Medieval Latin was the form of Literary Latin used in
Roman Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...
Western Europe
Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's extent varies depending on context.
The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the Western half of the ancient Mediterranean ...
during the
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...
. It was also the administrative language in the former
Roman Provinces of
Mauretania
Mauretania (; ) is the Latin name for a region in the ancient Maghreb. It extended from central present-day Algeria to the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, encompassing northern present-day Morocco, and from the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean in the ...
,
Numidia
Numidia was the ancient kingdom of the Numidians in northwest Africa, initially comprising the territory that now makes up Algeria, but later expanding across what is today known as Tunisia and Libya. The polity was originally divided between ...
and
Africa Proconsularis
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...
under the
Vandals
The Vandals were a Germanic people who were first reported in the written records as inhabitants of what is now Poland, during the period of the Roman Empire. Much later, in the fifth century, a group of Vandals led by kings established Vand ...
, the
Byzantines and the
Romano-Berber Kingdoms, until it declined after the
Arab Conquest. Medieval Latin in Southern and Central
Visigothic Hispania, conquered by the Arabs immediately after North Africa, experienced a similar fate, only recovering its importance after the
Reconquista
The ''Reconquista'' (Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese for ) or the fall of al-Andalus was a series of military and cultural campaigns that European Christian Reconquista#Northern Christian realms, kingdoms waged ag ...
by the Northern Christian Kingdoms. In this region it served as the primary written language, though local languages were also written to varying degrees. Latin functioned as the main medium of scholarly exchange, as the
liturgical language of the
Church, and as the working language of science, literature, law, and administration.
Medieval Latin represented a continuation of
Classical Latin
Classical Latin is the form of Literary Latin recognized as a Literary language, literary standard language, standard by writers of the late Roman Republic and early Roman Empire. It formed parallel to Vulgar Latin around 75 BC out of Old Latin ...
and
Late Latin
Late Latin is the scholarly name for the form of Literary Latin of late antiquity.Roberts (1996), p. 537. English dictionary definitions of Late Latin date this period from the 3rd to 6th centuries CE, and continuing into the 7th century in ...
, with enhancements for new concepts as well as for the increasing integration of Christianity. Despite some meaningful differences from Classical Latin, its writers did not regard it as a fundamentally different language. There is no real consensus on the exact boundary where
Late Latin
Late Latin is the scholarly name for the form of Literary Latin of late antiquity.Roberts (1996), p. 537. English dictionary definitions of Late Latin date this period from the 3rd to 6th centuries CE, and continuing into the 7th century in ...
ends and Medieval Latin begins. Some scholarly surveys begin with the rise of early
Ecclesiastical Latin
Ecclesiastical Latin, also called Church Latin or Liturgical Latin, is a form of Latin developed to discuss Christian theology, Christian thought in Late antiquity and used in Christianity, Christian liturgy, theology, and church administration ...
in the middle of the 4th century, others around 500, and still others with the replacement of written Late Latin by written
Romance language
The Romance languages, also known as the Latin or Neo-Latin languages, are the languages that are Language family, directly descended from Vulgar Latin. They are the only extant subgroup of the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-E ...
s starting around the year 900.
The terms ''Medieval Latin'' and ''Ecclesiastical Latin'' are sometimes used synonymously, though some scholars draw distinctions. ''Ecclesiastical Latin'' refers specifically to the form that has been used by the
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
(even before the Middle Ages in Antiquity), whereas ''Medieval Latin'' refers to all of the (written) forms of Latin used in the Middle Ages.
The
Romance languages
The Romance languages, also known as the Latin or Neo-Latin languages, are the languages that are Language family, directly descended from Vulgar Latin. They are the only extant subgroup of the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-E ...
spoken in the Middle Ages were often referred to as ''Latin'', since the Romance languages were all descended from
Vulgar Latin
Vulgar Latin, also known as Colloquial, Popular, Spoken or Vernacular Latin, is the range of non-formal Register (sociolinguistics), registers of Latin spoken from the Crisis of the Roman Republic, Late Roman Republic onward. ''Vulgar Latin'' a ...
itself. Medieval Latin would be replaced by educated humanist
Renaissance Latin
Renaissance Latin is a name given to the distinctive form of Literary Latin style developed during the European Renaissance of the fourteenth to fifteenth centuries, particularly by the Renaissance humanism movement. This style of Latin is reg ...
, otherwise known as
Neo-Latin
Neo-LatinSidwell, Keith ''Classical Latin-Medieval Latin-Neo Latin'' in ; others, throughout. (also known as New Latin and Modern Latin) is the style of written Latin used in original literary, scholarly, and scientific works, first in Italy d ...
.
Influences
Christian Latin
Medieval Latin had an enlarged vocabulary, which freely borrowed from other sources. It was heavily influenced by the language of the
Vulgate
The Vulgate () is a late-4th-century Bible translations into Latin, Latin translation of the Bible. It is largely the work of Saint Jerome who, in 382, had been commissioned by Pope Damasus I to revise the Gospels used by the Diocese of ...
, which contained many peculiarities alien to Classical Latin that resulted from a more or less direct translation from
Greek and
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...
; the peculiarities mirrored the original not only in its vocabulary but also in its grammar and syntax.
Greek provided much of the technical vocabulary of
Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...
