to be the language of the people, it still continued to be used on public occasions all over Europe. All important books were written in Latin; and it was the language used in making laws and treaties, and in conducting trials. Even now scholars write books and make speeches in Latin; and the Roman Catholic Church still uses it in its services.
§ 3. Latin differed somewhat in the different periods at which it was spoken. The Latin with which we have to do was that spoken and written in the first century B.C. and the first century A.D., and may be called "Classical Latin."
§ 4. The Elements of Language.—The Latin language, like all other languages, was spoken in Sentences. Sentences are made up of Words, each expressing a separate notion or idea, such as homo man, niger black, ego I.
Words are composed of Syllables. Syllables are the smallest portions of words which can be pronounced separately. Thus, ho-mo consists of two syllables, because we can pronounce ho separately and mo separately; but we cannot pronounce the h without the first o, nor the m without the second o. A word of one syllable is called a Mono-syllable, one of two syllables a Dissyllable, one of three syllables a Trisyllable, and one of more than three a Polysyllable.
Syllables are composed of single Sounds. Thus, -mo consists of the sound m and the sound o. Sounds are either Vowels or Consonants. Vowels are sounds which can be pronounced by themselves; Consonants are sounds which can be pronounced only when combined with other sounds. Thus a vowel can form a syllable, as e in e-go, a consonant cannot.
When two vowels are pronounced so quickly as to be included in the same syllable, they are called a Diphthong.
