Late Latin

As late Latin refers to the period in the development of the Latin language, which began in the 2nd century and lasted until about the end of antiquity. Is bounded on one side by the Late Latin classical Latin of the preceding epoch, on the other hand, from the medieval Medieval Latin. The transitions between the periods are fluid and extend over longer periods.

The time of the Late Latin adjoins that of the Silver Latin literature, which dates back to the 2nd century. Characterized the Late Latin is first by an increase in the peculiarities of the Silver Latinity. Salient trends are a particularly lush use of rhetorical devices and an expansion of vocabulary, which takes place on the one hand by resorting to archaic expressions of the language of Ennius, Plautus and Terence, on the other hand, by neoplasms and recording colloquial words in the written language. Also in the late Latin syntax emerge colloquial phenomena. Thus, the Latin moves away more of the standards of the Golden Latinity that separated sharply between written and spoken language.

Differences on the one hand between high-level language and colloquial language ( " Vulgar Latin " ), on the other hand between classical and late Latin. While the former distinction concerns two temporally coexisting language levels, the mix depending on the author and era to a greater or lesser degree or disconnected, the other divided by a chronological point of view. Usually one uses the term " Late Latin " predominantly for the written Latin of the late Roman era; the spoken language of that time usually called " Vulgar Latin " (from the Latin vulgaris " commonplace ", " usually ", " the common people concerning " - not " vulgar" in the modern sense of vulgar language ). A vulgar Latin vernacular but there were not only in late Latin period, but even in the days of Altlateins, before the beginning of classical Latinity. The classic Latinity banned the colloquial language of Scripture, in late Latin invaded again colloquial elements in the writing language. Therefore, the Late Latin has similarities with the Altlatein. A particularly striking example of this is the colloquial construction of the verba sentiendi et dicendi ( verbs of communicating, perceiving and opining ) with quod ( " that" ) instead accusativus cum infinitivo. She was already common in the Old Latin vernacular, in classical Latin but it was usually avoided. From the 2nd century they appeared in the literature more frequently, in late antiquity took their high use of language to continue, in the Middle Ages it was common.

During the late Latin period, and then even more in the early Middle Ages were spoken and written language apart more and more. The written Late Latin as a high-level language lived on in Medieval Latin; from the spoken Late Latin, the vernacular, created the Romance languages. The late Latin written standard language was the Middle Ages in particular by the Christian writers of antiquity - gives - above all, the Church Fathers.