Does anyone speak Latin?

A Roman didn't need to speak of such a thing because it was his unquestioned birthright as a citizen. Of course, a sword was an expensive item so maybe he only owned a dagger or kept a club next to his table in the market. The elite didn't need to be personally armed, they had bodyguards just like our anti-gun politicians today.

For years there has been this Greek motto "Molon Labe" (come and take them) floating around the gun community, which is supposedly what Leonidas said to the Persian army when they asked him to surrender his arms. I like it, but it comes across as a little intimidating and negative.

"I think, therefore I am armed" comes across as a bit more cerebral and positive, playing off the Descartes maxim. I want to get it right. It would be embarrassing to have some bad Latin engraved on a gun.

 

Try this one -Armata Fulmine- it measn armed with lightning

 

Romans did not learn or speak Latin...it was a trading language.

 

on the contrary, most of the Roman population during the time of Caesar's time could speak latin

 

Tell that to an Italian...Romans had a grasp of it...some...those that had learning - It was a language for the "empire" and usually only those Romans directly involved in trade even needed to learn the language.

 

a lot of the officers and Soldiers in legions had to learn latin, like you said, it was the language of the 'empire' and being soldiers of the empire, they had to learn latin

 

Ahhh...but very few legions were true Romans...(from Italy)...Outside of Italy Latin was the language...inside Italy...well i guess it was Italian?

 

The Latin we learn at school is actually called "kitchen latin" and is a mix derived from the Latin spoken by the working class population of the Roman Empire. It would grab words from all the countires of the Empire , so it could be understand by all. In a way it could be compared to Esperanto . Italian is obviously the closed language, but French, Spanish ,Portuguese and Romanian are also derived from it.

 

So you're saying that Latin came before Spanish, Romanian etc and that those languages are derived from Latin? How interesting!

 

The Italian language did not actually exist as such during the Roman language. It was derived from "vulgar" Latin and the dialect in the Toscane region later became the adopted langage . The first trace of this language is called "vernacular" Latin was the native Language of the population of Central Italy called "Latium". Latin was spread to other areas of Italy during the 3rd Century and across the borders with the Roman conquests. It was spoken throughout the empire and replaced many local languages and spokne as such with some exotic addtions (Gaul etc...) . At other places Latin was spoken jointly with local languages (Dalmatia etc... ) and at some other places it was only spoken by the elite (Syria, etc...). But even then many terms were eventually adopted (Britain) . Geography was one thing , the perception of the Roman occupation was another one. Finally the length of the occupation was an important factor. What mad ethe Romans poular was their immense knowledge in economics and culture. Bring vineyards to farmers, central heating to those who are cold and they will follow you .

 

Yes, all those languages are derived from "Vulgar latin", to these could be added Moldavian aromanian , some regional languages (Corso, Sarde ,Ladin, cataln, francoprovencal ) and dead languages too (Dalmatian , Mozarabian) .

Even English has some latin heritage . Not many people are are of this as it is often hard to realize which words came directly from Latin (Procastination, Ante Medium, post medium etc..) and those who came indirectly via the normans . .

 

Yes yes...but what have the Romans ever done for us!? : ) (Hope you get that).
Nice work Skip...Genuinely interesting...

 

Without them you'd be bored to death in the Outback because you'd be drinking a Foster WITHOUT watching Spartacus.

 

I always enjoyed Ben Hur more...Sparticus's chin was something to behold, they would have written odes to that chin.
And i have to tell you if you dont already know...Number of Australians who drink Fosters? 0
Its an International product...we drink the real stuff here. : ) Hehe..

 

I'll have one on you then

 

Very interesting! I had always thought that Latin was the sole language of Romans. I had no idea it was more complicated than that.

After reading all this, I just contacted my Romanian friend who also has a classical education, and she assures me that it is indeed Cogito, ergo armatus (or armatius - either spelling correct) sum. That's enough for me!

I Am Spartacus!

 

One Legion Comes to mind is the 12th legion

 

Sounds interesting Gunney...please go on...

 

Each Legion had its own Standard, these were usualy made out of gold or other precious metals, the 12's Standard was supposedly blessed by Jupiter, God of the sky. The entire 12'th legion spoke latin, and when going into battle they would yell -Armata Fulmine- or armed with lightning, because their Battle standard was blessed by jupiter.

 

Cool..!