| Ecclesiastical Latin | |
|---|---|
| Church Latin, Liturgical Latin | |
| Native to | Never spoken as a native language; other uses vary widely by period and location |
| Extinct | Still used for many purposes, mostly as aliturgical language of theLatin liturgical rites of theCatholic Church, and (rarely) inAnglicanism andLutheranism.[1] Also used in theWestern Rite of theEastern Orthodox Church.[2] |
Indo-European
| |
Early form | |
| Latin | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
| Glottolog | None |
| IETF | la-VA |
| This article containsIPA phonetic symbols. Without properrendering support, you may seequestion marks, boxes, or other symbols instead ofUnicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, seeHelp:IPA. | |
Ecclesiastical Latin, also calledChurch Latin orLiturgical Latin, is a form ofLatin developed to discussChristian thought inlate antiquity and used inChristianliturgy,theology, and church administration to the present day, especially in theCatholic Church. It includes words fromVulgar Latin andClassical Latin (as well asGreek andHebrew) re-purposed with Christian meaning.[3] It is less stylized and rigid in form than Classical Latin, sharing vocabulary, forms, and syntax, while at the same time incorporating informal elements which had always been with the language but which were excluded by the literary authors of Classical Latin.[4]
Its pronunciation was partly standardized in the late 8th century during theCarolingian Renaissance as part ofCharlemagne's educational reforms, and this new letter-by-letter pronunciation, used in France and England, was adopted in Iberia and Italy a couple of centuries afterwards.[5] As time passed, pronunciation diverged depending on the local vernacular language, giving rise to even highly divergent forms such as thetraditional English pronunciation of Latin, which has now been largely abandoned for reading Latin texts. Within theCatholic Church and in certainProtestant churches, such as theAnglican Church, a pronunciation based on modernItalian phonology, known asItalianate Latin, has become common since the late 19th century.
Ecclesiastical Latin is the language ofliturgical rites in theLatin Church, as well as theWestern Rite of theEastern Orthodox Church.[2] It is occasionally used inAnglican Church andLutheran Church liturgies as well.[1] Today, ecclesiastical Latin is primarily used in official documents of the Catholic Church, in theTridentine Mass, and it is still learned by clergy.[3][1]
The Ecclesiastical Latin that is used in theological works, liturgical rites and dogmatic proclamations varies in style: syntactically simple in theVulgate Bible, hieratic (very restrained) in theRoman Canon of theMass, terse and technical inThomas Aquinas'sSumma Theologica, andCiceronian (syntactically complex) inPope John Paul II's encyclical letterFides et Ratio.
The use of Latin in the Church started in the late fourth century[6] with the split of the Roman Empire afterEmperor Theodosius in 395. Before this split, Greek was the primary language of the Church (theNew Testament was written in Greek and theSeptuagint – a Greek translation of the Hebrew bible – was in widespread use among both Christians andHellenized Jews) as well as the language of theeastern half of the Roman Empire. Following the split, early theologians likeJerome translated Greek and Hebrew texts into Latin, the dominant language of theWestern Roman Empire. The loss of Greek in the Western half of the Roman Empire, and the loss of Latin in the Eastern half of the Roman Empire were not immediate, but changed the culture of language as well as the development of the Church.[7] What especially differentiates Ecclesiastical Latin from Classical Latin is the consequences of its use as a language for translating, since it has borrowed and assimilated constructions and vocabulary from thekoine Greek, while adapting the meanings of some Latin words to those of thekoine Greek originals, which are sometimes themselves translations of Hebrew originals.[6]
At first there was no distinction between Latin and the actual Romance vernacular, the former being just the traditional written form of the latter. For instance, in ninth-century Spain⟨saeculum⟩ was simply the correct way to spell[sjeɡlo], meaning 'century'. The writer would not have actually read it aloud as/sɛkulum/ any more than an English speaker today would pronounce ⟨knight⟩ as*/knɪxt/.[8]
The spoken version of Ecclesiastical Latin was created later during theCarolingian Renaissance. The English scholarAlcuin, tasked byCharlemagne with improving the standards of Latin writing in France, prescribed a pronunciation based on a fairly literal interpretation of Latin spelling. For example, in a radical break from the traditional system, a word such as ⟨viridiarium⟩ 'orchard' now had to be read aloud precisely as it was spelled rather than*/verdʒjær/ (later spelled asOld Frenchvergier). The Carolingian reforms soon brought the new Church Latin from France to other lands where Romance was spoken.
