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I got to thinking about how Latin still influences much of the western world today as it spun off many of the Romance languages i.e. Spanish, Italian, French, Romanian, Portuguese and even some Germanic tongues like English has Latin in it and also we use the Latin Alphabet today while Greek for the most part is isolated in Greece.
But why????
After all Greek was spoken by all the upper classes in the Western empire and although the early Byzantines spoke Latin....Greek was the official administrative language of the Eastern empire and by 800 A.D. it was spoken fluently by all the citizens in the eastern half as Latin had faded out by then. Greek was also spoken in Sicily and southern Italy at the fall of the Western empire in 476.
And yet we see and hear Latin's influence all around us in our daily lives today. Any thoughts???
After the Norman invasion, the official court language of the English crown was French, and it remained French for some time. (For example, Richard the Lionhearted spoke only French.)
Despite French being the official language imposed from on high, the population of England continued to speak the fusion of Celtic/Anglo Saxon/Dane languages which was the basis for modern English.
So, apparently quantity trumps bureaucracy in such cases.
I got to thinking about how Latin still influences much of the western world today as it spun off many of the Romance languages i.e. Spanish, Italian, French, Romanian, Portuguese and even some Germanic tongues like English has Latin in it and also we use the Latin Alphabet today while Greek for the most part is isolated in Greece.
But why????
After all Greek was spoken by all the upper classes in the Western empire and although the early Byzantines spoke Latin....Greek was the official administrative language of the Eastern empire and by 800 A.D. it was spoken fluently by all the citizens in the eastern half as Latin had faded out by then. Greek was also spoken in Sicily and southern Italy at the fall of the Western empire in 476.
And yet we see and hear Latin's influence all around us in our daily lives today. Any thoughts???
Interesting question.
I am sure one single answer would not be sufficient.
One possible reason is that one is more logic in the making or more romantic etc than others, which made easy or make sense to pass and to spread....
Well, if memory serves me correctly, I seem to remember being taught in high school Latin classes that the Romans beat the pants off the Greeks. Guess to the victor goes the spoils ansd that must include picking the language.
After the Norman invasion, the official court language of the English crown was French, and it remained French for some time. (For example, Richard the Lionhearted spoke only French.)
Despite French being the official language imposed from on high, the population of England continued to speak the fusion of Celtic/Anglo Saxon/Dane languages which was the basis for modern English.
So, apparently quantity trumps bureaucracy in such cases.
O.K. i think i'm following you here but english has morphed over the centuries with the additional languages intermingling with it but it didn't fade into obscurity like greek.
Well, if memory serves me correctly, I seem to remember being taught in high school Latin classes that the Romans beat the pants off the Greeks. Guess to the victor goes the spoils ansd that must include picking the language.
Yeap but the Eastern Roman Empire spoke Greek from 800 to 1450's.
because only the elites within the Roman Empire spoke Latin. The soldiers spoke vulgar Latin, that later developed into several Romance languages. They were given conquered lands once they retired, so they basically brought Latin to every corner of the Empire.
Yeap they did compared to greece but the Eastern Roman Empire was huge and they spoke greek.
yeah, but the Byzantine Empire was totally obliterated by the Turks and Arabs. When this happened, the Roman languages (French, Italian, Spanish) were already implemented in their respective kingdoms.
As I said before, I highly doubt that most of those under the rule of the Eastern Empire spoke Greek, more the top political and religious leaders.
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