, came under the rule of Rome. In the subsequent era of the empire, the Roman state reached its greatest power.

As a result of the unification of Italy, Latin became the official language of the Roman state. Residents of various regions of Italy, belonging to different nationalities and speaking different (albeit similar) languages, received Roman citizenship and gradually began to perceive themselves as part of a single cultural whole. The Latin language from small Latium spread to the entire Apennine Peninsula, and then was adopted by the population of Gaul and Spain.

ROME IN THE AGE OF ROOM AND THE REPUBLIC

The history of Rome began as the history of a relatively small community united around the Latin tribe. The city of Rome itself, according to legend, was founded in 753 BC. In reality, the city arose as a result of the unification of individual settlements located on 7 hills along the left bank of the Tiber - Palatine, Esquiline, Aventine, Quirinale, Viminale, Caelia and Capitolia. At the dawn of its existence, the future capital of the world state was a rather modest settlement, located, however, in a very convenient location (on a hill, near a river and not very far from the sea). The Capitol Citadel was both a fortress and the center of the young city's shrines.

It should not be thought that the original population of Rome consisted exclusively of representatives of the Latin tribe. The Sabines (Italian people), as well as the Etruscans, have long lived in Rome and its immediate surroundings. Thus, the ancient population of Rome, united around the Latin tribe and speaking the Latin language, was not completely homogeneous ethnically. He was united by something else - belonging to the “Roman people” (populus ronanus), which were considered all full citizens of Rome, originally residents of Latium.

The entire “Roman people” was divided into three tribes (tribus). The original tribes were apparently established along generic lines and reflected the unification of 3 ethnic elements: Latins, Sabines and Etruscans. Later, tribes began to designate divisions of full citizens on a territorial basis. Each of the three tribes was divided into 10 curiae (curia), which represented an intermediate social and state unit of Roman society. The word “curia” itself simultaneously designated the place (and later a special building) where meetings of members of the curia took place.

In turn, each of the 30 curiae was divided into 10 genera. The clan was, therefore, the natural basis of early Roman society; members of the clan had common property and performed religious rites together. The number of members of the clan was not a definite or constant value. Thus, the famous Fabian family at the beginning of the 5th century BC. numbered about 300 people, and the no less famous Claudian family - almost 5 thousand people. From this it is clear that in quantitative terms the curiae were not equivalent.

Full members of the Roman community, united in clans, gradually turned into a privileged part of society. They were called “patricians” (ratricii - “having fathers”) and initially only they constituted the “Roman people”. The patricians were opposed by the “plebeians” (plebs) - the mass of the incomplete population, the “rabble”. The bulk of the plebeians were representatives of the regions conquered or annexed to Rome (initially in the immediate area). They were not part of the ancient clans, curiae and tribes and, thus, could not be considered the “Roman people”. Very often, plebeians sought patronage from influential patricians and became their “clients.”

To resolve the most important issues of national importance, the “Roman people” gathered in curiae. These meetings were called comitia; here the voting process determined the actions of the entire society. All adult men took part in the meetings. The comitia were in charge, among other things, of religious affairs and issues of family relations. Here wills were read out, adoptions took place (in general, new members were accepted into the clan) and new births were accepted into the community. The comitia could also try citizens guilty of breaking the laws. The election of the king probably took place at the comitia.

The king (rex) was the elected head of Roman society, who also served as the high priest. The king's honorary distinctions included a purple robe, a golden diadem, a scepter with an eagle, an ivory chair, and honor guards (lictors). All the attributes of royal power were probably borrowed from the Etruscans, who had kings for a long time.

Under the king, there was a council of elders, otherwise called the “senate”. The word senatus itself comes from the word senex (“old man”). It initially consisted of 100 people, and then the number of its members was increased to 300. Most likely, in the early era of Roman history, the elders of the clans were part of the Senate. All decisions of the comitia had to receive the approval of the Senate to be effective. These are the basic elements of government that were present both in imperial Rome and in the era of the republic.

According to legend, there were seven kings in Roman history. The first king, Romulus, is credited with the establishment of all the main state institutions: he divided the population into patricians and plebeians, created curiae and a senate. Romulus' successors were: Numa Pompilius, Ancus Marcius, Tullus Hostilius; then Tarquin the Ancient, who had migrated from Etruria, became king and was succeeded by Servius Tullius. This latter went down in history as the largest reformer of the social organization of ancient Roman society. Servius Tullius divided the entire population of Rome (both patricians and plebeians) into 6 property categories; Each of the ranks fielded a certain number of armed men in the Roman army. Meetings of centuries (military units) began to resolve most of the issues that had previously been resolved in curiae. The entire territory of Rome was divided into districts. Thus, property status, rather than origin, began to play the main role; The plebeians were included in the Roman people.

