New Latin Grammar | Page 5

Ovid, 43 B.C.-17 A.D.
("Metamorphoses" and other poems). Livy. 59 B.C.-17 A.D. (Historian).
d. The Silver Latinity, from the death of Augustus (14 A.D.) to the death of Marcus
Aurelius (180 A.D.), This period is marked by a certain reaction against the excessive

precision of the previous age. It had become the practice to pay too much attention to
standardized forms of expression, and to leave too little play to the individual writer. In
the healthy reaction against this formalism, greater freedom of expression now manifests
itself. We note also the introduction of idioms from the colloquial language, along with
many poetical words and usages. The following authors deserve mention:
Phaedrus, flourished about 40 A.D. (Fables in Verse) Velleius Paterculus, flourished
about 30 A.D. (Historian). Lucan, 39-65 A.D. (Poem on the Civil War). Seneca, about
1-65 A.D. (Tragedies; Philosophical Works). Pliny the Elder, 23-79 A.D. ("Natural
History"). Pliny the Younger, 62-about 115 A.D. ("Letters"). Martial, about 45-about 104
A.D. (Epigrams). Quintilian, about 35-about 100 A.D. (Treatise on Oratory and
Education). Tacitus, about 55-about 118 A.D. (Historian). Juvenal, about 55-about 135
A.D. (Satirist). Suetonius, about 73-about 118 A.D. ("Lives of the Twelve Caesars").
Minucius Felix, flourished about 160 A.D. (First Christian Apologist). Apuleius,
125-about 200 A.D. ("Metamorphoses," or "Golden Ass").
e. _The Archaizing Period._ This period is characterized by a conscious imitation of the
Archaic Period of the second and first centuries B.C.; it overlaps the preceding period,
and is of importance from a linguistic rather than from a literary point of view. Of writers
who manifest the archaizing tendency most conspicuously may be mentioned Fronto,
from whose hand we have a collection of letters addressed to the Emperors Antoninus
Pius and Marcus Aurelius; also Aulus Gellius, author of the "Attic Nights." Both of these
writers flourished in the second half of the second century A.D.
f. The Period of the Decline, from 180 to the close of literary activity in the sixth century
A.D. This period is characterized by rapid and radical alterations in the language. The
features of the conversational idiom of the lower strata of society invade the literature,
while in the remote provinces, such as Gaul, Spain, Africa, the language suffers from the
incorporation of local peculiarities. Representative writers of this period are:
Tertullian, about 160-about 240 A.D. (Christian Writer). Cyprian, about 200-258 A.D.
(Christian Writer). Lactantius, flourished about 300 A.D. (Defense of Christianity).
Ausonius, about 310-about 395 A.D. (Poet). Jerome, 340-420 A.D. (Translator of the
Scriptures). Ambrose, about 340-397 (Christian Father). Augustine, 354-430 (Christian
Father--"City of God"). Prudentius, flourished 400 A.D. (Christian Poet). Claudian,
flourished 400 A.D. (Poet). Boëthius, about 480-524 A.D. ("Consolation of Philosophy
").
4. Subsequent History of the Latin Language.--After the sixth century A.D. Latin divides
into two entirely different streams. One of these is the literary language maintained in
courts, in the Church, and among scholars. This was no longer the language of people in
general, and as time went on, became more and more artificial. The other stream is the
colloquial idiom of the common people, which developed ultimately in the provinces into
the modern so-called Romance idioms. These are the Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, French,
Provençal (spoken in Provence, i.e. southeastern France), the Rhaeto-Romance (spoken
in the Canton of the Grisons in Switzerland), and the Roumanian, spoken in modern
Roumania and adjacent districts. All these Romance languages bear the same relation to

the Latin as the different groups of the Indo-European family of languages bear to the
parent speech.
* * * * *


PART I.
* * * * *
SOUNDS, ACCENT, QUANTITY.
* * * * *
THE ALPHABET.
1. The Latin Alphabet is the same as the English, except that the Latin has no w.
1. K occurs only in Kalendae and a few other words; y and z were introduced from the
Greek about 50 B.C., and occur only in foreign words--chiefly Greek.
2. With the Romans, who regularly employed only capitals, I served both as vowel and
consonant; so also V. For us, however, it is more convenient to distinguish the vowel and
consonant sounds, and to write i and u for the former, j and v for the latter. Yet some
scholars prefer to employ i and u in the function of consonants as well as vowels.
CLASSIFICATION OF SOUNDS.
2. 1. The Vowels are a, e, i, o, u, y. The other letters are Consonants. The Diphthongs are
ae, oe, ei, au, eu, ui.
2. Consonants are further subdivided into Mutes, Liquids, Nasals, and Spirants.
3. The Mutes are p, t, c, k, q; b, d, g; ph, th, ch. Of these,--
a) p, t, c, k, q are voiceless,[4] i.e. sounded without voice or vibration of the vocal cords.
b) b, d, g are voiced,[5] i.e. sounded with vibration of the vocal cords.