. The various
Germanic languages
The Germanic languages are a branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family spoken natively by a population of about 515 million people mainly in Europe, North America, Oceania, and Southern Africa. The most widely spoke ...
spoken by the Germanic tribes, who invaded southern Europe, were also major sources of new words. Germanic leaders became the rulers of parts of the Roman Empire that they conquered, and words from their languages were freely imported into the vocabulary of law. Other more ordinary words were replaced by coinages from
Vulgar Latin
Vulgar Latin, also known as Colloquial, Popular, Spoken or Vernacular Latin, is the range of non-formal Register (sociolinguistics), registers of Latin spoken from the Crisis of the Roman Republic, Late Roman Republic onward. ''Vulgar Latin'' a ...
or Germanic sources because the classical words had fallen into disuse.

Latin was also spread to areas such as
Ireland
Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...
and
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
, where
Romance languages
The Romance languages, also known as the Latin or Neo-Latin languages, are the languages that are Language family, directly descended from Vulgar Latin. They are the only extant subgroup of the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-E ...
were not spoken, and which had never known
Roman rule. Works written in those lands where Latin was a learned language, having no relation to the local vernacular, also influenced the vocabulary and syntax of Medieval Latin.
Since subjects like science and philosophy, including
Rhetoric
Rhetoric is the art of persuasion. It is one of the three ancient arts of discourse ( trivium) along with grammar and logic/ dialectic. As an academic discipline within the humanities, rhetoric aims to study the techniques that speakers or w ...
and
Ethics
Ethics is the philosophy, philosophical study of Morality, moral phenomena. Also called moral philosophy, it investigates Normativity, normative questions about what people ought to do or which behavior is morally right. Its main branches inclu ...
, were communicated in Latin, the Latin vocabulary that developed for them became the source of a great many technical words in modern languages. English words like ''abstract'', ''subject'', ''communicate'', ''matter'', ''probable'' and their
cognates
In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymological ancestor in a common parent language.
Because language change can have radical effects on both the soun ...
in other European languages generally have the meanings given to them in Medieval Latin, often terms for abstract concepts not available in English.
Vulgar Latin
The influence of
Vulgar Latin
Vulgar Latin, also known as Colloquial, Popular, Spoken or Vernacular Latin, is the range of non-formal Register (sociolinguistics), registers of Latin spoken from the Crisis of the Roman Republic, Late Roman Republic onward. ''Vulgar Latin'' a ...
was also apparent in the
syntax
In linguistics, syntax ( ) is the study of how words and morphemes combine to form larger units such as phrases and sentences. Central concerns of syntax include word order, grammatical relations, hierarchical sentence structure (constituenc ...
of some Medieval Latin writers, although Classical Latin continued to be held in high esteem and studied as models for literary compositions. The high point of the development of Medieval Latin as a literary language came with the
Carolingian Renaissance
The Carolingian Renaissance was the first of three medieval renaissances, a period of cultural activity in the Carolingian Empire. Charlemagne's reign led to an intellectual revival beginning in the 8th century and continuing throughout the 9th ...
, a rebirth of learning kindled under the patronage of
Charlemagne
Charlemagne ( ; 2 April 748 – 28 January 814) was List of Frankish kings, King of the Franks from 768, List of kings of the Lombards, King of the Lombards from 774, and Holy Roman Emperor, Emperor of what is now known as the Carolingian ...
, king of the
Franks
file:Frankish arms.JPG, Aristocratic Frankish burial items from the Merovingian dynasty
The Franks ( or ; ; ) were originally a group of Germanic peoples who lived near the Rhine river, Rhine-river military border of Germania Inferior, which wa ...
.
Alcuin
Alcuin of York (; ; 735 – 19 May 804), also called Ealhwine, Alhwin, or Alchoin, was a scholar, clergyman, poet, and teacher from York, Northumbria. He was born around 735 and became the student of Ecgbert of York, Archbishop Ecgbert at Yor ...
was Charlemagne's Latin secretary and an important writer in his own right; his influence led to a rebirth of Latin literature and learning after the depressed period following the final disintegration of the authority of the Western Roman Empire.
Although it was simultaneously developing into the Romance languages, Latin itself remained very conservative, as it was no longer a native language and there were many ancient and medieval grammar books to give one standard form. On the other hand, strictly speaking there was no single form of "Medieval Latin". Every Latin author in the medieval period spoke Latin as a second language, with varying degrees of fluency and syntax. Grammar and vocabulary, however, were often influenced by an author's native language. This was especially true beginning around the 12th century, after which the language became increasingly adulterated: late Medieval Latin documents written by French speakers tend to show similarities to medieval French grammar and vocabulary; those written by Germans tend to show similarities to German, etc. For instance, rather than following the classical Latin practice of generally placing the verb at the end, medieval writers would often follow the conventions of their own native language instead. Whereas Latin had no definite or indefinite articles, medieval writers sometimes used forms of ''unus'' as an indefinite article, and forms of ''ille'' (reflecting usage in the Romance languages) as a definite article or even ''quidam'' (meaning "a certain one/thing" in Classical Latin) as something like an article. Unlike classical Latin, where ''esse'' ("to be") was the only auxiliary verb, Medieval Latin writers might use ''habere'' ("to have") as an auxiliary, similar to constructions in Germanic and Romance languages. The
accusative and infinitive construction in classical Latin was often replaced by a subordinate clause introduced by ''quod'' or ''quia''. This is almost identical, for example, to the use of ''que'' in similar constructions in French. Many of these developments are similar to
Standard Average European and the use of medieval Latin among the learned elites of
Christendom may have played a role in the spread of those features.
