What ancient Latin Sounded Like, based on linguistic clues
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Josh Rudder, an animator with NativLang, researched how people actually spoke ancient Latin.
He avoided relying on popular film portrayals, such as the British accents in Spartacus and Rome, and instead looked to ancient sources like the rhetorician Quintilian and the poetic meter of Virgil. Rudder traced the language’s evolution by examining its descendants, the Romance languages, and considering interactions between Romans and Germanic tribes. His work isn’t a definitive guide to pronunciation, but a reconstruction based on available evidence.
Rudder’s research builds on earlier work, with a previous version of his findings appearing online in 2016. He aimed to discover how Latin sounded in everyday speech, or sermo vulgaris, rather than relying on the more formal language used in texts. The investigation connects to wider interest in ancient Roman life, including recreations of Roman meals and explorations of their ruins, offering a new way to imagine the past.
