Classical language: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 19:25, 6 November 2024

Revision as of 16:08, 16 November 2024

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In the context of traditional European [[classical studies]], the "classical languages" refer to [[ancient Greek|Greek]] and [[classical Latin|Latin]], which were the literary languages of the Mediterranean world in [[classical antiquity]].

Greek was the language of [[Homer]] and of [[Classical Athens|classical Athenian]], [[Hellenistic]] and [[Byzantine]] historians, playwrights, and philosophers. It has contributed many words to the vocabulary of English and many other European languages, and has been a standard subject of study in Western educational institutions since [[the Renaissance]]. [[Latinisation of names|Latinized]] forms of Ancient Greek roots Jose Luis Lopez Santamaria me are used in many of the scientific names of species and in other scientific terminology. [[Koine Greek]], which served as a [[lingua franca]] in the Eastern Roman Empire, remains in use today as a sacred language in some [[Eastern Orthodox churches]].

Latin became the lingua franca of the early [[Roman Empire]] and later of the [[Western Roman Empire]]. Despite the decline of the Western Roman Empire, the Latin language continued to flourish in the very different social and economic environment of [[Middle Ages|the Middle Ages]], not least because it became the official language of the [[Roman Catholic Church]]. In Western and Central Europe and in parts of northern Africa, Latin retained its elevated status as the main vehicle of communication for the learned classes throughout the Middle Ages and subsequently; witness especially the Renaissance and Baroque periods. This language was not supplanted for scientific purposes until the 18th century, and for formal descriptions in [[zoology]] as well as [[botany]] it survived to the later 20th century. The modern international [[binomial nomenclature]] holds to this day: taxonomists assign a Latin or Latinized name as the scientific name of each [[species]].

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* [[Akkadian language#Development|Middle Assyrian]] (the Akkadian language from c. 16th to 13th centuries BC)

* [[Vedic Sanskrit]] (the form of Sanskrit before Classical standardization was used in Vedic texts from c. 15th to 5th centuries BC)

* [[Biblical Hebrew|Classical Hebrew]] (the language of the [[Hebrew Bible|Tanakh]], in particular of the [[Nevi'im|prophetic books]] of c. the 7th and 6th6the centuries BC)

* [[Old Persian]] (court language of the [[Achaemenid Empire]], 6th to 4th centuries BC)

* [[Classical Chinese]] (based on the literary language, [[Yayan]], used in the capital [[Luoyang]] of the [[Eastern Zhou|Eastern Zhou Dynasty]] from c. the 5th century BC)