134-518: The pontifex maximus ( Latin for "supreme pontiff ") was the chief high priest of the College of Pontiffs ( Collegium Pontificum ) in ancient Rome . This was the most important position in the ancient Roman religion , open only to patricians until 254 BC, when a plebeian first held this position. Although in fact the most powerful office in the Roman priesthood, the pontifex maximus
268-405: A stem . Stems are classified by their last letters as vowel or consonant. Vowel stems are formed by adding a suffix to a shorter and more ancient segment called a root . Consonant stems are the root (roots end in consonants). The combination of the last letter of the stem and the case ending often results in an ending also called a case ending or termination. For example, the stem puella- receives
402-429: A Roman magistrate's term of office corresponded with a calendar year, this power was prone to abuse: a Pontifex could lengthen a year in which he or one of his political allies was in office, or refuse to lengthen one in which his opponents were in power. A Pontifex with other political responsibilities, especially away from Rome, might also have been simply distracted from his calendrical duties as chief priest. This caused
536-443: A case ending -m to form the accusative case puellam in which the termination -am is evident. In Classical Latin textbooks the declensions are named from the letter ending the stem or First, Second, etc. to Fifth. A declension may be illustrated by a paradigm , or listing of all the cases of a typical word. This method is less often applied to Old Latin, and with less validity. In contrast to Classical Latin, Old Latin reflects
670-408: A change in the pattern of office holding. In Republican and Imperial times no more than one family member of a gens was member of the College of Pontiffs , nor did one person hold more than one priesthood in this collegium. However, these rules were loosened in the later part of the 3rd century A.D. In periods of joint rule, at first only one of the emperors bore this title, as it occurred for
804-615: A consonant declension, in the nominative singular, the -s was affixed directly to the stem consonant, but the combination of the two consonants produced modified nominatives over the Old Latin period. The case appears in different stages of modification in different words diachronically. The Latin neuter form (not shown) is the Indo-European nominative without stem ending; for example, cor < *cord "heart". The genitive singular endings include -is < -es and -us < *-os . In
938-743: 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
1072-410: A few masculines indicates the nominative singular case ending may have been originally -s: paricidas for later parricida , but the -s tended to get lost. In the nominative plural, -ī replaced original -s as in the genitive singular. In the genitive singular, the -s was replaced with -ī from the second declension, the resulting diphthong shortening to -ai subsequently becoming -ae. The original form
1206-636: A forgery, though there is no evidence to suggest the title could not have been used by Justinian the Great ( r. 527–565 ) or even by Constantine IV ( r. 654–685 ). Lanfranc is termed primas et pontifex summus by his biographer, Milo Crispin ( P. L. , vol. CL, 10), but from the 11th century it appears to be applied only to the Pope. In the 15th century, when the Renaissance drove new interest in ancient Rome, pontifex maximus became
1340-454: A meaning as puella , so Roma, which is singular, and Syracusae, which is plural, have been substituted. The locative plural has already merged with the -eis form of the ablative. The stems of the nouns of the o-declension end in ŏ deriving from the o-grade of Indo-European ablaut . Classical Latin evidences the development ŏ > ŭ. Nouns of this declension are either masculine or neuter. Nominative singulars ending in -ros or -ris syncopate
1474-674: A more literal translation and order of words as Koinē Greek : ἀρχιερεὺς μέγιστος , romanized: archireús mégistos , lit. 'greatest archpriest'. The term ἀρχιερεύς is used in the Greek Septuagint text of the Old Testament and in the New Testament to refer to the High Priest of Israel , including in 2 Maccabees ( 2 Maccabees 4:7 ). The word pontifex , Latin for " pontiff ,"
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#17327660415821608-562: 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
1742-450: A pontiff. Marcus Antonius later restored the right of co-optatio to the college, in time for the election of Marcus Aemilius Lepidus . Also under Julius Caesar , the number of pontifices were increased to sixteen, the pontifex maximus included. (Possibly because Caesar's own long absences from Rome necessitated the appointment of a deputy pontiff for those occasions when fifteen needed to be present.) The number of pontifices varied during
1876-443: A powerful or absolute master, while others derived it from potis facere in the sense of "able to sacrifice". The last derivation is mentioned also by Varro, who rejected it, but it was the view of pontifex maximus Quintus Scaevola. Others have held that the word was originally pompifex (leader of public processions). The word pons originally meant "way" and pontifex would thus mean "maker of roads and bridges." Another opinion
