Ad Infinitum A Biography of Latin

by Ostler, Nicholas

• ISBN13: 9780802715159
• ISBN10: 080271515X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-11-13
• Publisher: Walker Books

Summary

The Latin language has been the one constant in the cultural history of the West for more than two millennia. It has been the foundation of our education, and has defined the way in which we express our thoughts, our faith, and our knowledge of how the world functions. Indeed, the language has proved far more enduring than its empire in Rome, its use echoing on in the law codes of half the world, in the terminologies of modern science, and until forty years ago, in the liturgy of the Catholic Church. It is the unseen substance that makes us members of the Western world. In his erudite and entertaining "biography," Nicholas Ostler shows how and why (against the odds, through conquest from within and without) Latin survived and thrived even as its creators and other languages failed. Originally the dialect of Rome and its surrounds, Latin supplanted its neighbors to become, by conquest and settlement, the language of all Italy, and then of Western Europe and North Africa. Its cultural creep toward Greek in the East led it to copy and then ally with it in an unprecedented, but invincible combination: Greek theory and Roman practice, delivered through Latin, became the foundation of Western civilization. Christianity, a latecomer, then joined the alliance, and became vital to Latin's survival when the empire collapsed. Spoken Latin re-emerged as a host of new languages, from Portuguese and Spanish in the west to Romanian in the east. But a knowledge of Latin lived on as the common code of European thought, and inspired the founders of Europe's New World in the Americas.E pluribus unum. Illuminating the extravaganza of its past, Nicholas Ostler makes clear that, in a thousand echoes, Latin lives on, ad infinitum. Nicholas Ostleris the author ofEmpires of the World: A Language History of the World. He is chairman of the Foundation for Endangered Languages, a charity that supports the efforts of small communities worldwide to know and use their languages more. A scholar with a working knowledge of twenty-six languages, Ostler has degrees from Oxford University in Greek, Latin, philosophy, and economics, and a Ph.D. in linguistics from M.I.T., where he studied under Noam Chomsky. He lives in England, in Roman Bath, on the hill where Ambrosius Aurelianus defeated the Saxons for a generation. The Latin language has been the one constant in the cultural history of the West for more than two millennia. It has been the foundation of our education, and has defined the way in which we express our thoughts, our faith, and our knowledge of how the world functions. Indeed, the language has proved far more enduring than its empire in Rome, its use echoing on in the law codes of half the world, in the terminologies of modern science, and until forty years ago, in the liturgy of the Catholic Church. It is the unseen substance that makes us members of the Western world. Nicholas Ostler shows how and why (against the odds, through conquest from within and without) Latin survived and thrived even as its creators and other languages failed. Originally the dialect of Rome and its surrounds, Latin supplanted its neighbors to become, by conquest and settlement, the language of all Italy, and then of Western Europe and North Africa. Its cultural creep toward Greek in the East led it to copy and then ally with it in an unprecedented, but invincible combination: Greek theory and Roman practice, delivered through Latin, became the foundation of Western civilization. Christianity, a latecomer, then joined the alliance, and became vital to Latin's survival when the empire collapsed. Spoken Latin re-emerged as a host of new languages, from Portuguese and Spanish in the west to Romanian in the east. But a knowledge of Latin lived on as the common code of European thought, and inspired the founders of Europe&a

Author Biography

Nicholas Ostler is the author of Empires of the World: A Language History of the World. He is chairman of the Foundation for Endangered Languages (www.ognios.org), a charity that supports the efforts of small communities worldwide to know and use their languages more. A scholar with a working knowledge of twenty-six languages, Ostler has degrees from Oxford University in Greek, Latin, philosophy, and economics, and a Ph.D. in linguistics from M.I.T., where he studied under Noam Chomsky. He lives in England, in Roman Bath, on the hill where Ambrosius Aurelianus defeated the Saxons for a generation.

Table of Contents

Praefatio	p. xi
A Latin World
Ad infinitum-An Empire Lived in Latin	p. 3
Fons et origo-Latin's Kin	p. 21
Sub rosa-Latin's Etruscan Stepmother	p. 30
Cui bono?-Rome's Winning Ways	p. 46
Excelsior-Looking Up to Greek	p. 58
Felix coniunctio-A Partnership of Paragons	p. 83
Latin Recruits
Urbi et orbi-Taking Over the Church	p. 107
Vox populi vox dei-Latin as the Bond of Unity	p. 116
Dies irae-Staying On	p. 128
Ultra vires-Beyond the Limits of Empire	p. 150
Worlds Built on Latin
Lapsus linguae-Incurable Romantics: Fractured Latin	p. 159
Amor vincit omnia-Latin Lovers	p. 177
Litterae humaniores-The Fruits of a Latin Education	p. 190
Ex oriente lux-Sources of Higher Learning	p. 207
Latin in a Vernacular World
Alter ego-Humanism and the Return of the Classics	p. 233
Deus ex machina-Printing and the Profusion of Grammars	p. 250
Novus orbis-Latin America	p. 260
Decus et tutamen-Last Redoubts	p. 278
Eheu fugaces-Latin's Decline	p. 292
Sub specie aeternitatis-Latin Today	p. 302
Notes on the Latin Tags in Chapter Headings	p. 321
Etruscan Borrowings in Latin	p. 323
Effects of Sound Changes on Latin Nouns and Verbs	p. 327
Notes	p. 331
Bibliography	p. 359
Index	p. 369
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.