The use of Latin in the Western Church continued into theEarly modern period. One ofMartin Luther's tenets during theReformation was to have services and religious texts in thecommon tongue, rather than Latin, a language that at the time, many did not understand. Protestants refrained from using Latin in services, however Protestant clergy had to learn and understand Latin as it was the language of higher learning and theological thought until the 18th century.[9] After theReformation, in theLutheran churches, Latin was retained as the language of the Mass for weekdays, although for the Sunday Sabbath, theDeutsche Messe was to be said.[10] InGeneva, among theReformed churches, "persons called before theconsistory to prove their faith answered by reciting thePaternoster, theAve Maria, and theCredo in Latin."[10] In theAnglican Church, theBook of Common Prayer was published in Latin, alongside English.[1]John Wesley, the founder of theMethodist churches, "used Latin text in doctrinal writings",[1] as Martin Luther andJohn Calvin did in their era.[1] In the training of Protestant clergy inWürttemberg, as well as in theRhineland, universities instructed divinity students in Latin and their examinations were conducted in this language.[10] The University of Montauban, under Reformed auspices, required that seminarians complete two theses, with one being in Latin; thus Reformed ministers were "Latinist by training", comparable to Catholic seminarians.[10]
Ecclesiastical Latin continues to be the official language of the Catholic Church. TheSecond Vatican Council (1962–1965) allowed theMass to be celebrated invernacular languages, leaving the option to celebrate the Mass in Latin to the celebrating priest.[11] The Church produces liturgical texts in Latin, which provide a single clear point of reference for translations into all other languages. The same holds for the texts ofcanon law.[3]Pope Benedict XVI gave his unexpectedresignation speech in Latin.[12]
The Holy See has for some centuries usually drafted documents in a modern language, but the authoritative text, published in theActa Apostolicae Sedis, is usually in Latin. Some texts may be published initially in a modern language and be later revised, according to a Latin version (or "editio typica"), after this Latin version is published. For example, theCatechism of the Catholic Church was drafted and published, in 1992, in French. The Latin text appeared five years later, in 1997, and the French text was corrected to match the Latin version, which is regarded as the official text. The Latin-language department of the Vatican Secretariat of State (formerly theSecretaria brevium ad principes et epistolarum latinarum) is charged with the preparation in Latin of papal and curial documents. Sometimes, the official text is published in a modern language, e.g., the well-known edictTra le sollecitudini[13] (1903) byPope Pius X (in Italian) andMit brennender Sorge (1937) byPope Pius XI (in German).
