Latin Language

I

Introduction

Latin Language, extinct language of ancient Rome and the neighbouring territory of Latium. With the spread of Roman power Latin was carried to every part of the known ancient world and became the dominant tongue of Western Europe. It was the language of scholarship and diplomacy until the 18th century and is still used in the Roman Catholic liturgy; it is also the official language of Vatican State.

The Latin language was not native to Italy but was brought into the Italian Peninsula in prehistoric times by Italic peoples who migrated from the north. Latin is a member of the Italic subfamily of the Indo-European languages and is the ancestral language of the modern Romance languages; among Indo-European languages, it is one of the oldest after Sanskrit and Greek. In Italy, Latin was originally the dialect of the region around Rome. Within the Italic languages Latin, Faliscan, and other dialects formed a Latinian group distinct from other Italic languages, such as Oscan and Umbrian. Early Latinian inscriptions survive from the 6th century bc; the oldest texts clearly in Roman Latin date mostly from the 3rd century bc. Latin was influenced by Celtic dialects in northern Italy, by the non-Indo-European Etruscan language in central Italy, and by Greek, which was spoken in southern Italy as early as the 8th century bc. Under the influence of the Greek language and its literature, which was first translated into Latin in the second half of the 3rd century bc, Latin gradually developed into a great literary tongue.

II

Ancient Literary Latin

The Latin literary language may be divided into four periods, corresponding in general to the periods of Latin literature.

A

The Early Period

(240-70 bc). This period includes the writings of Ennius, Plautus, and Terence.

B

The Golden Age

(70 bc-ad 14). This period is famed for the prose works of Julius Caesar, Cicero, and Livy and for the poetry of Catullus, Lucretius, Virgil, Horace, and Ovid. During this period, in both prose and poetry, the Latin language developed into a highly artistic medium of expression and attained its greatest richness and flexibility.