dead language
Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word dead language. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word dead language, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say dead language in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word dead language you have here. The definition of the word dead language will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition ofdead language, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
English
Noun
dead language (plural dead languages)
- A language which no longer has any native speakers.
- Coordinate term: living language
- 1799, Edward Dubois, A Piece of Family Biography, volume II, page 20:
- Supper being over, the lawyer took his leave, and the doctor began to ſound the learned clerk reſpecting his proficiency in the dead languages. "As to dead languages," replied the ſchoolmafter, "I was once a vaſt pretty ſcholar indeed, but want of exercise has made me main ſlack—I can't get over my ground as I uſed to do. Then as to the t'other dead fellow, I could never greek it at all, that's flat. And, Lord bleſs you! my Latin is of no more uſe to me here than—than—" Here he ſtuck for want of a ſimile; when Mr. Le Dupe helped him out by ſaying, "that it is to a young man at college, where it is conſidered a pedantic inſult, and an unpardonable bore, to utter a Latin ſentence."
Usage notes
- It is questionable whether e.g., Latin or Ancient Greek should be considered dead languages, because they truly never became extinct, as they evolved into the modern Romance languages and Modern Greek, respectively.
Translations
language with no native speakers
|