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'''Latin''' is an [[Indo-European]] language of the [[Italic]] family; its closest relative was [[Umbric]], which is now extinct. Latin was the most widely spoken language in the [[Roman Empire]], and is the language from which all the [[Romance languages]] are derived. These languages include [[Spanish]], [[Romanian]], [[Portuguese]], [[Italian]], [[French]] and [[Catalan]], among others. '''Latin''' is also a member of any of the Latin peoples, or those speaking Romance languages.

'''Latin''' is an [[Indo-European]] language of the [[Italic]] family; its closest relative was [[Umbric]], which is now extinct. Latin was the most widely spoken language in the [[Roman Empire]], and is the language from which all the [[Romance languages]] are derived. These languages include [[Spanish]], [[Romanian]], [[Portuguese]], [[Italian]], [[French]] and [[Catalan]], among others. '''Latin''' may also refer to people who speak Romance languages, particularly those in the Caribbean, Central and South America who speak either Spanish or Portuguese.

Latin [[grammar]] is marked by an extensive system of [[noun]] [[Grammatical case|cases]] and [[verb]]al inflection. Noun cases are organized along nominative-accusative lines, with several other oblique cases also used. Verbal morphology distinguishes [[voice]] (active and passive), tense (past, present, future), mood (indicative, imperative, subjunctive), [[aspect (grammar)|aspect]] (perfect, imperfect, pluperfect), and person (first, second, and third person in singular and plural numbers). Much of the Latin read nowadays is based on [[literature]] written around the time of (Sanath.). The modern Romance languages are descended from Vulgar Latin, which has less literature than its older counterpart. Changes from Classical to Vulgar Latin included the merger of long /e:/ and /o:/ with short /i/ and /u/, respectively, the loss of /h/ and the accusative nasalisation, and the replacement of cases, tenses, and voices with periphrastic constructions (this change occurred across western Europe). Until 1962, Latin was the language in which all Roman [[Catholic]] masses were conducted. A number of Roman Catholics still conduct masses in Latin, and Latin is still the official language of the Roman Catholic Church. Phonologically, Latin is generally similar to other western languages of the Indo-European family.

 

Latin [[grammar]] is marked by an extensive system of [[noun]] [[Grammatical case|cases]] and [[verb]]al inflection. Like nouns, [[adjective]]s also decline and must agree with the nouns they modify in terms of gender, number and case.  In addition, Latin also has the full range of other parts of speech, including [[adverb]]s and [[pronoun]]s.

 

 

Noun cases are used to indicate the grammatical function of the noun within the sentence.  By contrast, English and most other modern Romance languages mostly use the noun's position within the sentence to denote its grammatical function.

 

Nouns all have grammatical [[gender]] (either masculine, feminine or neuter).  While nouns the correspond to people will generally match the logical gender (for example, ''puella'', meaning "girl" is feminine, while ''puer'', meaning "boy" is masculine), other nouns which do not have a natural gender will still have a grammatical gender (for example, ''arbor'', meaning "tree" is feminine, ''portus'', "harbor" is masculine, and ''bellum'', "war" is neuter).

 

Each Latin noun falls into one of five declensions, which will determine the endings used to indicate case.  Latin has six major grammatical cases as indicated below:

 

| Direct Object; also used with certain prepositions, mostly concerning motion

 

Note that certain cases are identical to others (they may vary in other declensions); in situations where there is more than one possible case for a particular noun, the case must be determined from the context of the sentence.  In Latin dictionaries, nouns listed will indicate the nominative and the genitive singular forms of the noun; this enables an experienced reader to determine the rest of that noun's declension, even if he or she has not encountered it before. Thus the verb in the example above would be listed ''puella, -ae'' in a Latin dictionary.

 

 

Verbal morphology distinguishes [[voice]] (active and passive), time (past, present, future), mood (indicative, imperative, subjunctive, infinitive), [[aspect (grammar)|aspect]] (simple, perfective, imperfective), and person (first, second, and third person in singular and plural numbers). Time and aspect are normally combined into the verb's tense.  Unlike English, which uses auxiliary verbs to create a wide variety of tenses, Latin just has six (four in the subjunctive mood).

