Discuss the use of Latin versus vernacular language in the transmission of knowledge during the Middle Ages. What differences did language make?
What will be an ideal response?
ANSWER:
Initially the universal language of the Roman Empire, Latin was used in the church in the West for the transmission of ideas at a time when Christianity was spreading to people of diverse cultures and languages. In the medieval era, the church retained its records and literature in Latin, and as the church schools were the ones training young clergy and nobility, the continuation of Latin as the main language of instruction allowed a widespread sharing of knowledge and culture. Universities, derived from cathedral schools, also taught in Latin, regardless of whether they were located in Italian states, the Holy Roman Empire, or France. This allowed a degree of mobility among academics, who could travel to various locales to study what they found of interest, regardless of nationality or political orientation. However, with the growth of humanism and popular literature, the transmission of knowledge in regional languages also increased, such as Dante and Boccaccio writing in Italian or Chaucer writing in Middle English. Thus the Latin-educated elite were no longer the only ones with access to literature.
You might also like to view...
An increase in cattle-raising took place after the Civil War. Which of the following statements was NOT a reason for that increase?
A) People could afford to eat beef. B) An early marketing tactic suggested that pork was unhealthy. C) Cattle were easy to raise. D) Chickens were difficult to cultivate and raise.
The Treaty of Paris did NOT:
a. recognize American independence. b. sever the alliance between the United States and France. c. give the United States territory between Canada and Florida east of the Mississippi River. d. give Americans the right to fish in Atlantic waters off of Canada. e. require the restoration of Loyalist property seized by local and state governments.
Portuguese trading outposts were successful in all of the following areas except ______________.
A. Goa B. Brazil C. Malacca D. China E. Peru
One of the pivotal means for East Germans to leave communism behind came when
a. armed mobs placed dynamite on the Berlin Wall and guards did not stop them. b. Hungary opened its borders to Austria for free transit. c. the Soviet Union eliminated the need for exit visas for dissidents. d. there was no enforcement of the guest worker program termination. e. None of these were options for East Germans wishing to leave communism.