Latin as the Language of Science and Learning

Philipp Roelli

ISBN 10: 3110745755 / ISBN 13: 9783110745757

Published by De Gruyter, 2021

About this Item

Druck auf Anfrage Neuware - Printed after ordering - This book investigates the role of the Latin language as a vehicle for science and learning from several angles. First, the question what was understood as 'science' through time and how it is named in different languages, especially the Classical ones, is approached. Criteria for what did pass as scientific are found that point to 'science' as a kind of Greek Denkstil based on pattern-finding and their unbiased checking. In a second part, a brief diachronic panorama introduces schools of thought and authors who wrote in Latin from antiquity to the present. Latin's heydays in this function are clearly the time between the twelfth and eighteenth centuries. Some niches where it was used longer are examined and reasons sought why Latin finally lost this lead-role. A third part seeks to define the peculiar characteristics of scientific Latin using corpus linguistic approaches. As a result, several types of scientific writing can be identified. The question of how to transfer science from one linguistic medium to another is never far: Latin inherited this role from Greek and is in turn the ancestor of science done in the modern vernaculars. At the end of the study, the importance of Latin science for modern science in English becomes evident.

Seller Inventory # 9783110745757

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Latin as the Language of Science and Learning
• Publisher: De Gruyter
• Publication Date: 2021
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 3110745755
• ISBN 13: 9783110745757
• Binding: Buch
• Condition: Neu
• Dimensions: 236W x 160H x 51D millimeters 236 millimeters width by 160 millimeters height by 51 millimeters depth
• Weight: 1239 grams

About this title

Synopsis

This book investigates the role of the Latin language as a vehicle for science and learning from several angles. First, the question what was understood as ‘science’ through time and how it is named in different languages, especially the Classical ones, is approached. Criteria for what did pass as scientific are found that point to ‘science’ as a kind of Greek Denkstil based on pattern-finding and their unbiased checking. In a second part, a brief diachronic panorama introduces schools of thought and authors who wrote in Latin from antiquity to the present. Latin’s heydays in this function are clearly the time between the twelfth and eighteenth centuries. Some niches where it was used longer are examined and reasons sought why Latin finally lost this lead-role. A third part seeks to define the peculiar characteristics of scientific Latin using corpus linguistic approaches. As a result, several types of scientific writing can be identified. The question of how to transfer science from one linguistic medium to another is never far: Latin inherited this role from Greek and is in turn the ancestor of science done in the modern vernaculars. At the end of the study, the importance of Latin science for modern science in English becomes evident.

About the Authors

Philipp Roelli, Universität Zürich, Schweiz.

Philipp Roelli, University of Zurich, Switzerland.