Recent Latin

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Recent Latin is the form of Latin used from the early twentieth century down to the present. Unlike all previous varieties of Latin, it is neither used as a living language nor as a textual vehicle for literature, philosophy, and science; instead, it is primarily used as a form of entertainment, practiced among a small group of Latin devotees.

A Recent Latin inscription at Salamanca University commemorating the visit of the then-Prince "Akihitus" and Princess "Michika" of Japan
A Recent Latin inscription at Salamanca University commemorating the visit of the then-Prince "Akihitus" and Princess "Michika" of Japan

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[edit] Decadence of New Latin

The New Latin of the 17th-19th centuries had become otiose by 1900, confined to a few very technical areas (e.g., botany) where it functioned as a code, capable of only very limited types of expression, and not as a fully functional language. In other fields (e.g. anatomy or law) where Latin had been widely used, it survived only in technical phrases and terminology. The last survivals of New Latin to convey non-technical information appear in the use of Latin to cloak passages and expressions deemed too indecent (in the 19th century) to be read by children, the lower classes, or (most) women — intending to shrink readership, not expand it. Such passages appear in translations of foreign texts and in works on folklore, anthropology, and psychology, e.g. Krafft-Ebing's Psychopathia Sexualis (1886).

[edit] Emergence of Recent Latin

Recent Latin emerges in the twentieth century, and thus lacks continuity with older forms of Latinity. It is characterized by the general adoption of the reformed pronunciation of Latin (introduced towards the end of the 19th century, but not dominant until the second quarter of the 20th). Its immediate context tends to be the schoolroom and schoolbook exercises, rather than a wide array of Latin texts on current subjects.

[edit] Latin poetry

The use of Latin language in the poetry never fully disappeared, and the contemporary Latin literature gave, without interruption from Renaissance to present, a series of very interesting Latin poets, including Arrius Nurus, Geneviève Immè, Alanus Divutius, Anna Elissa Radke, Ianus Novak, Thomas Pekkanen, and others.

[edit] Spoken Latin

Some users of Recent Latin promote its use as a spoken language, a movement that dubs itself "Living Latin". Among the proponents of spoken Latin, some promote the active use of the language to make learning Latin both more enjoyable and more efficient, in this respect drawing upon the methodologies of instructors of modern languages. Others pursue a more radical approach, supporting the revival of Latin as a language of international scientific and academic communications (as it was in Europe and European colonies through Middle Ages until the early 19th century), or as an international auxiliary language. However, as a language native to no people, this movement has not received support from any government, national or supranational.

A substantial group of institutions (particularly in Europe, but also in North and South America) has emerged to support the use of Latin as a spoken language. Many of these institutions are listed at the links page of the Societas Circulorum Latinorum; others can be found in the external links list below.

[edit] Books in Recent Latin

Various texts—usually children's books—have been translated into Latin in the twentieth century, for various purposes, including use as a teaching tool or simply to demonstrate the author's command of Latin in a popular context.

Recent Latin texts include:

[edit] Other examples of Recent Latin

[edit] Church Latin

A body of mostly theological work has continued to be written in Latin by Roman Catholic writers. Up until the 1960s, Roman Catholic priests studied theology from Latin textbooks, even if the language of instruction in most seminaries was the local vernacular. Although Latin plays a less prominent role (liturgically and instructionally) in current Roman Catholicism, Latin is still spoken in international gatherings of Roman Catholic leaders, such as the Second Vatican Council or a papal conclave to elect a new Pope. Church Latin remains distinct in pronunciation from the Latin used by aficionados of Recent Latin.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Asterix in Latin.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links


Ages of Latin
v • d • e
—75 BC    75 BC – 200    300 – 1300    1300 – 1600    1600 – 1900   1900 – present
Old Latin    Classical Latin    Medieval Latin    Renaissance Latin   New Latin    Recent Latin
See also: History of Latin, Latin literature, Vulgar Latin, Ecclesiastical Latin, Romance languages
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