2010-726: A regular title of honour for Popes. After the Fall of the Eastern Roman Empire with the Fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire and the death of the final Roman emperor Constantine XI in 1453, pontifex maximus became part of the papacy 's official titulature of the Bishop of Rome. The name given to the book containing the liturgical rites to be performed by any bishop, the Roman Pontifical , and to
2144-494: A relaxation of the Church's penitential discipline allowing repentant adulterers and fornicators back into the Church, it was in bitter irony: In opposition to this [modesty], could I not have acted the dissembler? I hear that there has even been an edict sent forth, and a peremptory one too. The "Pontifex Maximus," that is the "bishop of bishops," issues an edict: "I remit, to such as have discharged [the requirements of] repentance,
2278-476: 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
2412-709: 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
2546-420: A somewhat vague term ... Bell, De locativi in prisca Latinitate vi et usu , Breslau, 1889, sets the later limit at 75 BC. A definite date is really impossible, since archaic Latin does not terminate abruptly, but continues even down to imperial times." Bennett's own date of 100 BC did not prevail; rather Bell's 75 BC became the standard as expressed in the four-volume Loeb Library and other major compendia. Over
2680-411: 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 ,
2814-420: 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
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#17327660415822948-640: 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
3082-660: 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
3216-419: Is maintained in some formulas, e.g. pater familiās . The genitive plural ending -āsōm (classical -ārum following rhotacism ), borrowed from the pronouns, began to overtake original -om. In the dative singular the final i is either long or short. The ending becomes -ae, -a (Feronia) or -e (Fortune). In the accusative singular, Latin regularly shortens a vowel before final m. In the ablative singular, -d
3350-689: 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
3484-548: Is now professed by the Pontiff Damasus and by Peter, Bishop of Alexandria ... We authorize the followers of this law to assume the title Catholic Christians ... Various forms of summus pontifex ('highest pontiff' or bishop) were for centuries used not only of the Bishop of Rome but of other bishops also. Hilary of Arles (d. 449) is styled summus pontifex by Eucherius of Lyon ( P. L. , vol. L, col. 773). During Gratian's reign or immediately afterwards
3618-1011: 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
3752-455: Is that the word is a corruption of a similar-sounding but etymologically unrelated Etruscan word. Yet another hypothesis considers the word as a loan from the Sabine language , in which it would mean a member of a college of five, from Osco-Umbrian ponte , five. This explanation takes into account that the college was established by Sabine king Numa Pompilius and the institution is Italic:
3886-579: Is the Praetor Maximus fasten a nail on the Ides of September." This notice was fastened on the right side of the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus, next to the chapel of Minerva. This nail is said to have marked the number of the year. It was in accordance with this direction that the consul Horatius dedicated the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus in the year following the expulsion of the kings; from
4020-442: Is thought to be essentially the same as in classical Latin: These differences did not necessarily run concurrently with each other and were not universal; that is, c was used for both c and g. Old Latin is thought to have had a strong stress on the first syllable of a word until about 250 BC. All syllables other than the first were unstressed and were subjected to greater amounts of phonological weakening. Starting around that year,
4154-449: Is uncertain, but the word has been used since Roman times. The word appears to consist of the Latin word for "bridge" and the suffix for "maker". However, there is a possibility that this definition is a folk etymology for an Etruscan term, since Roman religion was heavily influenced by Etruscan religion, and little is known about the Etruscan language , which is not Indo-European and thus has different origins from Latin. According to
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4288-543: 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
4422-694: The #askpontifex hashtag . This has been maintained by his successor Pope Francis , who now uses it as his X handle. Latin 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 the Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio ),
4556-482: The Church Fathers . Some of these sources present an extensive list of everyday prohibitions for the pontifex maximus ; it seems difficult to reconcile these lists with evidence that many pontifices maximi were prominent members of society who lived normal lives. The number of Pontifices, elected by co-optatio (i.e. the remaining members nominate their new colleague) for life, was originally five, including
