Before printing presses and with the majority people illiterate, the type of Latin actually spoken in the Roman Empire wasn't the 'proper form'. Like Afrikaans diverging from Dutch in South Africa, our ears seem more open to influence. We get the rhythm of things rather than being obsessed by the form. "Vulgar Latin" was the Roman Kitchen - and led to the national languages of Italy, Spain, Portugal, Romania and France. Romance Languages. It varied greatly by region and time period. Despite modern standardisation, this is obvious in the United Kingdom (the Romans left in 410AD) in the way people in different cities and of different ages speak with identifiably different accents and word choice. As the Roman Empire collapsed, the kitchen gained spices from the Gothic and Frankish conquerors.
Roman Empire 117AD
No comments:
Post a Comment