In what language did the Romans speak: Ancient Greek or Latin?

Ancient Rome was an independent, original culture and civilization. He represented the final stage of antiquity. The ancient Greeks made a huge contribution to the development of this state. But in what language did the Romans speak, did they follow the Greeks in everything? Many sources say that the language of this people was Latin. With what it is connected, let's try to figure it out.

Multilingual Power

The government languages of the Roman Empire were Greek and Latin. The consumption of these two languages in the Roman state had geographical and functional reasons. In the western regions of the country preferred Latin, in the eastern - Greek. Later such differentiation led the empire to isolation.

What language did the Romans speak and why? When the Roman state flourished, the descendants of the higher guilds tried to learn both official languages. In some regions they spoke in autochthonous languages, for example, Celtic. Thus, the Latin and Greek languages were very closely interconnected, especially in the Balkan Peninsula, Sicily, southern Italy.

The language of the Greeks was preferred

The ancient Romans, first of all, are the heirs of Greek enlightenment, so they sought to speak this language. Those who used Latin, used not the classical language, but "vulgar", "folk". In what language did the ancient Romans speak and write? The educated elite chose the Greek language. It was in this language was written the epic poem of Virgil - "Aeneid." She told about the history of Rome, based on the myths of ancient Greece. In the houses of the Romans it was honorable to speak Greek, the language of Homer.

Romans fascinated the Greek cultural heritage, architectural structures, fashion trends, culinary arts, gardening, and therefore respected this language. In the houses of the Romans hired teachers and servants from Greece. This does not mean that they did not know Latin at all, sometimes they could use it, but only modified (not clean). It was from such "popular" Latin that later the languages of the Romance group arose: Spanish, French, Italian.

The official language of Greek became in the eastern part of the empire. In the Roman Senate, they spoke in ancient Greek. During the reign of Alexander the Great, Coptic, Armenian, and Aramaic became the competitors of the Greek language in the east of the country. Jews preferred to speak Hebrew here. The Greek language began to lose its significance. The researchers carefully studied the language of the ancient Romans.

Lingua franca

What is the lingua franca, and in what language did the ancient Romans speak and write in the east of the empire? If someone from the western part came to the eastern part of the country, then he used the lingua franca. This is an adverb, on which people who did not know their native language were communicating. This dialect for one million merchants in Rome was the "common Greek" language - koine.

The "vulgar Latin" was spoken in Lazio. Latin was more preferred in religion. Virgil and Emperor Claudius respected her. After the confusion of the Roman military, colonists, autonomous population, Latin people spread over the continent more firmly.

Grieco is a descendant of the Greek language in Italy

In what language the Romans spoke and why, it is already clear. But in this connection new adverbs were formed? The eastern empire around Constantinople and the cities of Southern Italy left the language of communication Greek. The name of the beautiful city of Naples is of Greek origin. More than 30,000 inhabitants of southern Italy to this day communicate in the language of griko. This is the Peloponese dialect, which completely coincides with the Greek language.

Where did the Italian come from?

In what language the Romans spoke, it is no longer a mystery. Today, on the territory of the former Roman Empire, modern Italy is located. The official language here, as well as in some other countries is Italian. In ancient Rome, people spoke Latin. The very name "Latin" went from the area in which Rome was based. It was from folk Latin that the roots of the Italian language took their roots.

Dante, Boccaccio, Petrarch are the founders of the Italian language. They wrote in the Florentine dialect, which was widely promoted during the Renaissance. This dialect was called the common people. Nevertheless, it was he who laid down the foundation of the modern Italian language. Over 70 million inhabitants of the Earth communicate today in this language.

The Italian language is very smooth and melodious, almost all of his words end in vowels. The Italian alphabet is quite simple, since it consists of only 26 letters. Later they declared the superiority of the Italian language over Latin. The right to be called a literary language, he received in the XVII-XVIII century. It became known philosophers, published scientific works, theatrical performances were presented.

The Italian literary language was supported by the media after the Second World War. Internal migration has reduced the differences between dialects, so the share of classical Italian has increased. But many humanities have retained the status of an international language in Latin. Information about what language the Romans spoke in helps solve many modern puzzles.