Latin

Head of Latin: Miss E Graham (email)

The Romans ruled an Empire which included most of modern Europe and stretched beyond it to Palestine, Egypt and North Africa. The skills of these people in the engineering and construction fields were unmatched until this century, and their administrative capabilities, given the size of their Empire, were quite remarkable.

Latin was the language spoken by the Ancient Romans and was the main language in many conquered countries for hundreds of years after they had gone. Gradually, the language evolved so that in Italy Latin became Italian, in France it became French and in Spain, Spanish. In Britain, Latin did not form the basis of the English language. However, with the arrival of the Normans in 1066, much of the old Anglo-Saxon language was augmented by the Norman (i.e. French) language. The educated classes, the clergy and the new Norman officials who ruled Britain, used Latin, as they did on the continent, as the official written language of government. As a result, a huge number of words of Latin origin passed into the English language.

We study Latin today for a number of reasons. It provides an excellent basis for learning language generally, both our own and other modern languages with similar grammatical structures and patterns. It also allows us to learn more about the remarkable Romans; to read their literature, study their way of life and generally appreciate the race which ruled the world for so many hundreds of years.