Studying A Dead Language

When I was a young and immature high school freshman, my classmates and I used to chant to my long-suffering tutor and father;

"Latin's a dead language,
Dead as dead can be,
First it killed the Romans,
And now it's killing me!"

(I believe we thought at the time that we were rather clever.)

But now, four years of Latin study later, I realize that there was actually a bit of truth to our ingenious little rhyme, at least in regards to the first half. (The fact that the complexity of the Latin language contributed to the fall of the Roman Empire is somewhat more disputable.) Latin is a dead language, "as dead as dead can be." Why, then, did I devote so much time to learning a tongue which I will never speak? (Unless I travel to the Vatican City someday to converse with the Pope - an event which I think is pretty unlikely.)

The simple answer is that my father, a former private high-school teacher and a highly educated individual, firmly believed in the rigors of a classical education and put us through unusual, intensive courses such as analytical logic, Latin, Hebrew, rhetoric, classical literature, and geography with all their old-fashioned trimmings. Thus, I had no choice but to memorize lists of grammatical chants and verbal rules in a dead language.

The more complex answer lies in the fact that, in spite of being "forced" to study a language I'll never speak, I actually enjoyed the learning process. Moreover, during the course of studying Latin, I came to more fully understand my father's reasoning behind teaching us this particular language. I also discovered a few reasons of my own for learning Latin.

Abba used to tell us; "Once you learn Latin, you have the perfect tool in your hands to easily learn all of the Romantic languages," (which include French, Spanish and Italian.) His former students often tell him how grateful they were to have learned Latin in high school - Latin made it simple for them to grasp entirely different Romantic languages in college much more quickly than their classmates who lacked Latin backgrounds. My piano teacher, who studied Latin throughout high school, simply tacked on Italian endings to her Latin vocabulary when she visited Italy, and the native Italians understood her just fine. Not to argue that a grasp of the Latin language is sufficient to communicate in other Romantic languages; but a knowledge of Latin certainly makes learning these languages much simpler. Or so I've been told.

I would often came back at my father's argument with the retort, "Well if I'm going to learn Spanish, why don't I just learn Spanish, and not waste my time learning its foundational language?" His excellent reply; after Latin, you can easily pick up any Romantic language. You can become fluent in Spanish as well as French as well as Romanian as well as Italian as well as Portuguese. Your options are numerous - you can quickly become polylingual, instead of settling for bilingual.  Latin must thus be understood, in some ways, as a language-learning tool, not simply as a language in and of itself (though of course it is that as well.)

However, Latin isn't just a tool for learning fancy foreign languages. Its profound influence on the English language must never be underrated. My father estimates that as much as 80% of the English language comes from Latin and Greek roots. Think of that - 80 per cent of an entire tongue! I can think of quite a few English words off the top of my head right now that come from Latin... "Umbrella" - from the Latin word "umbra", meaning "shade." "Sedentary" - from the Latin "sedes", meaning "seat". "Nocturnal" - from the Latin "noctis", meaning "night". "Deity" - from the Latin "Deus", meaning "God." "Language" - from the Latin "lingua", meaning "tongue." ("Think 'linguini'", as our classmate Becca used to remind us helpfully.) There are literally hundreds more. I'm quite proud of the fact that when I hear or read a new English word that I've never come across before, more often than not I can figure out its meaning from my knowledge of Latin. Thanks to my father/tutor, of course, who insisted that he teach us this "dead" language, and who taught it well.

Latin did not only provide me with a broad, comprehensive basis for English vocabulary - it also contributed to my understanding of English grammar as well. Latin mechanics does not work the same way as English. The Latin language is infinitely more complex, yet at the same time more efficient. For example; in English, we can tell if a word is an adjective, adverb, or noun by the word itself (beautiful, swiftly, person.) In Latin however, we figure out how the word is being used in a sentence by its particular ending. Certain words have certain sets of endings. The endings for first-declension nouns are; -a, -ae, -ae, -am, -ah, -ae, -arum, -is, -as, -is. (Yup. Most of the chants are still hard-wired in there...) So, depending on context, a first-declension noun will end in -a if it's being used as a singular noun, -ae if it's being used as a singular direct object, -am if it's being used as a singular possessive noun, etc. There are several sets of declensions, many different ways the endings can be used, and quite a few different names for each of those uses (accusative, genitive, nominative, ablative, dative.) I won't even try to explain what happens when it comes to Latin verbs.

See what I mean? Complex... yet systematic, economical, efficient. Because of this complexity, English grammar in contrast is a piece of cake. Learning how to wrap my mind around the details of Latin grammar gave me a very solid understanding of words in general, and all of the different ways in which they can be used.

It might sound like the dullest class in the world. But sometimes it was actually enjoyable. We had Latin vocabulary contests (played sort of like an ancient Roman "Blurt!"), translated the entire book of James from Latin to English, and read the stories of Troy, Aeneas, Dido, Caesar, Romulus and Remus in their originals. We encouraged each other in Latin - Perfer et obdura; dolor hic tibi proderit olim - ("Be patient and tough; someday this pain will be useful to you"), complained in Latin - Cogito ergo doleo - ("I think, therefore I am depressed"), and apologized in Latin - Absit invidia - ("No offense intended"). Stacks and stacks of vocabulary cards, lists and lists of chants to memorize, pages of ancient sentences and stories to translate. It was fun.