In every age from the late 8th century onwards, there were learned writers (especially within the Church) who were familiar enough with classical
syntax
In linguistics, syntax ( ) is the study of how words and morphemes combine to form larger units such as phrases and sentences. Central concerns of syntax include word order, grammatical relations, hierarchical sentence structure (constituenc ...
to be aware that these forms and usages were "wrong" and resisted their use. Thus the Latin of a theologian like St
Thomas Aquinas
Thomas Aquinas ( ; ; – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican Order, Dominican friar and Catholic priest, priest, the foremost Scholasticism, Scholastic thinker, as well as one of the most influential philosophers and theologians in the W ...
or of an erudite clerical historian such as
William of Tyre tends to avoid most of the characteristics described above, showing its period in vocabulary and spelling alone; the features listed are much more prominent in the language of lawyers (e.g. the 11th-century English
Domesday Book
Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...
), physicians, technical writers and secular chroniclers. However the use of ''quod'' to introduce subordinate clauses was especially pervasive and is found at all levels.
Changes in vocabulary, syntax, and grammar
Medieval Latin had ceased to be a living language and was instead a scholarly language of the minority of educated men (and a tiny number of women) in medieval Europe, used in official documents more than for everyday communication. This resulted in two major features of Medieval Latin compared with Classical Latin, though when it is compared to the other vernacular languages, Medieval Latin developed very few changes.
There are many prose constructions written by authors of this period that can be considered "showing off" a knowledge of Classical or Old Latin by the use of rare or archaic forms and sequences. Though they had not existed together historically, it is common that an author would use grammatical ideas of the two periods Republican and archaic, placing them equally in the same sentence. Also, many undistinguished scholars had limited education in "proper" Latin, or had been influenced in their writings by Vulgar Latin.
*
Word order
In linguistics, word order (also known as linear order) is the order of the syntactic constituents of a language. Word order typology studies it from a cross-linguistic perspective, and examines how languages employ different orders. Correlatio ...
usually tended towards that of the vernacular language of the author, not the word order of Classical Latin. Conversely, an erudite scholar might attempt to "show off" by intentionally constructing a very complicated sentence. Because Latin is an inflected language, it is technically possible to place related words at opposite ends of a paragraph-long sentence, and owing to the complexity of doing so, it was seen by some as a sign of great skill. The preferred word order in Latin is
Subject-Object-Verb; most vernaculars of medieval Latin authors tend to or mandate
Subject-Verb-Object which thus is more prevalent in medieval than in classical Latin.
*Typically,
preposition
Adpositions are a part of speech, class of words used to express spatial or temporal relations (''in, under, towards, behind, ago'', etc.) or mark various thematic relations, semantic roles (''of, for''). The most common adpositions are prepositi ...
s are used much more frequently (as in modern Romance languages) for greater clarity, instead of using the
ablative case alone. Furthermore, in Classical Latin the subject of a verb was often left implied, unless it was being stressed: = "he sees". For clarity, Medieval Latin more frequently includes an explicit subject: = "he sees" without necessarily stressing the subject. Classical Latin is a
pro-drop language
A pro-drop language (from "pronoun-dropping") is a language in which certain classes of pronouns may be omitted when they can be pragmatically or grammatically inferable. The precise conditions vary from language to language, and can be quite ...
whereas most Germanic (including standard English) and some Romance languages are not.
*Various changes occurred in vocabulary, and certain words were mixed into different
declension
In linguistics, declension (verb: ''to decline'') is the changing of the form of a word, generally to express its syntactic function in the sentence by way of an inflection. Declension may apply to nouns, pronouns, adjectives, adverbs, and det ...
s or
conjugation
Conjugation or conjugate may refer to:
Linguistics
*Grammatical conjugation, the modification of a verb from its basic form
*Emotive conjugation or Russell's conjugation, the use of loaded language
Mathematics
*Complex conjugation, the change o ...
s. Many new compound verbs were formed. Some words retained their original structure but drastically changed in meaning: specifically means "wrath" in Medieval Latin while in Classical Latin, it generally referred to "high spirits, excited spirits" of any kind.
*Owing to heavy use of biblical terms, there was a large influx of new words borrowed from Greek and Hebrew and even some grammatical influences. That obviously largely occurred among priests and scholars, not the laity. In general, it is difficult to express abstract concepts in Latin, as many scholars admitted. For example, Plato's abstract concept of "the Truth" had to be expressed in Latin as "what is always true". Medieval scholars and theologians, translating both the Bible and Greek philosophers into Latin out of the Koine and Classical Greek, cobbled together many new abstract concept words in Latin.
Syntax
*Indirect discourse, which in Classical Latin was achieved by using a subject accusative and infinitive, was now often simply replaced by new conjunctions serving the function of English "that" such as , , or . There was a high level of overlap between the old and new constructions, even within the same author's work, and it was often a matter of preference. A particularly famous and often cited example is from the
Venerable Bede
Bede (; ; 672/326 May 735), also known as Saint Bede, Bede of Jarrow, the Venerable Bede, and Bede the Venerable (), was an English monk, author and scholar. He was one of the most known writers during the Early Middle Ages, and his most fa ...
, using both constructions within the same sentence: "" = "I say that I know
ccusative and infinitiveand that I am unknown
ew construction. The resulting subordinate clause often used the subjunctive mood instead of the indicative. This new syntax for indirect discourse is among the most prominent features of Medieval Latin, the largest syntactical change. However, such use of or also occurred in
the Latin of the late Roman Empire, e.g. the
Vulgate
The Vulgate () is a late-4th-century Bible translations into Latin, Latin translation of the Bible. It is largely the work of Saint Jerome who, in 382, had been commissioned by Pope Damasus I to revise the Gospels used by the Diocese of ...
