Thursday, October 15, 2009
Some Linguistic Notes
After posting an inscription and its translation, I will add some notes regarding the language of the inscription. There are many Latin, Greek, and mixed language inscriptions, and because many of these were written by people who were not the best educated of the time, idiosyncrasies creep in. Also, those who study the classical languages today focus on the literature which has come down to us, and is normally used as an exemplar of grammar and style. Many of these early Christians may never have heard of, much less read, the Orations of Cicero. They wrote as they spoke, and that in itself is an invaluable piece of evidence.
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Would this be how Latin 'devolved' into its children of Spanish, Italian, Romanian, and such?
ReplyDeleteYes, although linguists would not use the term 'devolved', since that implies that one form of the language is better than another. From the standpoint of Classically educated Latinists, the Latin of the Middle Ages was 'worse', and the rising vernacular languages were not even worthy of discussion. But the Spanish, Italian, and French languages produced their own literature which is also beautiful. So, as hard as it might be for us, we have to adjust to the idea that languages are not better or worse, just different. They can be beautiful and articulate even when they are not 'following the rules'.
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