Readers of this blog will be aware of my fascination with all things linguistic. So, I just had to share Susanna Viljanen’s and Dan Toler’s answers on Quora on what happened to Latin once Rome was no more.
It may surprise many to realize that Latin is alive and well over fifteen centuries later. Latin never disappeared. It simply evolved. But it evolved differently in different places, and that’s how we ended up with the diverse set of modern Romance languages.
What Happened to Latin After the Fall of Rome (476 AD)?
After the Western Empire’s collapse, Latin continued to exist just as ever. People from Lusitania to Dacia continued to speak Vulgar Latin as their everyday language and to write Classical Latin in their letters.
But languages are living things. While many modern people think of Latin as a single, standard language, that wasn’t the case. Ecclesiastical Latin, the official language of the Roman Catholic Church, hasn’t changed in centuries. While this version of Latin is useful for the Catholic Church (a scholar can read Church documents from the 8th century and the 18th century with equal ease), it’s really a “snapshot” of the Latin tongue as it was spoken during the Augustan era (27 BC-14 AD), with particular rules of pronunciation that may or may not be historically accurate.
Polybius, a Roman historian from the 2nd century BC, wrote about a treaty between Rome and Carthage from the mid-5th-century BC and said that it could only partially be understood even by educated men. This tells us that even Old Latin evolved significantly over time, as all languages do.
The Duenos Inscription, Old Latin, c. 7th century BC, looks nothing like the Latin you studied in school. Source: Quora
Latin’s diverging paths
From 75 BC to the 3rd century AD, Classical Latin was the norm, at least in written works. This eventually evolved into Medieval Latin from the 600s to 1000s AD. While Medieval Latin was still spoken by European elites, common people spoke their own local dialects. It was important for elites to be able to talk to other elites from other regions, but the local dialects were becoming increasingly diverse. As a result, they also became less and less intelligible to people outside those local regions.
By the 5th century AD, Vulgar Latin was already divided into several dialects and forms. As the Western Empire fell and the cultural sphere fragmented, the various dialects began to evolve in different directions.
The first to break off was the Island Romance, which later evolved into Sardinian and Corsican. It broke off in the late 5th century, and it is the most conservative and traditional of all forms of Romance languages. Indeed, Sardinian is much closer to Latin than to Italian.
The Continental Romance began to break into Western Romance and Eastern Romance in the 6th century. This demarcation between those two forms went by the La Spezia – Rimini line, and it was approximately the same as the border of the Eastern Roman Empire in Italy. The Western Romance (spoken in Hispania, Gallia, Helvetia, Austria, and northern Italy) and Eastern Romance (spoken in the Eastern Roman Empire, including Italy, Balkans, and Dacia) began to evolve into different directions.
The various Barbarian kingdoms quickly adopted Latin as their language and absorbed the Roman civilization. However, their spoken Latin merged with the various Germanic languages spoken by the Barbarians. It is likely Visigoth princess Brünhilde had no language problems in the court of Frankish king Sigebert, but the Gothic and Frankish languages left different substrata in the Latin spoken in Frankish Francogallia and that spoken in Visigoth Hispania, with the language forms evolving in different directions.
Lingua Latina vs. Lingua Romana
The process was slow but real. Nobody had any idea of it; they thought they spoke Latin, just as ever. But it had been 800 years since Latin was first codified into a written language, and the written High Latin and spoken Vulgar Latin had separated quite effectively. Already in 753, the Papal legates complained they had difficulties understanding the envoys of the Frankish king Pepin the Short.
By 842 and Oath of Verdun, we may already begin to speak of lingua Latina (High Latin) and lingua Romana (Vulgar Latin) as separate languages. This is the first instance where we have a document written both in High Latin and the rustic language (proto-langue-de-oil).
By 900, we may already begin to speak of Proto-Romance languages, and not just dialects. The Western Romance had broken into four forms – langue d’oil, langue d’oc, Ibero-Romance and Rhaeto-Romance, and Eastern Romance into Italic Romance and Dacian Romance.
In the 1000s AD, we reach an important linguistic crossroads, where elites begin speaking their own local tongues and Latin itself is relegated to the scholarly realm, which we now refer to as Renaissance Latin. This, in turn, morphed into so-called Contemporary Latin (an odd term, since no-one writes scholarly papers in Latin anymore). And that’s more or less where Latin stands today.
