Who speaks Latin. History of the development of the Latin language. Scope of use of the Latin literary language

Latin is one of the oldest and most significant European languages. Belongs to the Italic group of the Indo-European language family. The Italic group is represented mainly by the dead languages of Central and Southern Italy, such as Oscan, Umbrian, Faliscan, etc. The Italian language, which is now widespread in this territory and is the official language of Italy and the Vatican, belongs to the Romance group of the same Indo-European family.

Periods in the history of the Latin language

It is customary to distinguish several stages in the history of the Latin language:

1. Archaic stage (Before the 1st century BC)

Originally, the Latin language (Lingua Latina) was the language of the Latin tribes (Latini). It was customary to call the tribes that lived on the territory of Latium (Modern Lazio, an area of more than 17,200 km2 with the center in Rome) as Latins. In the 8th century BC (c. 754/753 BC), the city of Rome was founded on the territory of Latium, and in the 6th century. BC. it becomes the main city of the region. As the Roman state expanded, so did the spread of the Latin language.

By the middle of the 3rd century BC. Latin becomes the main language of the Apennine Peninsula. Other Italic languages were displaced or assimilated. At the same time, the Latin language itself underwent significant changes. During the three Punic Wars (mid-3rd century BC - mid-2nd century BC), Rome defeated Carthage (northern Africa), and the western Mediterranean came under its rule.

The first inscriptions known to historians written in Latin appear in the 7th century BC. The language rapidly evolved as the state expanded under the influence of other Italic languages, as well as Greek and Etruscan.

Famous personalities of this period include:

Quintus Ennius (239 - 169 BC) - Roman poet,
Titus Maccius Plautus (mid 3rd century BC - ca. 180 BC) - Roman comedian,
Publius Terentius Afer/Afr (c. 195 - 159 BC) - Roman comedian (in the reference literature, see "Terence", because "Afer/Afr" ("African") - nickname (cognomen )).

2. Classical stage (From the 1st century BC to the 1st century AD)

Also often called the age of "Golden Latin".

By the end of the 1st century BC. The Roman state extended to the entire Mediterranean, as well as to the territory of modern France and parts of Germany and England. Along with the expansion of the Roman state, the sphere of influence of the Latin language also expanded.

In addition, at this time the formation of the Latin language system took place. In the future, only minor changes will occur in it. And due to the abundance of sources and harmonious structure, classical Latin is now studied by students of philological and law faculties of higher educational institutions.

Famous personalities:

Gaius Julius Caesar (102/100 BC - 44 BC) - Roman general, dictator,
Marcus Tullius Cicero (106 - 43 BC) - Roman politician, orator, writer,
Titus Lucretius Car (1st century BC) - Roman poet and philosopher (in the reference literature, see “Lucretius”, because “Car” (“Carian”) is a nickname (cognomen)),
Gaius Valerius Catullus (c. 87 - c. 54 BC) - Roman poet,
Publius Virgil Maro (70 - 19 BC) - Roman poet (in the reference literature, see “Virgil”, because “Maro” is a generic nickname (cognomen)),
Quintus Horace Flaccus (65 BC - 8 BC) - Roman poet (see "Horace", "Flaccus" ("flaccus" - "loop-eared") - nickname (cognomen)) ,
Publius Ovid Naso (43 BC - c. 18 AD) - Roman poet (see "Ovid", "Nason" ("Nosy") - generic nickname (cognomen)).

3. Postclassical stage (I - II centuries AD)

Also called the age of "Silver Latin".

At this time, the process of expansion of the state continues. In the 2nd century AD. under Trajan, the Roman Empire reaches its maximum boundaries.

The language differs from the classical one in the uniqueness of its syntactic means; in general, the language system does not undergo changes.

