90-903: Spania ( Latin : Provincia Spaniae ) was a province of the Eastern Roman Empire from 552 until 624 in the south of the Iberian Peninsula and the Balearic Islands . It was established by the Emperor Justinian I in an effort to restore the western provinces of the Empire . In 409 the Vandals , Suevi and Alans , who had broken through the Roman border defences on the Rhine two years before, crossed
180-579: A Gothic invasion of Africa, which would have been an unnecessary distraction at a time when the Persian Empire was a larger threat in the East. The most important cities of Byzantine Spania were Málaga and Cartagena, the probable landing sites of the Byzantine army, which was renamed from Carthago Nova to Carthago Spartaria . It is unknown which of those two cities was the provincial capital, but it
270-743: A few in German , Dutch , Norwegian , Danish and Swedish . Latin is still spoken in Vatican City, a city-state situated in Rome that is the seat of the Catholic Church . The works of several hundred ancient authors who wrote in Latin have survived in whole or in part, in substantial works or in fragments to be analyzed in philology . They are in part the subject matter of the field of classics . Their works were published in manuscript form before
360-601: A housing complex probably created for Byzantine soldiers occupying the city discovered. Many artefacts of the Byzantine presence can be seen in the Museo Arqueológico de Cartagena . Nevertheless, the city, like most in Spain at that time was much diminished in population and area under the Byzantine government. In the reigns of Athanagild and Leovigild, the Byzantines were unable to push their offensive forward and
450-590: A large army of rustici (rustics), according to John of Biclarum , who may have been referring to an army of bandits called Bagaudae who had established themselves in the disputed buffer zone between Gothic and Roman control. In 577 in Orospeda , a region under Byzantine control, Leovigild defeated more rustici rebellantes , probably Bagaudae . After two seasons of campaigning against the Romans, however, Leovigild concentrated his military efforts elsewhere. During
540-562: A new Classical Latin arose, a conscious creation of the orators, poets, historians and other literate men, who wrote the great works of classical literature , which were taught in grammar and rhetoric schools. Today's instructional grammars trace their roots to such schools , which served as a sort of informal language academy dedicated to maintaining and perpetuating educated speech. Philological analysis of Archaic Latin works, such as those of Plautus , which contain fragments of everyday speech, gives evidence of an informal register of
630-476: A remarkable unity in phonological forms and developments, bolstered by the stabilising influence of their common Christian (Roman Catholic) culture. It was not until the Muslim conquest of Spain in 711, cutting off communications between the major Romance regions, that the languages began to diverge seriously. The spoken Latin that would later become Romanian diverged somewhat more from the other varieties, as it
720-709: A small number of Latin services held in the Anglican church. These include an annual service in Oxford, delivered with a Latin sermon; a relic from the period when Latin was the normal spoken language of the university. In the Western world, many organizations, governments and schools use Latin for their mottos due to its association with formality, tradition, and the roots of Western culture . Canada's motto A mari usque ad mare ("from sea to sea") and most provincial mottos are also in Latin. The Canadian Victoria Cross
810-411: Is Veritas ("truth"). Veritas was the goddess of truth, a daughter of Saturn, and the mother of Virtue. Switzerland has adopted the country's Latin short name Helvetia on coins and stamps, since there is no room to use all of the nation's four official languages . For a similar reason, it adopted the international vehicle and internet code CH , which stands for Confoederatio Helvetica ,
900-420: Is a kind of written Latin used in the 3rd to 6th centuries. This began to diverge from Classical forms at a faster pace. It is characterised by greater use of prepositions, and word order that is closer to modern Romance languages, for example, while grammatically retaining more or less the same formal rules as Classical Latin. Ultimately, Latin diverged into a distinct written form, where the commonly spoken form
990-640: Is a reversal of the original phrase Non terrae plus ultra ("No land further beyond", "No further!"). According to legend , this phrase was inscribed as a warning on the Pillars of Hercules , the rocks on both sides of the Strait of Gibraltar and the western end of the known, Mediterranean world. Charles adopted the motto following the discovery of the New World by Columbus, and it also has metaphorical suggestions of taking risks and striving for excellence. In
