Why Latin died out

[Ludovicus]

What has survived of written documents is almost entirely literature, philosophy or oratory. There's one ancient novel,Petronius' 'Satyricon,'that has a section, the "Cena Trimalchionis,"  which reveals what Romans may have sounded like. Check out Wikipedia and google for more details.

 

The problem with Latin writing and writings of other ancient peoples is that most of the populations were illiterate. What we have tends to be away from the languages of the masses. We don't have much in the way of written documents that are informal: notes jotted down on the spur of the moment, personal letters that were never meant for publications (as in the case of Cicero's), comments on mundane things such as the weather and "what do you think of my new toga?"

 

But there is an exception:

Luckily this intriguing discovery is adding to our knowledge of Latin language use on a personal level,

the Vindolanda http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vindolanda_tablets

Here we have a party invitation written in the hand of a woman and requests for woolen clothing from a British outpost at Hadrian's wall. And much, much more. Fascinating!

 

A broader explanation of Vulgar Latin:

http://www.ancientworlds.net/aw/Article/520463

Edited May 26, 2014 by Ludovicus

[Ludovicus]

Here's the first page of a language study of the Vindolanda tablets. You'll have to pay a fee for the entire study. Perhaps your public library or university can get it for you gratis.

http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/301059?uid=3739808&uid=2129&uid=2&uid=70&uid=4&uid=3739256&sid=21104220384973

[guy]

Eddie izzard has the best explanation on "why Latin died out:"

 

 

 

guy also known as gaius

Edited May 27, 2014 by guy

[Aurelia]

Love Eddy Izzard, he's got the most brilliant sketches on languages (Latin, French, German, etc). By the way, he's brilliant in Hannibal (the tv series).

[guidoLaMoto]

On 12/12/2013 at 2:37 AM, Onasander said:

 

 

The Romans died off because they couldnt understand one another. They had to conquer other countries just to find people who could speak properly.... and made them slaves so they wouldnt get lonely. Once all the slaves learned latin, the empire collapsed because no one could talk to one another anymore.

This guy's a stitch!!..wish he was still active here.

Old poem known by all students of Latin..

Latin is a language

Dead as it can be.

First it killed the Romans

And now it's killing me.

Latin is much like German, which puts the verb at the end. As Sherlock said in "A Scandal in Bohemia" - "No one disrespects their verbs like the Germans always putting them at the end of the sentence."

Because Latin is so strongly inflected (every word has a particular ending to indicate it's use in the sentence) word order is not technically important, but they did tend to favor S-O-V or just as often. O-S-V.....It reminds me of the Yiddish comedians heard on old time radio-- "Throw me down the stairs my shoes." ...or..."Whistle me out the window."...or ..."Happy I'm not."

Old joke appreciated by students of Latin/Cicero-- A Roman guy leaves the house at sunrise, telling the wife he's going to the Forum to hear Cicero speak...He returns at noon and the wife asks "How was the speech?"..."Very good, as usual."...."What was it about?"..."I don't know. I left to come home for lunch before he got to the verb."

 

 

 

[guidoLaMoto]

.

Edited 29 minutes ago by guidoLaMoto

[guidoLaMoto]

On 12/12/2013 at 2:37 AM, Onasander said:

 

 

The Romans died off because they couldnt understand one another. They had to conquer other countries just to find people who could speak properly.... and made them slaves so they wouldnt get lonely. Once all the slaves learned latin, the empire collapsed because no one could talk to one another anymore.

This guy's a stitch!!..wish he was still active here.

Old poem known by all students of Latin..

Latin is a language

Dead as it can be.

First it killed the Romans

And now it's killing me.

Latin is much like German, which puts the verb at the end. As Sherlock said in "A Scandal in Bohemia" - "No one disrespects their verbs like the Germans always putting them at the end of the sentence."

Because Latin is so strongly inflected (every word has a particular ending to indicate it's use in the sentence) word order is not technically important, but they did tend to favor S-O-V or just as often. O-S-V.....It reminds me of the Yiddish comedians heard on old time radio-- "Throw me down the stairs my shoes." ...or..."Whistle me out the window."...or ..."Happy I'm not."

Old joke appreciated by students of Latin/Cicero-- A Roman guy leaves the house at sunrise, telling the wife he's going to the Forum to hear Cicero speak...He returns at noon and the wife asks "How was the speech?"..."Very good, as usual."...."What was it about?"..."I don't know. I left to come home for lunch before he got to the verb."

 

 

 

[guidoLaMoto]

On 12/12/2013 at 2:37 AM, Onasander said:

 

 

The Romans died off because they couldnt understand one another. They had to conquer other countries just to find people who could speak properly.... and made them slaves so they wouldnt get lonely. Once all the slaves learned latin, the empire collapsed because no one could talk to one another anymore.

This guy's a stitch!!..wish he was still active here.

Old poem known by all students of Latin..

Latin is a language

Dead as it can be.

First it killed the Romans

And now it's killing me.

Latin is much like German, which puts the verb at the end. As Sherlock said in "A Scandal in Bohemia" - "No one disrespects their verbs like the Germans always putting them at the end of the sentence."

Because Latin is so strongly inflected (every word has a particular ending to indicate it's use in the sentence) word order is not technically important, but they did tend to favor S-O-V or just as often. O-S-V.....It reminds me of the Yiddish comedians heard on old time radio-- "Throw me down the stairs my shoes." ...or..."Whistle me out the window."...or ..."Happy I'm not."

Old joke appreciated by students of Latin/Cicero-- A Roman guy leaves the house at sunrise, telling the wife he's going to the Forum to hear Cicero speak...He returns at noon and the wife asks "How was the speech?"..."Very good, as usual."...."What was it about?"..."I don't know. I left to come home for lunch before he got to the verb."