4690-512: The Etruscan alphabet as it evolved into the Latin alphabet . The writing conventions varied by time and place until classical conventions prevailed. A part of old inscriptions, texts in the original writing system have been lost or transcribed by later copyists. Old Latin could be written from right to left (as were Etruscan and early Greek) or boustrophedon . Some differences between old and classical Latin were of spelling only; pronunciation
4824-528: 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
4958-502: 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
5092-548: 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
5226-574: 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
5360-677: The Orientalizing period , in the first half of the seventh century BC. Other Old Latin inscriptions dated to either the late Roman Kingdom or early Roman Republic include the Lapis Niger stone, the Duenos Inscription on a kernos vase, and the Garigliano bowl of Bucchero type. The concept of Old Latin ( Prisca Latinitas ) is as old as the concept of Classical Latin – both labels date to at least as early as
5494-472: The Roman imperial period . Subsequent emperors were styled pontifex maximus well into Late Antiquity , including Gratian ( r. 367–383 ), but during Gratian's reign the phrase was replaced in imperial titulature with the Latin phrase: pontifex inclytus ("honourable pontiff"), an example followed by Gratian's junior co-emperor Theodosius the Great and which was used by emperors thereafter including
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5628-404: The co - augusti Valentinian III ( r. 425–455 ), Marcian ( r. 450–457 ) and the augustus Anastasius Dicorus ( r. 491–518 ). The first to adopt the inclytus alternative to maximus may have been the rebel augustus Magnus Maximus ( r. 383–388 ). The word pontifex and its derivative " pontiff " became terms used for Christian bishops , including
5762-407: 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
5896-722: The kings , mainly songs. Thus, the laws of the Twelve Tables (5th century BC) from the early Republic were comprehensible, but the Carmen Saliare , probably written under Numa Pompilius (who according to tradition reigned from 715 to 673 BC), was not entirely clear (and remains so). On the other hand, Polybius , a Greek historian of Rome who flourished in the late second century BC, commented on "the first treaty between Rome and Carthage ", (which he dated to 28 years before Xerxes I crossed into Greece; that is, in 508 BC) that "the ancient Roman language differs so much from
6030-484: The pontifex maximus was the highest office in the state religion of ancient Rome and directed the College of Pontiffs . According to Livy, after the overthrow of the monarchy, the Romans created the priesthood of the rex sacrorum , or "king of sacred rites," to carry out certain religious duties and rituals previously performed by the king. The rex sacrorum was explicitly deprived of military and political power, but
6164-448: The pontifex maximus . The pontifices , moreover, could only come from the old nobility. In effect, this was only members of the patrician class. However, in 300–299 BC the lex Ogulnia opened the office of pontifex maximus to public election and permitted the plebs (plebeians) to be co-opted as priests, so that part of the exclusivity of the title was lost. But it was only in 254 BC that Tiberius Coruncanius became
6298-798: The pontifices were permitted to hold both magistracies and military commands. The official residence of the pontifex maximus was the Domus Publica ("State House") which stood between the House of the Vestal Virgins and the Via Sacra , close to the Regia , in the Roman Forum . His religious duties were carried out from the Regia. Unless the pontifex maximus was also a magistrate, he
6432-519: The 18th century. The definition is not arbitrary, but the terms refer to spelling conventions and word forms not generally found in works written under the Roman Empire . This article presents some of the major differences. The earliest known specimen of Latin seems to be on the Praeneste fibula . An analysis done in 2011 declared it to be genuine "beyond any reasonable doubt" and dating from
6566-558: The 377 years from 452 to 75 BC, Old Latin evolved from texts partially comprehensible by classicists with study to being easily read by scholars. Old Latin authored works began in the 3rd century BC. These are complete or nearly complete works under their own name surviving as manuscripts copied from other manuscripts in whatever script was current at the time. There are also fragments of works quoted in other authors. Many texts placed by various methods (painting, engraving, embossing) on their original media survive just as they were except for
6700-583: The Bishop of Rome . The title of pontifex maximus was applied to the Roman Catholic Church for the pope as its chief bishop and appears on buildings, monuments and coins of popes of Renaissance and modern times. The official list of titles of the pope given in the Annuario Pontificio includes "supreme pontiff" ( Latin : summus pontifex ) as the fourth title, the first being "bishop of Rome". The etymology of "pontifex"
