What Happened to Latin After the Fall of Rome?

Posted on March 27, 2020 by Charles Yallowitz

Nicholas C. Rossis's avatarNicholas C. Rossis

Readers of this blog will be aware of my fascination with all things linguistic. So, I just had to share Susanna Viljanen’s and Dan Toler’s answers on Quora on what happened to Latin once Rome was no more.

It may surprise many to realize that Latin is alive and well over fifteen centuries later. Latin never disappeared. It simply evolved. But it evolved differently in different places, and that’s how we ended up with the diverse set of modern Romance languages.

What Happened to Latin After the Fall of Rome (476 AD)?

After the Western Empire’s collapse, Latin continued to exist just as ever. People from Lusitania to Dacia continued to speak Vulgar Latin as their everyday language and to write Classical Latin in their letters.

But languages are living things. While many modern people think of Latin as a single, standard language, that wasn’t the case. Ecclesiastical…

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About Charles Yallowitz

Charles E. Yallowitz was born, raised, and educated in New York. Then he spent a few years in Florida, realized his fear of alligators, and moved back to the Empire State. When he isn't working hard on his epic fantasy stories, Charles can be found cooking or going on whatever adventure his son has planned for the day. 'Legends of Windemere' is his first series, but it certainly won't be his last.
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4 Responses to What Happened to Latin After the Fall of Rome?

  1. Nicholas C. Rossis's avatar Nicholas C. Rossis says:
    March 27, 2020 at 7:02 am

    Thanks for the share! It’s a fascinating subject, isn’t it?

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  2. inkspeare's avatar inkspeare says:
    March 30, 2020 at 11:37 am

    Had no idea of this amazing evolution. Thank you so much for sharing this. I have been trying to learn Latin, and have put it on the side, then come back to it, and put it on the side again. I guess you have inspired me to pick it up again. It is funny because he said that if you could understand that piece of writing he posted you were probably a time traveling Saxon, and I understood it, so I must be one. I speak Spanish, and because of it sometimes many words in other languages are familiar – Portuguese, old Castilian, Italian, French, some Latin … Anyhow, you have convinced me to pick up where I left. Thank you.

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