's
Matthew 2:22: "''Audiens autem quod Archelaus regnaret in Judaea pro Herode...''" = "But hearing that Archelaus reigned in Judaea in Herod's place..."
*Several substitutions were often used instead of subjunctive clause constructions. They did not break the rules of Classical Latin but were an alternative way to express the same meaning, avoiding the use of a subjunctive clause.
**The present participle was frequently used adverbially in place of or clauses, such as clauses of time, cause, concession, and purpose. That was loosely similar to the use of the present participle in an ablative absolute phrase, but the participle did not need to be in the ablative case.
** (I have
o and (I must) would be used to express obligation more often than the gerundive.
***Given that obligation inherently carries a sense of futurity ("Carthage must be destroyed" at some point in the future), this parallels the Romance languages' use of as the basis of their
future tenses (abandoning the Latin forms of the future tense). While in Latin is the indirect discourse "I have to love", in the French equivalent, ( > > , ), it has become the future tense, "I shall love", losing the sense of obligation. In Medieval Latin, however, it was only indirect discourse and not used as simply a future tense.
**Instead of a clause introduced by or , an infinitive was often used with a verb of hoping, fearing, promising, etc.
*Conversely, some authors might haphazardly switch between the subjunctive and indicative forms of verbs, with no intended difference in meaning.
*The usage of changed significantly: it was frequently omitted or implied. Further, many medieval authors did not feel that it made sense for the perfect passive construction "" to use the present tense of in a past tense construction so they began using , the past perfect of , interchangeably with .
*Chaos in the usage of demonstrative pronouns. , , , and even the intensive are often used virtually interchangeably. As in the Romance languages, and were also frequently used simply to express the definite article "the", which Classical Latin did not possess. was also used for the indefinite article "a, an".
*Use of reflexives became much looser. A reflexive pronoun in a subordinate clause might refer to the subject of the main clause. The reflexive possessive might be used in place of a possessive genitive such as .
*Comparison of adjectives changed somewhat. The comparative form was sometimes used with positive or superlative meaning. Also, the adverb was often used with a positive adjective to indicate a comparative meaning, and and could be used with a positive form of adjective to give a superlative meaning.
*Classical Latin used the ablative absolute, but as stated above, in Medieval Latin examples of nominative absolute or accusative absolute may be found. This was a point of difference between the ecclesiastical Latin of the clergy and the "Vulgar Latin" of the laity, which existed alongside it. The educated clergy mostly knew that traditional Latin did not use the nominative or accusative case in such constructions, but only the ablative case. These constructions are observed in the medieval era, but they are changes that developed among the uneducated commoners.
*Classical Latin does not distinguish progressive action in the present tense, thus can mean either "I praise" or "I am praising". In imitation of Greek, Medieval Latin could use a present participle with to form a
periphrastic tense equivalent to the English progressive. This "Greek Periphrastic Tense" formation could also be done in the past and future tenses: ("I am praising"), ("I was praising"), ("I shall be praising").
*Classical Latin verbs had at most two voices, active and passive, but Greek (the original language of the New Testament) had an additional "middle voice" (or reflexive voice). One use was to express when the subject is acting upon itself: "Achilles put the armor onto himself" or "Jesus clothed himself in the robe" would use the middle voice. Because Latin had no middle voice, Medieval Latin expresses such sentences by putting the verb in the passive voice form, but the conceptual meaning is active (similar to Latin
deponent verbs). For example, the Medieval Latin translation of Genesis states literally, "the Spirit of God was moved over the waters" (, Genesis 1:2), but it is just expressing a Greek middle-voice verb: "God moved ''
imself' over the waters".
*Overlapping with orthography differences (see below), certain diphthongs were sometimes shortened: "oe" to "e", and "ae" to "e". Thus, becomes the more familiar (more familiar in this later form because religious terms such as "ecumenical" were more common in Medieval Latin). The "oe" diphthong is not particularly frequent in Latin, but the shift from "ae" to "e" affects many common words, such as (heaven) being shortened to ; even (girls) was shortened to .
*Often, a town would lose its name to that of the tribe which was either accusative or ablative plural; two forms that were then used for all cases, or in other words, considered "indeclinable".
Orthography
Many striking differences between classical and Medieval Latin are found in
orthography
An orthography is a set of convention (norm), conventions for writing a language, including norms of spelling, punctuation, Word#Word boundaries, word boundaries, capitalization, hyphenation, and Emphasis (typography), emphasis.
Most national ...
. Perhaps the most striking difference is that medieval manuscripts used a wide range of abbreviations by means of superscripts, special characters etc.: for instance the letters "n" and "s" were often omitted and replaced by a diacritical mark above the preceding or following letter. Apart from this, some of the most frequently occurring differences are as follows. Clearly many of these would have been influenced by the spelling, and indeed pronunciation,
of the vernacular language, and thus varied between different European countries.
*Following the Carolingian reforms of the 9th century,
Carolingian minuscule was widely adopted, leading to a clear differentiation between capital and lowercase letters.
*A partial or full differentiation between ''v'' and ''u'', and between ''j'' and ''i''.
