The period from the late tenth to the early fourteenth centuries was one of the most dynamic in European history. Latin Christendom found a new confidence which has left its mark upon the landscape in the form of the great cathedrals and castles, while thousands of new towns and villages were founded. The continent was carved up into dynastic kingdoms and principalities from which the European state system would evolve.
The Blackwell History of the Latin Language charts 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. Accessible and intelligent, this
is the first book in English in more than 50 years to provide
comprehensive coverage of the history of the language.
Anatomical terms are the vocabulary of medicine. Anatomy began as a descriptive science in the days when Latin was the universal scientific language. Early anatomists described the structures they saw in that language, comparing them to common and familiar objects, or borrowing terms from the Greek and Arabic masters before them. In anatomic terminology, common Latin or Greek words are used as such for any part of the body for which the ancients had a name. For many other structures, scientific names have been invented either by using certain classical words which appear to be descriptive of the part concerned, or commonly, by combining Greek or Latin roots to form a new compound term. Memorization of such terms without understanding their meaning can lead to mental indigestion.
Women in a Celtic Church: Ireland 450 - 1150
by Christina Harrington
This work is a groundbreaking study of the varieties of holy life available to, and pursued by, early medieval Irish women. The author explores a wide range of source material from legal texts, saints' lives, litanies, penitentials, canons, and poetry in order to illuminate female religious life and changes in attitudes towards it over time.
Considering that this is a scholarly publication, it is a surprisingly smooth read. The author has delved deeply into the maelstrom of Irish and Latin texts that make up the source material, resulting in a fresh and sometimes penetrating analysis of the state of holy women of various sorts in the church of Ireland circa 450-1150. However, this book is not for the impatient, the argument can sometimes take some time to build; be patient though. While most passages from the sources are provided in english translation, a knowledge of Latin would be helpful for the numerous short bits that are left untranslated, but this is not crucial for following the argument.
The Dark Origins of Britain is a landmark series dealing with the
greatest unresolved mystery in our history - how the modern nations of
England, Wales and Scotland were born out of the chaos of the Dark
Ages. In 400 AD, when Roman power collapsed in Britain, we were a
province inhabited by Celtic peoples speaking a mixture of early Welsh
and Latin. But only two hundred years later, the foundations of a new,
Anglo-Saxon, English-speaking nation were being laid.
Anatomical terms are the vocabulary of medicine. Anatomy began as a descriptive science in the days when Latin was the universal scientific language. Early anatomists described the structures they saw in that language, comparing them to common and familiar objects, or borrowing terms from the Greek and Arabic masters before them. In anatomic terminology, common Latin or Greek words are used as such for any part of the body for which the ancients had a name. For many other structures, scientific names have been invented either by using certain classical words which appear to be descriptive of the part concerned, or commonly, by combining Greek or Latin roots to form a new compound term. Memorization of such terms without understanding their meaning can lead to mental indigestion.
![The Dark Origins of Britain [BBC Radio 4]](http://englishtips.org/uploads/posts/2008-03/1205786379_d_miss_dark_origins_britain.jpg "The Dark Origins of Britain [BBC Radio 4]")
