Roman Contributions: Language, Writing + Calendars Rome

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1 Roman Contributions: Language, Writing + Calendars Rome Language, writing + calendars

2 Roman Contributions: Language, Writing + Calendars 2 Roman Newspapers Photo: LeitnerR/iStockphoto.com Content: The Romans were known to contribute to public discourse through the use of official texts detailing military, legal and civil issues. Known as Acta Diurna, or daily acts, these early newspapers were written on metal or stone and then posted in heavily trafficked areas like the Roman Forum. Acta are believed to have first appeared around 131 B.C. and typically included details of Roman military victories, lists of games and gladiatorial bouts, birth and death notices and even human interest stories. There was also an Acta Senatus, which detailed the proceedings of the Roman senate. These were traditionally withheld from public view until 59 B.C., when Julius Caesar ordered their publication as part of the many populist reforms he instituted during his first consulship. Copyright by Oakland Schools

3 Roman Contributions: Language, Writing + Calendars 3 The Julian Calendar An ancient Roman calendar The Julian calendar was a calendar developed in Rome around 45 BCE. It was an updated version of another calendar that had been recently introduced by Julius Caesar. This calendar came to be used across most of Europe, and even in the Americas, until it was replaced by a revised version called the Gregorian calendar. The Julian calendar had 365 days in a year and was split up into 12 months, listed below: Ianuarius Februarius Martius Aprilis Maius Iuius Quintilis (Julius) Sextilis (Augustus) September October November December The names of our months then have their roots in the Roman calendar. The Julian calendar also added a leap day to February every four years and came very close to actual length of a solar year (the amount of time it takes the earth to make one complete trip around the sun). The Julian calendar was a little bit off though, not accounting for 3 days every four hundred years. The Gregorian calendar was developed in 1582 to correct this error. Even though people use the Gregorian calendar now, the Julian calendar was an important step in the development of an accurate calendar, and some religions still use it to calculate when certain holidays will take place. People in a few places in the world, such as the Berbers of North Africa, still use the Julian calendar.

4 Roman Contributions: Language, Writing + Calendars 4 Language: Latin Roots in Law & Medicine The language of the Romans was Latin, and as they conquered new territories and expanded their reach, they brought their language with them. Latin is the mother language of Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, and French. Our language, English, does not come from Latin, however many, many of words have Latin origins. In particular, many important English words related to science, medicine, law, and government, come from Latin. Latin words came into English when William, Duke of Normandy (in France) took over England in French became the language of the Royal Court in England, and many French words (anyone want a croissant?) came into our language then... but they came from Latin and the Romans first. A lot of English words have Latin roots. Can you think of any words that have the following roots in them? Write down some examples. dict: gress: ject: duct: The meanings of these roots are below: dict = to say gress= to walk ject= to throw duct= to lead So, think about words like predict, progress, project, and aqueduct. Some possible definitions are below: Predict = say before Progress=move (or walk) forward Project=throw forward Aqueduct= a tunnel or channel that carries water (to lead water!). Many legal terms still in use today come from Latin and have the roots in Roman law. Some examples are below: de facto (literally "from the fact"): in actual fact, in reality de jure (Latin for "by right"): under provisions of law in loco parentis (Latin for "in the place of a parent"): having (some of the) responsibilities of a parent (e.g. a school or other organization). nolo contendere (literally "I do not want to contest"): a defendant's plea of "no contest". prima facie (Latin for "on (its) first appearance", i.e. "at first sight"): on the face of it. subpoena (Latin for "under (the) penalty (of)": sub poena): an official notification (writ) to appear in court, which bears the warning "under penalty", sub poena. versus (vs., v.): Latin for "against", as in: "in the case of A v. B..." Latin is also important in medicine. Most of the medical terms for bones and organs come from Latin. A wide range of medical terms like rigor mortis (used to describe the stiffness of a body after death) come directly from Latin, while others like vein are derived from Latin words ( vena in this case). Many Latin word parts are combined to make new medical terms. Neuro= related to the nerves pathy= disease or disorder Neuropathy= disorder of the nerves (there are more specific definitions, but this gives you a general sense), It is not an exaggeration to say that our modern medical and legal vocabulary is mostly Latin (and thus Roman) in origin.

5 Roman Contributions: Language, Writing + Calendars 5 Roman Numerals The history of Roman numerals follows the history of ancient Rome itself, from its beginnings at the Latin Palatine Hill in 8th and 9th century B.C. to it's fall in the 5th Century AD from civil war, plague, civil apathy and the rise of Christianity and northern European powers. Growth of Mathematics, Money and Accounting The Roman number system was limited because it had no zero (0) and no single method for counting above several thousand units, (lines were often placed over numerals to indicate multiples of their value). BBC production dates, but also in films to denote film sequels, such as Rocky III. Ancient but Here to Stay Roman numerals have a long history and are here to stay! Even though we struggle to remember larger numbers we enjoy their classic style and elegance. The eventual fall of the Roman Empire by 476 A.D. saw the introduction and adoption of Arabic numerals, today we call them decimal numbers because they work consistently to a base of 10. The invention of zero (nothing) was a huge leap forward. Uses of Roman numerals Roman numerals today are used most frequently seen as list numbers, time pieces and historic Roman coins, art and antiquities in museums and antique shops. Nearly all computer word processing packages (Word, PDF) allow uppercase and lowercase Roman numerals as list item indicators. Typically books have chapter headings as numerals, and number their forward pages with them to indicate that it is the page forward. In other media such as Films and Television copyright dates are in numerals, for example the

6 Roman Contributions: Language, Writing + Calendars 6 Roman Alphabet Writing systems existed before the Roman alphabet did. The Ancient Greeks developed an alphabet based in part on the Phoenician alphabet. The Romans learned much from the Greeks, and eventually controlled all of the territory the Greeks once controlled. The Etruscans, a group of people who controlled Italy before the Romans, had modified the Greek alphabet, and the Romans in turn took this alphabet and further changed it. The new version became the Latin alphabet. After the fall of the Roman empire, the Latin alphabet, which the Romans had spread all across Europe and even into central Asia, was adapted and changed in different ways in different places and eventually became the source of the Spanish, French, Italian, Romanian, and Portuguese alphabets. The Latin alphabet also came to be used in many other language groups, including the languages from which modern English developed. The letters in the ancient Latin alphabet appear below: A B C D E F Z H Θ I K L M N Ξ O P Ś Q R S T V X Φ Ψ As you can see, most of the letters in the old Latin alphabet are basically the same as the letters we currently use.