6834-637: 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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#17327660415826968-680: The Classical Latin stress system began to develop. It passed through at least one intermediate stage, found in Plautus , in which the stress occurred on the fourth last syllable in four-syllable words with all short syllables. Most original PIE ( Proto-Indo-European ) diphthongs were preserved in stressed syllables, including /ai/ (later ae ); /ei/ (later ī ); /oi/ (later ū , or sometimes oe ); /ou/ (from PIE /eu/ and /ou/ ; later ū ). The Old Latin diphthong ei evolves in stages: ei > ẹ̄ > ī . The intermediate sound ẹ̄
7102-511: The Consuls the ceremony of fastening the nails passed to the Dictators, because they possessed greater authority. As the custom had been subsequently dropped, it was felt to be of sufficient importance to require the appointment of a dictator. L[ucius] Manlius was accordingly nominated but his appointment was due to political rather than religious reasons. He was eager to command in the war with
7236-719: The Empire but is believed to have been regular at fifteen. The office came into its own with the abolition of the monarchy, when most sacral powers previously vested in the King were transferred either to the pontifex maximus or to the Rex Sacrorum , though traditionally a (non-political) dictator was formally mandated by the Senate for one day, to perform a specific rite. According to Livy in his "History of Rome," an ancient instruction written in archaic letters commands: "Let him who
7370-703: 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,
7504-599: 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,
7638-430: The Hernici. He caused an anger among the men liable to serve by the inconsiderate way in which he conducted the enrolment. In consequence of the unanimous resistance offered by the tribunes of the plebs, he gave way, either voluntarily or through compulsion, and laid down his dictatorship. Since then, this rite was performed by the Rex Sacrorum. The main duty of the Pontifices was to maintain the pax deorum or "peace of
7772-449: 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 ,
7906-448: The Pope given in the Annuario Pontificio includes "Supreme Pontiff of the whole Church" (in Latin, Summus Pontifex Ecclesiae Universalis ) as the fourth title, the first being "Bishop of Rome." The title pontifex maximus appears in inscriptions on buildings and on coins and medallions. In December 2012, Pope Benedict XVI adopted @pontifex as his X (formerly known as Twitter) handle , prompting users to pose questions with
8040-409: 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
8174-447: 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
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#17327660415828308-401: The adjective always meant these remnants of a previous language, which, in Roman philology , was taken to be much older in fact than it really was. Viri prisci , "old-time men", meant the population of Latium before the founding of Rome . In the Late Latin period, when Classical Latin was behind them, Latin- and Greek-speaking grammarians were faced with multiple phases, or styles, within
8442-570: 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. Old Latin Old Latin , also known as Early , Archaic or Priscan Latin (Classical Latin : prīsca Latīnitās , lit. 'ancient Latinity'),
8576-535: 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
8710-425: 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
8844-456: The bishop of bishops — issues an edict: "I remit, to such as have discharged (the requirements of) repentance, the sins both of adultery and of fornication." O edict, on which cannot be inscribed, Good deed! While the title pontifex maximus has for some centuries been used in inscriptions referring to the Popes, it has never been included in the official list of papal titles published in the Annuario Pontificio . The official list of titles of
8978-434: The calendar to become out of step with the seasons; for example, Caesar's crossing of the Rubicon in January 49 BC actually took place in mid-autumn. Under his authority as pontifex maximus , Julius Caesar introduced the calendar reform that created the entirely solar Julian calendar , with a fault of less than a day per century. This calendar remained the standard calendar of the Roman Empire until its collapse, and
9112-443: The chief events of each year, the so-called "public diaries", the Annales maximi . The pontifex maximus was also subject to several taboos . Among them was the prohibition to leave Italy. Plutarch described Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica Serapio (141–132 BC) as the first to leave Italy, after being forced by the Senate to do so, and thus break the sacred taboo. Publius Licinius Crassus Dives Mucianus (132–130 BC)
9246-476: The city was sacked by the Gauls in 387 BC, and the earliest accounts of Archaic Rome come from the literature of the Republic , most of it from the 1st century BC and later. According to the Augustan -era historian Livy , Numa Pompilius , a Sabine , devised Rome's system of religious rites, including the manner and timing of sacrifices, the supervision of religious funds, authority over all public and private religious institutions, instruction of