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#17327651922301080-708: Is also disputed; the primary sources are divided. Even the name of the general of the Byzantine army is disputed. Although Jordanes wrote that the Patrician Liberius was its commander: He [Theudis] was succeeded by Agila, who holds the kingdom to the present day. Athanagild has rebelled against him and is even now provoking the might of the Roman Empire. So Liberius the Patrician is on the way with an army to oppose him. James J. O'Donnell, in his biography of Liberius, casts doubt on this statement, since
1170-626: Is disputed: it may have occurred as part of Leontius ' expedition to relieve Carthage , under assault by the Arabs , in 697; perhaps later, around 702; or perhaps late in Wittiza's reign. What is almost universally accepted is that it was an isolated incident connected with other military activities (probably against the Arabs or Berbers ) and not an attempt to reestablish the lost province of Spania. As Professor Thompson states, "We know nothing whatever of
1260-595: Is here that he invents the phrase mater Spania (mother Spain). The rest of the work elaborates and defends the Gothic identity of a unified Spain. Isidore uses the Spanish era for dating throughout. The main source for his early history was Jerome 's continuation of Eusebius to the year 378. From there he used primarily Orosius (to 417) and, for Spain, Hydatius (to 469). For his later history he relies on Prosper Tiro 's continuation of Jerome (405–53). Victor of Tununa
1350-660: Is highly fusional , with classes of inflections for case , number , person , gender , tense , mood , voice , and aspect . The Latin alphabet is directly derived from the Etruscan and Greek alphabets . Latin remains the official language of the Holy See and the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church at the Vatican City . The church continues to adapt concepts from modern languages to Ecclesiastical Latin of
1440-423: Is his primary African witness for the years 444 to 566 and John of Biclar for recent Spanish history (565–90). Isidore also made use of a partially lost chronicle of Maximus of Zaragoza . For events in Spain between 590 and 624 Isidore is the modern historian's primary source. The Historia was composed in two versions, both surviving. The first, completed probably in 619, the year of the death of king Sisebut ,
1530-689: Is modelled after the British Victoria Cross which has the inscription "For Valour". Because Canada is officially bilingual, the Canadian medal has replaced the English inscription with the Latin Pro Valore . Spain's motto Plus ultra , meaning "even further", or figuratively "Further!", is also Latin in origin. It is taken from the personal motto of Charles V , Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain (as Charles I), and
1620-539: Is probable that a Byzantine force from Italy, which had only recently been pacified after the Gothic War , landed at Cartagena in early March 555 and marched inland to Baza (Basti) in order to join up with their compatriots near Seville. Their landing at Cartagena was violent. The native population, which included the family of Leander of Seville , was well disposed to the Visigoths and the Byzantine government of
1710-663: Is shorter. The longer version was probably completed in 624, in the fifth year of the reign of Suinthila . Only the longer version contains the Laus Spaniae and the Laus Gothorum , a eulogy of the Goths, which divides the Goths' history (to the reign of Suinthila) from that of the Vandals. The edition of the longer version by Theodor Mommsen is the standard and was the basis of the first English translation. The Historia
1800-1011: Is taught at many high schools, especially in Europe and the Americas. It is most common in British public schools and grammar schools, the Italian liceo classico and liceo scientifico , the German Humanistisches Gymnasium and the Dutch gymnasium . Occasionally, some media outlets, targeting enthusiasts, broadcast in Latin. Notable examples include Radio Bremen in Germany, YLE radio in Finland (the Nuntii Latini broadcast from 1989 until it
1890-543: The Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum (CIL). Authors and publishers vary, but the format is about the same: volumes detailing inscriptions with a critical apparatus stating the provenance and relevant information. The reading and interpretation of these inscriptions is the subject matter of the field of epigraphy . About 270,000 inscriptions are known. The Latin influence in English has been significant at all stages of its insular development. In
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#17327651922301980-528: The Holy See , the primary language of its public journal , the Acta Apostolicae Sedis , and the working language of the Roman Rota . Vatican City is also home to the world's only automatic teller machine that gives instructions in Latin. In the pontifical universities postgraduate courses of Canon law are taught in Latin, and papers are written in the same language. There are
