A Natural History of Latin

Tore Janson
Translated by Merethe Damsgaard Sørensen and Nigel Vincent

No known language, including English, has achieved the success and longevity of Latin. French, Spanish, Italian, and Romanian are among its direct descendants, and countless Latin words and phrases comprise the cornerstone of English itself. A Natural History or Latin tells its history from its origins over 2500 years ago to the present. Brilliantly conceived, popularizing but authoritative, and written with the fluency and light touch that have made Tore Janson's Speak so attractive to tens of thousands of readers, it is a masterpiece of adroit synthesis.

A Natural History of Latin

Tore Janson
Translated by Merethe Damsgaard Sørensen and Nigel Vincent

Description

No known language, including English, has achieved the success and longevity of Latin. French, Spanish, Italian, and Romanian are among its direct descendants, and countless Latin words and phrases comprise the cornerstone of English itself. A Natural History or Latin tells its history from its origins over 2500 years ago to the present. Brilliantly conceived, popularizing but authoritative, and written with the fluency and light touch that have made Tore Janson's Speak so attractive to tens of thousands of readers, it is a masterpiece of adroit synthesis.

The book commences with a description of the origins, emergence, and dominance of Latin over the Classical period. Then follows an account of its survival through the Middle Ages into modern times, with emphasis on its evolution throughout the history, culture, and religious practices of Medieval Europe. By judicious quotation of Latin words, phrases, and texts the author illustrates how the written and spoken language changed, region by region over time; how it met resistance from native languages; and how therefore some entire languages disappeared. Janson offers a vivid demonstration of the value of Latin as a means of access to a vibrant past and a persuasive argument for its continued worth. A concise and easy-to-understand introduction to Latin grammar and a list of the most frequent Latin words, including 500 idioms and phrases still in common use, complement the work.

A Natural History of Latin

Tore Janson
Translated by Merethe Damsgaard Sørensen and Nigel Vincent

PART I: Latin and the Romans
1. Lingua latina: a first acquaintance
2. The earliest period of Romes
3. How Latin became Latin
4. From small town to great power
5. How bad were the Romans?
6. A voice from early Rome
7. The meeting with Greece
8. Theatre for the people
9. The age of revolutions
10. Writing, reading, listening, and speaking
11. Speeches, politics, and trials
12. Cicero and rhetoric
13. The language of history
14. Imperium Romanum: Augustus and the Roman Empire
15. Name and family
16. Years and months
17. Latin becomes the language of Europe
18. Poetry and poets
19. Philosophy: Lucretius, Cicero, Seneca
20. The schools and Quintilian
21. The sciences
22. Everyday language
23. Laws and legal language
24. Tacitus, the emperors, and Britain
25. Christianity: from dangerous sect to state religion

PART II: Latin and Europe
26. Europe after Rome
27. From Latin to the Romance languages
28. Missionaries, Latin, and foreign languages
29. Latin in Britain
30. Latin in schools
31. Speaking and spelling
32. Books and scribes
33. Saints and heretics
34. The guardians of heritage
35. Poetry after antiquity
36. Abelard and Héloïse
37. The thinkers
38. The Renaissance
39. Doctors and their language
40. Linnaeus and Latin
41. Physicists, chemists, and others
42. Alchemy, witchcraft, and Harry Potter
43. Loanwords and neologisms
44. Latin and German
45. Latin and French
46. Latin and English
47. Latin and us

PART III: About the Grammar
48. Introduction
49. Pronunciation and stress
50. Sentences, verbs, and nouns
51. Words and word classes
52. Nouns
53. Adjectives
54. Pronouns
55. The forms of the verb
56. Amandi and Amanda
57. How words are formed

Part IV: Basic Vocabulary

Part V: Common Phrases and Expressions

A Natural History of Latin

Tore Janson
Translated by Merethe Damsgaard Sørensen and Nigel Vincent

Author Information

Tore Janson was Professor of Oriental and African Languages at the University of Göteborg until his retirement in 2000. He was previously Professor of Linguistics at the same university and a world expert on the history of Latin. He is the author of the international bestseller Speak: A Short History of Languages (OUP 2002; trade paperback 2003).

A Natural History of Latin

Tore Janson
Translated by Merethe Damsgaard Sørensen and Nigel Vincent

Reviews and Awards

"...valuable is the enthusiasm [Janson] directs to the history of Latin words and the variety of their uses (with attention even to such divagations as the "Latin" spells in the Harry Potter books). The translators do a fine job of Anglicizing both the language and the cultural assumptions...Recommended"--CHOICE

"An authoritative introduction to arguably the most influential language of all time."--Chicago Tribune

"Janson...comes not to praise the Romans but instead the lingua Latina, whose evolution he traces from its origin some 2,700 years ago as a local language to its apotheosis as the official language of the Roman Empire--and later, when it was no longer anyone's native tongue, of the victorious Christian religion--to an exercise forced upon schoolchildren. He also offers an enthusiastic appreciation of Latin's role, for the better part of yet another millennium, as the language of enlightened Europeans from Chaucer and Abelard to Erasmus, Galileo, Newton, and Rene 'Cogito, ergo sum' Descartes. Nor does he fail to point out Latin's enduring place in medicine, botany, and zoology--or its more recent uses, from Oscar Wilde's 'De Profundis' to the first names of J.K. Rowling's 'Harry Potter' characters, including Albus ('White') Dumbledore."--Boston Globe

"In the hands of a teacher introducing students to Latin, the classics, or to general themes in Western history, this book could be very useful. ... May the Latin is Important movement, assisted by books like Janson's, prosper."--Books & Culture

"It is hard to imagine how this book could be improved. ...from now on, if anyone who has never studied Latin asks me to recommend a short, readable book in which they can find out about the history of Latin and get a feel for the grammar, I will be able to answer unhesitatingly."--Linguist List 16.965