When Did People Stop Speaking Latin?

Let’s go back in time 2,000 years and imagine we’re on the streets of Rome. We’re speaking in Latin, and people would have understood us. That would have been the case for several hundred years—Latin is widely spoken and understood.

But by the eighth century, this changes. Charlemagne decides that Latin needs to be standardized. The reason? Because people aren’t speaking it anymore.

Of course, Latin is still spoken and read in churches, colleges, and other institutions. But it’s no longer the spoken language of ordinary people. You would be speaking in medieval French or medieval German, or another language that had evolved from Latin.

[johndorilag]

Vulgar Latin just evolved into Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Rumanian

[histatimaniples]

Spanish is Latin spoken by Iberians. French, Latin spoken by Gauls. Italian, spoken by numerous tribes of different languages in Italy. It “evolved” because different people spoke Latin differently. Just like different people spoke indo European differently creating languages like Latin. That’s why spainglish is becoming a thing in the west coast in the states

[scott]

After the fall of the Roman Empire around the year 470, mass migration out of the imperial city would eventually form into little hamlets throughout Europe. During this time very few people would travel outside the security of their towns....and this isolation allowed the various language dialects the ability to freely evolve from Latin. Over the next few centuries Latin was intertwined with multitude of other languages and romance languages would began to emerge. Because this was a slow process, to accurately guess when Latin ceased to be spoken as a primary language would be, at best, an estimation. For example, Emperor Justinian (born in year 432 and died early 6th cent.) was the last Roman Emperor whose native/primary language was Latin....my best guess would be that Latin no longer was spoken as a primary language around this time.

[LambentIchor]

They stopped speaking Latin because people kept accidentally invoking demons.

[Yews]

This guy looks more like a Brad Bale or maybe a Christian Pitt

[roncoleridge]

Nope, the latest research is strengthening the idea that Latin was NEVER widely spoken. It was just the language of the small Roman elite (just like the language of the Inca royalty was not Quechua but the obscure language Puquina) and with the downfall of the Roman Empire, and even earlier, fewer and fewer people spoke it as a native language. During Roman times even in Italy people spoke many languages related and influenced by Latin but distinct languages. This explains its easy disappearance of Latin.

[jordanbloomfield]

I wonder if one day Modern Standard Arabic (or perhaps Quran Arabic) will be seen like how we see Latin today

[ello]

i stopped after saying the words wrong and accidentaly summoning a demon

[cheekjulie]

Is the red watch distracting for anyone else?

[exploringtheologychannel]

Like all things, there is a shelf life. Everything has its season.

[the-eternal--dragon-shenron]

In my opinion, several languages devolved from Latin instead of several languages evolving from Latin.

[MSA-ujcp]

I thought Latin speakers eventually became Greek speakers? Did Paul speak Latin?