Latin as the Language of Science and Learning / Philipp Roelli.

Format:

Book

Thesis/Dissertation

Author/Creator:

Roelli, Philipp, Author.

Contributor:

Schweizerischer Nationalfonds (SNF), Funder.

Series:

Lingua Academica

Lingua Academica : Beiträge zur Erforschung historischer Gelehrten- und Wissenschaftssprachen , 2569-9903 ; 7

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource (XIII, 646 p.)

Place of Publication:

Berlin ; Boston : De Gruyter, [2021]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

This book investigates the role of the Latin language as a vehicle for science and learning from several angles. First, the question what was understood as 'science' through time and how it is named in different languages, especially the Classical ones, is approached. Criteria for what did pass as scientific are found that point to 'science' as a kind of Greek Denkstil based on pattern-finding and their unbiased checking. In a second part, a brief diachronic panorama introduces schools of thought and authors who wrote in Latin from antiquity to the present. Latin's heydays in this function are clearly the time between the twelfth and eighteenth centuries. Some niches where it was used longer are examined and reasons sought why Latin finally lost this lead-role. A third part seeks to define the peculiar characteristics of scientific Latin using corpus linguistic approaches. As a result, several types of scientific writing can be identified. The question of how to transfer science from one linguistic medium to another is never far: Latin inherited this role from Greek and is in turn the ancestor of science done in the modern vernaculars. At the end of the study, the importance of Latin science for modern science in English becomes evident.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Acknowledgements and practicalities

Introduction

Part 1 Semantics of the term 'science'

1 Modern languages: Wissenschaft, science, наука, επιστήμη

2 Terms for 'science' in Greek and Latin

3 The wider semantic field of 'science' in the classical languages

4 What is science and how does it relate to Denkstil?

5 The demarcation problem

Part 2 Diachronic panorama of Latin science and learning

6 Introductory remarks on Denkstile, epochs, and genres

7 Greek science and its language in Antiquity

8 Foundations of Roman science in Latin

9 The age of the artes liberales

10 The adoption of the Greek Denkstil

11 University science: An Aristotelian Revolution

12 New approaches in the Renaissance

13 New science in the old tongue

14 The demise of Latin as language of science

15 Niches where Latin survived longer

16 From Latin to vernacular science

Part 3 Changes in the language of science

17 Introduction to the linguistics of scientific language

18 Linguistic development studied in a general scientific corpus

19 Conclusions on the Latin used in scientific texts

20 Specific corpora: Arithmetic, historiography, scientific poetry

21 How are new scientific concepts expressed?

22 How was Greek science imported into other languages?

23 The reuse of Latin in the modern languages of science

24 On the relation between science, culture, and language

Summary and concluding remarks

Appendix 1

Appendix 2

Bibliographies

General Index

Notes:

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 29. Nov 2021)

This eBook is made available Open Access under a CC BY 4.0 license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://www.degruyter.com/dg/page/open-access-policy

Habil Universität Zürich 2021.

Description based upon print version of record.

ISBN:

9783110745832

3110745836