Personalities:

Lucius Annaeus Seneca the Younger (c. 4 BC - 65 AD) - politician, philosopher, writer,
Marcus Valerius Martial (c. 40 - c. 140) - Roman poet,
Decimus Junius Juvenal (c. 60 - c. 125) - Roman satirist poet,
Publius Cornelius Tacitus (c. 58 - c. 117) - Roman historian,
Lucius Apuleius (c. 125 - c. 180) - Roman writer,
(Gaius) Petronius Arbiter (?? - 66) - Roman writer.

4. Late Latin (III - IV centuries AD)

At this time, numerous uprisings took place on the territory of the conquered lands, in addition, barbarians began to increasingly attack the border lands. All this, combined with the weakening of central power, leads to the fact that some lands leave the empire, and the empire itself in 395 is divided into the Western Roman Empire and the Eastern Roman Empire.

This period is characterized by the appearance of many written monuments of the spoken language. There are significant changes in phonetics. In general, language development trends do not change.

The period is represented by many works on various sciences, fiction, both pagan and Christian.

5. Middle Ages (V - XV centuries AD)

In 476, the last emperor of the Western Roman Empire, Romulus Augustulus, was deposed. After this, the Western Roman Empire ceased to exist, in contrast, the Eastern Roman Empire, also known as Byzantium or the Byzantine Empire, with its capital in the city of Constantinople (modern Istanbul) existed for about another millennium (with a short break from 1206 to 1261), until In 1453, the city of Constantinople was not taken by Turkish troops.

After the division of the empire, Greek became the dominant language on the territory of Byzantium, and Latin remained the main language in the Western Roman Empire.

After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the fate of spoken and literary Latin was different. The main written language in the territory of the former empire continues to be Latin. Oral Latin is increasingly influenced by national languages and is eventually replaced by them. National languages that arose on the basis of Latin are usually called Romance.

Literary monuments of this period:

“History of the Goths” - Jordan (Goth historian of the 6th century, Ostrogoth by origin),
“History of the Franks” - Gregory of Tours (Frankish historian of the 6th century),
"History of Denmark" - Saxo Grammaticus (Danish chronicler of the 12th century),
"Acts of the Romans"
"Carmina Burana".

6. Renaissance (XV (in Italy - XIII) - XVI centuries AD)

At this time, interest in ancient culture was returning in Europe, in addition, many new works were created in Latin.

Examples include works written in Latin by such authors as:

Thomas More (1478 - 1535) - English humanist, statesman, writer,
Erasmus of Rotterdam (1469 - 1536) - humanist, philologist, writer,
Giordano Bruno (1548 - 1600) - Italian philosopher and poet,
Tommaso Campanella (1568 - 1639) - Italian philosopher, poet, politician,
Nicolaus Copernicus (1473 - 1543) - Polish astronomer,
Dante Alighieri (1265 - 1321) - Italian poet, creator of the Italian literary language,
Francesco Petrarch (1304 - 1374) - Italian poet,
Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375) - Italian writer.

7. New Time (XVII - XVIII centuries AD)

Latin falls out of widespread use, its scope of application being limited to science, religion and diplomacy.

René Descartes (1596 - 1650) - French philosopher, mathematician, physicist and physiologist,
Pierre Gassendi (1592 - 1655) - French philosopher, mathematician and astronomer,
Benedict Spinoza (1632 - 1677) - Dutch philosopher,
Francis Bacon (1561 - 1626) - English philosopher,
Isaac Newton (1643 - 1727) - English mathematician, mechanic, astronomer and physicist,
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646 - 1716) - German philosopher, mathematician, physicist, linguist,
Leonhard Euler (1707 - 1783) - mathematician, mechanic, physicist, astronomer. Swiss by origin
Carl Linnaeus (1707 - 1778) - Swedish naturalist,
Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov (1711 - 1765) - Russian naturalist, poet, artist, historian,

8. Modernity (XIX century AD - to the present day)

In modern linguistics, it is customary to classify Latin as a dead language, however, the Latin language is used in medicine, law, natural sciences and Catholic worship. In addition, Latin is often used in scientific and technical terminology. There are also a number of movements that are trying to keep the Latin language alive.

