Don't know if this goes here. It does have something to do with IE, because it has to do with the languages Greek and Latin as well as with the Religions of Greece and Rome.
http://books.google.com/books?id=NEulLJm9d...7nZE38#PPA61,M1
From <b>The Dominance of English As a Language of Science. The Effects on Other Languages and Language Communities</b>, edited by Ulrich Ammon, various authors who've contributed articles. <b>Page 61:</b>
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Nor did the Romans concern themselves with the languages of the countries they conquered. There was one exception: the language of the Greeks, in which they recognised a superior culture. To be a man of culture in Rome a knowledge of Greek was a prerequisite. But they found a simple solution to the possible conflict of languages and cultures. Just as they assimilated the Greek gods into their own panteon by giving them Roman names, they accepted Greek culture, assuming that there was one single culture expressed in two languages.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->Not certain to what extent the above is historically accurate with respect to 'assimilation of Greek Gods'. I mean, the Trojans worshipped the solar God Apollo - their main national God. If the Romans did have Trojan ancestry as some in Rome often claimed, then they had shared one God with the Greeks before the instantiation of Rome.
And some questions based on the above excerpt: how much could/would Greek have influenced Latin then? Any significant - even what we might now perceive as almost formative - influences possible (major words, and terms for concepts)? Also, what's the time period being referred to above? Are there surviving works in Latin (or any Italic, for that matter) from a period before this contact with the Greeks? Any significant differences in the language from before Greek-contact to after contact?
In short, what I'm asking is: 'navigation' is English because it got there from the Latin. In a comparable manner, are there words assumed to have originated in Latin that might well have been introduced from Greek itself? (I don't know the prehistory of Latin, hence my questions.)
http://books.google.com/books?id=NEulLJm9d...7nZE38#PPA61,M1
From <b>The Dominance of English As a Language of Science. The Effects on Other Languages and Language Communities</b>, edited by Ulrich Ammon, various authors who've contributed articles. <b>Page 61:</b>
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Nor did the Romans concern themselves with the languages of the countries they conquered. There was one exception: the language of the Greeks, in which they recognised a superior culture. To be a man of culture in Rome a knowledge of Greek was a prerequisite. But they found a simple solution to the possible conflict of languages and cultures. Just as they assimilated the Greek gods into their own panteon by giving them Roman names, they accepted Greek culture, assuming that there was one single culture expressed in two languages.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->Not certain to what extent the above is historically accurate with respect to 'assimilation of Greek Gods'. I mean, the Trojans worshipped the solar God Apollo - their main national God. If the Romans did have Trojan ancestry as some in Rome often claimed, then they had shared one God with the Greeks before the instantiation of Rome.
And some questions based on the above excerpt: how much could/would Greek have influenced Latin then? Any significant - even what we might now perceive as almost formative - influences possible (major words, and terms for concepts)? Also, what's the time period being referred to above? Are there surviving works in Latin (or any Italic, for that matter) from a period before this contact with the Greeks? Any significant differences in the language from before Greek-contact to after contact?
In short, what I'm asking is: 'navigation' is English because it got there from the Latin. In a comparable manner, are there words assumed to have originated in Latin that might well have been introduced from Greek itself? (I don't know the prehistory of Latin, hence my questions.)