We concluded last week’s consideration of physical education with the ASICS motto, an acronym from Latin: Anima sana in corpore sano.  But, you may wonder, why do we make such a big deal of Latin here?  Why do you study Greek and Latin roots in lower school, and then take 4 whole years of Latin in upper school?  Nobody even speaks Latin anymore, so what’s the point?  It is a fair question, and this week I will endeavor to give you some of the answers.

The first answer is, in a way, about parents and grandparents.  Some philologists—those who study the historical development of languages—estimate that as much as 60% of the English language has Latin at its source, and that close to 30% of English words come directly from Latin.  Indeed, one of those words is the word “philology” itself: philo, which means love, and logia, which means learning.  You could say that Latin is the parent or at least the grandparent of much of our language.  Knowing it is a means to understanding our own.

Socrates famously said: “Know thyself.”  When people ask you, why study a dead language like Latin, it is a bit like asking someone whose parents or grandparents have passed away, “why bother knowing anything about them?”  Answer: At least in part, so that we can better know and understand ourselves.

Have a wonderful day.