Latin was the first real international language, much like the way English has adopted that role today. It was largely spread around Europe, North Africa, and also to a lesser extent into the Middle East, by the expanding Roman Empire. At the time it was used as a way to communicate for people living within the Roman Empire, and between the Empire and their allies. People were travelling to places they had never been before, and trade was flourishing between new territories, so a universal language to communicate with was essential.
Its spread into Europe had a massive influence on the languages that are now spoken in the majority of European countries. It was the basis for the Romance languages, of which the most widely spoken are Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, Romanian, and Catalan. For this reason many of the words spoken throughout the world today have their roots in Latin. But despite its wide influence throughout history, Latin is regarded as a dead language, even though it’s used more than you would believe.
Who still uses Latin?
You may be surprised to know just how much Latin is used in everyday language. Latin still has a dedicated following in religion, and is widely used within the Roman Catholic Church. Many clergymen for the Roman Catholic Church can speak Latin fluently. Official documents published by Vatican City are still written in Latin, as they were done in the days of the Roman Empire.
The two professions that knowledge of Latin is most useful for are law and medicine. Doctors and lawyers will come across many Latin terms throughout their career, but it’s surprisingly how few of them bother to get a real grasp of the language as a whole. If you’ve been to a graduation ceremony you would have heard the Latin language still being used, with phrases such as ‘in absentia’ for students that don’t attend the ceremony, and ‘magnum cum laude’ used to describe students that have achieved particularly high results.
Other places you will find Latin phrases ranges from coins to national mottos, and you will even find Latin on the front of a packet of Marlboro cigarettes, the words ‘Veni, vidi, vici,’ which mean ‘I came, I saw, I conquered.’ Even if you have never taken any lesson in Latin, the likelihood is that you have used it without even knowing it. For instance, many of the commonly used abbreviations like etc. and e.g. are actually short form of Latin terms. The actual words behind etc. are ‘et cetera’, and for e.g. it’s the words ‘exempli gratia.’ Also, when you say, “It’s 6 P.M.” or “It’s 6 A.M.” you are using Latin again. P.M. stands for Post Meridian, and A.M. stands for Ante Meridian, and translates to before noon, and after noon.
Recent resurgence in the so-called ‘dead language’
There are a couple or surprising facts about Latin that have been influenced by contemporary culture. Everybody has heard of the Harry Potter books by J.K. Rowling, but what you may not know is that thanks to her magical books, more children now want to learn Latin. In fact, all of the Harry Potter books have been completely translated into the Latin language. The use of Latin in the Harry Potter has resulted in children finding something they can relate to the ancient language, and it has been reported that children as young as 11 years old are choosing Latin over Spanish or French as their foreign language. What’s more, a report in the Daily Telegraph revealed that the number of high school students in the United States taking Latin in 2003 had increased by 80 per cent since the first Harry Potter book was published. One problem this has presented is that after decades of decline in demand for Latin teachers, now there are not enough of them to school the amount of students that want to take the subject.
Latin has even made its way into the digital age. Facebook is available in 70 different languages, catering for the worldwide appeal of the service they offer. But they also offer a way for Latin students to practice using the language, because there is now an option to change the language to Latin. There is even a social networking website called Schola, where the only language used is Latin. Now the popular Google search engine provides an option to change its language to Latin.
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About the Author: Jackie Swift is a budding linguist with a handful of languages under her belt. As a personal finance writer she’s normally asked to compare savings accounts but in her spare time she writes for language and classics blogs. You can read more about Jackie on her LinkedIn profile page.
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