''Africitas'' is a putative African

dialect A dialect is a Variety (linguistics), variety of language spoken by a particular group of people. This may include dominant and standard language, standardized varieties as well as Vernacular language, vernacular, unwritten, or non-standardize ...

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

. The term was first used by

Erasmus Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus ( ; ; 28 October c. 1466 – 12 July 1536), commonly known in English as Erasmus of Rotterdam or simply Erasmus, was a Dutch Christian humanist, Catholic priest and Catholic theology, theologian, educationalist ...

as a pejorative to characterize certain elements of African Latin works. In the 20th century, the concept of ''Africitas'' was discussed by scholars, who often analyzed African authors like

Saint Augustine Augustine of Hippo ( , ; ; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430) was a theologian and philosopher of Berbers, Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia (Roman province), Numidia, Roman North Africa. His writings deeply influenced th ...

, a

Church Father The Church Fathers, Early Church Fathers, Christian Fathers, or Fathers of the Church were ancient and influential Christian theologians and writers who established the intellectual and doctrinal foundations of Christianity. The historical per ...

, and the grammarian

Marcus Cornelius Fronto Marcus Cornelius Fronto (c. 100late 160s AD), best known as Fronto, was a Roman grammarian, rhetorician, and advocate. Of Berber origin, he was born at Cirta (modern-day Constantine, Algeria) in Numidia. He was suffect consul for the '' nundiniu ...

in regard to this hypothetical dialect. After 1945, this scholarly conversation died off for many years. However, the discussion was revived in the early 21st century with the publication of the book, ''Apuleius and Africa'' (2014), which examined the concept of ''Africitas'' anew, this time largely in regard to the prose writer

Apuleius Apuleius ( ), also called Lucius Apuleius Madaurensis (c. 124 – after 170), was a Numidians, Numidian Latin-language prose writer, Platonist philosopher and rhetorician. He was born in the Roman Empire, Roman Numidia (Roman province), province ...

. Those who argue in favor of an ''Africitas'' claim that the dialect is demarcated by "peculiarities of vocabulary, syntax, sentence-structure, and style". G. N. Olcott further argues that African Latin "was freest in word formation." After a lengthy consideration of the topic, J. N. Adams argues that "there was type of language that we call ''Africitas'', butthat, given the remoteness of parts of Africa, there was probably a plurality of varieties of Latin rather than a single 'African Latin'." Catherine Conybeare of Bryn Mawr argues that singling out ''Africitas'' can be viewed as racist. In regards to this, Vincent Hunink of

Radboud University Nijmegen Radboud University (abbreviated as RU, , formerly ) is a public university, public research university located in Nijmegen, Netherlands. RU has seven faculties and more than 24,000 students. Established in 1923, Radboud University has consistentl ...

notes that, while it is undeniable that regional variants of spoken Latin existed, "no similar scholarly debate discussion" about the vocabulary, syntax, sentence-structure, and style of "'Germanitas' or 'Brittanitas' has ever come up", suggesting that a fixation on ''Africitas'' is problematic.

References

{{authority control Dialects Forms of Latin Languages of Algeria Languages of Tunisia Languages extinct in the 1st millennium Roman North Africa

See also

References