(Western) Roman Empire, Ostrogothic Kingdom, Gallic Empire
Region
Mare Nostrum region
Era
3rd–6th centuries; developed into Medieval Latin
Language family
Indo-European
Italic
Latino-Faliscan
Latin
Late Latin
Early forms
Proto-Indo-European
Proto-Italic
Proto-Latino-Faliscan
Old Latin
Classical Latin
Writing system
Latin
Official status
Official language in
Both Roman Empires (Later replaced with Koine Greek in the East)
Regulated by
Schools of grammar and rhetoric
Language codes
ISO 639-3
–
Glottolog
late1252
The Late-Latin speaking world, 271 CE
Late Latin is the scholarly name for the form of Literary[citation needed] Latin of late antiquity.[1] English dictionary definitions of Late Latin date this period from the 3rd to the 6th centuries CE,[2][3] and continuing into the 7th century in the Iberian Peninsula.[1] This somewhat ambiguously defined version of Latin was used between the eras of Classical Latin and Medieval Latin. Scholars do not agree exactly when Classical Latin should end or Medieval Latin should begin.[citation needed]
Being a written language, Late Latin is not the same as Vulgar, or more specifically, the spoken Latin of the post Imperial period. The latter served as ancestor of the Romance languages. Although Late Latin reflects an upsurge of the use of Vulgar Latin vocabulary and constructs, it remains largely classical in its overall features, depending on the author who uses it. Some Late Latin writings are more literary and classical, but others are more inclined to the vernacular. As such it is an important source of information about changes in the spoken language, while not being a simple replication of the state of the oral language at the time.[4] Also, Late Latin is not identical to Christian patristic Latin, used in the theological writings of the early Christian fathers. While Christian writings used a subset of Late Latin, pagans, such as Ammianus Marcellinus or Macrobius, also wrote extensively in Late Latin, especially in the early part of the period.
Late Latin formed when large numbers of non-Latin-speaking peoples on the borders of the empire were being subsumed and assimilated, and the rise of Christianity was introducing a heightened divisiveness in Roman society, creating a greater need for a standard language for communicating between different socioeconomic registers and widely separated regions of the sprawling empire. A new and more universal speech evolved from the main elements: Classical Latin, Christian Latin, which featured sermo humilis (ordinary speech) in which the people were to be addressed,[5] and all the various dialects of Vulgar Latin.[6]
The linguist Antoine Meillet wrote:
"Without the exterior appearance of the language being much modified, Latin became in the course of the imperial epoch a new language... Serving as some sort of lingua franca to a large empire, Latin tended to become simpler, to keep above all what it had of the ordinary."[7][8]
^ abRoberts (1996), p. 537.
^"Late Latin". Webster's Third New International Dictionary. Vol. II, H to R. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. 1961.
^"Late Latin". The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (3rd ed.). Boston, New York, London: Houghton Mifflin Company.
^Herman 2000, pp. 25–26
^Auerbach (1958), Chapter 1, Sermo Humilis.
^Harrington, Karl Pomeroy; Pucci, Joseph Michael (1997). Mediaeval Latin (2nd ed.). Chicago: University of Chicago Press. p. 67. ISBN 0-226-31713-7. The combination of features specific to Vulgar Latin and Ecclesiastical Latin had the effect, then, of transforming the language by the fourth century into something of extraordinary vigor.
^Meillet (1928), p. 270: "Sans que l'aspect extérieur de la langue se soit beaucoup modifié, le Latin est devenu au cours de l'epoque impériale une langue nouvelle."
^Meillet (1928), p. 273: "Servant en quelque sorte de lingua franca à un grand empire, le Latin a tendu à se simplifier, à garder surtout ce qu'il avait de banal."
LateLatin is the scholarly name for the form of Literary[citation needed] Latin of late antiquity. English dictionary definitions of LateLatin date this...
and Greek alphabets. By the late Roman Republic (75 BC), Old Latin had evolved into standardized Classical Latin. Vulgar Latin was the colloquial register...
literature, law, and administration. Medieval Latin represented a continuation of Classical Latin and LateLatin, with enhancements for new concepts as well...
Vulgar Latin, also known as Popular or Colloquial Latin, is the range of non-formal registers of Latin spoken from the Late Roman Republic onward. Vulgar...
Classical Latin is the form of Literary Latin recognized as a literary standard by writers of the late Roman Republic and early Roman Empire. It formed...
Latin is a member of the broad family of Italic languages. Its alphabet, the Latin alphabet, emerged from the Old Italic alphabets, which in turn were...
Ecclesiastical Latin, also called Church Latin or Liturgical Latin, is a form of Latin developed to discuss Christian thought in Late antiquity and used...
Old Latin, also known as Early Latin or Archaic Latin (Classical Latin: prīsca Latīnitās, lit. 'ancient Latinity'), was the Latin language in the period...
Contemporary Latin is the form of the Literary Latin used since the end of the 19th century. Various kinds of contemporary Latin can be distinguished...
with what features can be deduced for Classical Latin as it was spoken by the educated from the late Roman Republic to the early Empire. Evidence comes...
Latin obscenity is the profane, indecent, or impolite vocabulary of Latin, and its uses. Words deemed obscene were described as obsc(a)ena (obscene, lewd...
Renaissance Latin is a name given to the distinctive form of Literary Latin style developed during the European Renaissance of the fourteenth to fifteenth...
Latin America is a collective region of the Americas where Romance languages—languages derived from Latin—are predominantly spoken. The term was coined...
symbols. The Latin alphabet, also known as the Roman alphabet, is the collection of letters originally used by the ancient Romans to write the Latin language...
African Latin is an extinct Romance language that was spoken in the various provinces of Roman Africa by the African Romans under the later Roman Empire...
French officier), from Medieval Latin officiarius "an officer," from Latin officium "a service, a duty" the lateLatin from officiarius, meaning "official...
male counterpart to the succubus is the incubus. The term derives from LateLatin succuba "paramour" from succubare "to lie beneath" (sub- "under" and cubare...
polygon's vertices (singular: vertex) or corners. The word polygon comes from LateLatin polygōnum (a noun), from Greek πολύγωνον (polygōnon/polugōnon), noun use...
often upon which woody vines are trained. The origin of the word is the LateLatin pergula, referring to a projecting eave. It also may be an extension of...
languages, also known as the Latin or Neo-Latin languages, are the languages that are directly descended from Vulgar Latin. They are the only extant subgroup...
words derived from Latin and Greek roots. The Germanic tribes who later gave rise to the English language traded and fought with the Latin speaking Roman...
Italian virtuoso, Italian: [virˈtwoːzo] or Italian: [virtuˈoːso]; LateLatin virtuosus; Latin virtus; 'virtue', 'excellence' or 'skill') is an individual who...
(Italian: Laziali). Latin Rights Latin Valley Greek East and Latin West Roman people#Later history Latin Union "Definition of LATIN". www.merriam-webster...
is "Old Latin", they are also sometimes referred to as the Old Latin Bible, although they are written in the form of Latin known as LateLatin, not that...
The Latin script, also known as the Roman script, and technically Latin writing system, is an alphabetic writing system based on the letters of the classical...
The term magnate, from the lateLatin magnas, a great man, itself from Latin magnus, "great", means a man from the higher nobility, a man who belongs...
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