Hour, expect, demonstrate, and remember.
These words in the every-day use of the English language may seem unrelated at first glance, but they all have something in common: they share their origins in Latin.
Socially, Latin is generally regarded as a ‘dead’ language; in that nobody really speaks it anymore (unless you want to count the Vatican and some Latin experts on YouTube). However, one could also argue that it is still very much in use to this day, simply due to its deep-seated influence on several European and, of course, specifically Romantic languages.
Here’s a few examples from some of the European languages we recruit for
German: Kaiser, Wein, Zwiebel, Mauer
- Spanish: Lacustre, Hormigo, Portalada
- French: Sapin, Faure, Grotesque, Plevoir
- Portuguese: Pelica, Tesura, Saia, Juramento
And, of course - English.
In fact, around 80% of the English dictionary is borrowed, with a majority of these words having been taken from Latin and Greek. This percentage is even higher within the sciences and technology, with around 90% of words having been taken directly from Latin (and Greek).
This makes sense, especially considering Roman Britain lasted for almost 400 years and during this time, Latin had become the language of most of its people, including the ruling class, administration and the clerical body following the introduction of Christianity.
Of course, following the Norman Conquest of 1066, Britain gained a prolific French influence and the English language and its vocabulary evolved to include many words of Latin origin but with French as a sort of middleman. Come the rise of Early Modern English in the 1500s, however, Latin was back on the playing field with many loan words (such as species, genius, focus, and nausea).
Despite the un-dead rep Latin gets, many schools and institutions are doing their part in keeping it (more) alive by offering Latin courses. Some schools (like *altsprachliche Gymnasien/*grammar schools for classical languages **in Germany, for example) even make Latin mandatory from the get-go.
The Benefits of Learning Latin
One of the benefits of learning Latin is that it might help you learn other related languages more quickly - for example, transitioning from Italian to Spanish will be a lot less challenging than going from Italian to, perhaps, Turkish.
Knowing Latin will also help you learn English more efficiently, whether you’re an English speaker studying and seeking to understand English grammar, or whether you’re learning English and need a more structured, visible and concrete - almost disciplined like the Roman people themselves - grammatical structure in order to understand English grammar (or other grammatical structures that also have cases and more inflections than English does) better.
Another beauty of learning and knowing Latin is that eventually, you will see it everywhere - taking trains via London, calling someone a genius, or supporting a friend.
After all, finding and making connections is one of the best and most fulfilling parts of knowing other languages.
