Latin - Wikipedia Jump to content Main menu Main menu move to sidebar hide Navigation Main page Contents Current events Random article About Wikipedia Contact us Contribute Help Learn to edit Community portal Recent changes Upload file Special pages Search Search Appearance Donate Create account Log in Personal tools Donate Create account Log in Contents move to sidebar hide (Top) 1 History Toggle History subsection 1.1 Old Latin 1.2 Classical Latin 1.3 Vulgar Latin 1.4 Late Latin 1.5 Romance languages 1.6 Medieval Latin 1.7 Renaissance and Neo-Latin 1.8 Contemporary Latin 1.8.1 Religious use 1.8.2 Use of Latin for mottos 1.8.3 Other modern uses 2 Legacy Toggle Legacy subsection 2.1 Literature 2.2 Inscriptions 2.3 Influence on present-day languages 2.4 Education 2.5 Official status 3 Phonology Toggle Phonology subsection 3.1 Consonants 3.2 Vowels 3.2.1 Diphthongs 3.3 Syllables 3.3.1 Length 3.3.2 Stress 4 Orthography Toggle Orthography subsection 4.1 Punctuation 4.2 Alternative scripts 5 Grammar Toggle Grammar subsection 5.1 Nouns 5.2 Adjectives 5.2.1 Participles 5.3 Prepositions 5.4 Verbs 5.4.1 Deponent verbs 6 Vocabulary 7 Numbers 8 Example text 9 See also 10 Notes 11 References 12 Bibliography 13 External links Toggle External links subsection 13.1 Language tools 13.2 Courses 13.3 Grammar and study 13.4 Phonetics 13.5 Libraries 13.6 Latin-language media Toggle the table of contents Latin 245 languages Аԥсшәа Afrikaans Alemannisch አማርኛ Aragonés Ænglisc Obolo अंगिका العربية ܐܪܡܝܐ الدارجة مصرى অসমীয়া Asturianu Авар Azərbaycanca تۆرکجه Башҡортса Basa Bali Boarisch Žemaitėška Bikol Central Беларуская (тарашкевіца) Беларуская Български भोजपुरी Bamanankan বাংলা བོད་ཡིག Brezhoneg Bosanski Batak Mandailing Буряад Català Chavacano de Zamboanga 閩東語 / Mìng-dĕ̤ng-ngṳ̄ Нохчийн Cebuano ᏣᎳᎩ کوردی Corsu Qırımtatarca Čeština Kaszëbsczi Словѣньскъ / ⰔⰎⰑⰂⰡⰐⰠⰔⰍⰟ Чӑвашла Cymraeg Dansk Deutsch Zazaki Dolnoserbski Kadazandusun Ελληνικά Emiliàn e rumagnòl Esperanto Español Eesti Euskara Estremeñu فارسی Suomi Võro Føroyskt Français Arpetan Nordfriisk Furlan Frysk Gaeilge Gagauz 贛語 Kriyòl gwiyannen Gàidhlig Galego Avañe'ẽ 𐌲𐌿𐍄𐌹𐍃𐌺 Gaelg Hausa 客家語 / Hak-kâ-ngî עברית हिन्दी Fiji Hindi Hrvatski Hornjoserbsce Kreyòl ayisyen Magyar Հայերեն Արեւմտահայերէն Interlingua Jaku Iban Bahasa Indonesia Interlingue Ilokano ГӀалгӀай Ido Íslenska Medžuslovjansky Italiano 日本語 Patois Jawa ქართული Qaraqalpaqsha Taqbaylit Адыгэбзэ Kabɩyɛ Tyap Kongo Kumoring Gĩkũyũ Қазақша ភាសាខ្មែរ ಕನ್ನಡ 한국어 Къарачай-малкъар کٲشُر Ripoarisch Kurdî Коми Kernowek Кыргызча Latina Ladino Lëtzebuergesch Лакку Лезги Lingua Franca Nova Limburgs Ligure Ladin Lombard Lingála ລາວ Lietuvių Latgaļu Latviešu Madhurâ Мокшень Malagasy Олык марий Māori Македонски മലയാളം Монгол ꯃꯤꯇꯩ ꯂꯣꯟ मराठी Кырык мары Bahasa Melayu Malti Mirandés မြန်မာဘာသာ Эрзянь مازِرونی Napulitano Nedersaksies Plattdüütsch नेपाली नेपाल भाषा Nederlands Norsk nynorsk Norsk bokmål Novial Nouormand Chi-Chewa Occitan Livvinkarjala ଓଡ଼ିଆ Ирон ਪੰਜਾਬੀ Pangasinan Papiamentu Picard Pälzisch Polski Piemontèis پنجابی پښتو Português Runa Simi Rumantsch Română Armãneashti Русский Русиньскый Ikinyarwanda संस्कृतम् Саха тыла ᱥᱟᱱᱛᱟᱲᱤ Sardu Sicilianu Scots سنڌي Davvisámegiella Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски Taclḥit සිංහල Simple English Slovenčina سرائیکی Slovenščina ChiShona Soomaaliga Shqip Српски / srpski Seeltersk Sunda Svenska Kiswahili Ślůnski தமிழ் తెలుగు Тоҷикӣ ไทย Türkmençe Tagalog Tolışi Toki pona Tok Pisin Türkçe Татарча / tatarça Тыва дыл Удмурт ئۇيغۇرچە / Uyghurche Українська اردو Oʻzbekcha / ўзбекча Vèneto Vepsän kel’ Tiếng Việt West-Vlams Volapük Walon Winaray 吴语 IsiXhosa მარგალური ייִדיש Yorùbá Zeêuws ⵜⴰⵎⴰⵣⵉⵖⵜ ⵜⴰⵏⴰⵡⴰⵢⵜ 文言 閩南語 / Bân-lâm-gí 粵語 中文 IsiZulu Edit links Article Talk English Read View source View history Tools Tools move to sidebar hide Actions Read View source View history General What links here Related changes Upload file Permanent link Page information Cite this page Get shortened URL Switch to legacy parser Print/export Download as PDF Printable version In other projects Abstract Wikipedia Wikimedia Commons Wikibooks Wikifunctions Wikiquote Wikiversity Wikivoyage Wikidata item Appearance move to sidebar hide From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Indo-European language of the Italic branch Not to be confused with Ladin. For other uses, see Latin (disambiguation). |8th century AD}}"},"familycolor":{"wt":"Indo-European"},"fam2":{"wt":"[[Italic languages|Italic]]"},"fam3":{"wt":"[[Latino-Faliscan]]"},"ancestor":{"wt":"[[Old Latin]]"},"script":{"wt":"[[Latin script|Latin]] ([[Latin alphabet]])"},"agency":{"wt":"[[Pontifical Academy for Latin]]"},"iso1":{"wt":"la"},"iso2":{"wt":"lat"},"iso3":{"wt":"lat"},"glotto":{"wt":"impe1234"},"glottorefname":{"wt":"Imperial Latin"},"glotto2":{"wt":"lati1261"},"glottorefname2":{"wt":"Latin"},"lingua":{"wt":"51-AAB-aa, -ab, -ac"},"image":{"wt":"Rome Colosseum inscription 2.jpg"},"imagecaption":{"wt":"Latin inscription on a stone inside the [[Colosseum]] in [[Rome]], Italy"},"mapscale":{"wt":"1"},"map":{"wt":"Roman Empire Trajan 117AD.png"},"mapcaption":{"wt":"Greatest extent of the Roman Empire under Emperor [[Trajan]] ({{circa|117 AD}}) and the area governed by Latin speakers. Many languages other than Latin were spoken within the empire."},"notice":{"wt":"IPA"},"name":{"wt":"Latin"},"nativename":{"wt":"{{lang|la|lingua Latina}}, {{lang|la|Latinum}}{{efn-ur|name=IPA|{{IPA|la|ˈlɪŋɡʷa ɫaˈtiːna}}, {{IPA|la|ɫaˈtiːnũː|label=}}}}"},"pronunciation":{"wt":"{{IPA|la|ɫa⁠ˈtiːnũː}}"},"nation":{"wt":"{{VAT}}"}},"i":0}}]}'>Latin lingua Latina, Latinum[I] Latin inscription on a stone inside the Colosseum in Rome, Italy Pronunciation Latin pronunciation: [ɫa⁠ˈtiːnũː] Native to Latium Ancient Rome Ethnicity Latins Romans Era As a native language, c. 7th century BC – c. 8th century AD Language family Indo-European ItalicLatino-FaliscanLatin Early form Old Latin Writing system Latin (Latin alphabet) Official status Official language in  Vatican City Regulated by Pontifical Academy for Latin Language codes ISO 639-1 la ISO 639-2 lat ISO 639-3 lat Glottolog impe1234 lati1261 Linguasphere -ab, -ac 51-AAB-aa, -ab, -ac Greatest extent of the Roman Empire under Emperor Trajan (c. 117 AD) and the area governed by Latin speakers. Many languages other than Latin were spoken within the empire. This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. Latin (lingua Latina or Latinum[I]) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area around Rome, Italy.[1] Through the expansion of the Roman Republic, it became the dominant language in the Italian Peninsula and subsequently throughout the Roman Empire. It has greatly influenced many languages, including English, having contributed many words to the English lexicon, particularly after the Christianisation of the Anglo-Saxons and the Norman Conquest. Latin roots appear frequently in the technical vocabulary used by fields such as theology, the sciences, medicine, and law. By the late Roman Republic, Old Latin had evolved into standardised Classical Latin. Vulgar Latin refers to the less prestigious colloquial registers, attested in inscriptions and some literary works such as those of the comic playwrights Plautus and Terence[2] and the author Petronius. While often called a "dead language",[3] Latin did not undergo language death. Between the 6th and 9th centuries, natural language change in the vernacular Latin of different regions evolved into distinct Romance languages. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, Latin remained the common language of international communication, science, scholarship and academia in Europe into the early 19th century, by which time modern languages had supplanted it in common academic and political usage. Late Latin is the literary form of the language from the 3rd century AD onward. No longer spoken as a native language, Medieval Latin was used across Western and Catholic Europe during the Middle Ages as a working and literary language from the 9th century to the Renaissance, which then developed a classicising form, called Renaissance Latin. This was the basis for Neo-Latin, which evolved during the early modern period. Latin was taught to be written and spoken at least until the late seventeenth century, when spoken skills began to erode; Contemporary Latin is generally studied to be read rather than spoken. Ecclesiastical Latin remains the official language of the Holy See and the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church. Latin grammar is highly fusional, with classes of inflections for case, number, person, gender, tense, mood, voice, and aspect. The Latin alphabet is directly derived from the Etruscan and Greek alphabets. History Main article: History of Latin The linguistic landscape of central Italy at the beginning of Roman expansion A number of phases of the language have been recognised, each distinguished by subtle differences in vocabulary, usage, spelling, and syntax. There are no hard and fast rules of classification; different scholars emphasise different features. As a result, the list has variants, as well as alternative names. In addition to the historical phases, Ecclesiastical Latin refers to the styles used by the writers of the Roman Catholic Church from late antiquity onward, as well as by Protestant scholars. Old Latin Main article: Old Latin The Lapis Niger, probably the oldest extant Latin inscription, from Rome, c. 600 BC during the semi-legendary Roman Kingdom The earliest known form of Latin is Old Latin, also called Archaic or Early Latin, which was spoken from the Roman Kingdom, traditionally founded in 753 BC, through the later part of the Roman Republic, up to 75 BC, i.e. before the age of Classical Latin.[4] It is attested both in inscriptions and in some of the earliest extant Latin literary works, such as the comedies of Plautus and Terence. The Latin alphabet was devised from the Etruscan alphabet. The writing later changed from what was initially either a right-to-left or a boustrophedon[5][6] script to what ultimately became a strictly left-to-right script.[7] Classical Latin Main article: Classical Latin During the late republic and into the first years of the empire, from about 75 BC to AD 200, a new Classical Latin arose, a conscious creation of the orators, poets, historians and other literate men, who wrote the great works of classical literature, which were taught in grammar and rhetoric schools. Today's instructional grammars trace their roots to such schools, which served as a sort of informal language academy dedicated to maintaining and perpetuating educated speech.[8][9] Vulgar Latin Main article: Vulgar Latin Philological analysis of Archaic Latin works…