9380-439: The city, could vote. The law's promulgator, L[ucius] Domitius Ahenobarbus, was shortly afterwards elected pontifex maximus after the death of the incumbent Metellus Dalmaticus : Something of a personal revenge because, the previous year, he had expected to be co-opted as a pontiff to replace his late father, but the pontifical college had appointed another candidate in his place. The office's next holder, Q[uintus] Mucius Scaevola ,
9514-430: 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
9648-493: The common interpretation, the term pontifex means "bridge-builder" ( pons + facere ); "maximus" means "greatest". This was perhaps originally meant in a literal sense: the position of bridge-builder was indeed an important one in Rome, where the major bridges were over the Tiber , the sacred river (and a deity): only prestigious authorities with sacral functions could be allowed to "disturb" it with mechanical additions. However, it
9782-427: The consonant-stem in the pre-Latin period and went further in Old Latin. I/y and u/w can be treated as either consonants or vowels; hence they are semi-vowels . Mixed-stem declensions are partly like consonant-stem and partly like i-stem. Consonant-stem declensions vary slightly depending on which consonant is root-final: stop-, r-, n-, s-, etc. The paradigms below include a stop-stem (reg-) and an i-stem (igni-). For
9916-465: 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
10050-503: 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
10184-503: 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
10318-413: 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,
10452-1037: The early songs). This eventually also evolved to ī . Old Latin often had different short vowels from Classical Latin, reflecting sound changes that had not yet taken place. For example, the very early Duenos inscription has the form duenos "good", later found as duonos and still later bonus . A countervailing change wo > we occurred around 150 BC in certain contexts, and many earlier forms are found (e.g. earlier votō, voster, vorsus vs. later vetō, vester, versus ). Old Latin frequently preserves original PIE thematic case endings -os and -om (later -us and -um ). There are many unreduced clusters, e.g. iouxmentom (later iūmentum , "beast of burden"); losna (later lūna , "moon") < * lousna < */leuksnā/; cosmis (> cōmis , "courteous"); stlocum , acc. (> locum , "place"). Early du /dw/ becomes b : duenos > duonos > bonus "good"; duis > bis "twice"; duellom > bellum "war". Final /d/ occurred in ablatives, such as puellād "from
10586-417: The ending: *agros > *agrs > *agers > *agerr > ager . (The form terr "three times" for later ter < *tris appears in Plautus .) Many alternative spellings occur: This declension contains nouns that are masculine, feminine, and neuter. The stem ends in the root consonant, except in the special case where it ends in -i (i-stem declension). The i-stem, which is a vowel-stem, partly fused with
10720-489: The evolution of the language from an ancestor spoken in Latium . The endings are multiple. Their use depends on time and place. Any paradigm selected would be subject to these constraints and if applied to the language universally would give false constructs, hypothetical words not attested in the Old Latin corpus. Nevertheless, the endings are shown below by quasi-classical paradigms. Alternate endings from different stages of development are given, but they may not be attested for
10854-550: The expressions pontis and pomperias found in the Iguvine Tablets may denote a group or division of five or by five. The pontifex would thence be a member of a sacrificial college known as pomperia (Latin quinio ). The Roman title pontifex maximus was rendered in Greek inscriptions and literature of the time as Koinē Greek : ἀρχιερεύς , romanized: archiereús , lit. 'Archpriest' or by
10988-445: 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
11122-407: The first plebeian pontifex maximus . The lex Ogulnia also increased the number of pontiffs to nine (the pontifex maximus included). In 104 BC the lex Domitia prescribed that the election of all pontiffs would henceforward be voted by the comitia tributa (an assembly of the people divided into voting districts); by the same law only 17 tribes, chosen by lot from the 35 tribes of
11256-525: The first time during the joint reign of Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus (161–169 AD), when only Marcus Aurelius was pontifex maximus , but later two pontifices maximi could serve together, as Pupienus and Balbinus did in 238 AD—a situation unthinkable in Republican times. When Tertullian , a Montanist , furiously applied the term to a bishop with whom he was at odds (either Pope Callixtus I or Agrippinus of Carthage), ca. 220, over
11390-455: The form of liturgy known as Pontifical High Mass witness to the continued use of pontifex to refer to bishops in general. Tertullian ( c. 155 – c. 220 AD ), in his work "De Pudicitia" (On Modesty), criticized Pope Callixtus I for allowing repentant adulterers and fornicators back into the Church, even if they were repeat offenders, sarcastically referring to him as "Pontifex Maximus." The Pontifex Maximus — that is,