 

| Used to indicate actions that are not complete now, but will be in the future.  Usually this means actions that occur after the present but prior to other actions in the future tense.

 

Like nouns, the morphology of verbs in Latin is mostly indicated by regular changes in how the verb is formed, rather than through the use of auxiliary verbs, as is common in English.  Most verbs fall into one of four conjugations which determine the form and the endings used to indicate the various aspects of morphology.  Unlike nouns however, there are a number of irregular verbs that do not fall into any conjugation.

 

 

Latin verbs also have specialized forms including [[gerund]]s (verbal nouns mostly found only in earlier Latin), gerundives (verbal adjectives used to express necessity or obligation), [[participle]]s, and others.

 

 

 

 

Latin poetry, in particular, takes advantage of the flexibility of the word position in order to create pleasing minglings of grammatically unrelated words as word play or to provide secondary meanings. The flexibility of the word position also made it easier for Latin poets to conform to a particular metre.

 

 

The modern Romance languages are descended from Vulgar Latin, which is Latin that was spoken by the common people in the later centuries of the Roman Empire. Changes from Classical to Vulgar Latin included the merger of long /e:/ and /o:/ with short /i/ and /u/, respectively, the loss of /h/ and the accusative nasalisation, and the replacement of cases, tenses, and voices with periphrastic constructions (this change occurred across western Europe). Latin has also given us the alphabet used to write most Western European languages, including English.

 

 

 

Until 1962, Latin was the language in which all Roman [[Catholic]] masses were conducted. A number of Roman Catholics still conduct masses in Latin, and Latin is still the official language of the Roman Catholic Church. Phonologically, Latin is generally similar to other western languages of the Indo-European family.

== Contemporary Latin Use ==

== Contemporary Latin Use ==

Today Latin is used primarily by scientists of all kinds, from biologists to chemists, use Latin for all the important things --such as categorization of anything they see and catchphrases; '''Astronomers''' (Greek, Astron, lit. Star) too, all the planets and stars have Latin (or Greek) names such as "Sol" (solar, the Sun), Mars and "Earth's" proper scientific name is "Terra".

Much of the Latin read nowadays is [[literature]] written during the latter days of the [[Roman Republic]] and during the [[Roman Empire]].  In particular, the first century BC is considered a golden age of Latin literature, with such notable poets as [[Catullus]], [[Horace]] and [[Virgil]], historians such as [[Livy]] and other writers such as [[Cicero]].  Many other Roman writers outside of the first century BC, such as [[Plautus]], [[Seneca]], [[Juvenal]] and [[Tacitus]], are important authors whose works continue to be influential in modern culture and literature.  In addition to being enjoyed in their own right, they are also important for the study of Roman history and culture.

 

In addition, many of the Fathers of the Church, such as [[Augustine]] and [[Gregory the Great]], wrote in Latin.  One of the most important translations of the Bible was the Latin [[Vulgate]] by [[Jerome]], which was completed in the fourth century AD and allowed the common people (Lat. ''vulgus'') to understand the Bible in their native language instead of Hebrew or Greek.

 

Latin was also highly important in the development of law, both because of the highly influential [[Justinian Code|Civil Code of Justinian]] and because of the use of Latin in the composition of the writs used in English [[Common Law]].  The persistence of Latin may be seen in legal terms such as "[[certiorari|writ of certiorari]]" or "[[Adjournment Sine Die|adjournment sine die]]".

 

Latin (along with Greek) is also used by scientists of all kinds, from biologists to chemists.  Latin is particularly used when naming things such as biological species or chemical elements.  Latin terms are also used extensively in medicine, recognizing the significance of medieval medical schools.

==Further reading==

== Further reading ==

* John F. Collins, ''A Primer of Ecclesiastical Latin'', Catholic University of America Press (1985), ISBN 0-8132-0667-7 An introductory Latin text based mainly on medieval ecclesiastical sources.

* John F. Collins, ''A Primer of Ecclesiastical Latin'', Catholic University of America Press (1985), ISBN 0-8132-0667-7 An introductory Latin text based mainly on medieval ecclesiastical sources.