Latin is considered a dead language, as it is no longer used on a daily basis by most people. The decline of the Roman Empire and the lack of a need for a uniform language led to the development of dialects, which eventually became the Romance languages. Latin has had an influence on many other languages, including English, and is still used in specific contexts such as the Roman Catholic Church and scientific communities.
Calling the dead language Latin is a matter of semantics. There are those who would like to suggest that Latin is not dead, that it lives on in the everyday language used by billions of people around the world. Others argue that because there are routine updates to Latin published by the Roman Catholic Church, it is still alive and developing.
However, Latin is no longer used, on a daily basis, by the vast majority of people outside specific religious contexts, where tradition imposes its use. It’s no longer anyone’s native language. Although its use is still taught, Latin is no longer considered a developing language on the level of most modern languages.
The reasons for the extinction of Latin are numerous. Perhaps the most significant has to do with the decline of the Roman Empire. During the Roman period, the language was standardized to a greater extent. Just as learning English is vital for those living in the United States today, to truly be successful in Roman times, it was necessary to learn Latin.
Since Rome was the most powerful political entity in the Western world at the time, most of those with ambitions to thrive within its vast system wanted to learn Latin. As a result, the language spread rapidly. However, that rapid expansion would eventually begin to level off and eventually decline.
Latin continued to be used through the medieval period. Throughout Europe, it remained the preferred language. However, with nothing to unite the continent, there was no need for a uniform language. So slowly, over a period of hundreds of years, Latin began to change as different regions developed their own dialects and idiosyncrasies.
Eventually, these dialects would become unique enough to be named their own languages. Today we know them as the Romance languages. The most widely spoken and recognizable of these related languages are: Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and French. Romansh, a little-spoken language used in a very small part of Switzerland, may be the modern language that most closely resembles classical Latin.
While not directly related to the Romance languages, Latin has still had an effect on many other languages. English, for example, which is not a Romance but a Germanic language, can trace nearly two-thirds of its words to Latin roots. In addition to the Roman Catholic Church, Latin is also widely used in the scientific and mathematical communities.
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