LATIN LANGUAGE(Latin), one of the Indo-European languages of the Italic group, in which - from about the 6th century. BC. to 6th century AD - said the ancient Romans and which was the official language of the Roman Empire; until the beginning of the New Age - one of the main written languages of Western European science, culture and social life; the official language of the Vatican and the Roman Catholic Church (until the mid-20th century, it was also used in Catholic worship); the language of a rich, more than two thousand-year-old literary tradition, one of the most important languages of universal human culture, which continues to be actively used in some fields of knowledge (medicine, biology, general scientific terminology of the natural sciences and humanities).

Initially, Latin was only one of many in a group of closely related Italic languages (the most significant among them are Oscan and Umbrian), formed by the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. in central and southern Italy. The original zone of existence of the Latin language is the small region of Latium, or Latium (lat. Latium, modern it. Lazio) around Rome, but as the ancient Roman state expanded, the influence of the Latin language gradually spread to the entire territory of modern Italy (where other local languages were completely supplanted by it), Southern France (Provence) and a significant part of Spain, and by the beginning of the 1st millennium AD. – to almost all countries of the Mediterranean basin, as well as Western (up to the Rhine and Danube) and Northern Europe (including the British Isles). In modern Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, Romania and others. other countries of Europe and currently speak languages that are descendants of Latin (they form the so-called Romance group of the Indo-European family); In modern times, Romance languages spread very widely (Central and South America, West and Central Africa, French Polynesia, etc.).

In the history of the Latin language, archaic (up to the 3rd century BC), classical (early - up to the 1st century AD and late - up to the 3rd century AD) and postclassical periods (up to approximately 6th century AD) are distinguished. . AD). Latin literature reached its greatest flourishing in the era of Caesar and Augustus (1st century BC, the so-called “Golden Latin” of Cicero, Virgil and Horace). The language of the postclassical period is characterized by noticeable regional differences and gradually (through the stage of the so-called Vulgar, or folk Latin) breaks up into separate Romance dialects (in the 8th–9th centuries it is already possible to speak with confidence about the existence of early variants of modern Romance languages, the difference of which from written Latin was fully understood by contemporaries).

Although after the 6th century. (i.e. after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire) Latin as a living spoken language falls out of use and can be considered dead, its role in the history of medieval Western Europe, where it remained the only written language for a long time, turns out to be extremely important - it is not by chance that everything Western European languages, except Greek, use a Latin-based alphabet; Currently, this alphabet has spread throughout the globe. During the Renaissance, interest in classical Latin even increased, and until the end of the 17th century. it continues to serve as the primary language of European science, diplomacy and the church. Latin was written at the court of Charlemagne and in the papal office, and was used by St. Thomas Aquinas and Petrarch, Erasmus of Rotterdam and Copernicus, Leibniz and Spinoza, it sounded in the oldest European universities, uniting people from different countries - from Prague to Bologna, from Ireland to Spain; Only in the newest period of European history does this unifying and cultural role gradually pass first to French and then to English, which in the modern era has become one of the so-called “world languages.” In the countries of Romanesque speech, the Catholic Church finally abandoned divine services in Latin only in the 20th century, but they are preserved, for example, by Catholics of the Gallican rite.

The most ancient monuments of the Latin language (6–7 centuries BC) are short inscriptions on objects and tombstones, excerpts of the so-called Salic hymns and some. etc.; The first surviving monuments of fiction date back to the 3rd century. BC. (it was during this period that the unification of Italy under the rule of Rome and intensive contacts with the Greek culture of Southern Italy began). The most famous author of this period is the comedian Titus Maccius Plautus, who left brilliant examples of “unsmoothed” colloquial speech; early examples of journalism are represented in the writings of Marcus Porcius Cato the Elder.