There are not many differences between Classical Latin and Church Latin. One can understand Church Latin knowing the Latin of classical texts, as the main differences between the two are in pronunciation and spelling, as well as vocabulary.[citation needed][clarification needed]
In many countries, those who speak Latin for liturgical or other ecclesiastical purposes use the pronunciation that has become traditional in Rome by giving the letters the value they have in modernItalian but without distinguishing betweenopen and close⟨e⟩ and⟨o⟩.[clarification needed]⟨ae⟩ and⟨oe⟩ coalesce with⟨e⟩.⟨c⟩ and⟨g⟩ before⟨ae⟩,⟨oe⟩,⟨e⟩,⟨y⟩ and⟨i⟩ are pronounced/t͡ʃ/ (English⟨ch⟩) and/d͡ʒ/ (English⟨j⟩), respectively.⟨ti⟩ before a vowel is generally pronounced/tsi/ (unless preceded by⟨s⟩,⟨d⟩ or⟨t⟩). Such speakers pronounce consonantal⟨v⟩ (not written as⟨u⟩) as/v/ as in English, not as Classical/w/. Like in Classical Latin, double consonants are pronounced withgemination.[citation needed]
The distinction in Classical Latin between long and short vowels is ignored, and instead of the 'macron' or 'apex', lines to mark the long vowel, an acute accent is used for stress. The first syllable of two-syllable words is stressed; in longer words, an acute accent is placed over the stressed vowel: adorémus 'let us adore'; Dómini 'of the Lord'.[14]
The complete text of the Bible in Latin, the revised Vulgate, appears at Nova Vulgata – Bibliorum Sacrorum Editio.[15]New Advent[16] gives the entire Bible, in the Douay version, verse by verse, accompanied by the Vulgate Latin of each verse.
In 1976, theLatinitas Foundation[17] (Opus Fundatum Latinitas in Latin) was established byPope Paul VI to promote the study and use of Latin. Its headquarters are inVatican City. The foundation publishes aneponymous quarterly in Latin. The foundation also published a 15,000-word Italian-LatinLexicon Recentis Latinitatis (Dictionary of Recent Latin), which provides Latin coinages for modern concepts, such as a bicycle (birota), a cigarette (fistula nicotiana), a computer (instrumentum computatorium), a cowboy (armentarius), a motel (deversorium autocineticum), shampoo (capitilavium), a strike (operistitium), a terrorist (tromocrates), a trademark (ergasterii nota), an unemployed person (invite otiosus), a waltz (chorea Vindobonensis), and even a miniskirt (tunicula minima) and hot pants (brevissimae bracae femineae). Some 600 such terms extracted from the book appear on a page[18] of the Vatican website. The Latinitas Foundation was superseded by thePontifical Academy for Latin (Latin:Pontificia Academia Latinitatis) in 2012.
Latin remains an oft-used language of theHoly See and theLatin liturgical rites of the Catholic Church.[19] Until the 1960s and still later in Roman colleges like the Gregorian, Catholicpriests studied theology using Latin textbooks and the language of instruction in manyseminaries was also Latin, which was seen as the language of the Church Fathers. The use of Latin inpedagogy and in theological research, however, has since declined. Nevertheless,canon law requires for seminary formation to provide for a thorough training in Latin,[20] though "the use of Latin in seminaries and pontifical universities has now dwindled to the point of extinction."[21] Latin was still spoken in recent international gatherings of Catholic leaders, such as theSecond Vatican Council, and it is still used atconclaves to elect a newPope. The Tenth OrdinaryGeneral Assembly of the Synod of Bishops in 2004 was the most recent to have a Latin-language group for discussions.
Although Latin is the traditional liturgical language of theWestern (Latin) Church, the liturgical use of the vernacular has predominated since the liturgical reforms that followed the Second Vatican Council:liturgical law for theLatin Church states thatMass may be celebrated either in Latin or another language in which the liturgical texts, translated from Latin, have been legitimately approved.[22] The permission granted for continued use of theTridentine Mass in its 1962 form authorizes use of the vernacular language in proclaiming the Scripture readings after they are first read in Latin.[23]
In historic Protestant churches, such as theAnglican Communion andLutheran churches, Ecclesiastical Latin is occasionally employed in sung celebrations of theMass.[1]
The Second Vatican Council declared that the use of Latin was to be maintained in the liturgy, though permission was granted for some use of the vernacular; in the outcome, the use of the vernacular has almost entirely triumphed, although the official books continue to be published in Latin. In the Church of England the Latin versions of the Book of Common Prayer have never been widely used, though, for instance, John Wesley used Latin text in doctrinal writings. The option of using traditional Latin texts in sung worship has been retained by choirs in both the Anglican and Lutheran Churches.
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