Etcetera: Latin words and phrases in English

Q. Why do we use so many Latin phrases in English

A. Even in everyday speech, we use a number of words and phrases taken directly from Latin. Some are modern - 'annus horribilis' (horrible year), the Queen's pun on the title of a poem by Dryden, 'Annus Mirabilis: The Year of Wonders', for example - while others, take for instance the word 'alias', have been around since before the advent of Modern English.

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There are a number of factors which have ensured that Latin has remained in use. Without doubt, the greatest influence has been the Church. Even after the Reformation the language of education was Latin, and the Church took a central role in formal education. This was true throughout Europe, and Latin was thus used as a lingua franca. It was the language of science - even today any new plant or animal species will be given its scientific, Latin name - and the Law.

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Q. But it's a dead language. Why don't we use English phrases instead

A. For the very reason that it was the language of education. 'Etcetera' is an example of a phrase we all use, meaning 'and the rest'. Used as a shorthand - etc. - in manuscripts it has filtered its way out into general speech.

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To try to purge English of Latinisms - or any other foreign words and phrases for that matter - would be an impossible task. Attempts to 'purify' languages do go on, however, though such activities also act obstacles to natural development. The Acad�mie Fran�aise in France monitors the influx of non-French words, and lays the law down about official usage. In the 1930s the Germans sought to 'Germanise' many words with non-German origins. So 'television' (a word recognised throughout the world, taken from Greek telos = far and Latin-dreived vision) became fernsehapparat ('far-seeing apparatus').

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However, English has a larger vocabulary than any other European language, giving it an unrivalled range of expression, partly because it does absorb non-indigenous words and phrases so readily. While Latin, as a language of the people, has indeed been defunct for nearly 1,500 years, it remained, certainly into the 19th century, a living language for millions of religious and scientific people, and is still taught in schools, though rather less than it was even twenty years ago.

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Q. What about other words with Latin roots

A. English, like all languages, developed over many centuries and from many sources. Essentially a Germanic language, English acquired a layer of words with Latin roots through French - a Romance language - after the Norman Conquest. Since the Middle Ages, French far and away outstrips any other language in terms of the number of words coming into English, and most of these will have Latin root. The same is true of words and phrases originating in other Romance languages, such as Spanish and Italian.

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Q. And referenda

A. It's not uncommon to hear politicians referring to referenda - when they mean referendums - if they want to come across as classier than the average politician. The ending '-a' for plurals of words ending in '-um' in the singular, is correct for nouns of the neuter gender in Latin - stadium and stadia, for example - and it is not incorrect, though pedantic, to carry this into English. However, referendum isn't a noun per se, it's a part of the verb referre, so shouldn't strictly be turned into a plural that way.

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Q. And a few Latinisms in general use

sanatorium

amoeba

anathema

persona non grata

charisma

terra firma

exit

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etc...

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For more on Phrase & Sayings click here

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By Simon Smith