EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. 57 



neighborhood, was the latest, and most refined of them all. The 

 Modern Greek, sometimes called the Romaic, may be regarded as a 

 dialect of the ancient Greek, in which the terminations are abbre- 

 viated and simplified. 



The Latin language, was that of ancient Rome ; and received 

 its name from the Latins, who inhabited that region, before Rome was 

 founded. It was not matured till after the Laws of the Twelve 

 Tables, or 451 B. C. It resembles the Greek, not only from its 

 Pelasgian origin, but from the introduction of Greek words, by the 

 later Greek colonists, and emigrants. The Latin became corrupted 

 among the common people of Italy about the year 581, owing to the 

 northern invasions ; but in the Middle Ages, it was the common 

 language of learned men throughout Europe ; being the only one in 

 which they could be understood beyond the limits of their own 

 country ; so little were the present languages known or cultivated. 

 In England, the Latin was exclusively used in the Courts of Jus- 

 tice, until A. D. 1362 ; when Edward III., as a favor to his subjects, 

 permitted them to be heard in their own tongue, much less refined, 

 of course, than it now is. 



The Latin alphabet is the same as our own ; which is borrowed 

 from it, except that the Latin has no letter w. We think it clear, that 

 the Continental pronunciation of the vowels, is more likely to be that 

 of the ancient Romans, than the English pronunciation, which is pecu- 

 liar to itself. We would therefore, in reading Latin, pronounce a as 

 in. far or fat : e as in vein or met : i as in pique or pin : o as in note 

 or not : u as in tune or tun : y when a vowel like i.: ei and the Greek 

 , like our long i, as in pine : au and the Greek av, like our ow in 

 now : and ow, or the Greek ov, like our ou in tour, or oo in moon. 

 The Latin language is remarkable, among others, for what seems 

 to us an inversion of the natural order of words ; as in pater noster, 

 father our, instead of our father ; but whether the former is not the 

 real natural order, if such an one there be, we are not impartial 

 judges to decide. 



It may perhaps be interesting here to give some specimens of the 

 manner in which Latin words are varied ; particularly in the declen- 

 sion of nouns and adjectives, and the conjugation of verbs. Domi- 

 nus, signifies, the Lord, or a lord ; domini, of a lord, or of the lord ; 

 domino, to the lord ; dominum, the lord ; domine, Oh lord ! ; and 

 domino, from or by a lord or the lord : this language having no article. 

 The six cases of Latin nouns, here given in order, are called the 

 nominative ; the genitive or possessive ; the dative ; the accusative or 

 objective; the vocative; and the ablative. In the plural, we have 

 domini, the lords, or Oh lords ! ; dominorum, of the lords ; dominis, 

 to, from, or by the lords ; and dominos, the lords ; this latter being 

 the accusative case. Magnus dominus, signifies the great lord ; 

 magna terra, the great earth ; magnum regnum, a or the great king- 

 dom. Esse, is the verb to be ; sum or ego sum, I am ; es, or tu es, 

 thou art; est or i/le est, he is : sumus, we are ; estis, ye or you are ; 

 sunt, they are. Eram, signifies I was ; fui, I was or I have been ; 

 fueram, I had been ; ero, I shall be ; sim, I may be ; essem, I might 

 be ; fuerim, I may have been ; fuissem, I might have been ; fuero, 

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