Quote regarding Latin spoken being 'purer' than in Rome

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quendidil
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Quote regarding Latin spoken being 'purer' than in Rome

Post by quendidil »

Does anyone know of a quote by a Classical author saying that the Latin spoken in one of the provinces being purer than that spoken in Rome?

I thought it was Caesar, but I can't find it in De Bello Gallico at least. I seem to remember something regarding a mother-in-law in relation to the quote as well.

Rhodopeius
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Re: Quote regarding Latin spoken being 'purer' than in Rome

Post by Rhodopeius »

Sorry, haven't heard of the quote, but it certainly doesn't surprise me. I suppose the dialect of the Italians would be far less cosmopolitan and less
spiced with foreign words. As for provinces outside of Italy, where Latin would have been much less familiar and more difficult to acquire, not to mention a status symbol for those in power or seeking power under Roman hegemony, I can imagine that those who learned the language could have been quite puritanical in their approach. Look at the way many educated Indians speak English, for a parallel.
Scott Sumrall. http://classicsexercises.blogspot.com

"Qui sis, non unde natus sis reputa."

adrianus
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Re: Quote regarding Latin spoken being 'purer' than in Rome

Post by adrianus »

Have a look at Cicero's De Oratore, quendidil, where Crassus discusses the opinion of some that rural speech is more ancient, and therefore purer, than the speech in the city of Rome. (Crassus says they are mistaken.)
Apud Ciceronem quaere, quendidil, in libro De Oratore nomine. Ibi tractat Crassus de opinione quorumdam quae sermonem rusticam esse formam antiquiorem et deinde puriorem sermone Romae urbanâ aestimat (perperàm, ut dicat Crassus).
I'm writing in Latin hoping for correction, and not because I'm confident in how I express myself. Latinè scribo ut ab omnibus corrigar, non quod confidenter me exprimam.

adrianus
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Re: Quote regarding Latin spoken being 'purer' than in Rome

Post by adrianus »

De Oratore, Liber tertius, capita undecimum, duodecimum, tertium decimum (3.XI-XIII)
http://www.uah.edu/society/texts/latin/ ... ml#celeven

Laelia est ista socrus. That mother-in-law is Laelia.
I'm writing in Latin hoping for correction, and not because I'm confident in how I express myself. Latinè scribo ut ab omnibus corrigar, non quod confidenter me exprimam.

adrianus
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Re: Quote regarding Latin spoken being 'purer' than in Rome

Post by adrianus »

Regarding your twin screw extruder, njxiangsu (who advertised here Sat May 30, 2009 9:29 am), may you twice extrude yourself.
De praeconio instrumenti duplici cochleâ extrudendi quod hûc misisti, njxiangsu, te ipsum bis extrudas.
I'm writing in Latin hoping for correction, and not because I'm confident in how I express myself. Latinè scribo ut ab omnibus corrigar, non quod confidenter me exprimam.

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lombard
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Re: Quote regarding Latin spoken being 'purer' than in Rome

Post by lombard »

I am trying to find the source of the quote. It was Gaul and the context in which I read it was the classical Latin education and its adoption by conquered peoples as the route to success. This caused the Latin spoken by the educated leaders in this prvince to be closer to classical than was common among even the leaders in Rome.

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