*The diphthong ''ae'' is usually collapsed and simply written as ''e'' (or ''
e caudata'', ''ę''); for example, ''puellae'' might be written ''puelle'' (or ''puellę''). The same happens with the diphthong ''oe'', for example in ''pena'', ''Edipus'', from ''poena'', ''Oedipus''. This feature is already found on coin inscriptions of the 4th century (e.g. ' for ''reipublicae''). Conversely, an original ''e'' in Classical Latin was often represented by ''ae'' or ''oe'' (e.g. ''aecclesia'' and ''coena''), also reflected in English spellings such as ''foetus''.
*Because of a severe decline in the knowledge of Greek, in loanwords and foreign names from or transmitted through Greek, ''y'' and ''i'' might be used more or less interchangeably: ''Ysidorus'', ''Egiptus'', from ''Isidorus'', ''Aegyptus''. This is also found in pure Latin words: ''ocius'' ("more swiftly") appears as ' and ''silva'' as ''sylva'', this last being a form which survived into the 18th century and so became embedded in modern
botanical Latin (also cf. ''Pennsylvania'').
*''h'' might be lost, so that ''habere'' becomes ''abere'', or ''mihi'' becomes ''mi'' (the latter also occurred in Classical Latin); or ''mihi'' may be written ''michi'', indicating that the ''h'' had come to be pronounced as or perhaps . This pronunciation is not found in Classical Latin, but had existed very early in vulgar speech.
*The loss of ''h'' in pronunciation also led to the addition of ''h'' in writing where it did not previously belong, especially in the vicinity of ''r'', such as ''chorona'' for ''corona'', a tendency also sometimes seen in Classical Latin.
*''-ti-'' before a vowel is often written as ''-ci-''
si so that ''divitiae'' becomes ' (or '), ''tertius'' becomes ', ''vitium'' '.
*The combination ''mn'' might have another plosive inserted, so that ''alumnus'' becomes ', ''somnus'' '.
*Single consonants were often doubled, or vice versa, so that ''tranquillitas'' becomes ' and ''Africa'' becomes ''Affrica''.
*Syncopation became more frequent: ''vi'', especially in verbs in the perfect tense, might be lost, so that ''novisse'' becomes ''nosse'' (this occurred in Classical Latin as well but was much more frequent in Medieval Latin).
These orthographical differences were often due to changes in pronunciation or, as in the previous example,
morphology, which authors reflected in their writing. By the 16th century,
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 ...
complained that speakers from different countries were unable to understand each other's form of Latin.
[See Desiderius Erasmus, ''De recta Latini Graecique sermonis pronunciatione dialogus'', Basel (Frobenius), 1528.]
The gradual changes in Latin did not escape the notice of contemporaries.
Petrarch
Francis Petrarch (; 20 July 1304 – 19 July 1374; ; modern ), born Francesco di Petracco, was a scholar from Arezzo and poet of the early Italian Renaissance, as well as one of the earliest Renaissance humanism, humanists.
Petrarch's redis ...
, writing in the 14th century, complained about this linguistic "decline", which helped fuel his general dissatisfaction with his own era.
Medieval Latin literature
The corpus of Medieval Latin literature encompasses a wide range of texts, including such diverse works as
sermons,
hymns
A hymn is a type of song, and partially synonymous with devotional song, specifically written for the purpose of adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification. The word ''hymn'' ...
,
hagiographical texts,
travel literature
The genre of travel literature or travelogue encompasses outdoor literature, guide books, nature writing, and travel memoirs.
History
Early examples of travel literature include the '' Periplus of the Erythraean Sea'' (generally considered a ...
,
histories,
epics, and
lyric poetry.
The first half of the 5th century saw the literary activities of the great Christian authors
Jerome
Jerome (; ; ; – 30 September 420), also known as Jerome of Stridon, was an early Christian presbyter, priest, Confessor of the Faith, confessor, theologian, translator, and historian; he is commonly known as Saint Jerome.
He is best known ...
(–420) and
Augustine of Hippo
Augustine of Hippo ( , ; ; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430) was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Africa. His writings deeply influenced the development of Western philosop ...
(354–430), whose texts had an enormous influence on theological thought of the Middle Ages, and of the latter's disciple
Prosper of Aquitaine (). Of the later 5th century and early 6th century,
Sidonius Apollinaris ( – after 489) and
Ennodius (474–521), both from Gaul, are well known for their poems, as is
Venantius Fortunatus (). This was also a period of transmission: the
Roman patrician
Boethius
Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius, commonly known simply as Boethius (; Latin: ''Boetius''; 480–524 AD), was a Roman Roman Senate, senator, Roman consul, consul, ''magister officiorum'', polymath, historian, and philosopher of the Early Middl ...
(–524) translated part of
Aristotle
Aristotle (; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, a ...
's
logical corpus, thus preserving it for the
Latin West, and wrote the influential literary and philosophical treatise ;
Cassiodorus
Magnus Aurelius Cassiodorus Senator (c. 485 – c. 585), commonly known as Cassiodorus (), was a Christian Roman statesman, a renowned scholar and writer who served in the administration of Theodoric the Great, king of the Ostrogoths. ''Senato ...
() founded an important library at the monastery of
Vivarium near
Squillace
Squillace (; ; ) is an ancient town and in the Province of Catanzaro, part of Calabria, Southern Italy.
Squillace is situated near the east coast of Calabria, facing the shores of the eponymous Gulf of Squillace (), which indents the coast of ...
where many texts from Antiquity were to be preserved.
