1799, Edward Dubois,A Piece of Family Biography, volume II,page20:
Supper being over, the lawyer took his leave, and the doctor began toſound the learned clerkreſpecting his proficiency in thedead languages. "As todead languages," replied theſchoolmafter, "I was once avaſt prettyſcholar indeed, butwant of exercise has made me mainſlack—I can't get over my ground as Iuſed to do. Then as tothe t'other dead fellow, I could nevergreek it at all, that's flat. And, Lordbleſs you! my Latin is of no moreuſe to me here than—than—" Here heſtuck for want of aſimile; when Mr. Le Dupe helped him out byſaying, "that it is to a young man at college, where it isconſidered a pedanticinſult, and an unpardonable bore, to utter a Latinſentence."
It is questionable whether e.g.,Latin orAncient Greek should be considered dead languages, because they truly never became extinct, as they evolved into the modernRomance languages andModern Greek, respectively.
