Why , do names of certain things have to be in Latin ?

Question

I know know the regular excuse is that so everyone can know the name of the system or animal bla bla .

That's BS first of all every counrty's people have there own names for there animals , an only the "profesionals" know the names in Latin .

Second , people who speak different languages pronounce the word differently , so it sounds like a completly different word .


So why are we still using Latin > ?

I think its becuase ,people think it makes them sound smart .

Answer 1

Language, especially English, takes most of it vocabulary from the Greeks and Romans. The Romans invaded Gaul and Great Britain. Most of the languages that were spoken were not written down and since Latin was / is a written language, it was used for record keeping.
Italian, German, Spanish, French are all based on Latin, the language of the conquerors. The Catholic Church was responsible in part as well since masses were spoken in Latin and during the dark ages, learning and language were basically controlled by the church. This influenced Laws and Medicine and if you didn't speak Latin, you were pretty much out of Luck.
Just as a unified monetary system creates a sense of unity, so does a language. Romans knew this and used it. Sure there were local languages, but just like English it became the universal language of most countries for trade and business.
As far as pronunciation, different areas may pronounce it differently, but when written down, it is the same and until recently with the advent of email and cellular communications, everything was committed to paper (written). Since revamping systems is expensive and time consuming, it's easier to stick with what was the norm rather than to change the system.
In high school I took two years of Latin and two years of French, though I never got really good at either one, I can break down complex words and understand their basic meaning without running to a dictionary or finding an online dictionary. Academic high school students (students planning on continuing their education) should always be encouraged to take Latin and another language.

Answer 2

Latin was the language of scholars. Until very recently (1970s), high school students were required to take 2 years of Latin. (At least where I lived).

Latin forms the basis of most of the subjects we study in high school and college: English, Biology, Chemistry, etc.

It's part of tradition. An educated person knows some Latin- even if it's just a little for science or English.

Latin is the basis for English, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and some of the languages spoken in Romania, Bulgaria, etc.

Answer 3

latin and greek are languages used because they are universal.
other details about latin...

Six out of every ten commonly-used English words are derived, directly or indirectly, from Latin.
The modern study of Latin, along with Greek, is part of the study of Classics

Although now widely considered to be an extinct language, with very few fluent speakers and almost no native ones (though Ecclesiastical Latin remains the official, 'national' language of Vatican City), Latin has exerted a major influence on many other languages that are still thriving, and continues to see limited use in academia, medicine, scientific classification and law

Answer 4

Latin is becoming less & less used, so don't you worry. Latin termonology is now mostly used by scientists, zoologists...etc., who need to use those terms for their line of work. It helps classify the animal, figure out relations...etc.
People pronounce the words differently like people who have accents say it differently or their backgrounds effect how they say it. (i.e. tomato, potato...etc.) Also, it's a DEAD language, meaning there isn't any one who fluently speaks it can tell you how it's exactly pronounced.
Also, it helps prevent confusion. One country's cat may be another country's rat or cow... So if you stick with it's Latin name, you won't get animals mixed up.

Answer 5

Because Latin is the root of a majority of languages. Otherwise, people will be calling the same thing differently. It helps the scientific community in keeping things the same. Also, as science evolved, all the animals, plants etc were named in latin the laguage du jour of their day and it stuck.

Answer 6

It's just an internationally accepted convention. Linneaus, who first started naming plants with Latin names, used Latin because it was the prevailing scientific language at the time. No one has deviated from this since them.

Answer 7

No matter what country or language you come from, you still only have one correct way to pronounce Latin. If everyone Uses this one correct way to spell and pronounce, there is less confusion.

Answer 8

Because the ancient Greeks were the first to begin classifying the natural world around them. Scientists continued using the same words to reduce confusion between them. Doesn't matter how someone pronounces it, it is still the same word when written.

Answer 9

Latin is an older language that many early scientists ascribed to. Many languages derived from Latin. That is why things are named in Latin. If you are so concerned about this, why don't you take it upon yourself to learn something new, then it won't seem to be so "foreign" to you.

Answer 10

It is an unwritten rule that it is the language of scholars

Has been ever since the Roman empire, mainly because most education before the 1800's came from old roman books