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Classical language

Old language with established literature or use

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  • 3 chapters

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Many classical languages are considered extinct or no longer in vernacular use, while some exist in liturgical or literary contexts. Those that are still in use today tend to show diglossic characteristics in areas where they are used, as the difference between spoken and written languages has widened over time.

The term "classical language" may refer more narrowly to only Ancient Greek and Latin, especially in the context of classical studies.

Classical studies in Europe

In the context of traditional European classical studies, the "classical languages" refer to Greek and Latin, which were the literary languages of the Mediterranean world in classical antiquity.

Greek was the language of Homer and of classical Athenian, Hellenistic and Byzantine historians, playwrights, and philosophers. It has contributed many words to the vocabulary of English and many other European languages and has been a standard subject of study in Western educational institutions since the Renaissance. Latinized forms of Ancient Greek roots are used in many of the scientific names of species and in other scientific terminology. Koine Greek, which served as a lingua franca in the Eastern Roman Empire, remains in use today as a sacred language in some Eastern Orthodox churches. Koine Greek eventually gave rise to Medieval Greek and then Modern Greek.

Latin became the lingua franca of the early Roman Empire and later of the Western Roman Empire. Despite the decline of the Western Roman Empire, the Latin language continued to flourish in the very different social and economic environment of the Middle Ages, not least because it became the official language of the Roman Catholic Church.

In Western and Central Europe and in parts of northern Africa, Latin retained its elevated status as the main vehicle of communication for the learned classes throughout the Middle Ages and, subsequently, in the Early modern period. In the 21st century, Latin is still taught in the United States, mostly in elite private schools.

Until the end of the 17th century, the majority of books and almost all diplomatic documents were written in Latin. Some of the last major international treaties to be written in Latin include the Treaty of Vienna in 1738 and the Treaty of Belgrade in 1739; after the War of the Austrian Succession (1740–48), international diplomacy was conducted predominantly in French. French (itself a Romance language, a language that evolved from Latin) replaced Latin as the prestige language of politics, trade, education, diplomacy, military and international relations. It retained this role until approximately the middle of the 20th century, when it was replaced by English (a Germanic language). Like French, Spanish also evolved from Latin. Around 75% of modern Spanish vocabulary is Latin in origin, including Latin borrowings from Ancient Greek. At present, it is the second most used language in international trade, and the third most used in politics, diplomacy and culture after English and French.

Latin was not supplanted for scientific purposes until the 18th century and, for formal descriptions in zoology and botany, survived until the late 20th century. The modern international binomial nomenclature holds to this day, where taxonomists assign a Latin or Latinized name as the scientific name of each species.

Vulgar Latin, the range of non-formal registers of Latin spoken from the Late Roman Republic onward, is the ancestor of the Romance languages (Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, Romanian, Catalan, etc.). The Romance languages spread throughout the world owing to the period of European colonialism beginning in the 15th century. There are more than 900 million native speakers of Neo-Latin languages found worldwide, mainly in the Americas, Europe, and parts of Africa. French, Spanish, and Portuguese also have many non-native speakers; they are widely used as lingua francas.

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