Tore Janson tells the history of Latin from origins to present. He offers persuasive arguments for its value and gives direct access to its fascinating worlds, past and present. He describes how Latin spread through the classical world, its renewed importance in the Middle Ages, and its survival into modern times. He shows how spoken and written Latin evolved in different places and its central role in European history and culture. Brilliantly conceived and writtenwith the same light touch as the author's bestselling history of languages, this book is a masterpiece of adroit synthesis.

Tore Janson was Professor successively of Latin and African Languages at the University of Göteborg and is a world expert on the history of Languages. His books include A Short History of Languages (OUP 2002; hardback edition 2007).

• Part I Latin and the Romans


• 1: Lingua latina: a first acquaintance


• 2: The earliest period of Rome


• 3: How Latin became Latin


• 4: From small town to great power


• 5: How bad were the Romans?


• 6: A voice from early Rome


• 7: The meeting with Greece


• 8: Theatre for the people


• 9: The age of revolutions


• 10: Writing, reading, listening, and speaking


• 11: Speeches, politics, and lawsuits


• 12: Cicero and rhetoric


• 13: The language of history


• 14: Imperium romanum: Augustus and the Roman Empire


• 15: Name and family


• 16: Years and months


• 17: Latin becomes the language of Europe


• 18: Poets and poetry


• 19: Philosophy: Lucretius, Cicero, Seneca


• 20: The Schools and Quintilian


• 21: The sciences


• 22: Everyday language


• 23: Laws and legal language


• 24: Tacitus, the emperors, and Britain


• 25: Christianity: from dangerous sect to state religion


• Part II Latin and Europe


• 26: Europe after Rome


• 27: From Latin to the Romance languages


• 28: Missionaries, Latin, and foreign languages


• 29: Latin in Britain


• 30: Latin in schools


• 31: Speaking and spelling


• 32: Books and scribes


• 33: Saints and heretics


• 34: The guardians of the heritage


• 35: Poetry after antiquity


• 36: Abelard and Heloise


• 37: The thinkers


• 38: The Renaissance


• 39: Doctors and their language


• 40: Linnaeus and Latin


• 41: Physicists, chemists, and others


• 42: Alchemy, witchcraft, and Harry Potter


• 43: Loanwords and neologisms


• 44: Latin and German


• 45: Latin and French


• 46: Latin and English


• 47: Latin and us


• Part III About the Grammar


• 48: Introduction


• 49: Pronunciation and stress


• 50: Sentences, verbs and nouns


• 51: Words and word classes


• 52: Nouns


• 53: Adjectives


• 54: Pronouns


• 55: THe forms of the verb


• 56: Amandi and amanda


• 57: How words are formed


• Glossary of words and expressions


• Part IV Basic Vocabulary


• Part V Common Phrases and Expressions


• Suggested reading


• Index