11524-406: The genitive plural, some forms appear to affix the case ending to the genitive singular rather than the stem: regerum < * reg-is-um . In the dative singular, -ī succeeded -eī and -ē after 200 BC. In the accusative singular, -em < *-ṃ after a consonant. In the ablative singular, the -d was lost after 200 BC. In the dative and ablative plural, the early poets sometimes used -būs. In
11658-423: The girl" or campōd "from the field", later puellā and campō . In verb conjugation, the third-person ending - d later became - t , e.g. Old Latin faced > Classical facit. Latin nouns have grammatical case , with an ending, or suffix, showing its use in the sentence: subject, predicate, etc. A case for a given word is formed by suffixing a case ending to a part of the word common to all its cases called
11792-421: The gods." The immense authority of the sacred college of pontiffs was centered on the pontifex maximus , the other pontifices forming his consilium or advising body. His functions were partly sacrificial or ritualistic, but these were the least important. His real power lay in the administration of ius divinum or divine law; the information collected by the pontifices related to the Roman religious tradition
11926-546: 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
12060-703: 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
12194-704: 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
12328-405: 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
12462-468: The language. Isidore of Seville ( c. 560 – 636) reports a classification scheme that had come into existence in or before his time: "the four Latins" ("Moreover, some people have said that there are four Latin languages"; "Latinas autem linguas quattuor esse quidam dixerunt" ). They were: This scheme persisted with little change for some thousand years after Isidore. In 1874, John Wordsworth used this definition: "By Early Latin I understand Latin of
12596-404: The late Roman Republic . In that period Cicero , along with others, noted that the language he used every day, presumably upper-class city Latin, included lexical items and phrases that were heirlooms from a previous time, which he called verborum vetustas prisca , translated as "the old age/time of language". In the classical period, Prisca Latinitas , Prisca Latina and other idioms using
12730-557: 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
12864-431: 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
12998-523: The modern that it can only be partially made out, and that after much application by the most intelligent men". There is no sharp distinction between Old Latin, as it was spoken for most of the Republic, and Classical Latin, but the earlier grades into the latter. The end of the republic was too late a termination for compilers after Wordsworth; Charles Edwin Bennett said, " 'Early Latin' is necessarily
13132-477: The next holder of the office – the only truly unelected pontifex maximus in history, since even the other pontiffs did not get a vote in the matter. In 63 BC, the law of Sulla was abolished by the tribune Titus Labienus , and a modified form of the lex Domitia was reinstated providing for election by comitia tributa once again: Gaius Julius Caesar followed Ahenobarbus's precedent by being elected by public vote, although Caesar at least had previously been
13266-511: The office of pontifex maximus is attributed to the second king of Rome , Numa Pompilius . Much of what is known about the Regal period in Roman history is semi-legendary or mythical. The Collegium presumably acted as advisers to the rex (king) in religious matters. The collegium was headed by the pontifex maximus , and all the pontifices held their office for life. But the pontifical records of early Rome were most likely destroyed when
13400-585: The phrase pontifex maximus – which had unwelcome associations with traditional Roman religion during the Christianization of the Roman Empire – was replaced in imperial titulature with the phrase: pontifex inclytus . The first to adopt the inclytus alternative to maximus may have been the rebel augustus and devout Christian close to bishop Martin of Tours , Magnus Maximus ( r. 383–388 ), who killed Gratian in August 383. This practice
13534-475: The populace in the celestial and funerary rites including appeasing the dead, and expiation of prodigies. Numa is said to have founded Roman religion after dedicating an altar on the Aventine Hill to Jupiter Elicius and consulting the gods by means of augury . Numa wrote down and sealed these religious instructions, and gave them to the first pontifex maximus , Numa Marcius . In the Roman Republic ,
13668-411: The ravages of time. Some of these were copied from other inscriptions. No inscription can be older than the introduction of the Greek alphabet into Italy but none survive from that early date. The imprecision of archaeological dating makes it impossible to assign a year to any one inscription, but the earliest survivals are probably from the 6th century BC. Some texts, however, that survive as fragments in
13802-421: 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
13936-590: The sins both of adultery and of fornication." O edict, on which cannot be inscribed, "Good deed!"... Far, far from Christ's betrothed be such a proclamation! In the Crisis of the Third Century , emperors continued to assume the title pontifex maximus . The early Christian emperors, including Constantine the Great ( r. 306–337 ) and the rest of the Constantinian dynasty , continued to use it; it