The classical period is characterized by the rapid flourishing of fiction and journalism: the canon of normative prose language (which all subsequent generations were guided by) was created in the works of such authors as the orator, publicist and philosopher Marcus Tullius Cicero and Gaius Julius Caesar, who left historical notes about his conquests; the canon of poetic language - in the works of such authors as the lyricists Gaius Valerius Catullus, Quintus Horace Flaccus, Albius Tibullus, the epics Publius Virgil Maron, Publius Ovid Naso (whose lyrical heritage is also significant), etc.; their works are an integral part of world literature, familiarity with which forms the basis of modern humanitarian “classical education”. An important role is also played by historical and natural science prose of such authors as Gaius Sallust Crispus, Cornelius Nepos, Titus Livius, Marcus Terence Varro.

Among the authors of the late classical period, the work of the satirist poet Marcus Valery Martial and the prose writer Titus Petronius Arbiter, whose language is closer to colloquial than that of the authors of the “golden age,” is of particular importance.

The late classical period is also characterized by the appearance of a large amount of philosophical and scientific prose; At this time, historians Gaius Cornelius Tacitus and Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus, naturalist Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus the Elder, philosopher Lucius Annaeus Seneca and many others wrote. etc.

In the postclassical period, the activities of Christian authors acquired particular importance, of which the most famous are Quintus Septimius Florent Tertullian, Sophronius Eusebius Jerome (St. Jerome, who completed the first Latin translation of the Bible at the end of the 4th century), Decimus Aurelius Augustine (Blessed Augustine).

Medieval Latin literature includes mostly religious, philosophical and scientific journalistic texts, although works of art were also created in Latin. One of the most striking and original manifestations of medieval Latin literature is the so-called lyric poetry of vagantes (or wandering students), which reached its greatest flowering in the 9th–13th centuries; Based on the traditions of Latin classical poetry (especially Ovid), the vagantes create short poems for the occasion, love and table lyrics, and satire.

The Latin alphabet is a variety of Western Greek (adopted by the Romans, like many other achievements of material and spiritual culture, possibly through the Etruscans); in the oldest versions of the Latin alphabet there is no letter G (officially legalized by the end of the 3rd century BC), sounds are designated in the same way u And v, i And j(additional letters v And j appear only in the Renaissance among European humanists; many scholarly editions of classical Latin texts do not use them). The direction of writing from left to right was finally established only by the 4th century. BC. (the direction of writing in more ancient monuments varies). The length of vowels, as a rule, is not indicated (although in some ancient texts a special “apex” sign is used to convey longitude in the form of a slash above the letter, for example á).

Linguistically, the Latin language is characterized by many features typical of the most archaic Indo-European languages, including a developed morphological system of declension and conjugation, inflection, and prefixed verbal word formation.

A feature of the phonetic system of the Latin language is the presence of labiovelar stops k w (orthographically qu) and (spelling ngu) and the absence of voiced fricatives (in particular, voiced pronunciation s not reconstructed for the classical period); All vowels are characterized by opposition in length. In classical Latin, stress, according to the evidence of ancient grammarians, was musical (raising the tone on a stressed vowel); the place of stress was almost entirely determined by the phonological structure of the word. In the Preclassical era there may have been a strong initial stress (this explains many historical changes in the Latin vowel system); in the postclassical era, the stress loses its musical character (and in none of the Romance languages does musical stress remain). The Latin language is also characterized by various restrictions on the structure of the syllable and rather complex rules for the assimilation of vowels and consonants (for example, long vowels cannot be placed before combinations nt, nd and before m; voiced noisy ones do not occur before voiceless noisy ones and at the end of a word; brief i And o also - with a few exceptions - does not occur at the end of a word, etc.). Confluences of three or more consonants are avoided (there are few permissible combinations of three consonants; they are possible mainly at the junction of a prefix and a root - for example, pst, tst, nfl, mbr and some etc.).

