Learning Latin: Word Order
by A brief introduction to learning Latin. The topic discussed here is the issue of word order, or syntax. If you want to become a better writer, study a language such as Latin to gain maximum appreciation for what words can do.
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The first thing that you need to know when learning Latin, is that the way in which many modern languages (I will most often reference English, since that is my native tongue) create meaning is not the way that Latin constructs grammatical meaning. Latin produces meaning in the sentence by means of ending changes. This is familiar, to some extent, to speakers of the Romance languages, since those languages came from Latin, but this is a very difficult concept for English speakers, especially for us Americans–we gave up on grammar years ago.
Latin is an inflected language, which means that the endings indicate, for most words, how it is to be understood in a sentence. For instance:
“Puer amat puellam” means “the boy likes the girl”. “Amat puellam puer” and “Puellam puer amat”, and “Puer puellam amat” also all mean “the boy likes the girl”, in the sense of denotation. What is changing in each Latin sentence is the subjective value applied to each word. In Latin, the most important words claim the first and last positions in each sentence.
Basically, where you put words in a Latin sentence has more to do with subjective values that the words themselves carry, than upon the need to keep a certain structure to produce meaning. Normally, subjects go first and verbs go last, as being the most important words in most sentences. Latin authors are then able to change these patterns for maximum emotional affect.
In his first speech given against the revolutionary Catiline, Marcus Tullius Cicero, the great orator, frequently poses rhetorical questions and makes statements with verbs leading the charge. In the following “sententia” from his speech Cicero is justifying his desire for the death penalty against Catiline by citing historical precedent:
…interfectus est propter quasdam seditionum suspiciones C. Gracchus… (…Gaius Gracchus was killed on account of the mere suspicion of sedition…)
In this instance, Cicero, who wants to drive home his claim for the death penalty, places the passive voice verb in the primal position in this clause. The subject comes last in an inversion of the normal grammatical expectation.
The fact that Latin is a grammatically inflected language allows writers to employ a high level of creativity when creating each sentence. The great author pays attention to each fine detail and the standard for the Latin author is very high. Modern writers can learn a great deal from the Romans. Yes, they were hot after the denarius, but to claim the most fame as an author, you also had to produce excellent work. I believe that many writers today could benefit greatly from reading the ancient masters. Learning Latin will stretch your linguistic mind and force you to consider language from bold new perspectives.
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