An Introduction to Vulgar Latin

by Charles Hall Grandgent

The modern study of Classical Latin creates the illusion that it is a precisely-defined and immutable language; but all living languages are changing continuously, and Latin was no exception. Even in the Classical period many varieties of Latin were written and spoken, and as the Empire collapsed Latin, especially the spoken language of the common people, evolved. This language, Vulgar Latin, not the medieval Latin of learned scholars, evolved further into the Romance languages. This book traces the development of Vulgar Latin and will therefore be of interest to medievalists and students of Romance languages. Charles Hall Grandgent was a professor at Harvard from 1896 to 1932. He was highly regarded as a Romance linguist and authority on Dante. He was also a leading expert on American English dialects.

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1907

About the author

Charles Hall Grandgent (1862 Dorchester, Massachusetts - 1939 Cambridge, Massachusetts) was an American romance philologist and Italian scholar.

Reviews

[Pilar · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good introduction to the origin, evolution, sources and characteristics of the so called "Vulgar Latin" as equivalent to "spoken Latin", which is not a good equivalence (as the author says), since we can find vulgarisms both in spoken or written Latin of people with not a good level of knowledge of the language. "Vulgarisms" are not equivalent to "colloquialisms".
I liked it: clear, well organized and informative.

[Jari Havela · Rating 5 out of 5]

Delicious!