Morphologically, first of all, the name and the verb are contrasted; adjectives and adverbs can be considered as special categories of names. Unlike many new Indo-European languages, Latin adjectives, although they change by case, do not have a special (compared to nouns) set of case endings; Gender agreement is also not typical for many adjectives, and often a noun differs from an adjective only in its syntactic function in a sentence (for example, pauper can mean "poor" and "poor" ales– “winged” and “bird”, amicus– “friendly” and “friend”, etc.).

Names traditionally have five types of declension, which have different sets of case-numerical endings (the meanings of number and case are expressed together by the same indicator, cf. lup- us "wolf, unit" lup- i "wolves, pl.," lup- o "to the wolves, dat. pl."). There are five main cases: nominative, accusative, genitive, dative, depositive (combining the functions of the instrumental, depositive and locative; traces of the lost locative case are found in separate frozen forms); forms of the vocative case differ from forms of the nominative case only in singular. number of some nouns are masculine. In no one type of declension do all five case forms differ (for example, the endings of the nominative and genitive, dative and genitive, dative and depositive cases can coincide; in the plural, the endings of the dative and depositive cases coincide for all nouns; neuter nouns always have the same endings nominative and accusative cases, etc.). This feature of the Latin declension (a large number of types of declension with a large number of homonymous endings) played (along with external historical circumstances) an important role in the subsequent restructuring of the Latin case system, which led first to its significant simplification, and then to its complete loss in all modern Romance languages ( except Romanian, which has retained a reduced two-case system). Tendencies towards the unification of declension begin to be traced already in classical Latin. As in most archaic Indo-European languages, a distinction is made between masculine, feminine and neuter gender (in Romance languages, the neuter gender is almost completely lost); The connection between gender and type of declension of a name is not rigid. The names consistently distinguish between singular and plural (there is no dual); There are no indicators of definiteness/indeterminacy (articles) in classical Latin, unlike the Romance languages.

The Latin verb has a developed inflectional conjugation system, which, however, appears somewhat simplified compared to the more archaic verbal systems of such Indo-European languages as ancient Greek or Sanskrit. The main grammatical opposition within the Latin verbal system should be recognized as opposition in relative time (or taxis), i.e. an indication of the simultaneity, precedence or succession of two situations (the so-called rules of “coordination of times”); this feature brings Latin closer to modern Romance and Germanic languages. The values of relative time are expressed together with the values of absolute time (the present, past and future are distinguished) and aspect (the continuous and limited form are distinguished). Thus, simultaneity in the past, like duration, express forms of imperfect; precedence in the past - forms of the plusquaperfect, limited (one-time) action in the past - usually forms of the so-called perfect, etc. Oppositions in absolute time are expressed not only in the system of real forms (i.e., the indicative mood), but also in the system of unreal moods: imperative and subjunctive. Thus, forms of the imperative mood fall into simple and “deferred” (“do it later, after”); the choice of forms of the subjunctive mood (expressing condition, wish, possibility, assumption, etc.) is also closely related to the rules of “agreement of tenses” (especially strict in the language of the classical period).

Latin verb forms consistently agree in person/number with the subject; personal endings are different not only in different tenses and moods, but also in different forms of voice: the series of “active” and “passive” personal endings are different. “Passive” endings express not only the passive in the proper sense, but also the reflexive (cf. lavi- tur "washes") and some. etc., which is why they are sometimes (following the ancient Greek) called “medial”. A number of verbs have only passive endings (for example, loqui- tur “says”), which thereby do not express collateral meaning; their traditional name is “deposited”.

