Latin

[Eri.D.]

When did Latin become a "Dead" language?

[Octavius]

Over a long period of time really, but the start of it's decline was in about 600-750 AD. Few people in the west outside of monasteries could read latin. The spoken languages of Italy, France and Spain change rapidly. Monks, particularly in Ireland, read and wrote classical Latin and preserved ancient texts as well as church documents. The Roman Catholic church continued to use late Latin in the liturgy, though they eventually decided to deliver homilies in the local popular language.

The black death in the mid-14thC killed a lot of scholars including students and professors. During the Renaissance (1400-1650) which spread from Italy to France and finally to England, people started reading Latin classical authors and bringing Latin words into their languages. In England, this is called "aureate diction" and is considered evidence of great learnedness. Furthermore, as science developed, Europeans find it useful to have a universal Latinate terminology to facilitate international research, such as in botany.

Up until 1900, almost everyone who went to college had to learn Latin, and most humanities majors had to study Greek as well. Many of the Latin roots borrowed during the aureate diction period have came to seem native and can be used in forming new words.

In the mid 1960s, the Catholic Church decided that Latin was no longer the obligatory language of Catholic liturgies. Meanwhile, what with free love and everything, most young people of the 60s figured they had better things to do than learn Latin.

I was quite surprised to learn that my 12 year old niece was learning latin phrases at school last term.

[Celtigra3]

It isn't really.....well I know no-one speaks it anymore......but so many of our words come from Latin that in some small way it is still alive!