Latin

[[File:Paris Latin sign.jpg|right|thumb|165px|Iubilate!]] 
{{langnav}}
'''Lingua Latina''' est lingua Indoeuropaea qua in [[Roman Empire|Roma antiqua]] Romani utebantur. Linguam Latinam "linguam mortuam" appellare solemus, tamen institutionibus academicis adhuc lingua Latina docetur. Linguae vivae multae, sicut Italiana, Gallica, Hispanica, Lusitana, Catalana, Sarda, Rhaetica, ex Latina ortae sunt. 

'''Latin''' is a "dead [[language]]" that was used in [[Roman Empire|ancient Rome]]. It is one of the [[Indo-European languages]], and in ancient times it was one of an undetermined number of the Italic family within Indo-European; little is known about the others, as they are all very poorly attested. Many modern living languages are descended from Latin, notably [[Italy|Italian]], [[France|French]], [[Spain|Spanish]], [[Portugal|Portuguese]], [[Catalonia|Catalan]], Sardinian and [[Romania]]n; Romanian is the most conservative extant Romance language. And though English isn't descended from Latin, it has a considerable number of Latin loanwords, either coming from it directly, via French, and in more recent times Spanish and other Romance languages. People often use Latinisms to sound clever.

Although Latin can look interminably boring, as happens to anything labeled "classical", one way to liven it up a bit is to pronounce the letter r as Latin speakers intended. While most English speakers who attempt to learn Latin carry over the English pronunciation, the standard English r (and especially the rhotic vowels American English held onto) is actually one of the rarest sounds in the world's languages. Actual Latin pronounced the letter r with a trill, similar to what exists in most (French notwithstanding) Romance languages today. Seriously, try it.<ref>https://global.oup.com/us/companion.websites/9780190246778/student/church/</ref>

==Latin as a dead language==
The use of the term "dead language" in reference to Latin is sometimes used as a [[snarl word]] against modern learners of Latin (some would say rightfully so), and is also often misused colloquially, but the term actually has a pretty precise linguistical meaning. A dead language is simply one that does not have a community of native speakers, but can still have modern speakers. In this sense, Latin is a dead language: it quite obviously has no native speakers, but is still spoken by some people throughout the world.<ref>Matthews, P. H. (2007-01-01), "dead language", The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Linguistics, Oxford University Press</ref> A term which seems similar to this is that of an {{wpl|Extinct language|extinct language}}, but is pretty different—, it means a language which currently has no speakers whatsoever.<ref>Lenore A. Grenoble, Lindsay J. Whaley, Saving Languages: An Introduction to Language Revitalization, Cambridge University Press (2006) p.18</ref> A language such as {{wpl|Etruscan language|Etruscan}}, which is comparatively much less understood than Latin, and has no current speakers, is considered extinct, for example. These two terms should not be conflated with each other and the precise meaning of both should be adequately understood in their non-colloquial ways in discussions of the Latin language.

==Latin today==
Until recently, [[Roman Catholic]] [[Eucharist|Masses]] were performed in Latin.<ref>[http://www.reuters.com/article/us-pope-latin-facts-idUSTRE74C2C220110513 Facts on Latin in the Roman Catholic Church]</ref>  A Latin document effectively helped [[priest]]s [[Priest molestation scandal|to carry on abusing children]] (see [[Crimen  Sollicitationis]]).

[[File:Ph D diploma Arthur William Wright Yale University 1861.jpg|right|thumb|165px|1861 Ph. D. certificate from Yale University in Latin.]]
Many Latin phrases are used in [[law]], [[logic]], and ''Astérix'' comics; these phrases are usually italicized to indicate their foreign origin. Many university mottoes are in Latin, and some fancy schmancy universities like Yale print their diplomas in Latin.<ref>[http://www.educationupdate.com/archives/2013/MAY/HTML/col-latinmottos.html University Latin Mottos]</ref><ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/15/opinion/15Francese.html A Degree in English]</ref><ref>[http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2004/1/9/making-diplomas-modern-im-more-than/ Making Diplomas Modern]</ref>