The order of words in the language of the classical period is considered “free”: this means that the relative arrangement of the members of a sentence does not depend on their syntactic role (subject, object, etc.), but on the degree of importance for the speaker of the information conveyed with their help; Usually more important information is given at the beginning of the sentence, but this rule describes the actual situation only in very general terms. Subordinating constructions are widespread in Latin; indicators of a subordinating connection can be either conjunctions in combination with forms of the subjunctive mood of the verb in a subordinate clause, or impersonal forms of the verb (participles, infinitives, supines - the latter in the classical language served as the goal infinitive for verbs of motion, but in later periods practically are out of use). A striking feature of Latin syntax is the phrases ablativus absolutus And accusativus cum infinitivo. In the first case, a subordinating relationship (broad adverbial semantics, including the meanings of cause, consequence, accompanying circumstance, etc.) is expressed by placing the dependent verb in the form of a participle, which is consistent with the subject of the dependent sentence in the negative case (ablative); Thus, a phrase meaning “having taken the city, the enemy plundered it” will literally sound like “having taken the city, the enemy plundered it.” The second phrase is used with a certain group of verbs that can subordinate subordinate clauses with explanatory meaning; in this case, the dependent verb takes the form of an infinitive, and its subject becomes the direct object of the main verb (for example, a phrase meaning “the king believed that she was dancing” will literally sound like “the king believed that she was dancing”). Late Classical and Medieval Latin is characterized by a significant simplification and standardization of this rich syntactic arsenal.

A significant part of the grammatical elements of the Latin language is Indo-European in origin (personal endings of verbs, case endings of nouns, etc.). There are many original Indo-European roots in the Latin vocabulary (cf. frater"Brother", tres"three", mare"sea", edere "is", etc.); abstract vocabulary and scientific and philosophical terminology contain many Greek borrowings. The vocabulary also includes a number of words of Etruscan origin (the most famous are histrio"actor" and persona"mask") and borrowings from closely related Italic languages (for example, borrowing from the language of the Oscan subgroup is indicated, for example, by the phonetic appearance of the word lupus"wolf": the original Latin word would be expected as * luquus).

Peter Rybak from Daugavpils asks in his letter: in which countries do they speak Latin?

Dear Peter, Latin is not an active spoken language today. The Latin language began to disappear from active vocabulary after the fall of the Roman Empire, and, accordingly, the disappearance of its main speakers. But it cannot be said that he died completely. Latin found its continuation in the Romano-Germanic and other language groups.

Latin is studied in schools and universities not only in Germany, but also in many other countries. For its extraordinary vitality as a subject of instruction, the Latin language received the familiar colloquial name “Latin.” Remember, from Pushkin: “Latin has gone out of fashion now...”

Latin, indeed, came in and out of fashion, but always remained a unique phenomenon of human culture that conquered space and time. Today this language is called classical, dead. The ancient Romans, for whom he was alive, have sunk into historical oblivion. But they have not disappeared from the history of culture, just like the Latin language, which after its death lives in new - Romance - languages, in Catholic worship, in the terminological systems of modern sciences.

The Latin language is unique in the number and variety of texts known to the modern reader, both in originals and in translations. Classical, or “golden” Latin is the prose works of Cicero and Caesar, Seneca and Apuleius; poetry of Horace, Ovid, Dergil.

Medieval, or Christianized Latin, is, first of all, liturgical (liturgical) texts - hymns, chants, prayers. At the end of the 4th century, Saint Jerome translated the entire Bible into Latin. This translation, known as the Vulgate (that is, the People's Bible), was recognized as equivalent to the original at the Catholic Council of Trent in the 16th century. Since then, Latin, along with Hebrew and Greek, has been considered one of the sacred languages of the Bible. The Renaissance left us a legacy of scientific literature in Latin. These are medical treatises by doctors of the Italian school of the 16th century: “On the structure of the human body” by Andrei Vesalius (1543). The great teacher Jan Amos Comenius wrote his book “The World in Pictures” in Latin. It describes the whole world, from inanimate nature to the structure of society. Not only described, but also illustrated. Many generations of children learned from this book. By the way, the last Russian edition was published in Moscow in 1957.