This process went on century after century, and the Romance languages – as we know them today – were formed by the 15th century.
Today’s standardized languages
In modern society, with television, film and social media, these local variations are starting to disappear because people from different regions, different countries, and different continents are all talking to each other. Language is becoming more standardized because many people are talking to people from other countries more than they are talking to their own neighbors.
In the late Roman Empire, the opposite happened. To understand why, you need to understand the effects of the Roman empire. Roman roads are still visible in European landscapes today, and many modern roads actually follow the track laid by original Roman roads. The Roman Empire created a sense of unity that had never appeared before and would never appear again until modern times. You could be a citizen of the empire from Britannia to Syria – and this lasted for centuries. Roman law, in many areas, was the first-ever written law to appear. And global trade flourished.
Once Rome fell, trade ground to a halt. Globalization faltered. As a result, local people stopped talking to people from other regions. One region would use a soft “g”, as in Italian, while others would primarily use a hard “g”, as in French.
Classical Latin always had local variations, collectively called Vulgar Latin. Compare this to modern English, where a Southerner might say “y’all”, but you would never see “y’all” in a textbook or news report. As a result, most of our Vulgar Latin records are limited to graffiti or the odd letter written from one local to another. What is undeniably clear is that during the late Roman Empire, as communications and trade broke down, Vulgar Latin became more and more balkanized.
Forġyf ūs ūre gyltas
To illustrate the point of how languages evolve, let’s look at an Old English quote:
And forġyf ūs ūre gyltas, swā swā wē forġyfað ūrum gyltendum
If you can understand that, congratulations. You are probably a time-traveling medieval Saxon. For everyone else, that’s “and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors”, a well-known line from the Lord’s Prayer.
Now imagine that English had evolved separately in a dozen different, mostly isolated countries. How different would that modern English line look in each of those countries? Would we even be able to understand each other? Especially with the way English has borrowed from dozens of languages?
And here’s a tantalizing idea for the science fiction writers out there: once again, we live in a global world. The Internet is bringing us closer together than humanity has ever been. Might it be possible that the various Romance languages begin actually to approach each other nowadays than separate?
Since communication and interaction within the speakers of the Romance languages – Latinosphere – is more frequent than ever, and all Romance languages are still today mutually understandable to a certain extent – it is possible a common pidgin may one day form.
It will have the same status as Vulgar Latin once had!
The Story Reading Ape said:
Excellent article, Nicholas – I’ll be sharing this later today 👍😃
Hoping you and yours stay safe 🤗
LikeLiked by 1 person
Nicholas C. Rossis said:
You too, Chris! Many thanks 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Charles Yallowitz said:
Reblogged this on Legends of Windemere.
LikeLiked by 1 person
beetleypete said:
Always fascinating to explore the evolution of a language. Roman slang and graffitti was fun to read about when I was in my teens, and the fact that someone who lived at the time of Chaucer (14th C) would be unlikely to understand modern English at all.
Best wishes, Pete.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Nicholas C. Rossis said:
It sure is a fascinating subject! Thank you, Pete 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
V.M.Sang said:
When studying English Language at College, we had to do Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales–the Prologue and The Pardoner’s Tale. (Not the saucier ones, you’ll note!) It was like studying a book in a different language. Bits could be understood, but the majority, not! We all got translations of it along with the original!
LikeLiked by 3 people
Nicholas C. Rossis said:
It’s the same with Greek, although Medieval/Byzantine Greek is pretty well understood. Hellenistic Greek less so, and Homeric Greek can be pretty hard to understand.
LikeLiked by 2 people
The Story Reading Ape said:
Reblogged this on Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog.
LikeLiked by 1 person
V.M.Sang said:
Language is a fascinating subject. On the topic of understanding, it is said that the Celtic languages are similar and that a Welsh person can be understood by a Breton speaker. Certainly, there are words that are the same or similar. And I’ve also been told that Italians and Spaniards can get an understanding of what each other are saying.
But nowadays, English seems to be the language used most commonly in communication. On holiday in Croatia, the Croatian receptionist spoke English to the Russian guests, in Germany, in an Italian restaurant, the Italian waiter was speaking English to a French diner, and we heard a Swedish family speaking English to each other, too.
Is English becoming the modern-day Latin? Certainly, the British Empire exported the language around the world, much as the Spanish Empire did. And if Globalisation stops, will English take the same route as Latin and become a number of differing languages?
