Is Latin a dead Language?

[*_ash_*]

I never paid any attention to Latin at school, because I thought it was pointless.

 

If only Bill Bryson had written his book on Languages earlier, and we had read it at school.

 

I would have given it a lot more respect.

[happyhippy]

Isn't latin supposed to have the verb at the end of the sentence?

 

Only for emphasis, and then it would be at the end of a clause; most Latin poetry has most words 'understood' rather than actually written.

 

I remember being given a 'fair version' of a bit of the Aeneid which had EIGHT words missing.

 

Ironically, the 'double entendres' in "Up Pompeii" worked so well, and were fairly directly translated from the plays of Plautus.

 

The Germans are more bothered, their verbs at the end of a sentence or clause, than the Romans, being.

[happyhippy]

I never paid any attention to Latin at school, because I thought it was pointless.

 

If only Bill Bryson had written his book on Languages earlier, and we had read it at school.

 

I would have given it a lot more respect.

 

I adored Latin. We did have a teacher who made it interesting, and I am a linguist too, so .....

[*_ash_*]

I adored Latin. We did have a teacher who made it interesting, and I am a linguist too, so .....

 

You make a good point about a teacher making it interesting. Same for most subjects. IMO.

[SugarPuff]

In vino veritas. That's all I know! True an' all!

[jfish1936]

Isn't latin supposed to have the verb at the end of the sentence?

Usual practice, yes; but the different noun cases and verb endings and adjectives agreeing with their nouns mean you CAN mix the words up any old how if it makes your sentence more effective.

 

We use word order to distinguish "Man bit brown dog" from "Dog bit brown man" and Brown man bit dog", etc.

Latin has a "nominative " form (I'm creating new psuedo-Latin words here, to help the non-Latinate and confuse the Latinate) like "Mannus" and an accusative "Mannum", "Doggus" and "Doggum", "brownus" and "brownum"

Hence, if "mannus" is in the sentence, the man did it.

If "doggum" is there, it happened to the dog.

If it's "brownus" in this case, that goes with "mannus" ; i.e. the man is brown; if "brownum" that goes with "doggum", the dog is brown.

Similarly with mannum and doggus!

Make up the sentence with the words in any order that makes good poetry, good public speaking, fits well on your sheet of paper!

 

Seriously, the teaching of Latin fixed nominatives and accusatives in my head, so I still know the difference between "I" and "me"; therefore, I can't say "He gave the book to him and I", any more than I can say "Fred and me went out"

[happyhippy]

You make a good point about a teacher making it interesting. Same for most subjects. IMO.

 

When I first went to my secondary school, I was quite worried about being taught Latin. I found in the end though, that it was a huge help for me in other languages. In particular, cases in German came more naturally to me.

 

I really was lucky to have such a good teacher in that subject, so for that alone, Mr Keith Bamford (formerly of Rochdale, and graduated in Sheffield), I'm eternally grateful.

[jezzyjj]

The Germans are more bothered, their verbs at the end of a sentence or clause, than the Romans, being.

 

I often wondered if there were any famous last words by German speakers where the chap died just before finishing sentence, so everyone had to try and guess the verb.

[jezzyjj]

If only Bill Bryson had written his book on Languages earlier, and we had read it at school.

I would have given it a lot more respect.

Do you mean 'Mother Tongue'? Which is indeed a very interesting read, but has some iffy points. Two off the top of head - a daft comment regarding Welsh pronounciation and the other the lack of variation in accents in America [only 5 according to BB]. The latter being a particulary odd error, as he is himself American.

[*_ash_*]

Do you mean 'Mother Tongue'? Which is indeed a very interesting read, but has some iffy points. Two off the top of head - a daft comment regarding Welsh pronounciation and the other the lack of variation in accents in America [only 5 according to BB]. The latter being a particulary odd error, as he is himself American.

 

Yes, that's the book jezzy! (couldn't remember the name, I lent it out)

 

I believe that people could pick out a few points that aren't quite accurate, as with any book. But as a whole, a very interesting book, and quite educational. And as with all his books, easy to read.

 

I do like his sense of humour. Shame he hasn't done more on TV. His 'one off' episode about Blackpool was fantastic.