Classical language: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 16:22, 11 May 2025

Revision as of 16:10, 18 May 2025

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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 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]]. Eventually Koine Greek gave rise to [[Medieval Greek]] and then [[Modern Greek]].

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 the [[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 especiallyin the Renaissance[[Early andmodern Baroque periodsperiod]]. And well intoIn the 21st century, Latin is still taught in the United States, mostly in elite private schools.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Accredited Schools |url=https://classicallatin.org/accredited-schools/ |access-date=2023-05-15 |website=Classical Latin School Association - |language=en-US}}</ref>

Latin 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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In terms of worldwide cultural importance, [[Edward Sapir]] in his 1921 book ''Language'' extends the list to include [[classical Chinese]], [[Classical Arabic|Arabic]], and [[Classical Sanskrit|Sanskrit]]:

<blockquote>When we realize that an educated [[Japanese people|Japanese]] can hardly frame a single literary sentence without the use of Chinese resources, that to this day [[Thai language|Siamese]] and [[Burmese language|Burmese]] and [[CambodianKhmer Languagelanguage|Cambodgian]] bear the unmistakable imprint of the Sanskrit and [[Pali language|Pali]] that came in with Hindu Buddhism centuries ago, or that whether we argue for or against the teaching of Latin and Greek [in schools,] our argument is sure to be studded with words that have come to us from [[Rome]] and [[Athens]], we get some indication of what early Chinese culture and [[Buddhism]], and classical [[Mediterranean civilization]] have meant in the world's history. There are just five languages that have had an overwhelming significance as carriers of culture. They are classical Chinese, Sanskrit, Arabic, Greek, and Latin. In comparison with these, even such culturally important languages as [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] and [[French language|French]] sink into a secondary position.<ref>{{cite book | last =Sapir| first=Edward| author-link =Edward Sapir | title =Language: An introduction to the study of speech | publisher =Harcourt, Brace and Company| date =1921| ___location =New York| page =164| url=https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12629| isbn =4-87187-529-6| access-date=February 17, 2006}}</ref></blockquote>

In this sense, a classical language is a language that has a broad influence over an extended period of time, even after it is no longer a [[Colloquialism|colloquial]] [[Mother-tongue|mother tongue]] in its original form. If one language uses roots from another language to coin words (in the way that many [[European languages]] use Greek and Latin [[Root (linguistics)|roots]] to devise new words such as "telephone", etc.), this is an indication that the second language is a classical language.{{citation needed|date=April 2023}}

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== General usage ==

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The following languages are generally taken to have a "classical" stage. Such a stage is limited in time and is considered "classical" if it comes to be regarded as a literary "golden age" retrospectively.{{citation needed|date=February 2019}} Thus, [[Ancient Greek|Classical Greek]] is the language of 5th to 4th century BC [[Classical Athens|Athens]] and, as such, only a small subset of the varieties of the [[Greek language]] as a whole. A "classical" period usually corresponds to a flowering of literature following an "archaic" period, such as [[Classical Latin]] succeeding [[Old Latin]], [[Sumerian language|Classical Sumerian]] succeeding Archaic Sumerian, Classical Sanskrit succeeding [[Vedic Sanskrit]], [[Persian language#Classical Persian|Classical Persian]] succeeding [[Old Persian]]. This is partly a matter of terminology, and for example [[Old Chinese]] is taken to include rather than precede [[Classical Chinese]]. In some cases, such as those of [[Persian language|Persian]] and [[Tamil language|Tamil]], the "classical" stage corresponds to the earliest attested literary variant.<ref>{{Citation| last=Ramanujan|first= A. K.|author-link = A. K. Ramanujan|title=Poems of Love and War: From the Eight Anthologies and the Ten Long Poems of Classical Tamil|publisher= New York: Columbia University Press. Pp. 329|year = 1985|isbn=0-231-05107-7|url =https://books.google.com/books?id=nIybE0HRvdQC}}Quote (p.ix–x) "Tamil, one of the four classical languages of India, is a Dravidian language ... These poems (''[[Sangam literature]]'', 1st century BC to 3rd century AD) are 'classical,' i.e. early, ancient; they are also 'classics,' i.e. works that have stood the test of time, the founding works of a whole tradition. Not to know them is not to know a unique and major poetic achievement of Indian civilization."</ref>

===Antiquity===

* [[Sumerian language#Stages|Classical Sumerian]] (literary language of [[Sumer]], c. 26th to 23rd centuries BC) [[Sumerogram]]s were used in [[Cuneiform writing]] even for non-Sumerian texts until the writing system went out of use around the [[1st century|first century]] AD