2070-502: The Late Latin period, language changes reflecting spoken (non-classical) norms tend to be found in greater quantities in texts. As it was free to develop on its own, there is no reason to suppose that the speech was uniform either diachronically or geographically. On the contrary, Romanised European populations developed their own dialects of the language, which eventually led to the differentiation of Romance languages . Late Latin
2160-770: The Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio ), the lower Tiber area around Rome , Italy. Through the expansion of the Roman Republic it became the dominant language in the Italian Peninsula and subsequently throughout the Roman Empire . By the late Roman Republic , Old Latin had evolved into standardized Classical Latin . Vulgar Latin refers to the less prestigious colloquial registers , attested in inscriptions and some literary works such as those of
2250-607: The Middle Ages as a working and literary language from the 9th century to the Renaissance , which then developed a classicizing form, called Renaissance Latin . This was the basis for Neo-Latin which evolved during the early modern period . In these periods Latin was used productively and generally taught to be written and spoken, at least until the late seventeenth century, when spoken skills began to erode. It then became increasingly taught only to be read. Latin grammar
2340-574: The Middle Ages , borrowing from Latin occurred from ecclesiastical usage established by Saint Augustine of Canterbury in the 6th century or indirectly after the Norman Conquest , through the Anglo-Norman language . From the 16th to the 18th centuries, English writers cobbled together huge numbers of new words from Latin and Greek words, dubbed " inkhorn terms ", as if they had spilled from a pot of ink. Many of these words were used once by
2430-407: The common language of international communication , science, scholarship and academia in Europe until well into the early 19th century, by which time modern languages had supplanted it in common academic and political usage. Late Latin is the literary language from the 3rd century AD onward. No longer spoken as a native language, Medieval Latin was used across Western and Catholic Europe during
2520-596: The 7th century. Like the Sardinian giudicati and Corsica in that period, the Balearics were only nominally Byzantine. They were finally separated from the Empire by the Saracen incursions of the 8th through 10th centuries. Sometime during the joint reign of Egica and Wittiza , a Byzantine fleet raided the coasts of southern Spain and was driven off by a local count named Theudimer . The dating of this event
2610-606: The Arabic "al-Djazirat", of similar meaning. The chief administrative official in Spania was the magister militum Spaniae , meaning "master of the military of Spain". The magister militum governed civil and military affairs in the province and was subordinate only to the Emperor . Typically the magister was a member of the highest aristocratic class and bore the rank of patrician . The office, though it only appears in records for
2700-624: The Balearic Islands did the style of Greece and Thrace take a foothold. And though Byzantine stylistic markers are present throughout Spain, in the Gothic regions they do not share connections with the African styles prevalent in Spania. In the vicinity of Cartagena, pottery has been discovered bearing distinctively African amphorae that further testify to the close ties between the provinces of Spania and Mauretania Secunda. Cartagena has in recent years been excavated quite thoroughly and
2790-637: The British Crown. The motto is featured on all presently minted coinage and has been featured in most coinage throughout the nation's history. Several states of the United States have Latin mottos , such as: Many military organizations today have Latin mottos, such as: Some law governing bodies in the Philippines have Latin mottos, such as: Some colleges and universities have adopted Latin mottos, for example Harvard University 's motto
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2880-585: The Byzantine province of Mauretania with the conquest of the Vandal Kingdom in northern Africa. Despite his efforts, the Vandal king Gelimer had been unable to effect an alliance with the Gothic king Theudis , who probably took the opportunity of the collapse of Vandal authority to conquer Ceuta (Septem) across the Straits of Gibraltar in 533, possibly to keep it out of Byzantine hands. This citadel
2970-527: The Byzantines also held Ceuta across from the Gibraltar and the Balearic Islands , which had fallen to them along with the rest of the Vandal kingdom. Ceuta, though it had been Visigothic and was destined to be associated with the Iberian peninsula for its subsequent history, was attached to the province of Mauretania Secunda. The Balearics with Baetica and Carthaginiensis formed the new province of Spania. By
