Latin Linguistics - Veni or Weeni?

An interesting video that describes how you reconstruct the pronunciation of a "dead" language like Latin enough to know what Caesar sounded like when he uttered his famous phrase.

It talks about the process of reconstructing the linguistic clues left behind in Roman writings, using everything from poetic meter to direct descriptions to the languages spawned by Latin that survive today.

a reply to: ketsuko

Parts of the original latin is still alive you know? It's called Italian, so

a reply to: Peeple

The video is speaking about Classical Latin, Italian is derived from Vulgar Latin which is also discussed in the video.

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

You know in a parallel universe you and I would have loads of fun together.
Yes master. Mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.

originally posted by: Peeple
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You know in a parallel universe you and I would have loads of fun together.

Why not in this one?

The difference in pronunciation played an important part in Caesar's invasion of Britain;

Julius Cæsar was therefore compelled to invade Britain again the following year (54 B.C., not 56, owing to the peculiar Roman method of counting), and having defeated the Ancient Britons by unfair means, such as battering-rams, tortoises, hippocausts, centipedes, axes and bundles, set the memorable Latin sentence, “Veni, Vidi, Vici,” which the Romans, who were all very well educated, construed correctly.

The Britons, however, who of course still used the old pronunciation, understanding him to have called them “Weeny, Weedy and Weaky,” lost heart and gave up the struggle, thinking that he had already divided them All into Three Parts.

"1066 and All That", ch1, Sellars and Yeatman

a reply to: Peeple

Parts of the original language are still alive everywhere in our modern experience. It influences much of our language, not just Italian.

However, we do not speak it with the same pronunciations that they originally used. It's like looking at an evolutionary tree and saying that just because the characteristics of an ancestor who no longer exists by itself are found in its offspring that the ancestor is not really "dead." If the Italians of today actually spoke Classical Latin, then we'd call their language Latin and not Italian.

Genial!

a reply to: ketsuko

Aw this takes me right back to starting Latin at 7 and being stuck doing it through to 16. My old Latin teacher used to go on Roman weekends to (i think) Switzerland - everyone had to speak Latin for the entire week. Sounds quite cool but also a real chore!

Funny, i was pretty good at Latin back then - struggle like mad now though. Bloody brain!

a reply to: DISRAELI

Now that is brilliant.

Going to have buy that book (whilst scratching my head as to why i don't already own it).

originally posted by: Flavian
Now that is brilliant.

'Hippocausts' (hypocaust) was actually the funniest one on there if you know what they are.