“This happens all the time in English where we have doubles and duplicates [because of Latin]. There’s no real necessity to have the word ‘work’ and the word ‘labor’, but we have both of them because of Latin.”
Language is unquestionably the most important revelation that occurred throughout human history. An easy way to explain a complicated idea to someone. A quick way to let someone know how you feel. A means to prevent conflict and allow us to settle our differences in a more civilized manner. Despite it’s importance, we don’t really pay it much attention from day to day. We just walk around, using our language of choice, not considering how that language came to be. Today we learn about one of the most important languages in the history of the Western world, Latin. We’ll learn how it evolved and its massive influence over the languages many of us speak today.
“Most scholars believe that about 56% of the English language ultimately comes from Latin. The words that we actually use day to day in the English language, over 50% come from Latin.”
“Stepping away from the ivory tower and just looking at Latin on the ground where I am, I definitely have concerns since so many public schools are dropping their Latin programs. At the end of the day public school in America are the backbone of our education system.”
Interview Contents
1:20 - Start
4:40 - The history of Latin.
6:30 - The height and popularity of Latin.
9:15 - The romance languages and how the came from Latin.
13:30 - Old vs. modern English.
15:45 - Latin’s influence in English.
20:15 - English as a Germanic language.
21:30 - Language crossover.
24:00 - Latin’s decline.
26:00 - Opportunities to speak Latin.
27:45 - Keeping Latin current.
29:00 - Latin as the language of education through the late 1700’s.
33:15 - Where Latin has held up in the modern world.
39:00 - Chuck’s love of Latin.
45:30 - Advice.
Links
THIS EPISODE WAS MADE WITH THE SUPPORT OF
Kevin Cole
Marcus Batson
Roxanna
Michelle & Jim Wortner
Janelle Swanson
Jimmy Seymour