3060-419: The Byzantines more territory than they actually then possessed (August 599). Leovigild's gains against the Roman government were greater than the Roman reconquests of Reccared's reign; the Byzantine province of Spania was in decline. Among later kings, Witteric campaigned frequently against Spania, though his generals were more successful than he. The latter captured the small town of Gisgonza. Gundemar moved
3150-438: The Byzantines on this basis, but there is no positive evidence in the sources of Roman rule in any of these cities. Córdoba was in a state of rebellion, briefly joined by Seville from 566 to 567, until Leovigild put it down in 572. It may have had a local government during this period, or may have recognised Byzantine suzerainty. Aside from the southern parts of the provinces of Baetica and Carthaginiensis (the southern Levante ),
3240-454: The Byzantines, but failed. The Byzantines occupied many coastal cities in Baetica and this region was to remain a Byzantine province until its reconquest by the Visigoths barely seventy years later. The Byzantine province of Spania never extended very far inland and received relatively little attention from East Roman authorities, probably because it was designed as a defensive bulwark against
3330-642: The Germanic and Slavic nations. It became useful for international communication between the member states of the Holy Roman Empire and its allies. Without the institutions of the Roman Empire that had supported its uniformity, Medieval Latin was much more liberal in its linguistic cohesion: for example, in classical Latin sum and eram are used as auxiliary verbs in the perfect and pluperfect passive, which are compound tenses. Medieval Latin might use fui and fueram instead. Furthermore,
3420-619: The Goths , it was Athanagild, in autumn of 551 or winter of 552, who begged Justinian for help. The army was probably sent in 552 and made landfall in June or July. Roman forces landed probably at the mouth of the Guadalete or perhaps Málaga and joined with Athanagild to defeat Agila as he marched south from Mérida towards Seville in August or September 552. The war dragged on for two more years. Liberius returned to Constantinople by May 553 and it
3510-599: The Grinch Stole Christmas! , The Cat in the Hat , and a book of fairy tales, " fabulae mirabiles ", are intended to garner popular interest in the language. Additional resources include phrasebooks and resources for rendering everyday phrases and concepts into Latin, such as Meissner's Latin Phrasebook . Some inscriptions have been published in an internationally agreed, monumental, multivolume series,
3600-577: The Kings of the Goths, Vandals and Suevi") is a Latin history of the Goths from 265 to 624, written by Isidore of Seville . It is a condensed account and, due to its diverse sources, somewhat inconsistent. The history of the Vandals is appended after that of the Goths, followed by a separate history of the Suevi . Isidore begins his history with a prologue, Laus Spaniae , praising the virtues of Spain . It
3690-449: The Latin language. Contemporary Latin is more often studied to be read rather than spoken or actively used. Latin has greatly influenced the English language , along with a large number of others, and historically contributed many words to the English lexicon , particularly after the Christianization of the Anglo-Saxons and the Norman Conquest . Latin and Ancient Greek roots are heavily used in English vocabulary in theology ,
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3780-418: The Mediterranean coast and razed many cities to the ground, enough even to catch the attention of the Frankish chronicler Fredegar : . . . et plures civitates ab imperio Romano Sisebodus litore maris abstulit et usque fundamentum destruxit. . . . king Sisbodus took many cities from the Roman empire along the coast, destroying them and reducing them to rubble. Sisebut probably also razed Cartagena, which
3870-475: The Pyrenees into the Iberian peninsula. Nevertheless, effective Roman rule was maintained over most areas till after the death of Emperor Majorian in 461. The Visigoths , vassals of the Roman Empire who had settled in Aquitaine by imperial invitation (416), increasingly filled the vacuum left as the Vandals moved into North Africa . In 468 they attacked and defeated the Suevi , who had occupied Roman Gallaecia and were threatening to expand. The Visigoths ended
3960-410: The Roman administration in Spain in 473, and their overlordship of most of the eastern and central peninsula was established by 476. A large-scale migration of the Visigoths into Iberia began in 494 under Alaric II , and it became the seat of their power after they lost most of their territory in Gaul to the Franks after the Battle of Vouillé in 507. In 534, Roman general Belisarius re-established
4050-409: The United States the unofficial national motto until 1956 was E pluribus unum meaning "Out of many, one". The motto continues to be featured on the Great Seal . It also appears on the flags and seals of both houses of congress and the flags of the states of Michigan, North Dakota, New York, and Wisconsin. The motto's 13 letters symbolically represent the original Thirteen Colonies which revolted from
