By Matthew Villanueva, Features Assignment Editor
“E pluribus unum.” Out of many, one. This Latin phrase has been the motto of the United States since 1782, and it likely will not be leaving any time soon.
Despite the connotation that Latin is dead, the language surrounds your daily life. The term “Et Cetera,” literally translates to “and so on.” The Latin term “extra” transcribes in English to “In addition to.” Even “bonus” in the classic language translates to “good.” (And for us Bonnies, “Bona” translates to “good.”).
But Latin is not only present in our humanities, but in our sciences as well. Latin provides the root to most of our medical vocabulary. With most of the medical breakthroughs in the past 500 years, new words had to be added to the lexicon. For example, the Latin term “bronchos” represents the windpipe.
Latin is also used to determine the names of plants. Using Latin, gardeners are able to easily distinguish plants and trees from others; especially when traveling abroad. “Acer rubrum” translates to “red maple,” but to an international farmer, they will easily be able to find it by looking for a maple tree with red leaves.
Latin is also spoken often in law and religious settings. While in a courtroom, the lawyer or judge will likely say many of the following terms, “bona fide,” “habeus corpus,” “alibi” or “pro bono.” Each respectively translate to, “In good faith,” “produce the body,” “elsewhere” and “for free.” In religious settings, including mass and bible studies, “corpus” is commonly used which translates to “body” — “corpus Christe” in turn translating to “body of Christ.”
But for others, including myself, Latin helps to improve writing skills and to expand vocabulary. The presumed dead language has a major influence on modern culture. Latin is the root language to all romantic languages (Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian and English). And it helps to understand bigger words. The term “Alma mater” translates to “nourishing mother.”
Are you going to survive without knowing Latin at all? Yes. You will be able to continue going along with your useless life. Will it help make your life worth living? It will sure help. While you may be able to accidentally summon a demon or call for your Patronus, it will also make your life so much easier. While learning the “classic Latin roots” may be tedious, it will help if you would like to learn any other romantic language.
Latin is all around us.
Vade in pace.
villanjv18@bonaventure
