The origins and the development of the Latin language in the Roman Empire is discussed in this article. The research was carried out briefly about The Latin in the Renaissance and the importance of this language for modern science, especially for medicine.
Keywords: Latin language, Greek, term, Roman, Hellenic, culture.
The Latin language was spoken long before our era by a small Italian tribe (Latini) who lived in the Latium region (Latium). This area was located in the middle part of the Apennine Peninsula. Here, according to legend, in the VIII century BC, the city of Rome was founded by the Latins.
Latin became extensively used as an international language not just in the Mediterranean basin, but also beyond its limits, as Rome's conquests progressed and the Roman State expanded. Since the first century BC and up to the second half of the fifth century AD — before the fall of the Western Roman Empire — the Latin language has gained worldwide significance throughout an area spanning from Gibraltar to the Euphrates and from North Africa to Britain.
The Latin language's richness compared to the languages of conquered peoples also led to its widespread use. The conquered peoples' socio-economic culture, which was transformed under the influence of Rome-the growth of private property and the formation of commercial capital-demanded new ideas and definitions of lexical order, which the national languages could not meet at the time.
Doctor — teacher, mentor
Medicina — a set of sciences aimed at treatment
Receptum — a written prescription from a doctor (for a pharmacy)
Gradus — step, step, degree
Minister — a minister, a senior official
Arcus-an arch, an arc — shaped overlap between two supports
Vena — a blood vessel
The Roman state's high general cultural level resulted in the creation of a number of outstanding works in philosophy, science, literature, and art. The depth of thought and purity of form in these works, in turn, elevate the meaning of the Latin language to the forefront.
In the Renaissance (XIV — XVI centuries), when science began to develop on the basis of reason and experimental research, the Latin language gave humanity a ready-made tool of thought, scientific concepts and terms. The Renaissance's ideological foundation was humanism, the main content of which is the cult of man, placed at the center of the universe. Antiquity, according to this ideology, is an ideal historical period in which science and art, the state, and society flourished. Writers attempted to emulate ancient models, particularly Cicero's language. The Latin language in the Renaissance became the most important means of scientific and cultural communication [4, 5, 6].
To consider the importance of the Latin language for modern science, despite the subsequent displacement of the Latin language by developing national languages, Latin still retains its importance in the field of scientific terminology in a number of sciences, especially in medicine.
Consultation, forum, linguistics, albino, appendix, individual, botulism, digitalis, octave, mutation, radical, radius, calculator
Different versions of the Latin language had a significant impact on the development of a number of new European languages. Latin's «Descendants» are largely Romance languages (Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and Romanian), but German and English also have Latin origins.
Latin is one of the Italian dead languages. The literary Latin language developed during the II and I centuries BC, and it achieved its pinnacle in the I century BC, during the so-called classical, or «golden» Latin period. He was known for his extensive vocabulary, ability to express complicated abstract notions, scientific and philosophical language, political, legal, economic, and technical terms.
This is followed by post-classical, or «silver», Latin (I-II century AD), when phonetic and morphological standards were fully cemented and spelling rules were established. The last phase of ancient Latin's existence was known as late Latin (III-VI centuries AD), when the distance between written, book, Latin and folk-colloquial began to widen.
By the end of the second century BC, the Latin language had risen to the status of official state language throughout the Western Mediterranean countries.
From 43 AD until 407 AD, the Celts (Britons) who inhabited Britain were also subject to Roman authority.
If the Latin language in its colloquial form spread almost without resistance from tribal languages in the west of Europe, he encountered languages in the depths of the Mediterranean basin (Greece, Asia Minor, Egypt) that had a longer written history and a much higher level of culture than the Latin language of the Roman conquerors. Even before the advent of the Romans, the Greek, or Hellenic, language was extensively disseminated in these territories, as was the Greek, or Hellenic, civilization.
From the initial cultural interactions between the Romans and the Greeks through the end of ancient Rome's existence, the latter experienced an ever-increasing impact of highly developed Greek culture in the economic, political, social, and spiritual realms of life.
Simultaneously, another process, the creation of Latin words with scientific meaning, i. e. terms, was taking place more actively.
There are major distinctions between the two classical languages when compared.
The Latin language was noticeably inferior in terms of word-formation potential to Greek, which had a remarkable ability to put into linguistic forms phenomena, facts, and ideas of biological and medical content that were being discovered and described for the first time, and to easily create new and new names that were almost transparent in meaning through various methods of word formation, particularly equivalence.
Even after the Western Roman Empire fell apart in 476, Latin was still used as a literary language in Western and Central Europe. A plethora of medieval Latin literature in a variety of styles appeared, ranging from scientific works by Irish and Anglo-Saxon writers to simple fairy tales and sermons intended for the general public.
During the fifteenth century, the Latin language began to lose its dominance and status as the primary language of science and religion in Europe. It was largely replaced by written versions of local European languages, many of which descended from Latin or were influenced by it.
Modern Latin was used by the Roman Catholic Church until the middle of the twentieth century, and it still exists to some extent today, particularly in the Vatican, where it is recognized as one of the official languages. Biologists, paleontologists, and other scientists, as well as doctors and lawyers, actively use Latin terminology to name species and drugs.
To conclude, there are major distinctions between the two classical languages when compared. The Latin language was noticeably inferior in terms of word-formation potential to Greek. From the initial interactions between the Romans and the Greeks through the end of ancient Rome, the latter experienced an ever-increasing impact of highly developed Greek culture.
References:
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- Bulwar, J. Classics Teaching in Europe / J. Bulwar. — Gerald Duckworth & Company, 2006. — 160 p.
- Stroh, W. O Latinitas! Erfahrungen mit lebendigem Latein und ein Rьckblick auf zehn Jahre Sodalitas / W. Stroh // Gymnasium. — 1997. — 104. — P. 271–290.
- Burke, P. Heu domine, adsunt Turcae! AbriЯ einer Sozialgeschichte des postmittelalterlichen Lateins / P.Burke // Verf., Kchenlatein. — 1989. — S. 31–59.
- Europas Muttersprachen: Latein und Altgriechisch sind in Deutschland wieder im Kommen // Die Welt Online [Electronic resource],-07.04.2006. Mode of access: article209136/Europas_Muttersprachen.html. http://www.welt.de/print-welt/
- Landfester, M. Humanismus und Gesellschaft im 19. Jahrhundert / M. Landfester. — Wiss. Buchgesellschaft, 1988. — 225 S.
