LATIN LANGUAGE 



3341 



LATIN MONETARY UNION 



from the more formal speech. The distinction 

 grew wider through the centuries, as the clas- 

 sical Latin declined and the speech of the 

 common people became more vigorous, and 

 by the fifth century the Lingua Romana, or 

 language of Rome, as it was called, had en- 

 tirely displaced the pure Latin. It was from 

 this speech of the people that the Romance 

 languages of Europe were derived French, 

 Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Rumanian, etc. 

 The Latin which was used throughout the 

 Middle Ages in the schools and monasteries 

 of Europe, as well as in official documents, was 

 a deteriorated form of the early literary Latin. 

 Modern English has many words which are 

 derived directly from the Latin or indirectly, 

 through the French or Italian. Modern scien- 

 tific names, for instance, are almost all of 

 Latin origin. A few examples of such derived 

 words are given in the article philology. 



Alphabet and Pronunciation. The Latin 

 alphabet was derived from the Greek, which 

 was brought to Italy by Greek colonists who 

 settled in the southern part of. the peninsula. 

 In classical times the alphabet had twenty- 

 three letters, the ;', u and w of the English 

 alphabet not being present. The letters did 

 not in all cases have the same phonetic value 

 as the Greek, and in some instances they dif- 

 fered in sound from their English derivatives. 

 The "Roman method" of pronunciation which 

 is used almost exclusively to-day in the schools 

 is an attempt to approximate the original pro- 

 nunciation of Latin, and differs from the 

 "English method," which pronounces Latin 

 words just as though they were English. 



Like the Greek, Latin was an inflected lan- 

 guage (see INFLECTION), though it was far 

 from having as many verb forms as had Greek, 

 especially in its early stages. In certain quali- 

 ties, however, it ranked high, notably in con- 

 creteness and in precision of expression. The 

 Romans, compared with the Greeks, were an 

 unimaginative people, and it is natural that 

 their language should have been better adapted 

 to prose than to poetry, but in the hands of 

 such a master as Vergil it was shown to be 

 capable of a dignity and a sonorousness which 

 have rarely, if ever, been equaled. 



As a Study in Schools. Since the Renais- 

 sance there has never been a time when Latin 

 has not been studied in the schools, and 

 throughout the medieval and much of the 

 modern period it was the chief study. A young 

 man in his early college years was expected 

 not only to translate fluently the great masters 



(that was really preparatory school work), but 

 to write original Latin essays and poems. Of 

 late years much opposition has grown up to 

 the required study of this "dead language," 

 and in many schools and colleges, especially in 

 the United States, comparatively little stress 

 is now laid on Latin. By time-honored rule, 

 no college student in the past could earn his 

 A. B. degree without Latin as a considerable 

 part of his prescribed course of study. Since 

 the introduction of the elective system, how- 

 ever, this requirement has been generally 

 abandoned in the United States, although in 

 most English and other foreign universities it 

 is still maintained. 



As the study of Latin is now arranged in 

 most schools, the grammar of Latin is studied 

 during the first of the time devoted to this 

 language; Caesar, either four or eight books 

 of the Gallic Wars, occupies the second year; 

 Cicero's Orations the third year, and the poetry 

 of Vergil the fourth year. The above covers 

 the full high school course, with exercises in 

 Latin composition, etc. College Latin includes 

 a study of Livy, Horace, Terence, Plautus, 

 Catullus, Tibullus and other writers. 



Two facts remain indisputable, however: 

 first, that no language can ever be dead while 

 it has a living literature of such worth as the 

 Latin classical writings; second, that Latin, by 

 reason of its orderliness and precision, affords 

 in its study a mental discipline some develop- 

 ing minds might never acquire in any other 

 way. The person who does not know Latin 

 need not be deprived of the knowledge which 

 the language offers in history and literature, 

 for superior translations of every old Latin 

 author are offered. What of charm is lost to 

 the reader of translations that person never 

 knows; he gets the facts, and in this practical 

 day that seems to satisfy. A.MC c. 



Excellent Latin textbooks, better than past gen- 

 erations possessed, may be had from many school- 

 book publishers. Any good bookstore can furnish 

 literal translations of CAESAR, CICERO, VERGIL and 

 others. 



LATIN MONETARY UNION. In 1865 

 France, Italy, Belgium and Switzerland united 

 under this title in an association to regulate 

 their coinage. For many years these countries 

 had had a practically uniform system, and the 

 coins of each country had circulated freely in 

 the others. In 1864, however, France had re- 

 duced the value of its minor coins, and the re- 

 sult was confusion so far as international circu- 

 lation was concerned. 



