In the following paragraph from President Wilson's address to Congress recommending a declaration of war the italicized words are of Latin origin:

With a profound sense of the solemn and even tragical character of the step I am taking and of the grave responsibilities which it involves, but in unhesitating obedience to what I deem my constitutional duty, I advise that the Congress declare the recent course of the Imperial German government to be in fact nothing less than war against the government and people of the United States; that it formally accept the status of belligerent which has thus been thrust upon it, and that it take immediate steps not only to put the country in a more thorough state of defense, but also to exert all its power and employ all its resources to bring the government of the German empire to terms and end the war.

3. The greater number of the new words which are being added to the language from time to time come from Latin or Greek. This is especially true of the names of new inventions. Such words as telephone, automobile, submarine, tractor, motor, turbine, are of this class. Further, the special terms used in chemistry, botany, physics, and other scientific studies, are of Latin or Greek origin.

In the study of law, words derived from Latin are of very great importance. Such words as jury, court, legal, conviction, acquittal, and a great many other important words and expressions which lawyers must understand come from Latin. In the study of medicine also a great many Latin and Greek words or derivatives are used. The words medicine, sanatorium, hospital, invalid, doctor, patient, come from Latin. When a doctor writes a prescription he generally uses Latin words or their abbreviations.

THE FORMS OF ENGLISH DERIVATIVES FROM LATIN

4. Some Latin words have been taken into the English language without any change in their spelling. Such are census, orator, dictator, censor, terror, favor. The meanings have in some

instances changed, but the greater number of such words retain the same, or nearly the same, meaning as in the original Latin.

But most English words of Latin origin have been somewhat changed in their form. In many instances this is due to the fact that they were first taken from the Latin into the French, and changed in form because of a difference of pronunciation. They were later brought into English from the French. Such are memory, from Latin memoria, patience, from Latin patientia, ornament, from Latin ōrnāmentum.

EXERCISE

5. Give the English words which are derived from the following Latin words:

LATIN ENDINGS IN ENGLISH WORDS

6. In the words given in section 5 the ending -ia of the Latin word appears in the derived English words as -y, -tia appears as -ce or -cy, and -um is dropped.

Other endings which also appear to change in accordance with fixed rules will be shown later.

SUGGESTED DRILL

1. From what sources are most English words derived? 2. What is meant by Anglo-Saxon? 3. What other name is often used for AngloSaxon? 4. What was the date of the Norman invasion of England? 5. What are some important classes of English words which are derived from Greek and Latin? 6. Give some English words which have been taken from Latin without change of form. 7. Why have many English words

of Latin derivation changed their form? 8. What changes in endings are illustrated in the English words derived from Latin which are given in section 5?

LESSON II

MODERN LANGUAGES DERIVED FROM LATIN:

ANCIENT AND MODERN GREEK

LATIN IN ANCIENT TIMES

7. Latin is the language which was spoken by the Romans. When they extended their authority over all of Italy, their language came to be the language of Italy. Greek, however, continued to be spoken in some cities of the southern part, which had been founded by Greek settlers.

After the Romans conquered the nations living in the region which is now occupied by Spain, Portugal, France, Switzerland, and part of Austria, Latin began to be known throughout this part of the world. Roman soldiers and government officials were stationed in many towns of the conquered lands, and Roman merchants carried on business with the inhabitants. As a result of these influences, Latin finally took the place of the languages formerly spoken throughout the greater part of this entire region.

MODERN LATIN, OR ROMANCE LANGUAGES

8. When the Roman empire gradually lost its power and when the barbarians drove back the Roman armies, the influence of the Latin language still remained. The Spanish, French, Portuguese, Italian, and Roumanian languages are simply modern Latin. Many changes have taken place in the spelling and pronunciation of the Latin words which appear in these Romance languages, as they are called, and words have been introduced from other sources.

Some of the pronouns have disappeared, and others are used in a different way from that in which they were used by the Romans. The changes have been greater in some languages than in others, perhaps partly because of the influence of the languages spoken by the neighboring nations, and partly

because of the character of the language which the Latin replaced. But in the main these languages are Latin, and their relation to the language spoken by the Romans can easily be traced.

LATIN WORDS IN THE ROMANCE LANGUAGES

9. A glance at the following table, giving the numbers from one to ten in Latin and in the modern languages derived from Latin, will show how close the relation is between these languages and Latin.

Many other words in common use in French, Spanish, and the other Romance languages, have been very slightly changed from the original Latin form. Thus, the French word arbre, meaning tree, is from the Latin arbor; terre, meaning land is from the Latin terra; and vendre, meaning to sell, is from the Latin vendere.

The Spanish word agua, meaning water, is from the Latin aqua; mar, meaning sea, is from the Latin mare; amar, meaning to love, is from the Latin amāre.

Many of these words follow certain rules or laws in their development from Latin into French or Spanish, and so they may easily be recognized when these rules are known. This is also true of the other languages of this group.

THE IMPORTANCE OF THE "MODERN LATIN" LANGUAGES

10. In the greater part of Austria and in part of Switzerland, Latin was displaced by other languages. But the extension of the Romance languages over South America and part of North America has more than made up for this loss.

The Spanish language is used throughout the whole of South America, with the exception of Brazil. In Brazil the language is Portuguese. Spanish is also the language of Mexico and is spoken extensively in parts of Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona, and to some extent in southern California. French is the language of part of Canada, and it is also spoken in some portions of Louisiana.

The Romance languages make one of the most important elements in the languages of the modern world.

ANCIENT GREEK AND ITS INFLUENCE

11. Greek was at one time spoken extensively in Asia Minor as well as in Greece and in some of the cities of southern Italy. In its modern form it is spoken in Greece, in some parts of the Balkan peninsula, and along the coast of Asia Minor. It has had less influence than Latin on the modern languages. But many scientific terms of Greek origin are in use, especially in English, and modern literature and art have been greatly influenced by the literature and art of ancient Greece.

THE ALPHABET

12. The alphabet used by the Russians and by some of the nations of eastern Europe is derived from the Greek alphabet. The Latin alphabet, which is the same as our English alphabet, comes from one form of the Greek, but not from the form which was used in the writing of Greek literature. The Romance languages and also some other important European languages, such as those of Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Holland, Poland, and Bohemia use the Latin alphabet, but some of the letters have special marks to indicate sounds which the Latin letters did not have.