14070-404: The spelling of original occurrences of ī that did not evolve from ei (e.g. in the genitive singular -ī , which is always spelled -i in the oldest inscriptions but later on can be spelled either -i or -ei ). In unstressed syllables, *oi and *ai had already merged into ei by historic times (except for one possible occurrence of poploe for populī "people" in a late manuscript of one of
14204-578: 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
14338-407: The whole empire. By it, Theodosius I established Nicene Christianity as the state church of the Roman Empire . The Latin text refers to the bishop of Rome, Damasus , as a pontifex , and the bishop of Alexandria, Peter , as an episcopus : ... the profession of that religion which was delivered to the Romans by the divine Apostle Peter, as it has been preserved by faithful tradition and which
14472-402: The whole period of the Republic, which is separated very strikingly, both in tone and in outward form, from that of the Empire." Although the differences are striking and can be easily identified by Latin readers, they are not such as to cause a language barrier. Latin speakers of the empire had no reported trouble understanding Old Latin, except for the few texts that must date from the time of
14606-557: The word of the paradigm. For example, in the second declension, * campoe "fields" is unattested, but poploe "peoples" is attested. The locative was a separate case in Old Latin but gradually became reduced in function, and the locative singular form eventually merged with the genitive singular by regular sound change. In the plural, the locative was captured by the ablative case in all Italic languages before Old Latin. The stems of nouns of this declension usually end in -ā and are typically feminine. A nominative case ending of -s in
14740-400: The works of classical authors, had to have been composed earlier than the republic, in the time of the monarchy . These are listed below. Some authors, especially in recent texts, refer to the oldest Latin documents (7th–5th c. BCE) as Very Old Latin (VOL). Notable Old Latin fragments with estimated dates include: Authors: Old Latin surviving in inscriptions is written in various forms of
14874-422: 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
15008-480: Was also elected under the same law, though without controversy or opposition since he was a former consul and long-serving pontiff. This law was abolished in 81 BC by Sulla in his dictatorship, in the lex Cornelia de Sacerdotiis , which restored to the great priestly colleges their full right of co-optatio . Also under Sulla, the number of pontifices was increased to fifteen, the pontifex maximus included, and Sulla appointed Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius as
15142-783: 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
15276-425: Was always understood in its symbolic sense as well: the pontifices were the ones who smoothed the "bridge" between gods and men. The interpretation of the word pontifex as "bridge-builder" was that of Dionysius of Halicarnassus and Marcus Terentius Varro . Plutarch pointed out that the term existed before there were any bridges in Rome and derived the word from Old Latin pontis [ sic ] meaning
15410-411: Was bound in a corpus which summarized dogma and other concepts. The chief departments of jus divinum may be described as follows: The pontifices had many relevant and prestigious functions such as being in charge of caring for the state archives, the keeping the official minutes of elected magistrates, the list of magistrates, and they kept the records of their own decisions ( commentarii ) and of
15544-519: Was deemed a sign of imperial favour. Augustus took the title of pontifex maximus for political gain, in an attempt to restore traditional Roman values. With this attribution, the new office of Emperor was given a religious dignity and the responsibility for the entire Roman state cult. Most authors contend that the power of naming the Pontifices was not really used as an instrumentum regni , an enforcing power. From this point on, pontifex maximus
15678-491: 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
15812-492: Was followed by Gratian's junior co-emperor Theodosius the Great and was used by emperors thereafter, including the co - augusti Valentinian III ( r. 425–455 ), Marcian ( r. 450–457 ) and the augustus Anastasius Dicorus ( r. 491–518 ), for whom examples of official usage survive. Another inscription dedicated to Justin II ( r. 565–574 ) and naming him pontifex has long been recognized as
15946-650: Was generally held by a member of a politically prominent family. It was a coveted position mainly for the great prestige it conferred on the holder. Julius Caesar became pontifex in 73 BC and pontifex maximus in 63 BC. The major Republican source on the pontiffs would have been the theological writings of Varro , which survive only in fragments preserved by later authors such as Aulus Gellius and Nonius Marcellus . Other sources are Cicero , Livy , Dionysius of Halicarnassus , Valerius Maximus , Plutarch 's Life of Numa Pompilius , Festus 's summaries of Verrius Flaccus , and in later writers, including several of
16080-450: 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
