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I just saw a video asking like how would one say I just had an avocado toast and thought about some of the new stuff that didn't exist back then. How would we integrate new words into the Latin language.

For example, computer or a car or television or I have an Xbox One

From the last 2 weeks that I have spent learning Latin I have fallen in love with it and really wanted to be able to fluently speak it and write it but these type of questions make me doubt sometimes that the Latin language could be used like English or Spanish for example.

Are we limited to what was known or spoke in the Roman times? I asked as well how would one say good morning in Latin but the answers I got were that they didn't really had any time greetings, just salve but couldn't we maybe be able to come up with a good morning sentence in Latin since the modern days that's how we usually greet in the morning?

Ben Kovitz
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Johhan Santana
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    Nobody's going to stop you, but if you're willing to make up whole new ahistoric idioms, not just out of necessity coin a few words for things that didn't exist in Antiquity, I'm not sure what the point of the exercise is. – Cairnarvon Apr 25 '21 at 18:40
  • What do you mean by the point of the exercise? – Johhan Santana Apr 25 '21 at 19:15
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    Paulum dē hāc rē hīc lege, plus Anglicē hīc. – Ben Kovitz Apr 25 '21 at 19:59
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    You also might want to see this answer from Sebastian Koppehel. I would say this in Latin but I'm still learning like you. ;) – Adam Apr 25 '21 at 20:28
  • @BenKovitz Maxime miserandum est plerasque paginas Vicipediae Latinae tam brevis esse. – Sebastian Koppehel Apr 25 '21 at 23:10
  • Unfortunately the Finns ended their Latin radio service. That would have been interesting for you. – RedSonja Apr 26 '21 at 06:49
  • wait i thought the point that latin is a dead language means that the answer is negative? – BCLC Apr 26 '21 at 07:56
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    Don't blindly translate Good morning to Latin. That's like our Duolingo users complaining that the translation of Dobrý den must be Good Day and cannot be Hello. Different languages have different greetings. – Vladimir F Героям слава Apr 26 '21 at 08:00
  • @BCLC People who claim Latin is a dead language usually do not know what they are talking about, and are actually intending to say that there are no (known) native speakers of Latin as a first language. There’s a very big difference between that and a language being dead (Esperanto and Interlingua, as well most other conlangs, and an increasing number of minority cultural languages, are largely in a similar situation, though many of the minority cultural languages are dead or dying as well as they are not actively evolving). – Austin Hemmelgarn Apr 26 '21 at 11:19
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    @AustinHemmelgarn i thought latin really is dead and just not extinct? if not, then ok not dead and not extinct but then what? Edit: wait the wiki article actually says 'In contrast, a dead language is "one that is no longer the native language of any community", even if it is still in use, like Latin' --> so either it's wrong or it has a different definition from you? – BCLC Apr 26 '21 at 11:24
  • @BCLC I’ve always been told that ‘dead’ in terms of linguistics means the language is no longer evolving (no new words, no loan words, etc). Usually this translates to a complete lack of vernacular usage, and typically also very limited formal usage as well. If the definition given by Wikipedia is the standard one among linguists though, then even though Latin is dead, that does not preclude it from being actively used, because there’s a big difference between no native speakers and the language not being in any active usage. – Austin Hemmelgarn Apr 26 '21 at 12:08
  • @AustinHemmelgarn is latin dead according to wiki definition? is lating dead according to your definition? – BCLC Apr 26 '21 at 12:58
  • Consider that vulgar/vernacular Latin diverged from classical Latin pretty much immediately, and that vulgar Latin + 2000 years of evolution = Spanish (and also Italian, French, etc.). – user3067860 Apr 26 '21 at 20:29
  • Yet how, for example, did computer or car or television or Xbox come into english or any other language? Duh! – Robbie Goodwin Apr 27 '21 at 01:47

3 Answers3

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You seem to be addressing several issues in this question.

To start from the bottom line: Latin is already being used right now as a daily casual language. Not even a small reserve about this statement.

The external world changes, and new words are born. It happens in every language and Latin is no exception to that. New words are finally integrated into the community - the question of how this process happens is different question. Thus "the community" (As far as I can speak of a "community") has pipiatorium for Twitter (from the verb pipio) and Tutubum for YouTube.

I personally wouldn't be compelled at all to have good morning that is not salve. Morning, it seems, did exist in antiquity already, but no "good morning" different from "good evening" was used. Actually, I would actually oppose any attempt to incorporate the innovation into the language (but as a living language, at the end something is settled), simply because, for me at least, those differences are part of the beauty in languages. In short I wouldn't like to speak English in Latin, but to speak Latin.

d_e
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Latin is used regularly within the Vatican and Catholic Church, so depending on what you mean by daily usage I think that fulfills that requirement. There are also a lot of loan words that make their way into modern Latin, both historically and currently. For example, Vicipaedia, the Latin version of Wikipedia.

Latin is also used regularly on this site for casual conversation within chat, not to mention some questions are also written and answered entirely with Latin.

While I don't see myself ordering groceries in Latin, I do see myself using Latin on a daily basis for the rest of forever (or as close to it as I can get).

Regarding what you are limited to, it really depends on what your goal is. Are you looking to only use Latin as it was known within a specific time frame like the first century common era, or are you open to adding in loan words or novel constructions? There's really no right answer with this as long as it's grammatically correct. It's just personal preference, really.

Adam
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  • Loaning of words? How would that work? And from which language could we loan words from? – Johhan Santana Apr 25 '21 at 19:14
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    Loan words can come from any language. The Romans themselves incorporated words from across the whole empire and beyond, not unlike almost any modern language. How this is done varies of course, and I can think of a number of different ways a word can make its way into another language, by design or by chance. You could post another question specifically about methods of transition words from another language into Latin, if you wanted. – Adam Apr 25 '21 at 20:10
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    An awful lot of Latin words were lifted from Greek; historia etc. Anything with th or ph. – RedSonja Apr 26 '21 at 06:47
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There's Dr Ammondt singing Elvis songs in Latin, for some idea of how picking up modern terms and usage might work.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=II5Zvt6xJ-g

Gilmoure
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