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We are Poles, so, of course, we print in Latin

ustc.ac.uk

61–70 of 93 posts

Re: We are Poles, so, of course, we print in Latin

#61
post #6

As a side note I do think Latin language should be become the official language of the EU. It's dead so - its a compromise for all member staes - you can change as you like - it was used millennials as a law language so it fits

The EU has already started expanding to countries whose prestigious classical language was Greek, not Latin, so Latin would no longer look like a compromise but favoritism towards Western Europe.

Re: We are Poles, so, of course, we print in Latin

#62
post #59
post #6

As a side note I do think Latin language should be become the official language of the EU. It's dead so - its a compromise for all member staes - you can change as you like - it was used millennials as a law language so it fits

> Latin language should be become the official language of the EU It would be more practical, if everyone spoke the same language, but the EU does deliberately not want that. The EU wants to preserve language and culture of its member states and regions. "United in Diversity" is an important idea of the EU.

nah I disagree. Because a dead language helps preserving the living languages of the nations.

Re: We are Poles, so, of course, we print in Latin

#63
post #32
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that is a reason the catholic Church still uses it for things like papal encyclicals. It puts different groups on a more equal footing. Far more people understand it than things like Esperanto. Quite a lot of people know it a bit. I did it at school. My kids learned some (their choice to do it up to GCSE level). That said, in practice, English is the international language. It is what is most likely to be use…

English is the international language now . About a century ago, the lingua franca of the technological world was German. Half of my father's university text books were in German, pretty much all of mine were in English. Things can (and do) change.

Except now the whole world is in a common meme pool. Thanks to the internet, Metcalfe’s Law applies to languages globally. China may stave it off for a while by firewalling its population... but the rest of the world won't care.

It's not going to change again. Not even if the US and UK both sank into the ocean.

Re: We are Poles, so, of course, we print in Latin

#64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can't deny it, mass is much more stylish in Latin ;)

It's only stylish because of the imagined qualities of prestige vested in a language you're not fluent in. It's the same as how you get English-speaking people realising how cringe-inducing anime dialogue really is when they hear it in English instead of Japanese, and then championing "the only REAL way of consuming anime is in Japanese dub!", not realising the Japanese used in that is also extremely cringey. People…

I find (on average) the Japanese VA to be much better then the English VA, also if you know Japanese, yes the dialogue may still be cringy but you aren't having to deal with translators adding/changing things.

https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/just-according-to-keikaku

Yes I know that was fan-sub but it's the first example that comes to mind, I remember some drama from professionals as well.

Re: We are Poles, so, of course, we print in Latin

#65
post #25

This phenomenon is well explained in ``God's Playground: A History of Poland'' by Norman Davies, which I am currently reading/listening to. But historically Latin was the lingua franca that time, and Polish people who wrote were always educated. So no other possibility back day I'd say...

Yes, Latin was indeed the lingua franca of Europe then, but the situation is even more interesting here.

1. Poland at the time was an expansive, multi-ethnic state, and while Polish gained increasing dominance as the lingua franca of the state (other languages of the state administration included German and Ruthenian), Latin was for a long time the lingua franca even just within the Polish state itself.

2. Unlike other countries where education was concentrated exclusively in cities, Poland also had a dense network of parish schools that diffused knowledge of Latin among even the rural nobility and town-dwelling population. Later, there was also a network of Jesuit colleges that followed the Ratio Studiorum which included extensive education in Latin and made an elite education accessible not just to wealthy magnates, but to poorer nobles as well. Recall that the Polish szlachta alone comprised on average about 11% of the population, compared to the corresponding 1-2% in France or England.

3. Because of Poland's republican style of government, public speaking, oratory and debate were essential for political participation. This was all carried out in Latin. Sarmatian culture also saw the Res Publica Poloniae as a "spiritual successor" of Rome and saw the Latin language as part of its identity. Furthermore, during the era of the elected monarchs, kings were not always fluent or able to speak in Polish, but they would have known Latin.

Re: We are Poles, so, of course, we print in Latin

#66
post #59
post #6

As a side note I do think Latin language should be become the official language of the EU. It's dead so - its a compromise for all member staes - you can change as you like - it was used millennials as a law language so it fits

> Latin language should be become the official language of the EU It would be more practical, if everyone spoke the same language, but the EU does deliberately not want that. The EU wants to preserve language and culture of its member states and regions. "United in Diversity" is an important idea of the EU.

