Fatalis alea incertis jactibus in hujus vitae tabula mortales eludit Our life is a board game on which the dice of fate with its unexpected throws tries to trick mortal men

History of the Latin Language

he Latin language has existed for some 2500 years and there still exist vast numbers of documents written in Latin on papyrus, vellum (animal skin) and paper. Some of the literary works produced during the Classical period about 2000 years ago when such famous authors as Cicero, Horace, Virgil and Ovid were writing, have survived (though much was lost in the intervening period). We have a large amount written by the Church Fathers, such as Augustine and Jerome, during the period 250-600 CE, as well as a huge range of writings from the Middle Ages down to about 1600 - histories, hymns, legal and administrative documents, letters, literary works of poetry and prose, philosophical and scientific works.

ver this period, written Latin remained quite conservative, though it did admit new words (e.g.monachus for monk) and new meanings (oratio for prayer) so as to take account of changes in society. Meanwhile spoken Latin gradually developed into the Romance languages of Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian and other dialects, while English was heavily influenced by Latin directly and through French: eventually these languages took over from Latin in modern Europe, though Latin is still used in certain places and contexts, such as in the Vatican at Rome.

Meum est propositum in taberna mori, ut sint vina proxima morientis ori My plan is to die in a pub so that I'll have a drink close to my lips as I fade away   Simia simia est, etiamsi aurea gestet insignia An ape is an ape even if it wears smart clothes