LikeLiked by 2 people
Nicholas C. Rossis said:
All fascinating questions!
LikeLike
Marcia said:
Wow, what a fascinating post, Nicholas! I am swamped this morning, trying to dig my way out of the hole I fell in when I got sick, so I skimmed over it, nothing things that leapt out at me right away. BUT, I’m saving the link on my desktop so I can come back later today (hopefully) and read in detail. I love words and word origins, and I’m looking forward to taking my time going through this. Will be sharing then, too. Thanks once again for another post that makes us all stop and think! 🙂 Hope you are keeping well way over there across the world. 🙂
LikeLiked by 2 people
Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Yay! Thank you, Marcia 😀
All is well, even though we’re in lockdown. We and our loved ones are safe and healthy, though, so all is well.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Marcia said:
That’s the important thing, Nicholas. Same is true here, and I’m not leaving until we get the word that it’s safe to do so. Working from home? I can live with that–literally! 😀
LikeLiked by 1 person
jowensauthor said:
Reblogged this on Jeanne Owens, author.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Cathy Cade said:
We studied Chaucer for A-level GCE when I was at school (yes – I’m that old). It may have been English, but it required translating. I used to love listening to our teacher reading it aloud: it was almost musical.
I was surprised to discover, when I was learning British Sign Language, that sign language isn’t universal. Being a visual sort of language I’d expected it to be similar around the world. Not only is it different in each country, British Sign Language is even more regional than our local dialects.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Nicholas C. Rossis said:
I didn’t know that about British Sign Language, although I did know they differ from country to country. I guess that *all* languages are living things and evolve!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Sharon E. Cathcart said:
Reblogged this on Sharon E. Cathcart and commented:
As someone who not only speaks three Romance languages but is presently studying Latin so that I can read inscriptions myself, I found this really interesting!
LikeLiked by 1 person
OIKOS™-Publishing said:
Wondferful and great information, Nicholas! Thank you for the efforts. By the way, i can not forget, most of the Roman Empire’s intelligence came from Greece. 😉 Stay well and save! Michael
LikeLiked by 1 person
Nicholas C. Rossis said:
I don’t forget it, either, just didn’t want to rub it in 😀
LikeLiked by 1 person
OIKOS™-Publishing said:
😉 You are a good one, Nicholas. At least they shared a lot with the rest of the world, too.
LikeLiked by 1 person
wilfredbooks said:
Fascinating indeed, as several other followers have said: I’ve often wondered about this myself, and as I’ve said about a previous post, in another life, I would love to be a philologist 🙂 Cheers, Jon.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Nicholas C. Rossis said:
I know what you mean. I need a hundred lives to do all the things I want 😀
LikeLiked by 1 person
wilfredbooks said:
Reblogged this on Wilfred Books and commented:
Why don’t Italians speak latin? This explains it!
LikeLiked by 1 person
kimwrtr said:
Reblogged this on Kim's Musings and commented:
Interesting article.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Gabi Coatsworth said:
Did you know that until recently, there was a Latin news radio program in Finland. Especially interesting, since Finnish doesn’t come from Latin roots. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jun/28/finland-latin-news-radio-bulletin-nuntii-latini-cancelled-30-years
Salve!
LikeLiked by 3 people
Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Wow, that’s fascinating! I had no idea, Gabi. Thanks for sharing!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dracul Van Helsing said:
An excellent history, Nicholas. 👍🏻
I loved it. ❤
I always thought that a special medal 🎗should be given to Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling for inspiring children and young people into wanting to learn Latin.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Hadn’t thought of that! So true 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Marina Costa said:
Reblogged this on Marina Costa and commented:
Extremely interesting.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Jacqui Murray said:
What a great question. How does a language die? Quite interesting.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Thank you, Jacqui! I’m glad you enjoyed it 🙂
LikeLike
usfman said:
When we recently traveled to South India, I envisioned a nation of Hindu speakers with English as well. I soon learned that there were 100s of dialects spoken there. Yet this country unifies in other ways.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Wow, hundreds of dialects. The Babel effect at work!
LikeLiked by 1 person
gibsonauthor said:
Reblogged this on s a gibson.
LikeLiked by 1 person
JeanMarie said:
Wow! Fascinating stuff!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Nicholas C. Rossis said:
Thank you 😀
LikeLiked by 1 person