Latin

==Vocabulary==

As Latin is an Italic language, most of its vocabulary is likewise Italic, ultimately from the ancestral [[Proto-Indo-European language]]. However, because of close cultural interaction, the Romans not only adapted the Etruscan alphabet to form the Latin alphabet but also borrowed some [[Etruscan language|Etruscan]] words into their language, including {{lang|la|persona}} "mask" and {{lang|la|histrio}} "actor".<ref name=H&S13>{{harvnb|Holmes|Schultz|1938|p=13}}</ref> Latin also included vocabulary borrowed from [[Oscan language|Oscan]], another Italic language.

After the [[History of Taranto|Fall of Tarentum]] (272 BC), the Romans began Hellenising, or adopting features of Greek culture, including the borrowing of Greek words, such as {{lang|la|camera}} (vaulted roof), {{lang|la|sumbolum}} (symbol), and {{lang|la|balineum}} (bath).<ref name=H&S13/> This Hellenisation led to the addition of "Y" and "Z" to the alphabet to represent Greek sounds.<ref>{{cite book |first=David |last=Sacks |year=2003 |title=Language Visible: Unraveling the Mystery of the Alphabet from A to Z |location=London |publisher=Broadway Books |page=[https://archive.org/details/languagevisibleu00sack/page/351 351] |isbn=978-0-7679-1172-6 |url=https://archive.org/details/languagevisibleu00sack/page/351 }}</ref> Subsequently, the Romans transplanted [[Greek art]], medicine, science and philosophy to Italy, paying almost any price to entice Greek skilled and educated persons to Rome and sending their youth to be educated in Greece. Thus, many Latin scientific and philosophical words were Greek loanwords or had their meanings expanded by association with Greek words, as {{lang|el|ars}} (craft) and τέχνη (art).<ref name=H&S14>{{harvnb|Holmes|Schultz|1938|p=14}}</ref>

Because of the Roman Empire's expansion and subsequent trade with outlying European tribes, the Romans borrowed some northern and central European words, such as {{lang|la|beber}} (beaver), of Germanic origin, and {{lang|la|bracae}} (breeches), of Celtic origin.<ref name=H&S14/> The specific dialects of Latin across Latin-speaking regions of the former Roman Empire after its fall were influenced by languages specific to the regions. The dialects of Latin evolved into different Romance languages.

During and after the adoption of Christianity into Roman society, Christian vocabulary became a part of the language, either from Greek or Hebrew borrowings or as Latin neologisms.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Norberg |first1=Dag |translator-last1=Johnson |translator-first1=Rand H. |title=Manuel pratique de latin médiéval |chapter-url=https://homepages.wmich.edu/~johnsorh/MedievalLatin/Norberg/NORBINTR.html |chapter=Latin at the End of the Imperial Age |orig-year=1980 |year=2004 |publisher=University of Michigan |access-date=20 May 2015 |archive-date=4 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304084225/http://homepages.wmich.edu/~johnsorh/MedievalLatin/Norberg/NORBINTR.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> Continuing into the Middle Ages, Latin incorporated many more words from surrounding languages, including [[Old English]] and other [[Germanic languages]].

Over the ages, Latin-speaking populations produced new adjectives, nouns, and verbs by [[affix]]ing or [[compound (linguistics)|compounding]] meaningful [[segment (linguistics)|segments]].<ref>{{harvnb|Jenks|1911|pp=3, 46}}</ref> For example, the compound adjective, {{lang|la|omnipotens}}, "all-powerful", was produced from the adjectives {{lang|la|omnis}}, "all", and {{lang|la|potens}}, "powerful", by dropping the final ''s'' of {{lang|la|omnis}} and concatenating. Often, the concatenation changed the part of speech, and nouns were produced from verb segments or verbs from nouns and adjectives.<ref>{{harvnb|Jenks|1911|pp=35, 40}}</ref>