Isidore of Seville
Isidore of Seville (; 4 April 636) was a Spania, Hispano-Roman scholar, theologian and Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Seville, archbishop of Seville. He is widely regarded, in the words of the 19th-century historian Charles Forbes René de Montal ...
(–636) collected all scientific knowledge still available in his time into what might be called the first
encyclopedia
An encyclopedia is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge, either general or special, in a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into article (publishing), articles or entries that are arranged Alp ...
, the ''
Etymologiae''.
Gregory of Tours
Gregory of Tours (born ; 30 November – 17 November 594 AD) was a Gallo-Roman historian and Bishop of Tours during the Merovingian period and is known as the "father of French history". He was a prelate in the Merovingian kingdom, encom ...
(–594) wrote a lengthy history of the
Frankish kings. Gregory came from a Gallo-Roman aristocratic family, and his Latin, which shows many aberrations from the classical forms, testifies to the declining significance of classical education in Gaul. At the same time, good knowledge of Latin and even of
Greek was being preserved in
monastic
Monasticism (; ), also called monachism or monkhood, is a religious way of life in which one renounces worldly pursuits to devote oneself fully to spiritual activities. Monastic life plays an important role in many Christian churches, especially ...
culture in
Ireland
Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...
and was brought to
England
England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
and the European mainland by
missionaries in the course of the 6th and 7th centuries, such as
Columbanus (543–615), who founded the monastery of
Bobbio in Northern Italy. Ireland was also the birthplace of a strange poetic style known as
Hisperic Latin. Other important Insular authors include the historian
Gildas
Gildas (English pronunciation: , Breton language, Breton: ''Gweltaz''; ) — also known as Gildas Badonicus, Gildas fab Caw (in Middle Welsh texts and antiquarian works) and ''Gildas Sapiens'' (Gildas the Wise) — was a 6th-century Britons (h ...
() and the poet
Aldhelm (–709).
Benedict Biscop
Benedict Biscop ( – 690), also known as Biscop Baducing, was an Anglo-Saxon abbot and founder of Monkwearmouth-Jarrow Priory (where he also founded the famous library) and was considered a saint after his death.
It has been suggested that B ...
(–690) founded the monastery of
Wearmouth-Jarrow and furnished it with books which he had taken home from a journey to
Rome
Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...
and which were later used by
Bede
Bede (; ; 672/326 May 735), also known as Saint Bede, Bede of Jarrow, the Venerable Bede, and Bede the Venerable (), was an English monk, author and scholar. He was one of the most known writers during the Early Middle Ages, and his most f ...
(–735) to write his ''
Ecclesiastical History of the English People''.
Many Medieval Latin works have been published in the series
Patrologia Latina,
Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum and
Corpus Christianorum.
Medieval Latin and everyday life
Medieval Latin was separated from
Classical Latin
Classical Latin is the form of Literary Latin recognized as a Literary language, literary standard language, standard by writers of the late Roman Republic and early Roman Empire. It formed parallel to Vulgar Latin around 75 BC out of Old Latin ...
around 800 and at this time was no longer considered part of the everyday language. The speaking of Latin became a practice used mostly by the educated high class population. Even then it was not frequently used in casual conversation. An example of these men includes the churchmen who could read Latin, but could not effectively speak it. Latin's use in universities was structured in lectures and debates, however, it was highly recommended that students use it in conversation. This practice was kept up only due to rules.
One of Latin's purposes, writing, was still in practice; the main uses being charters for property transactions and to keep track of the pleadings given in court. Even then, those of the church still used Latin more than the rest of the population. At this time, Latin served little purpose to the regular population but was still used regularly in ecclesiastical culture.
Latin also served as a
lingua franca
A lingua franca (; ; for plurals see ), also known as a bridge language, common language, trade language, auxiliary language, link language or language of wider communication (LWC), is a Natural language, language systematically used to make co ...
among the educated elites of
Christendom — long distance written communication, while rarer than in Antiquity, took place mostly in Latin. Most literate people wrote Latin and most rich people had access to
scribe
A scribe is a person who serves as a professional copyist, especially one who made copies of manuscripts before the invention of Printing press, automatic printing.
The work of scribes can involve copying manuscripts and other texts as well as ...
s who knew Latin for use when the need for long distance correspondence arose. Long-distance communication in the vernacular was rare, but Hebrew, Arabic and Greek served a similar purpose among Jews, Muslims and Eastern Orthodox respectively.
Important Medieval Latin authors
6th–8th centuries
*
Boëthius ( – 525)
*
Cassiodorus
Magnus Aurelius Cassiodorus Senator (c. 485 – c. 585), commonly known as Cassiodorus (), was a Christian Roman statesman, a renowned scholar and writer who served in the administration of Theodoric the Great, king of the Ostrogoths. ''Senato ...
()
*
Gildas
Gildas (English pronunciation: , Breton language, Breton: ''Gweltaz''; ) — also known as Gildas Badonicus, Gildas fab Caw (in Middle Welsh texts and antiquarian works) and ''Gildas Sapiens'' (Gildas the Wise) — was a 6th-century Britons (h ...
(d. )
*
Flavius Cresconius Corippus (d. )
*
Venantius Fortunatus ()
*
Gregory of Tours
Gregory of Tours (born ; 30 November – 17 November 594 AD) was a Gallo-Roman historian and Bishop of Tours during the Merovingian period and is known as the "father of French history". He was a prelate in the Merovingian kingdom, encom ...
