More proof of how Latin might serve well as a neutral language for Europe

Wednesday, October 08, 2008

Maybe the local government here and in similar places around the world would be interested in a serious revival of Latin.

Take a look at this article from BBC about Belgium, where there's a lot of tension between French and Dutch/Flemish speakers:
When Fernand Herman died in 2005, his widow thought of a fitting epitaph for the former Belgian cabinet minister and Euro MP: "L'Europe est ma patrie" (Europe is my homeland).

But the funeral director warned her that the authorities of Overijse, a Flemish town, would take a dim view of a French-language grave.

Rudy Herman suggested Latin - and "Europa patria mea" passed muster.

Her husband is probably the only French-speaker buried in the cemetery who is remembered by more than a mere name and two dates.

Like many other municipalities near Brussels, Overijse takes language very seriously.

The capital is a cosmopolitan, largely French-speaking enclave within Flanders - and as its swelling population moves out, the suburbs are fighting to preserve their Flemish identity.

What that also means is that countries and areas with languages that are threatened by larger languages on the outside (Quebec, Brittany, Disentis/Mustér for example) would probably be the most receptive to the idea of Latin as an/the auxiliary language of Europe.

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