To set the records straight I am studying L-A-T-I-N not Latin America or Spanish. Much to my chagrin the word Latin befuddles minds.
Recently, I had another “what are you going to school for” conversation with a new co-worker. She had recently graduated herself and in business management. I know you don’t have to be a genius to obtain a business degree, but still. I guess I expected a little more (sorry to those with business degrees who know what Latin is and/or are geniuses.)
I guess this will be a hazard of my soon-to-be new profession, the confusion of Latin with Latin America. I have to admit that the confusion for me is why is it called Latin America? They don’t speak Latin. They do speak a Latin based language though. Today the word Latin is short for Latin American. It is based on a Spanish word Latinoamericano, which means someone born in Latin America but migrates to the United States. If you remain in Latin America you are considered Hispanic.
I do not know every thing. I'll admit that. I had to do some research on where the term Latin America came from.
Latin America is all of the countries, in the Americas, in which Spanish and Portuguese language prevails. The idea of Latin America was a way that the “Latin” European nations could ally themselves with people in the Americas. They did not want to deal with the Anglo-Saxon Americans. They made a distinction between the two Americas by the conversion of the natives’ tongues. It has made a huge impact on these cultures.
Latin versus Anglo-Saxon, both groups trying to gain purchase here in the Americas. Today most of Latin America speaks a Latin based language, mostly Spanish or Portuguese. French also has some hold in Latin America but to a smaller extent.
They decided to call it Latin America based on the roots of their language. I guess I can see where people might get the idea that I am going to teach Spanish. I guess I can also see where they think I’m going to teach the history. An abbreviated term has made a significant change in the meaning of Latin. The word, Latin, is gaining a new life. Maybe if contemporary Latinists keep up the language it too will have a new life and possible a new name. That would cause less confusion for me and others.
In the search for more modern Latin, I have found a German news site that has articles in Latin. Nuntii Latini is the page. On the site they are showing a book that is written in Latin. Modern media is picking up this esoteric taste.
I love this post. The evolution of language may be a necessary thing to keep it alive, but that doesn't make it less confusing. Your comments on "Latin America" were especially interesting to me. When "I'm Latin American" is truncated to "I'm Latin" it can be quite confusing, especially when neither of the people in the conversation speak Latin.
ReplyDeleteThank you. Linguistic evolution is important or you end up with a language no one speaks any more, sound familiar right? For a dead language, Latin appears more that expected. I had to look into the Latin American/Latin thing, because it is always the biggest confusion about my major. I just thought it would be interesting to see why someone would considers themselves Latin but not speak the language.
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