4140-447: The University of Kentucky, the University of Oxford and also Princeton University. There are many websites and forums maintained in Latin by enthusiasts. The Latin Misplaced Pages has more than 130,000 articles. Italian , French , Portuguese , Spanish , Romanian , Catalan , Romansh , Sardinian and other Romance languages are direct descendants of Latin. There are also many Latin borrowings in English and Albanian , as well as
4230-424: The Visigoths made some successful pushes back. Around 570, Leovigild ravaged Bastetania (Bastitania or Bastania, the region of Baza) and took Medina Sidonia through the treachery of an insider named Framidaneus (possibly a Goth). He may have taken Baza and he certainly raided into the environs of Málaga, defeating a relief army sent from there. He took many cities and fortresses in the Guadalquivir valley and defeated
4320-537: The author and then forgotten, but some useful ones survived, such as 'imbibe' and 'extrapolate'. Many of the most common polysyllabic English words are of Latin origin through the medium of Old French . Romance words make respectively 59%, 20% and 14% of English, German and Dutch vocabularies. Those figures can rise dramatically when only non-compound and non-derived words are included. Historia de regibus Gothorum, Vandalorum et Suevorum The Historia de regibus Gothorum, Vandalorum et Suevorum ("History of
4410-535: The beginning of the Renaissance . Petrarch for example saw Latin as a literary version of the spoken language. Medieval Latin is the written Latin in use during that portion of the post-classical period when no corresponding Latin vernacular existed, that is from around 700 to 1500 AD. The spoken language had developed into the various Romance languages; however, in the educated and official world, Latin continued without its natural spoken base. Moreover, this Latin spread into lands that had never spoken Latin, such as
4500-425: The benefit of those who do not understand Latin. There are also songs written with Latin lyrics . The libretto for the opera-oratorio Oedipus rex by Igor Stravinsky is in Latin. Parts of Carl Orff 's Carmina Burana are written in Latin. Enya has recorded several tracks with Latin lyrics. The continued instruction of Latin is seen by some as a highly valuable component of a liberal arts education. Latin
4590-414: The bishop of Málaga. Gregory the Great interfered successfully in the various bishoprics of the province more than any pope ever did in the Visigothic kingdom. He came to the defence of the property of two deposed bishops and lorded it over the magister militum Comitiolus, whom he accused of interfering in ecclesiastical affairs. He implicitly accused Licinianus of Cartagena of ordaining ignoramuses to
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#17327651922304680-432: The city of Baza was also Byzantine and it probably resisted the inroads of Leovigild into that territory in 570, though it was Visigothic by 589. Among the cities which have been disputed as being Byzantine, Córdoba is the greatest. Some historians have suspected it of being the first capital of the province of Spania and ascribed the cities of Ecija (Astigi), Cabra (Egabra), Guadix (Acci), and Granada (Illiberris) to
4770-406: The city was forced to suppress their freedoms, an oppression which lasted decades into their occupation. Leander and most of his family fled and his writings preserve the strong anti-Byzantine sentiment. In late March 555, the supporters of Agila, in fear of the recent Byzantine successes, turned and assassinated him, making Athanagild the king of the Goths. Quickly the new king tried to rid Spain of
4860-430: The comic playwrights Plautus and Terence and the author Petronius . While often called a "dead language" , Latin did not undergo language death . By the 6th to 9th centuries, natural language change eventually resulted in Latin as a vernacular language evolving into distinct Romance languages in the large areas where it had come to be natively spoken. However, even after the fall of Western Rome , Latin remained
4950-409: The context of this strange event." 36°43′00″N 4°25′00″W / 36.7167°N 4.4167°W / 36.7167; -4.4167 Latin language Latin ( lingua Latina , pronounced [ˈlɪŋɡʷa ɫaˈtiːna] , or Latinum [ɫaˈtiːnʊ̃] ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages . Latin was originally spoken by
5040-412: The country's full Latin name. Some film and television in ancient settings, such as Sebastiane , The Passion of the Christ and Barbarians (2020 TV series) , have been made with dialogue in Latin. Occasionally, Latin dialogue is used because of its association with religion or philosophy, in such film/television series as The Exorcist and Lost (" Jughead "). Subtitles are usually shown for
