A Natural History of Latin

2007-01-25 Language Arts & Disciplines

Author : Tore Janson
Release : 2007-01-25
Genre : Language Arts & Disciplines
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 656/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis A Natural History of Latin by : Tore Janson

Download or read book A Natural History of Latin written by Tore Janson. This book was released on 2007-01-25. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Beginning in Rome around 600 BC, Latin became the language of the civilized world and remained so for more than two millennia. French, Spanish, Italian, and Romanian are among its progeny and it provides the international vocabulary of law and life science. No known language, including English - itself enriched by Latin words and phrases - has achieved such success and longevity. Tore Janson tells its history from origins to present. Brilliantly conceived and written with the same light touch as his bestselling history of languages, A Natural History of Latin is a masterpiece of adroit synthesis. The author charts the expansion of Latin in the classical world, its renewed importance in the Middle Ages, and its survival into modern times. He shows how spoken and written Latin evolved in different places and its central role in European history and culture. He ends with a concise Latin grammar and lists of Latin words and phrases still in common use. Considered elitist and irrelevant in the second half of the twentieth century and often even banned from schools, Latin is now enjoying a huge revival of interest across Europe, the UK, and the USA. Tore Janson offers persuasive arguments for its value and gives direct access to its fascinating worlds, past and present.

Pliny the Elder: The Natural History Book VII (with Book VIII 1-34)

2015-05-21 History

Author : Pliny the Elder
Release : 2015-05-21
Genre : History
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 013/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis Pliny the Elder: The Natural History Book VII (with Book VIII 1-34) by : Pliny the Elder

Download or read book Pliny the Elder: The Natural History Book VII (with Book VIII 1-34) written by Pliny the Elder. This book was released on 2015-05-21. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Pliny the Elder's Natural History is a vast encyclopaedia, surveying natural phenomena from cosmology to biology, medicine to magic. Direct observation, informed speculation and common knowledge are combined to present a key snapshot of ancient thought and the Romans' perspective on the world around them. Book VII of The Natural History provides a detailed examination of the human animal and is crucial to understanding the work as a whole. In Pliny's eyes, mankind 'for whose sake nature was created', represents the basis for which the natural world was founded and structured. As a result, the book provides valuable insight into the extraordinary complex of ideas and beliefs that were current in Pliny's era. One of the most interesting transitions of subject in The Natural History is that from man to animals (between Books VII and VIII) and for this reason the section on elephants at the beginning of Book VIII is included here, to show how Pliny moves on to his account of the animal he considers 'nearest to the human disposition'. This edition provides the full Latin text accompanied by commentary notes that provide linguistic help and explanations, plus vocabulary lists of Latin terms and an index of proper names. The in-depth introduction provides valuable details about the work's historical, scientific and literary context, as well as an overview of the work's legacy and reception.

An Environmental History of Latin America

2007-08-27 History

Author : Shawn William Miller
Release : 2007-08-27
Genre : History
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 325/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis An Environmental History of Latin America by : Shawn William Miller

Download or read book An Environmental History of Latin America written by Shawn William Miller. This book was released on 2007-08-27. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A narration of the mutually mortal historical contest between humans and nature in Latin America. Covering a period that begins with Amerindian civilizations and concludes in the region's present urban agglomerations, the work offers an original synthesis of the current scholarship on Latin America's environmental history and argues that tropical nature played a central role in shaping the region's historical development. Human attitudes, populations, and appetites, from Aztec cannibalism to more contemporary forms of conspicuous consumption, figure prominently in the story. However, characters such as hookworms, whales, hurricanes, bananas, dirt, butterflies, guano, and fungi make more than cameo appearances. Recent scholarship has overturned many of our egocentric assumptions about humanity's role in history. Seeing Latin America's environmental past from the perspective of many centuries illustrates that human civilizations, ancient and modern, have been simultaneously more powerful and more vulnerable than previously thought.

The Blackwell History of the Latin Language

2011-05-23 Literary Criticism

Author : James Clackson
Release : 2011-05-23
Genre : Literary Criticism
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 588/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis The Blackwell History of the Latin Language by : James Clackson

Download or read book The Blackwell History of the Latin Language written by James Clackson. This book was released on 2011-05-23. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This text makes use of contemporary work in linguistics to provide up-to-date commentary on the development of Latin, from its prehistoric origins in the Indo-European language family, through the earliest texts, to the creation of the Classical Language of Cicero and Vergil, and examines the impact of the spread of spoken Latin through the Roman Empire. The first book in English in more than 50 years to provide comprehensive coverage of the history of the Latin language Gives a full account of the transformation of the language in the context of the rise and fall of Ancient Rome Presents up-to-date commentary on the key linguistic issues Makes use of carefully selected texts, many of which have only recently come to light Includes maps and glossary as well as fully translated and annotated sample texts that illustrate the different stages of the language Accessible to readers without a formal knowledge of Latin or linguistics

Latin Alive

2010-01-21 Foreign Language Study

Author : Joseph B. Solodow
Release : 2010-01-21
Genre : Foreign Language Study
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 710/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis Latin Alive by : Joseph B. Solodow

Download or read book Latin Alive written by Joseph B. Solodow. This book was released on 2010-01-21. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Latin Alive, Joseph Solodow tells the story of how Latin developed into modern French, Spanish, and Italian, and deeply affected English as well. Offering a gripping narrative of language change, Solodow charts Latin's course from classical times to the modern era, with focus on the first millennium of the Common Era. Though the Romance languages evolved directly from Latin, Solodow shows how every important feature of Latin's evolution is also reflected in English. His story includes scores of intriguing etymologies, along with many concrete examples of texts, studies, scholars, anecdotes, and historical events; observations on language; and more. Written with crystalline clarity, this book tells the story of the Romance languages for the general reader and to illustrate so amply Latin's many-sided survival in English as well.

Popular eBooks

A Natural History of Latin

Pliny the Elder: The Natural History Book VII (with Book VIII 1-34)

An Environmental History of Latin America

The Blackwell History of the Latin Language

Latin Alive

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