The last Roman king was Tarquin the Proud; After his expulsion, a republican system of government was established in Rome for almost 5 centuries. Since the Roman king did not have absolute and unlimited power, many elements of the future republican system operated under royal power. Therefore, the transition from one form of government to another did not mean a complete change in the political system.

DESIGN OF THE LITERARY NORM OF THE LATIN LANGUAGE IN THE ERA OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE

As a result of a number of successful wars, Rome by the end of the 1st century BC. turned into a huge state stretching from Britain and Spain to Asia and Egypt. This colossal territory could no longer be governed by the ancient republican laws, historically designed to organize a relatively small society. Therefore, the replacement of the republican government system under Caesar with a system of authoritarian imperial power should be considered a logical result of the development of Roman statehood. The Roman Empire lasted for almost 5 centuries; During this time, the foundations of European civilization were laid.

By the beginning of the 2nd century AD. The so-called “Roman Peace” (Pax Romana) finally took shape - a state-cultural unification of the peoples of the Mediterranean around Rome, in which the Latin language played the role of the state language, and Latin culture and Latin literature acted as unifying factors for the citizens of the world state. The basis of this association was the finally formed at the turn of our era. a literary Latin language capable of providing the most diverse artistic or scientific-philosophical creativity, as well as interethnic communication. In the development of the Latin language in the last decades of the republic and the era of the empire, three main periods can be distinguished.

The literary norm of the Latin language is recorded in the works of Roman writers and poets of the 1st century BC. - early 1st century AD The vocabulary of the heyday of Latin literature is usually called classical, or “golden” Latin. This is a rich vocabulary capable of conveying complex abstract concepts, exquisite poetic images, and describing philosophical, scientific, political and technical problems. The extraordinary beauty, expressiveness, and exceptional clarity of the classical language served as a role model in all subsequent times. The prose of Cicero, Caesar, Sallust, and the poetry of the “age of Augustus” - Virgil, Horace, Ovid - are considered normative. Excerpts from the texts of the mentioned authors are necessarily used as explanatory examples in textbooks and dictionaries of the Latin language.

Post-classical (“silver”) Latin - the language of the authors 1 - early. 2 centuries AD, the era of the final approval of the grammatical norms of Latin literature. At this time, phonetic and morphological norms of the literary language are formulated and consolidated in the form of a set of rules, and spelling rules are specified (these rules also guide modern editions of Latin texts). For the purposes of guidance and training, special essays are created that set out the rules and recommended norms of stylistics and rhetoric. Among the Latin writers and poets of this time, the philosopher Seneca, the historians Tacitus and Suetonius, the natural scientist Pliny the Elder, the satirical poets Martial and Juvenal, and the rhetorical theorist Quintilian stand out. The language of the representatives of “silver” Latin also served in subsequent times as a source of stylistic models and an example to follow.

In the “golden” and “silver” periods, the Latin language developed evenly, and the differences between the periods, on the one hand, as well as between the generally accepted norms of literary and oral speech, on the other, were not fundamental. However, in the subsequent period, the development of the Latin language took a more ramified and complex path. This is explained by several reasons, among which it is necessary to note, first of all, the growing economic and cultural isolation of individual parts of the empire, the increased influx of alien foreign-speaking populations (barbarian peoples), the emergence of Christian literature (sharply hostile to the rhetorical and stylistic values of the pagan world) and, as a result of all , loss of the original purity of the classical language.

The main feature of the third (and most extensive period) of late Latin 2-6 centuries AD. - is the emergence of a significant gap between the normative literary and colloquial language. This process began relatively early in certain areas of the empire. In North Africa, for example, already in the 1st-2nd centuries AD. An independent dialect of spoken Latin, the so-called “African Latin,” emerged. The first translations of the Bible into Latin were written in this dialect, appearing already in the 2nd century AD. An example of such “non-classical”, incorrect language can be the works of the famous Christian writer Tertullian (late 2nd - early 3rd centuries), who was born and lived in the North. Africa. Similar phenomena were gaining momentum in all provinces of the empire, where classical Latin was used only by the Roman administration and the very few educated layers of the local population. The incorrect “native” Latin became more and more corrupted as a result of the tide of barbarian population. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, these processes accelerated many times over, which eventually led to the final isolation of individual provincial dialects, which served as the basis for the formation of Romance languages.

The attitude of Christian authors to the norms of Latin literature from the very beginning was very ambiguous. On the one hand, many of them received a traditional rhetorical education and tried to focus on classical examples. Such are, for example, Cyprian, Lactantius, Jerome and Augustine. On the other hand, we often find an open, almost demonstrative disregard for the canons of Latin literature, as exemplified by the writings of the already mentioned Tertullian. The fact is that for Christian authors, external forms of expression meant immeasurably less than the expressed meaning. In addition, everything pagan caused an instinctive “repulsion” among Christians. All this contributed to the formation of a certain, often openly disdainful, attitude towards linguistic means and contributed greatly to the oblivion of classical norms.