16214-410: Was not allowed to wear the toga praetexta , i.e. toga with the purple border. In artistic representations, he can be recognized by his holding an iron knife ( secespita ) or the patera , and the distinctive robes or toga with part of the mantle covering the head ( capite velato ) , in keeping with Roman practice. In practice, particularly during the late Republic, the office of pontifex maximus
16348-458: Was officially ranked fifth in the ranking of the highest Roman priests ( Ordo Sacerdotum ), behind the Rex Sacrorum and the flamines maiores ( Flamen Dialis , Flamen Martialis , Flamen Quirinalis ). A distinctly religious office under the early Roman Republic , it gradually became politicized until, beginning with Augustus , it was subsumed into the position of emperor in
16482-556: Was one of the many titles of the Emperor, slowly losing its specific and historical powers and becoming simply a referent for the sacral aspect of imperial duties and powers. During the Imperial period, a promagister (vice-master) performed the duties of the pontifex maximus in lieu of the emperors whenever they were absent. In post-Severan times (after 235 AD), the small number of pagan senators interested in becoming pontiffs led to
16616-689: Was only relinquished by Gratian , possibly in 376 at the time of his visit to Rome, or more probably in 383 when a delegation of pagan senators implored him to restore the Altar of Victory in the Roman Senate 's Curia Julia . Its last use with reference to the emperors is in inscriptions of Gratian. The Edict of Thessalonica of 27 February 380 was enacted in Thessalonica ( Thessaloniki ) and published in Constantinople ( Istanbul ) for
16750-581: Was originally applied to the High Priest of Israel , as in the Book of Judith ( Judith 15:19 ), whose place, each in his own diocese , the Christian bishops were regarded as holding, based on an interpretation of the First Epistle of Clement (I Clement 40). The Collegium Pontificum (College of Pontiffs) was the most important priesthood of ancient Rome. The foundation of this sacred college and
16884-529: 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
17018-399: Was regularly lost after a long vowel. In the dative and ablative plural, the -abos descending from Indo-European *-ābhos is used for feminines only ( deabus ). *-ais > -eis > -īs is adapted from -ois of the o-declension. The vocative singular had inherited short -a. This later merged with the nominative singular when -ā was shortened to -ă. The locative case would not apply to such
17152-417: Was selected as pontifex maximus . Though Lepidus eventually fell out of political favor and was sent into exile as Augustus consolidated power, he retained the priestly office until his death in 13/12 BC, at which point Augustus was selected to succeed him and given the right to appoint other pontifices. Thus, from the time of Augustus, the election of pontifices ended and membership in the sacred college
17286-482: 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
17420-465: Was simply written e but must have been distinct from the normal long vowel ē because ẹ̄ subsequently merged with ī while ē did not. It is generally thought that ẹ̄ was a higher sound than e (e.g. perhaps [eː] vs. [ɛː] during the time when both sounds existed). Even after the original vowel /ei/ had merged with ī , the old spelling ei continued to be used for a while, with the result that ei came to stand for ī and began to be used in
17554-570: Was the Latin language in the period roughly before 75 BC, i.e. before the age of Classical Latin . A member of the Italic languages , it descends from a common Proto-Italic language ; Latino-Faliscan is likely a separate branch from Osco-Umbrian . All these languages may be relatively closely related to Venetic and possibly further to Celtic ; compare the Italo-Celtic hypothesis. The use of "old", "early" and "archaic" has been standard in publications of Old Latin writings since at least
17688-448: Was the first to leave Italy voluntarily. Afterwards it became common and no longer against the law for the pontifex maximus to leave Italy. Among the most notable of those who did was Julius Caesar (63–44 BC). The Pontifices were in charge of the lunisolar Roman calendar and determined when intercalary months needed to be added to synchronize the calendar to the seasons. Since the Pontifices were often politicians, and because
17822-549: Was used by the state church of the Roman Empire after the adoption of Christianity as the Roman state religion. The Julian calendar, established by Caesar in his capacity as pontifex maximus , thus became the standard calendar in all of Europe, and continued in use in Western Europe until the Gregorian reform in the 16th century. After Julius Caesar's assassination in 44 BC, his ally Marcus Aemilius Lepidus
17956-695: Was used in ancient Rome to designate a member of the College of Pontiffs . In the Latin Vulgate translation of the New Testament , it is sometimes used to designate the Jewish high priest, as in the Gospel of John and Epistle to the Hebrews ( John 11:49 ; Hebrews 5:1 ). From perhaps as early as the 3rd century, it has been used to denote a Christian bishop. In the Vulgate , the term summus pontifex
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