* [[Egyptian language#Middle Egyptian|Middle Egyptian]] (literary language of [[Ancient Egypt]] from c. the 20th century BC to the 4th century AD)

* [[Akkadian language#Development|Old Babylonian]] (the Akkadian language from c. 20th to 16th centuries BC, the imitated standard for later literary works)

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* [[Maharashtri Prakrit]] (a [[Prakrit]] language, was the official language of the Satavahana dynasty c. 3rd century BC to 3rd century AD)

* [[Old Tamil|Classical Tamil]] ([[Sangam literature]] c. 3rd century BC to 3rd century AD, defined by [[Tolkāppiyam]])<ref>{{Citation|last=Zvelebil|first=Kamil|year = 1997|title=The Smile of Murugan: On Tamil Literature of South India: On Tamil Literature of South India|publisher=BRILL Academic Publishers. p. 378|isbn=90-04-03591-5|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VF2VMUoY_okC&q=smile+of+murugan}} Quote: "Chart 1 literature: 1. the "Urtext" of the ''Tolkappiyam'', i.e. the first two sections, ''Eluttatikaram'' and ''Collatikaram'' minus later interpolations, '''ca. 100 BC''' 2. the earliest strata of bardic poetry in the so-called ''Cankam'' anthologies, '''ca. 1 Cent. BC–2 Cent. AD.'''"</ref>

* [[Pali#Pali literature|Classical Pali]] (Buddhist Canoncanon used this language from 2nd centuries BC)

* [[Classical Latin]] (literary language of the 1st century BC)

* [[Mandaic language|Classical Mandaic]] (literary [[Aramaic]] of [[Mandaeism]], 1st century AD)

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* [[Old Saxon#Literature|Old Saxon]], language of Saxon Christian literature, 9th to 12th centuries

* [[Old English]], language of ''[[Beowulf]]'' and the ''[[Anglo-Saxon Chronicle]]'' with many divergent written dialects, but partially standardized in [[West Saxon dialect|West Saxon]] form

* [[Old French]], language of [[chivalric romance]], 8th to 14th centuries

* [[Old Georgian]], language of Georgia, 5th to 11th centuries

* [[Old East Slavic]], language of the [[Kievan Rus']], 9th to 13th centuries

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* [[Middle Bulgarian]], language of the [[Second Bulgarian Empire]], 12th to 15th centuries

* [[Middle Low German]], language of the [[Hanseatic League]], 12th to 17th centuries

* [[Old Uyghur]], Turkic language spoken in [[Qocho]] from the 9th–14th centuries and in Gansu

* [[Sagas of Icelanders|Classical Icelandic]], the language of the [[Sagas of Icelanders|Icelandic sagas]], 13th century

* [[Old Catalan|Classical Catalan]], language of literature in the [[Crown of Aragon]], 13th to 14th centuries

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* [[Ruthenian language|Old Ruthenian]], one language of the [[Grand Duchy of Lithuania]], 13th to 16th centuries

* [[Old Anatolian Turkish]], 11th to 15th centuries

* [[Geʽez#13th to 14th centuries|Classical Ge'ez]], language of [[Ethiopian literature#Medieval literature (1200–1672)|Golden Age of Ge'ez literature]], 13th to 16th centuries

* [[Early Modern Irish#Classical Gaelic|Classical Irish or Classical Gaelic]], language of the 13th to 18th centuries Scottish and Irish Gaelic literature

* [[Wolof language|Classical Wolof]], language of the [[Jolof Empire|Wolof Empire]], 13th to 19th centuries

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===Early modern period===

* [[Awadhi language|Awadhi]] (one of two major literary traditions of Northern India during [[Mughal Empire|Mughal]] rule led to its use by poets, 14th to 18th centuries)

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* [[Awadhi language|Awadhi]] (one of two major literary traditions of Northern India during Mughal rule led to its use by poets, 14th to 18th centuries)

* [[Braj literature|Braj Bhasha]] (the second of two major literary traditions in early modern Northern India used by poets, 15th-19th centuries)

* [[Italian language#Renaissance|Renaissance Italian]] (language of the [[Italian Renaissance]], 15th to 16th centuries)

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* [[Sadhu bhasha|Sadhu Bhasha]] (the modern language Bengali from 1820s to 1940s)

* [[Yiddish#Secularization|Classical Yiddish]] (language of the [[Yiddishist movement|Yiddish Renaissance]], 19th–20th centuries)

* [[Classical Newar|Classical Newari]] (language of Malla kingdom and lingua franca in India-Tibet trade)

* [[Harari language|Classical Harari]] (language of the city of [[Harar]]. Major language of Islamic scholarship from the 16th -20th centuries.)