(–594)
*
Pope Gregory I
Pope Gregory I (; ; – 12 March 604), commonly known as Saint Gregory the Great (; ), was the 64th Bishop of Rome from 3 September 590 until his death on 12 March 604. He is known for instituting the first recorded large-scale mission from Ro ...
( – 604)
*
Isidore of Seville
Isidore of Seville (; 4 April 636) was a Spania, Hispano-Roman scholar, theologian and Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Seville, archbishop of Seville. He is widely regarded, in the words of the 19th-century historian Charles Forbes René de Montal ...
(–636)
*
Bede
Bede (; ; 672/326 May 735), also known as Saint Bede, Bede of Jarrow, the Venerable Bede, and Bede the Venerable (), was an English monk, author and scholar. He was one of the most known writers during the Early Middle Ages, and his most f ...
(–735)
*
St. Boniface ( – 754)
*
Chrodegang of Metz (d. 766)
*
Paul the Deacon
Paul the Deacon ( 720s 13 April in 796, 797, 798, or 799 AD), also known as ''Paulus Diaconus'', ''Warnefridus'', ''Barnefridus'', or ''Winfridus'', and sometimes suffixed ''Cassinensis'' (''i.e.'' "of Monte Cassino"), was a Benedictine monk, sc ...
()
*
Beatus of Liébana ()
*
Peter of Pisa (d. 799)
*
Paulinus of Aquileia (730s - 802)
*
Alcuin
Alcuin of York (; ; 735 – 19 May 804), also called Ealhwine, Alhwin, or Alchoin, was a scholar, clergyman, poet, and teacher from York, Northumbria. He was born around 735 and became the student of Ecgbert of York, Archbishop Ecgbert at Yor ...
(–804)
9th century
*
Einhard
Einhard (also Eginhard or Einhart; ; 775 – 14 March 840) was a Franks, Frankish scholar and courtier. Einhard was a dedicated servant of Charlemagne and his son Louis the Pious; his main work is a biography of Charlemagne, the ''Vita Karoli M ...
(775–840)
*
Rabanus Maurus (780–856)
*
Paschasius Radbertus (790–865)
*
Rudolf of Fulda (d. 865)
*
Dhuoda
*
Lupus of Ferrieres (805–862)
*
Andreas Agnellus (Agnellus of Ravenna) (–846?)
*
Hincmar (806–882)
*
Walafrid Strabo (808–849)
*
Florus of Lyon (d. 860?)
*
Gottschalk (theologian) (808–867)
*
Sedulius Scottus (fl. 840–860)
*
Anastasius Bibliothecarius (810–878)
*
Johannes Scotus Eriugena (815–877)
*
Asser
Asser (; ; died 909) was a Welsh people, Welsh monk from St David's, Kingdom of Dyfed, Dyfed, who became Bishop of Sherborne (ancient), Bishop of Sherborne in the 890s. About 885 he was asked by Alfred the Great to leave St David's and join ...
(d. 909)
*
Notker Balbulus (840–912)
10th century
*
Ratherius (890–974)
*
Hrotsvitha of Gandersheim (935–973)
*
Thietmar of Merseburg (975–1018)
11th century
*
Marianus Scotus (1028–1082)
*
Adam of Bremen (fl. 1060–1080)
*
Anselm of Canterbury (1033/4–1109)
*
Marbodius of Rennes (–1123)
12th century
*
Pierre Abélard (1079–1142)
*
Suger of St Denis (–1151)
*
Geoffrey of Monmouth ()
*
Ailred of Rievaulx (1110–1167)
*
Otto of Freising (–1158)
*
Archpoet ()
*
William of Tyre (–1185)
*
Peter of Blois ()
*
Walter of Châtillon (fl. )
*
Adam of St. Victor
*
Andreas Capellanus
13th century
*
Giraldus Cambrensis ()
*
Saxo Grammaticus
Saxo Grammaticus (), also known as Saxo cognomine Longus, was a Danish historian, theologian and author. He is thought to have been a clerk or secretary to Absalon, Archbishop of Lund, the main advisor to Valdemar I of Denmark. He is the author ...
()
*
Anonymus (notary of Béla III) ( late 12th century – early 13th century)
*
Thomas of Celano ()
*
Albertus Magnus (–1280)
*
Roger Bacon
Roger Bacon (; or ', also '' Rogerus''; ), also known by the Scholastic accolades, scholastic accolade ''Doctor Mirabilis'', was a medieval English polymath, philosopher, scientist, theologian and Franciscans, Franciscan friar who placed co ...
(–1294)
*
Thomas Aquinas
Thomas Aquinas ( ; ; – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican Order, Dominican friar and Catholic priest, priest, the foremost Scholasticism, Scholastic thinker, as well as one of the most influential philosophers and theologians in the W ...
(–1274)
*
Ramon Llull
Ramon Llull (; ; – 1316), sometimes anglicized as ''Raymond Lully'', was a philosopher, theologian, poet, missionary, Christian apologist and former knight from the Kingdom of Majorca.
He invented a philosophical system known as the ''Art ...
(1232–1315)
*
Siger of Brabant (–1280s)
*
Duns Scotus
John Duns Scotus ( ; , "Duns the Scot"; – 8 November 1308) was a Scottish Catholic priest and Franciscan friar, university professor, philosopher and theologian. He is considered one of the four most important Christian philosopher-t ...