As for, relatively speaking, “new” Latin, it functions as a semiotic system in the process of exchanging scientific information in the field of modern science, primarily in the branches of the medical and biological cycle. This role of Latin is confirmed in the 20th century by the presence of international nomenclature codes on anatomy, histology, botany, and zoology. At all times and from all sources, Latin aphorisms and winged words in the Latin language have been replenished.

Vladimir Komarchuk from Moldova is connected with Germany not only by interest in our country, but also by family ties. Here's what he writes:

“It so happened that Germany became very close to me. It turns out that my ex-wife and daughter live in your country, near Berlin. My ex-wife has a new German husband, but I have no one except my mother and daughter. I dream of at least someday going to Germany to visit and see my daughter. And for this I need to learn German. I understand how difficult it is to do this at home, but I try. Perhaps I will learn to read and write more or less tolerably, but I will have obvious problems with pronunciation.

And in Germany itself there are many dialects. I have a big request to ask of you. I would be very grateful if you announced on your broadcast that I am looking for pen pals from Germany. Let them be people from Russia and other CIS countries. Who knows, maybe communicating with such people will help me learn more about Germany and learn the German language better. My address: 3401, Moldova, Hincesti, st. Kishinevskaya 6, apt. 8. Vladimir Komarchuk.”

Our listener Dmitry Alekseev from St. Petersburg is also looking for pen pals:

“I listen to your programs all the time and would like to connect with your other listeners. I am 19 years old, studying at an art school. In addition to drawing, I am interested in art photography and many other things, and I am studying German. My address: Russia, 191014, St. Petersburg, Kovnensky lane, 25, apt. 34 Dmitry Alekseev."

Mikhail Lebedev from Moscow writes:

“In the era of non-standard financial relations in Russia, when educational programs have disappeared from television screens, you, despite the economic difficulties in Germany, still find the time and means to contribute to the improvement of education and the rise of culture in the Russian Federation. I am happy to study German together with your radio station; I believe that the most correct and natural language is the one spoken by modern Germans. It’s a pity that there are no more German lessons for business people. If possible, please send me at least CDs of these lessons.”

Dear Mr. Lebedev, I have forwarded your request to the distribution department and I hope that my colleagues will be able to fulfill it. Stay with us on our waves.

Before your musical entry is heard, my colleague Elisabeth Wiebe will announce the names of the listeners who won the lottery for the additional German lesson, which airs weekly on Fridays.

Vasily Avdeev from Ashgabat,
Sergey Bova from Moscow,
Sergey Gainanov from Yekaterinburg,
Natalya Labysheva from Omsk,
Zinaida Levkovich from Nikolaev,
Olga Mayer from Konstantinovka, Ukraine,
Yuri Mikhalev from St. Petersburg,
O. Ovchinnikov from Rostov the Great,
Lyudmila Suslova from St. Petersburg,
Alla Chaikina from the village of Voronezh, Sumy region.

Congratulations!

Elisabeth Wiebe has another announcement for German language learners with Deutsche Welle.

A new club for students of German is opening in Chernigov.
Chairman Natalia Sotnik, student.
Address: Pervomaiskaya street, house 24, village of Levkovichi, Chernihiv region. Index 15550 Ukraine. Phone 04622 - 66244
Chairman of the club Natalia Sotnik.

The chairman of the club in Tiraspol (Moldova), Viktor Lebedev, reports that several people from other localities signed up for his club, but no one from Tiraspol itself.

Once again we announce the address of the club in Tiraspol (Moldova).
Chairman Viktor Lebedev.
Address 3300 Moldova, Tiraspol, Kakhovskaya street, building 16, apartment 3.
I repeat the address 3300 Moldova, Tiraspol, Kakhovskaya street, building 16, apartment 3.
Chairman Viktor Lebedev.

By the way, Viktor Lebedev knows German perfectly. He wrote the letter to us in German with almost no mistakes.

