As an integral part of the culture of each people, language is a factor of great importance for communication and learning in society. From the emergence of different communication systems, peoples developed and began to create more complex communities, capable of even communicating with each other.
In school, from childhood, we have contact with Portuguese classes so that we can learn our mother tongue. Over the years and the new demands of the job market, we started to have contacts with other languages.
It is very common to find Spanish or English classes in cram schools or with private teachers. But there are many other languages in the world with which we have no direct contact, such as Latin.
When searching All About History ancient, one can learn that Latin was the language spoken in the ancient Roman Empire, which had a great influence on the entire formation and evolution of the western world.
With its vast territorial extension, great political power and military supremacy, the Roman Empire was the center of world power for centuries, which led Latin to be the language used for communication of many people.
After the fall of the Empire, Latin underwent several changes over the years and fell into disuse. Latin is currently considered by some scholars to be a dead language.
It is worth noting that even with this status, Latin is present in many aspects of Western culture. With different levels of influence, the language is responsible for a great social impact on history.
An example of this great influence today is in Christianity. With around 2.2 billion faithful around the world, the official language of the Vatican, capital of the Catholic Church, is Latin. It is used in many papal documents, books and conversations in the country.
Also, during Catholic celebrations, it is common for us to come into contact with several Latin words.
Citing a much more recent change than the Roman Empire itself, the birthplace of this language, between 1962 and 1965, with the holding of the Second Vatican Council, Catholic Masses ceased to be held in Latin and are now celebrated in the language of each country.
Even outside of religion, Latin also has an influence on a huge number of languages in the western world.
In History classes, we learn that, with the fall of the Roman Empire and the formation of national states in several regions of Europe, Latin was replaced by the languages we know today:French, Portuguese, Spanish and Italian.
When you are in your Portuguese class, you will hardly realize that you are having contact with something from Latin. Many words and the very way of conjugating verbs and composing sentences come from this ancient language.
A very interesting example of this same origin of different languages by Latin is when we are going to learn another language.
During a Spanish class, it is very common to find several words and verbs similar to Portuguese. The same is true of French and Italian. The answer to that is that all these languages have the same origin:Latin.
Want an example? The verb “to forgive”, in Portuguese, comes from the Latin perdonare. When we look at the same verb in other languages of Latin origin, the similarity is great:in French, pardonner; in Spanish, perdonar; and in Italian, perdonare .
This similarity is often repeated in Neo-Latin languages, so it is often possible to understand what a Spanish person is saying, even without knowing how to speak the language.
Even though it is considered by many to be a dead language, it is possible to see the influence of Latin in different aspects of our life. For those who are even more interested, it is still possible to learn the language today.
There are faculties of Letters that teach Latin, as well as private teachers who, either physically or online, teach classes for those interested. In private lessons with a history teacher It is also possible to learn more about the language, its curiosities and particularities. In this sense, learning Latin is much more than just studying a new language. The study provides a true journey through cultural influence around the world.