5130-429: The decline in written Latin output. Despite having no native speakers, Latin is still used for a variety of purposes in the contemporary world. The largest organisation that retains Latin in official and quasi-official contexts is the Catholic Church . The Catholic Church required that Mass be carried out in Latin until the Second Vatican Council of 1962–1965 , which permitted the use of the vernacular . Latin remains
5220-503: The development of European culture, religion and science. The vast majority of written Latin belongs to this period, but its full extent is unknown. The Renaissance reinforced the position of Latin as a spoken and written language by the scholarship by the Renaissance humanists . Petrarch and others began to change their usage of Latin as they explored the texts of the Classical Latin world. Skills of textual criticism evolved to create much more accurate versions of extant texts through
5310-413: The earliest extant Latin literary works, such as the comedies of Plautus and Terence . The Latin alphabet was devised from the Etruscan alphabet . The writing later changed from what was initially either a right-to-left or a boustrophedon script to what ultimately became a strictly left-to-right script. During the late republic and into the first years of the empire, from about 75 BC to AD 200,
5400-445: The fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and some important texts were rediscovered. Comprehensive versions of authors' works were published by Isaac Casaubon , Joseph Scaliger and others. Nevertheless, despite the careful work of Petrarch, Politian and others, first the demand for manuscripts, and then the rush to bring works into print, led to the circulation of inaccurate copies for several centuries following. Neo-Latin literature
5490-459: The first time in 589, was probably a creation of Justinian, as was the mint, which issued provincial currency until the end of the province (c. 625). There were five known magistri in the history of the province, though this certainly does not represent the whole. Two are passingly mentioned by Isidore as successive governors in the time of Suinthila , but he omits their names. The first known governor, Comenciolus (possibly Comentiolus ), repaired
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#17327651922305580-408: The frontier was noted by the exiled Leander, whose brother more than once crossed it without hindrance. The border had been determined by a treaty ( pacta ) between Athanagild and Justinian I, but the date of the treaty is still debated. It may have been part of the initial conditions of Byzantine assistance in 551 or 552 or it may have been a product of the war between Goth and Roman in 555 or later. It
5670-422: The gates of Cartagena in lieu of the "barbarians" (i.e. the Visigoths) and left an inscription (dated 1 September 589) in the city which survives to this day. It is in Latin and may reflect the continued use of Latin as the administrative language of the province. (It does not, however, imply that Cartagena was the capital of Spania.) Around 600 there was a governor named Comitiolus who bore the rank of gloriosus ,
5760-442: The highest rank after that of emperor. The patrician and magister Caesarius made a peace treaty with Sisebut in 614 and conferred with the emperor Heraclius , who was more concerned with matters in Mesopotamia . The border between Spania and Visigothic kingdom was not closed. Travel between the border for personal and mercantile reasons was allowed and the two regions experienced prolonged periods of peace. The ease of traversing
5850-435: The history of Latin, and the kind of informal Latin that had begun to move away from the written language significantly in the post-Imperial period, that led ultimately to the Romance languages . During the Classical period, informal language was rarely written, so philologists have been left with only individual words and phrases cited by classical authors, inscriptions such as Curse tablets and those found as graffiti . In
5940-504: The invention of printing and are now published in carefully annotated printed editions, such as the Loeb Classical Library , published by Harvard University Press , or the Oxford Classical Texts , published by Oxford University Press . Latin translations of modern literature such as: The Hobbit , Treasure Island , Robinson Crusoe , Paddington Bear , Winnie the Pooh , The Adventures of Tintin , Asterix , Harry Potter , Le Petit Prince , Max and Moritz , How
6030-412: The language of the Roman Rite . The Tridentine Mass (also known as the Extraordinary Form or Traditional Latin Mass) is celebrated in Latin. Although the Mass of Paul VI (also known as the Ordinary Form or the Novus Ordo) is usually celebrated in the local vernacular language, it can be and often is said in Latin, in part or in whole, especially at multilingual gatherings. It is the official language of
6120-405: The language, Vulgar Latin (termed sermo vulgi , "the speech of the masses", by Cicero ). Some linguists, particularly in the nineteenth century, believed this to be a separate language, existing more or less in parallel with the literary or educated Latin, but this is now widely dismissed. The term 'Vulgar Latin' remains difficult to define, referring both to informal speech at any time within