My colleague Elisabeth Wiebe was in my studio.
Let me remind you that to participate in the lottery you need to listen to an additional German lesson on Friday and write three German words on a postcard. This postcard must be sent to one of the Deutsche Welle addresses.

And here is a quote from a letter from Pavel Apel from St. Petersburg.

“The music of other peoples is, in addition to aesthetic sympathies, also a path to understanding the national spirit. Interest in the German picture of the world as it relates to the period of the Second World War is combined for me with a historical (or rather, ethno-(local history) interest. Therefore, interest in the music of this particular period is a priority for me. Time hides the details. Music - among those details of living human life that enliven, fill with bright colors the meager historical information. Your programs help me to form some ideas about the music of different lands. Perhaps, I have never heard anything relevant in your programs. Is there any East Prussian folk songs appearing in “Folk Melodies”? Please include the song “Köhlerliesel” performed by “Singing Apprentices” in the “Mailbox” program.

As for Prussian songs and melodies, I will convey your wishes, dear Mr. Apel, to my colleague Elisabeth Wiebe, host of the “Folk Melodies” program. And now they sing for you “Die Singenden Gesellen” - “The Singing Apprentices”.

Latin is the language of the Latins, the ancient inhabitants of Latium, who inhabited a small region of Central Italy. On the border of Latium and Etruria, above the Tiber River, Rome was located, founded, according to legend, in 753. BC e Although the Roman community included various tribes, the speech of international communication remained Latin. Subsequently, Rome conquered Greece, Gaul, part of the Iberian Peninsula, North Africa, Asia Minor, Egypt and other lands. The Latin language went beyond the Apennine Peninsula and spread to Western Europe.
Second half of the 3rd - 2nd centuries. BC AD - This is the period of the establishment of the literary Latin language, called archaic Latin. From the works of this period, the comedies of Plautus (about 253 - 184 BC), Terence (185 - 159 BC), the treatise of Cato the Elder (234 - 149 BC), as well as fragments of works other authors.
Literary language of the 1st century. BC e - classical Latin ("golden Latin") - rich in scientific, philosophical, political and technical terminology. It was at this time that the Latin language reached its highest development in the works of Gaius Julius Caesar (100 - 44 BC), Marcus Tullius Cicero (106 - 43 BC), Publius Virgil Maron (70 - 19 BC) AD), Publius Ovid Naso (43 AD - c. 18 AD) and other Roman writers.
With the decline of ancient society, the fall of the Roman Empire and the emergence of new peoples, Latin colloquial speech gave impetus to the formation of Romance languages: Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian, etc.
Although the Latin language ceased to be a means of communication for any people as a whole, it continued to be preserved as the written language of science, partly literature and official acts. In this meaning, the Latin language went far beyond the Roman Empire.
During the Renaissance (XIV - XVI centuries) Latin became the international language of science and diplomacy, a subject of study in schools. Until the 18th century. almost all scientific works were written in Latin. As an example, it is enough to cite just a few names of scientists: Erasmus of Rotterdam (1466 - 1536) in Holland, Nicolaus Copernicus (1473 - 1535) in Poland, Thomas More (1478 - 1535), Francis Bacon (1561 - 1626) and Isaac Newton (1643 - 1727) in England.
For many centuries, Latin remained the language of science and diplomacy, school and church, jurisprudence, etc. In particular, it should be emphasized that Latin was the international language of medicine. In the Russian language there are many words of Latin origin, for example: author, lawyer, act, action, outpatient clinic, author, certificate, audience, dictation, director, doctor, associate professor, exam, effect, empire, institute, instrument, commission, compromise, outline , constitution, conference, culture, laboratory, line, literature, minus, notary, object, plus, position, progress, professor, process, rector, republic, sanatorium, soloist, student, university, faculty, federation, final and many others.
The Latin language still remains a source of education for scientific and technical terminology.