We hear from Duncan Wethey, Head of Classics at Summer Fields School, on why he believes Latin is still very much alive and well with an important place in today’s classroom.

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draco dormiens numquam titillandus – Never tickle a sleeping dragon!

When JK Rowling invented the motto for Hogwarts, she wrote it in Latin. Just as many real schools have Latin mottoes, Latin appears in the mottos of everything from football clubs (Spurs has audere est facere – to dare is to do) to countries (did you know that Switzerland shares its motto with the Musketeers unus pro omnibus, omnes pro uno?).

But by learning Latin at school, pupils not only spot the obvious Latin that we see and hear – carpe diem, mea culpa, et cetera …, but also understand the Latin that is present in so many words in our own language. Any Latin teacher will spend much of their time linking Latin words to their English derivatives. When learning the verb amo, the idea that an amateur loves what they do helps the learner to embed that knowledge. Dormiens in the Hogwarts motto is linked to dormitory – a place where people sleep.

So there’s Latin in English vocabulary. According to Dictionary.com, “About 80 percent of the entries in any English dictionary are borrowed, mainly from Latin. Over 60 percent of all English words have Greek or Latin roots. In the vocabulary of the sciences and technology, the figure rises to over 90 percent.”

But in studying Latin, another vocabulary becomes relevant. The vocabulary of language and grammar. Pupils will learn about parts of speech, tenses and moods of verbs, prepositions, clauses and even gerundives such as titillandus above. According to Andrew Christie, assistant Head of Streatham and Clapham High school, “ancient languages help us to understand the mechanics and structure of language, from modern languages to computer code”.

Some pupils enjoy Latin because they are good at languages but others come at it with a mathematical and analytical approach and find that they can use their logic and problem solving skills to succeed with an inflected language.

All pupils can get something out of Latin, but for the brightest prep school pupils, Latin is a real way of demonstrating their ability to senior schools. Recently, I met the head of scholars at Abingdon School and he was keen to point out that there was a real correlation between those who performed well in Latin and those who were awarded the top scholarships. At Summer Fields, most of the pupils who have won King’s Scholarships to Eton have got very high grades in Latin (and Ancient Greek).

Having gone from prep to senior school, those studying Latin will go on to read some of the finest and most influential literature of all time, such as that of perhaps Rome’s greatest poet, Virgil, who, amongst many other things, wrote omnia vincit amor, or Horace with the immortal phrase nunc est bibendum.

Latin is most definitely not dead and I will end with one more Latin phrase. It is painted on the wall of School at Winchester College…

aut disce, aut discede – either learn or leave!

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