Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 11.djvu/888

* LATIN LANGUAGE. 804 LATIN LITERATURE. expcption that C .and G are alaayf: hard : R is trilled; S is voiceless; Z is like DZ; I'H, TH, CH are really aspirated consonants. Compare the English ■chop-Aouse,' 'hot-/iouse,' "blocfc-house." Latin accent was originallj' recessive ( i.e. on the first syllable), as is shown by such changes in unaccented vowels as cdpttis, ticccptus, after- wards acccittus. In the classical period, liowever, the accent fell always on tlic penult if long; if the penult was short, it fell on tlic antepenult. Examples: occ'ulo, '1 kill"; occidu, 'I fall.' (C) Gr.mmar. Latin, like Greek, was a high- ly inflectional language, that is, it expressed the relations of ideas largely by variations in the terminations of words. Coni])are sueh a sentence as fralris tunicam mcndici filio (Udissct with its English equivalent: 'He would have given his brother's tunic to the child of the beggar.' Five Latin words express with exactness by their terminations wliat thirteen words are used to say in the uninllected Knglisli. Latin has no article, definite or indefinite. Nouns have three gender.s, as in Greek, but only two numbers, singular and plural ; the dual has entirely disappeared, though it has left a trace in the termination of duo, 'two,' and amho, "both." There are six cases, nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, vocative, ablative; and traces of a seventh, the locative, in donii, humi, etc., and names of towns. In this it was richer than Greek, which lacked the abla- tive, and moreover the use of the existing cases does not wholly coincide in the two languages. Greek, too. has only three declensions of nouns, to which the Latin has added a fourth and a fifth. Latin adje^-tives, however, like the Greek, are confined to the first three declensions. There are marked differences also in the inflexion of verbs in the two languages. The Greek pre- serves carefully the two classes of -w and -fu verbs which were fully developed in Indo-Euro- pean parent-speech. Latin has only the -o class, though rare survivals of the -m class appear, as in sum, 'I am.' The Greek is richer than the Latin in tenses as well, for the Latin lacks the aorist as an independent tense. Syllabic aug- ment, also, is wanting; and reduplication occurs only in certain verbsj as dedi, cecidi, cucurri. In Greek the middle voice is fully developed, while the passive is not ; Latin has full passive inflec- tions, and no middle voice, though the pa.ssive shows traces of a middle use in such phrases as vesiem induitur, 'he puts on his clothes.' In moods, too, Greek is the richer, for its subjunc- tive and optative are combined in the Latin sub- junctive. In verbal syntax Greek is far freer than Latin, which, however, has the advantage of greater conciseness and accuracy. (D) Lexicon. As the language of a rude and hardy, but naturally unimaginative race. Latin was at first far more limited in vocabulary than Greek. The latter was remarkably rich in termi- nations that lent themselves to the fnrnintion at will of new words, especially for abstract ideas; and its possibilities for the forming of self-ex- plaining compounds were boundless. When the Romans began to study the literature and phi- losophy of the Greeks, they felt sadly the limita- tions of their own language; but the genius of a succession of writers culminating in Cicero did much to overcome the diflficulty — Greek words were borrowed in large numbers along with the ideas they express; but Latin could produce noth- ing like the splendid Greek compound words. For 6^iij.aBeU, Horace could find nothing better than the awkward periphrasis scri studiorum. Simple compounds like coiisors, btiumvrcns were numerous. Poetry added many, such as floriger, vclivolus, and the later popular speech increased thera considerably. Compare such expressive words as inutoiiicdicus, campidoclor, domnw- d'uis, domiiipradia. Latin increased its vocabu- lary materially from other languages besides the Greek; from tile Etruscan (cf. histrio, 'actor'), Oscan, Celtic (especially war-t<?rras, names of animals and vehicles, articles of dress), Syrian, Hebrew, etc. BiBi-iooRAPiiY. Among the host of works upon the Latin langruage in its various phases the fol- lowing will be found especially useful; Gr.mm.r. The most comprehensive works are those of .Stolz and Sehmalz. "Lateinische Gram- matik." in Miiller's Hundhuch dcr l.hi.ssixrhen Allrrtumsu-issoischaff (3d ed., Munich, IflOO) ; and Kiihner, Ausfiilirliche (h-ammatik (2 vols., Hanover, 1890). Good recent students' gram- mars in English are those of Roby (189G), Gil- dersleeve-Lodge (1900), Bennett (1895), and Lane (1899). DiCTioNAKiE.s. A monumental dictionary of the Latin language is in course of preparation in Germany: Tlicsauius Linriucr LatincB (Leipzig, Teubner, 1900 — ). For ordinary use. Harper's Latin Dictionor;/, and Georges's Lateinisch- Dcutscltcs Bandtcortcrbuch (2 vols., Leipzig, 1879-80) are recommended. For Latin composi- tion, consult: Smith, English-Latin Dictionary (Xew York, 1890). For word-formation and stylistics. consult: Lindsay, The Latin Language (Oxford. 1894) ; Xeue, Formenlehre (Berlin," 1894- 1902) ; Niigelsbaeh. Lateinische Htilistil; (Nurem- berg, 1889); Krebs, Antibarbarus (Basel, 1886- 88). Pronunciation of Latin. Seelman. Die Aus- sprachc dcs Latein (Heilbronn, 1885) ; Peck, Latin Prominciat ion (Xew York, 1894). LATIN LITERATURE. In this article an attempt is maile imly to trace briefly the origin, development, and decay of Latin literature, with slight notices of the principal authors who aided in its growth and left the stamp of their genius on its progress. For further information regard- ing the life and works of the various authors, the reader is referred to the individual articles in their alphabetical order. For convenience of classification, the story of Latin literature may be divided into six broad periods, of which three fall under the Republic and three under the Empire, as follows: I. The Pre-literary Period. (Crude beginnings.) II. The Early, or Pre-classieal Period. (From the end of the First Punic War, c.240 B.C., to Sulla, C.S4 B.C.) III. The Golden Age, or Classical Period. ( From Sulla, c.84 B.C., to the death of Augustus, A.D. 14.) Of this period there are two divisions: (a) The Ciceronian Period, (c. 84-4.3 B.C.) (b) The Augustan Age. (B.C. 4.3-a.d. 14.) IV. The Silver Age — Period of Spanish Latin- ity. (From the death of Augustus, a.d. 14, to the accession of Hadrian, a.d. 117.) V. The Period of African Latinity — Early Christian Writers. (From Hadrian, a.d. 117, to the fourth century.) VI. The Period of Actual Decline. (From the early fourth century to the end.)