6210-431: The meanings of many words were changed and new words were introduced, often under influence from the vernacular. Identifiable individual styles of classically incorrect Latin prevail. Renaissance Latin, 1300 to 1500, and the classicised Latin that followed through to the present are often grouped together as Neo-Latin , or New Latin, which have in recent decades become a focus of renewed study , given their importance for
6300-502: The patrician was an octogenarian at the time, and Procopius reports he had returned to Constantinople when the Byzantines invaded Hispania and could not have led the invasion. O'Donnell states that "Jordanes may have heard that Liberius' name was being mentioned for commander of the Spanish expedition, but, in the end, the fact of his relief from command of the forces in Sicily makes the story of his voyage to Spain incredible." However, according to Isidore of Seville in his History of
6390-421: The period. The city of Medina Sidonia (Asidona) was held until 572, when it was reconquered by Leovigild . Gisgonza (also Gigonza, ancient Sagontia) was also held until the reign of Witteric (603–610) and it indicates that the south of the province of Baetica was completely Byzantine from Málaga to the mouth of the Guadalete . In the province of Carthaginiensis , wherein lay its provincial capital Cartagena,
6480-538: The priesthood, but Licinianus simply replied that to not do so would leave the diocese of the province empty: a sad commentary on the state of clerical education in Spania. The architectural and artistic style prevalent in Spania was not that of Byzantium proper but rather the Byzantinist styles of northern Africa. Two churches, one at Algezares south of Murcia and that of San Pedro de Alcántara near Málaga, have been excavated and studied archaeologically. Only in
6570-479: The primatial see of Carthaginiensis from Byzantine Cartagena to Visigothic Toledo in 610 and campaigned against Spania in 611, but to no effect. Sisebut more than any king before him became the scourge of the Byzantines in Spain. In 614 and 615, he carried out two massive expeditions against them and conquered Málaga before 619, when its bishop appears at the Second Council of Seville . He conquered as far as
6660-504: The rule of Reccared , the Byzantines again took the offensive and probably even regained or gained ground. Reccared recognised the legitimacy of the Byzantine frontier and wrote to Pope Gregory requesting a copy be sent from the Emperor Maurice . Gregory simply replied that the text of the treaty had been lost in a fire during Justinian's reign and warned Reccared that he would not want it found because it would have probably granted
6750-421: The sciences , medicine , and law . A number of phases of the language have been recognized, each distinguished by subtle differences in vocabulary, usage, spelling, and syntax. There are no hard and fast rules of classification; different scholars emphasize different features. As a result, the list has variants, as well as alternative names. In addition to the historical phases, Ecclesiastical Latin refers to
6840-578: The styles used by the writers of the Roman Catholic Church from late antiquity onward, as well as by Protestant scholars. The earliest known form of Latin is Old Latin, also called Archaic or Early Latin, which was spoken from the Roman Kingdom , traditionally founded in 753 BC, through the later part of the Roman Republic , up to 75 BC, i.e. before the age of Classical Latin . It is attested both in inscriptions and in some of
6930-422: The written form of Latin was increasingly standardized into a fixed form, the spoken forms began to diverge more greatly. Currently, the five most widely spoken Romance languages by number of native speakers are Spanish , Portuguese , French , Italian , and Romanian . Despite dialectal variation, which is found in any widespread language, the languages of Spain, France, Portugal, and Italy have retained
7020-539: The year 600 Spania had dwindled to little more than Málaga and Cartagena and the Balearics; it extended no further north than the Sierra Nevada . George of Cyprus recorded only one civitas (city, people) in the province: the "Mesopotamians", though the meaning of this is uncertain. José Soto Chica and Ana María Berenjeno identify this city with modern Algeciras through a translation of the Greek "Mesopotamenoi" to
7110-451: Was almost certainly one of them. The cities were the centres of Byzantine power and while a few were retaken by Agila, the ones which were retained were a bulwark against Visigothic attempts at reconquest. The Goths easily ravaged the countryside of Spania but were inept at sieges and the fortified towns were safe centres of Roman administration. There are few cities which can be confidently considered to have been under Byzantine government in
