▲ 10 r/AskHistorians
If a time traveller learned Latin taught today, what time periods/regions would they be able to effectively converse in? Were there major changes in Latin like old english to modern?
I know the second part of that has to be a yes considering Latin splintered off into various languages, it's a more a question of how did it evolve over time, and if you were a posh kid studying latin today (or more realistically, about 50 years ago) what "era" of latin would you have been taught, and how far back could you go with it? The entirety of the Roman empire? What about breadth? Would the average Briton under Roman rule understand even the basics of latin, or was it purely the roman expat community and clergy?
I also wasn't sure if this was a asklinguistics question or history...history of linguistics I guess.
u/CynicalEffect — 3 days ago