Latin is also used, along with [[Fun:Greek|Greek]], for the roots of scientific names for genera and [[species]] of living things.<ref>[http://scienceline.ucsb.edu/getkey.php?key=2205 How are scientific names developed?]</ref>

Contrary to rumor, neither [[Dan Quayle]] nor [[George W. Bush]] ever expressed a desire to learn Latin for an upcoming trip to [[Latin America]]; Bush, whatever else his faults, actually speaks reasonably decent Spanish.<ref>[http://www.snopes.com/politics/quotes/quayle.asp Quayle Quotes], [[Snopes]].</ref>

Various attempts have been made to revive Latin, sometimes in a simplified form. Some children have been raised in it, and there are broadcasts in it (not all from the Vatican). There is a Living Latin community online, although it is very small. The Latin revival is nowhere near the scale of Hebrew, but it can be seen as parallel to the revival of [[Sanskrit]].

==Dog Latin==
In case you want to say something in Latin but don't know how, use the {{tl|Dog latin}} template.

==Does reading Latin make you smarter?==
Many people who have wasted years of their lives reading [[Roman emperor#Julius Caesar|Caesar's]] ''Gallic Wars'' in Latin claim that reading publications written in the language makes you "smarter"- specifically, at learning other languages.<ref name=uky>[https://mcl.as.uky.edu/benefits-latin Benefits of Latin: Why study Latin?], College of Arts & Sciences, University of Kentucky, accessed 13 Mar 2020</ref><ref>[https://davenantinstitute.org/benefits-learning-latin/ The Unique Benefits of Learning Latin], Davenant Institute, Jun 24, 2019</ref> The latter ''might'' hold a grain of truth if the language you're trying to learn is English or a Romance language, as these will often feature ''a lot'' of Latin-derived words.

There is also evidence that bilingualism or multilingualism has benefits not only in academic performance, but even in mental health and preventing dementia.<ref>[https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20160811-the-amazing-benefits-of-being-bilingual The amazing benefits of being bilingual], Gaia Vince, [[BBC]] Future, 12th August 2016</ref> That being said, much of this research focuses on those who actually ''speak'' multiple languages, rather than the more text-based manner in which Latin is taught, and thus you would be better off learning a language that you can ''speak''. It is unclear if Latin has any particular benefit, while a language such as Chinese has obvious benefits if you go to [[China]], meet Chinese people, want to invest in China, fear invasion of your country and world domination by China, etc. In contrast to claims that there is something special about Latin that promotes language learning singularly superior to that which you could gain from all other languages, a 2003 study found that people who studied French did better than those who studied Latin at learning Spanish.<ref>[https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2003-01605-015 In search of the benefits of learning Latin.] Haag, L., & Stern, E. (2003). ''Journal of Educational Psychology'', 95(1), 174–178. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.95.1.174</ref> It is claimed that people who study Latin do better academically<ref name=uky/> but that might be because Latin is mostly taught in elite schools.

Studying Latin could also carry the benefit of helping one to understand concepts of [[linguistics]] which are obscure in one's native language, through demonstration in another language, but there are many other ways besides the learning of Latin that this could be done. Latin could also be of interest to and benefit those interested in and learning about scientific naming and law, due to the aforementioned fact of Latin's ubiquity in the naming conventions in those fields.

==Woo==
The book ''[[Le français ne vient pas du latin]]'' attempts, but fails, to prove that the Romance languages are not descended from Latin, but rather from "old Italian". Certain Romanian [[Nationalism|nationalists]], in their [[Protochronism|eternal quest to prove that Romanian is not derived from Latin]], have unsurprisingly latched onto this work as supposedly being support for their ethnocentric nonsense.

==See also==
*[[Hebrew]]
*[[:Category:Latin phrases|Latin phrases]]
*[[Quidquid latine dictum, altum videtur]]
*[[Sanskrit]]

==References==
{{reflist|2|80%}}

[[Category:Languages]]
[[Category:Roman history]]

Categories: Languages, Roman history