Latin is ALIVE!

     When I think of Latin, I think of  how many people claim it is a dead language. Well, guess what! It's not actually dead! Yes, Latin is not actually spoken in the modern day world as an actual language itself, but it is STILL used in many things we do today. Latin is ALIVE! We just have to open our eyes to see it.

     Today, we use Latin to help us in many situations. In a court case, you may hear Haebeas Corpus, which means "May you have the body." I was once told by a close friend of mine that when she was in court for a traffic violation, she was asked to plea guilty or not guilty. Instead of pleading guilty of the violation, she said "Nolo contendere," I do not wish to fight. the judge was so surprised to hear those words, he let her off completely. Computer technicians use Latin on computer projects. On many occasions I have seen "Lorum Ipsum" on the Microsoft help center's web page. Latin is still somewhat spoken today as well, but we really don't see it because we think of them as normal English words, like benefit. Benefit is actually two Latin words, bene and fit, and means "good happens."

The words on the Pantheon

     Latin is written on many buildings, especially in Italy. All of the artifacts from ancient Rome have Latin on them in some way. The Pantheon, the Colosseum, the Saint Peter's Basilica, and the statues in Italy all have Latin on them, even a lot of the marked tombstones. Most of the time, the Latin tells who made the structure or who it was dedicated to. If it wasn't for Latin, we wouldn't have the fine writings of Julius Caesar, Cicero, Vergil, or Ovid. We wouldn't know of the Trojan War or what it was about. We wouldn't even know where it was written unless we knew of Vergil's Aeneid. 

The Trojan Horse from the war 

     The language of Latin is so elegant and very beautiful! It is the base of many modern languages. It written on many manuscripts from buildings to tombstones to parchment. Latin is ALIVE! It really is... just open your eyes!