7200-452: Was also less independent of the Papacy than the Gothic church, which was composed largely of Hispano-Romans. The two churches were separate. No clerics of one ever attended councils of the other. Indeed, no provincial council ever met in Spania. The theological controversies of each, however, were shared: the one stirred up by Vincent of Zaragoza's conversion to Arianism sparked a response from
7290-783: Was also used as a convenient medium for translations of important works first written in a vernacular, such as those of Descartes . Latin education underwent a process of reform to classicise written and spoken Latin. Schooling remained largely Latin medium until approximately 1700. Until the end of the 17th century, the majority of books and almost all diplomatic documents were written in Latin. Afterwards, most diplomatic documents were written in French (a Romance language ) and later native or other languages. Education methods gradually shifted towards written Latin, and eventually concentrating solely on reading skills. The decline of Latin education took several centuries and proceeded much more slowly than
7380-621: Was certainly signed before Justinian's death in 565. The legitimacy of the pacta was recognised as late as the 7th century, which accounts for the ease of travel and trade. The province of Spania was predominantly Latin Christian , while the Byzantine governors were the same, though many were Eastern Christians . Despite this, the relationship between subject and ruler and between church and state seems to have been no better than in Arian Visigothic Spain. The church of Spania
7470-491: Was extensive and prolific, but less well known or understood today. Works covered poetry, prose stories and early novels, occasional pieces and collections of letters, to name a few. Famous and well regarded writers included Petrarch, Erasmus, Salutati , Celtis , George Buchanan and Thomas More . Non fiction works were long produced in many subjects, including the sciences, law, philosophy, historiography and theology. Famous examples include Isaac Newton 's Principia . Latin
7560-450: Was largely separated from the unifying influences in the western part of the Empire. Spoken Latin began to diverge into distinct languages by the 9th century at the latest, when the earliest extant Romance writings begin to appear. They were, throughout the period, confined to everyday speech, as Medieval Latin was used for writing. For many Italians using Latin, though, there was no complete separation between Italian and Latin, even into
7650-497: Was nevertheless seized the following year by an expedition dispatched by Belisarius. Ceuta (which was briefly recaptured by the Visigoths in 540) became a part of Mauretania. It was an important base for reconnaissance of Spain in the years leading up to the peninsula's invasion by Justinian's forces in 552. In 550, during the reign of Agila I , Spain was troubled by a series of revolts, two of which were serious. The citizens of Córdoba rebelled against Gothic or Arian rule and Agila
7740-529: Was perceived as a separate language, for instance early French or Italian dialects, that could be transcribed differently. It took some time for these to be viewed as wholly different from Latin however. After the Western Roman Empire fell in 476 and Germanic kingdoms took its place, the Germanic people adopted Latin as a language more suitable for legal and other, more formal uses. While
7830-415: Was roundly defeated, his son killed, and the royal treasure lost. He himself retreated to Mérida . The date of the other major revolt cannot be arrived at precisely. Either at the commencement of his reign (549) or as late as 551, a nobleman named Athanagild took Seville , capital of Baetica , and presumed to rule as king in opposition to Agila. Exactly who approached the Byzantines for assistance and when
7920-431: Was shut down in June 2019), and Vatican Radio & Television, all of which broadcast news segments and other material in Latin. A variety of organisations, as well as informal Latin 'circuli' ('circles'), have been founded in more recent times to support the use of spoken Latin. Moreover, a number of university classics departments have begun incorporating communicative pedagogies in their Latin courses. These include
8010-467: Was so completely desolated that it never reappeared in Visigothic Spain. Because the Goths were unable to undertake decent sieges, they were forced to reduce the defences of all fortified places they took in order to prevent later armies from using them against them. Because Cartagena was destroyed but Málaga was spared, it has been inferred that the former fell first while the Byzantine presence
8100-462: Was still large enough to constitute a threat. Málaga fell some time after when the Byzantines were so reduced as to no longer form a danger to Visigothic hegemony over the whole peninsula. In 621, the Byzantines still held a few towns, but Suinthila recovered them shortly and by 624 the entire province of Spania was in Visigothic hands save the Balearic Islands, which were an economic backwater in
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