Does the Latin Language Affect the United States - Research Paper Example

Does Latin Language Affect Us Today in the United s? Does Latin Language Affect Us Today in the United States? Yes. Although considered a dead language, Latin language continues to affect our contemporary society in a diverse number of ways particularly in scientific, medical, philosophy and other important fields. For example, apart from the fact that Latin is currently still being spoken by many scholars, students and Christian clergy, the classical language is also being used in the development of many new words in the English language. There may be a false imprecision that Latin is a dead language, dead as the Roman culture, but this is not at least not for the Latin culture, its virtues and the language itself. Latin has had an important influence in the configuration of English at all stages of its insular development more so in the United States. It continues to be studied across Europe and especially among Americans. Latin is a medieval language that was prominently used during the periods of Roman Empire. The language has however survived particularly through numerous literary works of Roman scholars and philosophers (McGraw, 2012). It has widely estimated that only 20 to 30 percent comprises words of Old English while the rest have been borrowed from various languages among them Latin language. From this findings the influence of Latin in English, is thought to be lexical in nature that mainly center on words that have Latin roots. But as much as the language is impacting the citizens of United States, critics have it that the language is long dead and has no significant influence on the lives of the citizens in the United States and has its mentioning only in the scientific words and among denominations of Roman origin. Generally being the only surviving language of Italic language family .Latin remains a significant piece of linguistic puzzle among the United States. According to Draper and Hicks (2006), Latin is currently the fourth most spoken language among high school students in the United States, ahead of such modern languages as Italian and Japanese, this is a clear indication that the language is gaining popularity especially among the youths. This is particularly evidenced by the fact that most organizations, universities and institutions all over the United States have Latin mottos, even today. For example, Harvard’s motto simply states “Veritas” which means the truth, Yale’s motto is “Lux et Veritas” meaning light and truth. On the other hand, Princeton’s motto is a Latin phrase “Dei sub numine viget” which translates as “Under Gods power she flourishes. The motto of the US Marine Corps is “Semper Fidelis” meaning “Always Faithful”, while the US Coast Guard’s motto aptly states “Semper Paratus” translating as “Always Ready”. However the influence of Latin in the United States is possibly never more pronounced than by the fact that our country’s very motto states “ E Pluribus Unum’ which can be thus translated to mean “Out of Many, One”. In the academia, Latin language is still widely used as a scientific and medical language. Many of the literary, legal and commercial forums are still using Latin language (Hughes, 2010).In the medieval period much borrowing of Latin vocabulary occurred where English writers cobbled together huge numbers of new words from the language. Most of these words continue to be used up to-date in the daily conversation among United State citizens. In addition Latin is still being used in the creation of new words in the modern language of many United State families and in biological taxonomy in various institutes. Today, most inventors in the United States and other parts of the world have named new devices, and geographers often name new places using combinations of Latin words .The botanists and zoologist in the recent past and today name species of living organisms using binomial nomenclature a double naming system which is of Latin language examples Homo sapiens, felis catus, canis lupus. Some words used today in the United States originated from Latin language where the word Lego which is used in most cases in the United States to mean play. Lawyers in the United States use Latin language phrases more often example de facto de jure, habeas corpus in the American court systems. Latin language has also greatly affected United State in the entertainment industry where American popular music, jazz, rhythm and blues have emerged from and Latin-American musicians such as Christina Aguilera, Enrique Iglesias and Shakira have risen. Still on the entertaining industry many immoral practices have risen such as excess smoking of marijuana and increased crime rates in the United States. American culture in terms of food offered at restaurants, clothing and other practices today in has also emerged through assimilation hence affecting the original way of life of the people. Increased number of magazines and television channels inclined to Latin has also been witnessed in the United States. Most citizens in the United States, mostly in the southern part have their names in Latin language. Latin provides us with essential knowledge of the past. I feel, this is vital, because the future can only be built upon the foundations laid in the past. For it is by analyzing the past that we can avoid the mistakes made hitherto, and awareness of history enables us to make better future judgments; in most instances, at least. The spread of Christianity in the west in the early 6th and 7th century also enhanced spread of some Latin wording as were used in religious terms. These words such as alter and many more over time have been incorporated in English language. It has also been found that whenever a suitable Old English word is not found it is easy replaced with a suitable comparison from the Latin word (Hu, 2008). The understanding of English language to a great extent has been attributed to certain Latin words and pronunciation. For most scholars it is argued that to understand the English language properly is dependent upon ones understanding and usage of Latin language. This is because most of the words are borrowed from Latin to make English vocabularies and wording. As we all know, the United States of today is a melting pot of diverse races and different cultures. The study of Latin, amongst other factors, helps us respect these differences and glean an understanding of other cultures with comparative ease. Mostly, it helps us understand that beyond superficial differences; the desires, hopes, tribulations and trials of humanity, remain the same, irrespective of time, creed or race. In this regard, it can be argued that Latin language is currently helping us to bridge cultural divides, and this in itself is enough reason for scholars to study Latin. In my opinion, language is not only a mode of communication but also the cultural orientation of a community. This attributes from the Latin language to an extent has been exhibited in the mannerism and behavior of citizens of America. In conclusion as Latinate words continue to be coined in English, a number of consequences have been seen. These include several cases of unrelated terms being used for closely related concepts. In addition two or more cognate terms from both languages are used. In conclusion, Latin may not be spoken anymore, but it cannot be considered a dead language. It still affects our daily lives in a number of ways not only as a scientific and medical language but the language also help us bridge cultural divides in other fields such as the military, architecture, literary, legal and commercial forums. Lastly, there is currently a growing interest in Latin and some universities in the United Stated have begun offering scholarship competitions in Latin. References Draper, J., Hicks, J. (2006). Foreign language enrollments in public secondary schools. Foreign Language Annals, 29, 3, 304-306. Hu,W. (2008, October 6). A Dead Language That is Very Much Alive. The New York Times. Retrieved on November 20, 2012 from http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/07/nyregion/07latin.html?pagewanted=all Hughes, B. (2010, June 14). Latin: Why we are all better off with the ancient language. The Guardian. pp.F1-F9. McGraw, C. (2012, October 8). Latin a dead language? Not in Colorado Springs. The Gazette News paper. pp. A1-A4. Read More