Chap. XLVI. Third Conjugation.-1. Verbs which have a Vowel LV. Deponents of the Second Conjugation LVI. Deponents of the Third Conjugation INTRODUCTION. THE Latin language was once spoken by the Romans, at first only in a part of Middle Italy, but subsequently in all Italy and in other countries subject to the Romans. At present it can be learned only from books and the monumental inscriptions of that people.* The earliest Latin writings that we possess were com * ["Any inquiry into the origin of the Latin language must involve an inquiry into the languages spoken by the ancient inhabitants of Italy; and our information on this subject, notwithstanding the investigations of Mi cali, Grotefend, Müller, Lepsius, and other distinguished scholars, is at present very imperfect. So much, however, appears certain, that the Latin language was different from the Etrurian and Oscan, of which the former was spoken by the inhabitants of the northern, and the latter by those of the central and southern parts of Italy. The Latins appear to have originally formed part of that great race which overspread both Greece and Italy under the name of Pelasgians. Their language formed a branch of that extensive family of languages which are known to modern scholars by the name of Indo-Germanic; and it is probable that the Pelasgians who settled in Italy originally spoke the same language as the Pelasgians who settled in Greece. There is consequently a great resemblance between the Latin and Greek languages; though each possesses an element which the other does not. Not only does the Latin language possess many words which it has not in common with the Greek, but also in some parts of its grammatical inflection, as, for instance, in that of the passive voice, it differs considerably from the Greek language. It therefore becomes a question what that element is which the Latin language has not in common with the Greek; and here we must attain some farther knowledge of the languages of ancient Italy before we can answer this question satisfactorily. The Etrurian, so far as our imperfect knowledge of it will enable us to form an opinion on the subject, appears to have exercised little influence upon the formation of the Latin language; but the Oscan or Opican tongue, on the contrary, seems to have united with the Pelasgian in forming the Latin. Niebuhr (Hist. of Rome, vol. i., p. 82) has remarked that the words which relate to agriculture and domestic life agree in Greek and Latin, as, domus, ager, aratrum, vinum, oleum, lac, bos, sus, ovis, &c., while those relating to arms and war, as duellum, ensis, hasta, sagitta, &c., are different from the Greek. But this remark is to be taken with considerable limitation, for there are many exceptions both ways; indeed, so many as to render the position itself at least doubtful, and all inferences derived from it consequently inconclusive. The words relating to arms and war may have been Öscan; and it has therefore been supposed by Dr. Arnold (Hist. of Rome, vol. i., p. 22), not only that the Latins were a mixed people, partly Pelasgian and partly Oscan, but also that they arose out of a conquest of the Pelasgians by the Oscans, so that the latter were the ruling class of the united nation, and the former its subjects."-Penny Cyclop., vol. xx., p. 112. Compare Lepsius, Ueber die Tyrrhenischen Pelasger in Etrurien, Leipsig, 1842; Donaldson's Varronianus, p. 10, &c.; Baehr, Geschichte der Römischen Litera tar vol. i., p. 3, &c.; Grotefend, Alt-Italien, Drittes Heft, p. 30.1-Am. Ed posed about 200 years before the birth of Christ,* and in the sixth century after Christ, Latin, as a spoken language, died entirely away. It had then become quite corrupted through the influence of the foreign nations which had settled in the Roman dominions, and it became so mixed up with the languages of the invaders that a number of new languages (Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese) were gradually formed out of it. All persons who wrote Latin in later times had learned it as a dead language. During the long period in which the Latin language was spoken, it underwent various changes, not only in the number of its words and their meanings, in their forms and combinations, but, to some extent, in its pronunciation also. We shall in this Grammar describe the language, though not exclusively, such as it was spoken and written during the most important period of Roman literature, that is, about the time of Julius Cæsar and Cicero, till shortly after the birth of Christ. That period is commonly called the golden age, and the subsequent one, till about A.D. 120, the silver age of the Latin language. The Latin language, in its origin, is nearest akin to the Greek, and at the time when the Romans became acquainted with the literature, arts, and institutions of Greece, they adopted a great many single words, as well as constructions, from the Greek. Both languages, moreover, belong to the same family from which the English, German, northern, and many other languages have sprung.‡ * [Vid. Appendix VI. t[That the Latin is an gists now readily admit. Ed. Remains of early Latin.]—Am. Ed. older language than the Greek all sound philoloConsult Donaldson's New Cratylus, p. 89.]—Am. [On the general question of Linguistic affinity, consult Bopp, Vergleich. Gramm.; Donaldson's New Cratylus, ch. iv. ; Id., Varronianus, p. 40. The authorities having reference to earlier and erroneous views respecting the origin of the Latin tongue may be found in Baehr, Geschichte der Röm. Lt. vol. i., p. 3, &c.]-Am. Ed. |