(–1308)
14th century
*
Ranulf Higdon ()
*
William of Ockham ()
*
Jean Buridan (1300–1358)
*
Henry Suso ( – 1366)
*
John Gower ( – 1408)
Literary movements
*
Goliards
*
Hiberno-Latin
*
Medieval Roman law
*
Riddle poems
Works
*''
Carmina Burana'' (11th–12th century)
*''
Pange Lingua'' (c. 1250)
*''
Summa Theologiae'' (c. 1270)
*''
Etymologiae'' (c. 600)
*''
Dies Irae'' (c. 1260)
*''
Decretum Gratiani'' (c. 1150)
*''
De Ortu Waluuanii Nepotis Arturi'' (c. 1180)
*
Magna Carta
(Medieval Latin for "Great Charter"), sometimes spelled Magna Charta, is a royal charter of rights agreed to by King John of England at Runnymede, near Windsor, on 15 June 1215. First drafted by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Cardin ...
(c. 1215)
Notes
References
Citations
Sources
* K.P. Harrington, J. Pucci, and A.G. Elliott, ''Medieval Latin'' (2nd ed.), (Univ. Chicago Press, 1997)
* F.A.C. Mantello and A.G. Rigg, eds., ''Medieval Latin: An Introduction and Bibliographical Guide'' (CUA Press, 1996)
; Dictionaries
*
Du Cange et al.
Glossarium ad scriptores mediæ et infimæ latinitatis Niort : L. Favre, 1883–1887,
Ecole des chartes.
* ''
Thesaurus Linguae Latinae''
Further reading
*Auerbach, Erich, 1965. ''Literary Language & Its Public: in Late Latin Antiquity and in the Middle Ages''. New York, NY, USA, Bollingen Foundation.
*Bacci, Antonii. ''Varia Latinitatis Scripta II, Inscriptiones Orationes Epistvlae.'' Rome, Italy, Societas Librania Stvdivm.
*Beeson, Charles H., 1925. ''A Primer of Medieval Latin: An Anthology of Prose and Poetry''. Chicago, United States, Scott, Foresman and Company.
*Chavannes-Mazel, Claudine A., and Margaret M. Smith, eds. 1996. ''Medieval Manuscripts of the Latin Classics: Production and Use; *Proceedings of the Seminar in the History of the Book to 1500, Leiden, 1993.'' Los Altos Hills, CA: Anderson-Lovelace.
*Curtius, Ernst Roberts, 1953. ''European Literature and the Latin Middle Ages.'' New York, New York, United States,
Bollingen Foundation
The Bollingen Foundation was an educational foundation set up along the lines of a university press in 1945. It was named after Bollingen Tower, Carl Jung's country home in Bollingen, Switzerland. Funding was provided by Paul Mellon and his ...
Inc.
*Dronke, Peter, vol. 1, 1965. ''Medieval Latin and the Rise of European Love-Lyric.'' Oxford, UK, Clarendon Press.
*Harrington, Karl Pomeroy, 1942. ''Mediaeval Latin.'' Norwood, MA, USA, Norwood Press.
*Hexter, Ralph J., and Townsend, David eds. second edition 2012: ''The Oxford Handbook of Medieval Latin Literature'', Oxford: Oxford University Press.
*Lapidge, Michael. 1993. ''Anglo-Latin Literature 900–1066.'' London and Rio Grande, OH: Hambledon.
*--. 1996. ''Anglo-Latin Literature 600–899.'' London and Rio Grande, OH: Hambledon.
*Mann, Nicholas, and Birger Munk Olsen, eds. 1997. ''Medieval and Renaissance Scholarship: Proceedings of the Second European Science Foundation Workshop on the Classical Tradition in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, London: Warburg Institute, 27–28 November 1992.'' New York: Brill.
*Mantello, F. A. C., and George Rigg. 1996. ''Medieval Latin: An Introduction and Bibliographical Guide.'' Washington, DC: Catholic University of American Press.
*Pecere, Oronzo, and Michael D. Reeve. 1995. ''Formative Stages of Classical Traditions: Latin Texts from Antiquity to the Renaissance; Proceedings of a Conference Held at Erice, 16–22 October 1993, as the 6th Course of International School for the Study of Written Records.'' Spoleto, Italy: Centro Italiano di Studi sull’alto Medioevo.
*Raby, F. J. E. 1957. ''A History of Secular Latin Poetry in the Middle Ages.'' 2 vols. 2nd ed. Oxford: Clarendon.
*Raby, F.J.E., 1959. ''The Oxford Book of Medieval Latin Verse.'' Amen House, London, Oxford University Press.
*Rigg, A. G. 1992. ''A History of Anglo-Latin Literature A.D. 1066–1422.'' Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
*Stella, Francesco, Doležalová Lucie, and Shanzer, Danuta eds. 2024: ''Latin Literatures of Medieval and Early Modern times in Europe and Beyond'', Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company.
*Walde, Christine, ed. 2012. ''Brill's New Pauly Supplement 5: The Reception of Classical Literature.'' Leiden, The Netherlands, and Boston: Brill.
*Ziolkowski, Jan M., 1993. ''Talking Animals: Medieval Latin Beast Poetry, 750–1150.'' Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press.
External links
In-depth Guides to Learning Latinat the UK National Archives.
The Journal of Medieval Latin*
Corpus Corporum (
ttp://mlat.uzh.ch/MLS/index.php?lang=0 mlat.uzh.ch
*
Corpus Thomisticum (
ttps://web.archive.org/web/20131011213125/http://www.corpusthomisticum.org/iopera.html corpusthomisticum.org
*
LacusCurtiuspenelope.uchicago.edu
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