In the Middle Ages, when Sephardic traders, money changers and moneylenders moved to another country, natives were hired to serve them, who adopted the language of their masters. The language of the natives, when interacting with those who determined the economic structure of a particular region, underwent significant changes. But you understand that the aliens themselves also borrowed a lot from the language of the natives. This is how it arose in medieval Europeabout over three dozen new dialects: la "az. catalanite. ladino, shuadit, etc.In the 16th century the descendants of the settlers began to think about how to create a language that would be understandable to any people, which would help many to self-identify and find their place in the world. One of the idioms used in international communication was “folk Latin,” which was a combination of many dialects, dialects and dialects, in many ways not different from the Tsarfat dialect (“Old French”). THERE WERE NO "PEOPLE LATIN" TEXTBOOKS, since there was no SINGLE LANGUAGE. similar to Latin as we know it today. One of those who decided to create a GRAMMAR OF THE LATIN LANGUAGE, i.e., in fact, to create Latin, wasLorenzo Valla (late 15th century). To prove that Latin was created during the Reformation, I cite the following post by Statin:
When was classical Latin created?

The first textbook on the grammar of classical (aka ancient) Latin, Elegantiae Linguae Latinae (On the Grace of the Latin Language), was published in 1471 by the Renaissance humanist Lorenzo Valla (real name Laurentius della Valle). Valla is said to have "demonstrated the technique of the purity and elegance of classical Latin, devoid of medieval awkwardness."

Lorenzo Valla

The book gained enormous popularity and was reprinted over 60 times before 1530. However, not everyone liked it. Poggio Bracciolini criticized Elegantiae. Walla answered. In the controversy, both scientists showed themselves at their worst. They hurled accusations of ignorance, savagery, plagiarism and even worse at each other. (“Worse” is an accusation of heresy... - KOPAREV)

The humanist (and charlatan) Poggio Bracciolini worked as a copyist of books. He “invented” (borrowed - KOPAREV) a new font that served as the basis for all Romanesque fonts. Simultaneously with the copying of known manuscripts, he “found” hitherto unknown manuscripts, attributed to him to the pens of Lucretius, Cicero, TACITUUS and other “ancient” authors. THE “FOUND” MANUSCRIPTS were written in “folk Latin”, i.e. in a language completely different from the “classical” Latin language!.. Of course, in a dispute with Valla Bracciolini defended the vulgar (aka “folk”, aka medieval) Latin, which is not a descendant of "classical" Latin. By the way, Vulgar Latin was used in church life at that time and was taught in universities. For some reason, folk Latin was also different in different universities... Later it became the basis of French, Italian and many other languages.

Poggio Bracciolini

The dispute was decided by those in power. Pope Nicholas V ordered that all writers known at that time be translated into “classical” Latin. Lorenzo Valla himself was appointed responsible for the translation of Thucycides, and he also translated part of Homer's Iliad. By 1500, most of the major Latin authors writing in "vernacular" Latin had been published. Their language was partially modified in order to at least partially comply with the requirements of the newly created grammar of “classical” Latin. Around the same time, Aldo Manucci (1449-1515) founded the Neacademia (or Aldine Academy) in Venice, whose task, among other things, was to publish large and relatively cheap editions of “ancient” authors.

In 1536, the grammar of “classical” Latin in the book “De causis linguae Latinae” was thoroughly revised by Julius Caesar Scaliger, a specialist in all the then sciences. His real name was Giulio Bordoni. He considered himself one of the scions of the aristocratic house of La Scala (Scaliger in Latin) and used this pseudonym without a twinge of conscience. Julius Caesar is also known as the father of Joseph Scaliger, the founder of modern chronology.

Julius Caesar Scaliger
Just think, Julius Caesar!

When was classical Latin created? A brief outline of the history of the Latin language What kind of language is Latin?

Classical Latin

Postclassical Latin

Late Latin

Medieval Latin

Stylistic features of liturgical Latin

Pronunciation and spelling

Consonants

Vowels

Other spelling notes

Longitude of vowels and consonants

Morphology

Declension

Conjugation

Parts of speech

Syntax

see also

Popular borrowings

Notes

Literature

Links

Classical Latin

Postclassical Latin

Late Latin

Medieval Latin

Stylistic features of liturgical Latin

Pronunciation and spelling

Consonants

Vowels

Other spelling notes

Longitude of vowels and consonants

Morphology

Declension

Conjugation

Parts of speech

Syntax

see also

Popular borrowings

Notes

Literature

Links