De rationibus quibus homines docti artem Latine colloquendi et ex tempore dicendi saeculis XVI et XVII coluerunt

Description

The use of Latin for conversation and ex tempore discourse was a significant element in the culture of learned people in the humanist age and the early modern era. This book explores that phenomenon and the considerable amount of evidence pertaining to it in the primary sources written in the period. The author takes into account the use of spoken Latin both inside and outside the academic world. Examining disputes over pronunciation and different views about ex tempore eloquence among Latin writers active in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the author shows that these "conversations" are not unrelated to much better known discussions and debates about the nature of Latin prose style and eloquence in an age when Latin was no one's native language. The book thus reveals that understanding the role of conversation and ex tempore expression in Latin helps us to understand the early modern phenomenon of Neo-Latin in general. All texts in this volume are in Latin. RERUM CONSPECTUS Praefatiuncula 9 I. De argumento nostro 11 II. De linguae Latinae usu scholastico 19 III. De colloquiis familiaribus 39 IV. De Ciceronianis 47 V. De pronuntiatu 69 VI. De Latine colloquendi usu et utilitate 79 VII. Paucula quaedam de rebus a saec. XVIII usque ad saec. XX gestis 91 VIII. Verba quaedam et locutiones, quae ad Latine colloquendi facultatem orationemve extemporalem pertinent 97 Epilogus. Quid de litterarum Latinarum patrimonio senserint studiorum humanitatis fautores 105 Conspectus librorum et commentationum 117 Index nominum selectorum 131