I certainly don't regret it. The fact that I'm able to read Hugo's Hunchback of Notre Dame and O' Henry's Short Stories and understand their numerous Latin references without the help of a Latin-to-English handbook... that alone makes those four years worth it to me. I've come to agree wholeheartedly with my father's decision that a truly classically educated person is at least superficially familiar with the rudiments of the Latin language.

And last, but not least, Latin certainly comes in handy when you wish to show off... As the ancient Romans used to say;
"Quidquid Latina dictum, altum videtur": "Anything said in Latin sounds profound."

Judaism in "Paradise Lost"

            “Not by destroying Satan, but his works in thee and in thy seed; nor can this be, but by fulfilling that which thou didst want, obedience to the law of God…”                          
              Many are familiar with Milton’s seventeenth century epic poem, Paradise Lost. The story of the man’s fall and subsequent redemption, written in the poet’s beautiful, graceful prose, are well-known events to Christians and non-Christians alike. However what is not so widespread is the fact that many sources which Milton draws upon to retell the drama come from Judaism and rabbinical midrash. Taking a close look at his masterpiece we find many similarities between Milton and the rabbis, many Jewish sources and names, and many rich ancient traditions taken from the Chosen People.                       
           This may seem odd at first glance, for Milton was a devout Christian, living in an anti-Semetic England of the 1600s, during a period of pietism. His contemporaries were predominantly Protestant or Catholic – it was an age where Jews were branded as heretics and outsiders who had killed the Christians’ Jesus. Moreover, Paradise Lost is rife with mythological characters of Greek and Roman origin – in other words, paganism. How could this kind of man coming from this historical background and religion, use Judaism in his most famous poem already containing numerous Gentile inventions? Yet he did with astounding success, creating a timeless work, famous for its beauty and scholarship.                                                                     Obviously since Milton’s account comes from the Jewish Torah, all his characters and geography are Jewish. The Garden of Eden is Gan Eden and the Devil is Hasatan, well-known figures in rabbinical thought. Milton also appears to have a wide knowledge of the “Old Testament” – that is, the section of the Bible containing the five books of Torah, writings and prophets. He displays a broad knowledge of Judaic tradition, for example, when he describes one of Hasatan’s angels:                  
"First Moloch, horrid King besmeared with blood
Of human sacrifice, and parents tears… him the Ammonite,
Worshiped in Rabba and her watery plain,
In Argob and in Basan, to the stream
Of utmost Arnon. Nor content with such
Audacious neighborhood, the wisest heart
Of Solomon he led by fraud to build
His temple right against the temple of God,
On that opprobrious Hill, and made his Grove
The pleasant Valley of Hinnom, Tophet thence
And black Gehenna called, the Type of Hell”…                                                                         
          Milton spoke Hebrew and seemed familiar with all these places and people, unlike many other Christians. This is in part because he was a Puritan who predominantly identified with the Jews– moreover he used Mosaic laws many times in his arguments in politics.                                                                                    There are also similarities between Milton’s midrashes and those of the rabbis. Paradise Lost contains many stories such as conversations between Hashem and the Messiah and between the angel Michael and Adam. These types of “elaborations”, so to speak, follow the same structure as the midrashes of Rashi. A Jewish author Golda Werman even contends that “Paradise Lost can be considered as a modern midrash; it is largely a midrashic commentary on a few brief Biblical passages. Milton turned and turned the Biblical text to derive every possible meaning from it as a midrashist would have done.” For instance, Adam’s pleading with Hashem for a partner in Paradise Lost parallels the Jewish midrash from Genesis Rabbah. In Paradise Lost the story of Adam’s naming "each Bird and Beast. . . Approaching two and two,"… ending with his entreaty to God ("In solitude/What happiness, who can enjoy alone, Or all enjoying, what contentment find!”)  is very similar to the midrash; "Hashem brought all the living creatures before Adam in pairs. Adam said, 'For each one there is a partner, but there is no partner for me!’”                                                                                                                                                                             Many of Milton’s sources are Jewish as well – his main one seems to be the Pirke-de-Rabbi Eliezer of the 700s, who wrote midrash composed primarily of the Jerusalem Talmud and the Targum – it is quoted by, among others, Rashi and the Rambam.                                                                                                                                                 Milton’s use of Judaism in his masterpiece may on the surface, seem to be inappropriate or strange – however, taking a close look, it becomes apparent that this is what makes the poem so epic and realistic. After all, the “Christian” account of the Fall and Redemption is a Jewish one and its midrashim and Jewish commentators are its supreme authorities. Milton’s masterful combination of Hellenism, Christianity and Judaism color the pages of Paradise Lost like no other author has done before nor will be able to do again.