Full name: Ad Infinitum: A Biography of Latin

Author: Nicholas Ostler Year: 2007 Rank: Rating: Original Rating: Pop Rating: Genres/categories: History, Non Fiction, Classic Purchase/reserch links: Goodreads LibraryThing Amazon ISBNs: 9780802716798

An in-depth biography of the Latin language from its very beginnings to the present day from the widely acclaimed author of ‘Empires of the Word’. The Latin language has been a constant in the cultural history of the West for over two millennia. It has shaped the way we think of ourselves and of our (central) place in the world. It has formed and united us as Europeans, has been the foundation of our education for centuries and defined the way in which we express our thoughts, our faith and our knowledge of the workings of the world. And yet, Latin began life as the cumbersome dialect of a small southern Italian city-state.Its active use lasted three times as long as Rome's Empire and its use echoes on in the law codes of half the world, in terminologies of biology and medicine, and until forty years ago in the litany of the Catholic Church, the most populous form of Christianity.In ‘Ad Infinitum’, Nicholas Ostler examines the reasons why Latin made such a long-lasting impact on language, and how it managed to stay alive for two millennia despite the cultural superiority of Greek. He will look at how Latin's sturdy roots remained untouched while empires rose and fell, the influence of religion, war and the ways it has progressed through medieval times right up until the present day. Similar books: Latin by Jurgen Leonhardt A History of Language by Steven Roger Fischer The Complete Idiot's Guide to Learning Latin by Natalie Harwood Amo, amas, amat, and more by Eugene H. Ehrlich The Blackwell History of the Latin Language by James Clackson Alpha Beta by John Man Holy Sh*t by Melissa Mohr 501 Latin Verbs by Richard Prior X-Treme Latin by Henry Beard ABC Et Cetera by Alexander Humez Empires of the Word by Nicholas Ostler Wheelock's Latin by Frederic M. Wheelock Language Visible by David Sacks Our Marvelous Native Tongue by Robert Claiborne The Adventure of English by Melvyn Bragg The Roman Revolution by Ronald Syme Gods and Heroes of Ancient Greece by Gustav Schwab The Complete World of Greek Mythology by Richard Buxton A Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe The War That Killed Achilles by Caroline Alexander