Parts of the EU say that, then at other times other parts act inconsistently with it. I was just at a meeting of an EU body where it was emphasized that, when considering the language of European patents written in English, courts would deliberately interpret the text as having been written by a native English speaker, even when it was clear that the author was a native speaker of a different EU language, for example, in cases where the author was clearly following a grammatical convention of their native language (eg, in comma placement) that might be awkward or ambiguous in English.

While that might make sense from a legal standpoint, it seems like it makes it risky to hire patent lawyers in Europe who are not native English speakers, which in turn, along with many other similar inconsistencies, does in practice create an EU-preferred language.

Re: We are Poles, so, of course, we print in Latin

#67
post #59
post #6

As a side note I do think Latin language should be become the official language of the EU. It's dead so - its a compromise for all member staes - you can change as you like - it was used millennials as a law language so it fits

> Latin language should be become the official language of the EU It would be more practical, if everyone spoke the same language, but the EU does deliberately not want that. The EU wants to preserve language and culture of its member states and regions. "United in Diversity" is an important idea of the EU.

I think the emphasis is on official. That is, it would function as the common language of administration, communication, diplomacy, etc. (i.e., lingua franca), but it wouldn't replace vernacular languages. This was the norm centuries ago in Europe.

One advantage of it being "dead" is that the meanings of terms are much more stable. They don't undergo the usual slippage and mutation of spoken languages. This advantage would be lost if it were to replace existing vernacular languages.

Re: We are Poles, so, of course, we print in Latin

#68
post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Giving the mass in Latin wasn't (generally) done because people understood Latin, but because of a traditionalist sense. The Second Vatican Council stated (among other things) that the mass could be done in other languages apart from Latin, and that it was a good thing to use local languages, so people could understand it better. After that Council some excisions appeared, like the Society of Saint Pius X, that recla…

Besides the language being Latin vs local languages, there is one huge difference people don't know about. The Tridentine Mass has the priest facing toward the altar and the tabernacle, this is called "ad orientem". In "modern" day post-Second-Vatican-Council mass, the priest typically speaks the local language and faces the congregation.

The modern mass can be done ad orientem. The switch of orientation was only permitted, not required, in the Novus Ordo.

Most of the changes people associate with the Novus Ordo were completely optional and often not even expected to have become so common. This is why all the popes have been exasperated, to varying extents, with the Latin Mass movement. Literally nothing prevents dioceses from celebrating the Novus Ordo mass in Latin, ad orientem, chanting, etc.

Re: We are Poles, so, of course, we print in Latin

#69
post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The classical school movement in America is growing quite rapidly, and so maybe we start to see it again? My kids at least are all learning Latin, and later, Greek.

In Spain both are still taught in the standard high-school curriculum. Not everyone takes those classes of course, but Latin is one of the core optatives in the humanities path, it can be chosen in the university entrance exam as one of the core tests, and many students do pick it. It's not really taught as a foreign language though, it is used to teach fundamental concepts in linguistic analysis and translation, and…

What's called "Roman law" in Europe derives from the Justinian Code, which was nominally a codification of but in many respects a radical reinterpretation of late roman law. Prior to the Justinian Code, and especially Scholastic era glosses, Roman law was arguably more like a very rigid style of common law; that is, requiring judges to hew closely to precedent rather than applying abstract legal principles.

It was the rediscovery of the Justinian Code during the Scholastic age which kickstarted a blossoming of legal theory in Europe. But they didn't understand that the Justinian Code wasn't a reflection of Roman law so much as a reflection of Emperor Justinian's reforms, which were in part an attempt to reassert control over and simplify the legal system.

Re: We are Poles, so, of course, we print in Latin

#70
post #68
post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Besides the language being Latin vs local languages, there is one huge difference people don't know about. The Tridentine Mass has the priest facing toward the altar and the tabernacle, this is called "ad orientem". In "modern" day post-Second-Vatican-Council mass, the priest typically speaks the local language and faces the congregation.

The modern mass can be done ad orientem. The switch of orientation was only permitted, not required, in the Novus Ordo. Most of the changes people associate with the Novus Ordo were completely optional and often not even expected to have become so common. This is why all the popes have been exasperated, to varying extents, with the Latin Mass movement. Literally nothing prevents dioceses from celebrating the Novus Or…

Why would the Papacy be exasperated with the Latin Mass movement if it's merely celebrating one of the allowable options?

(Genuine question, I'm sure I lack all context.)

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