From the Historia Latinae linguae to the “Historia de la lengua latina”: literature versus linguistics. From Walchius to Stolz

Abstract

More than one hundred years separate the 16th century Historia Latinae linguae from the modern “History of the Latin Language” (“Geschichte der Lateinischen Sprache”). The Historia Latinae linguae belongs to the wide domain of literary history and it is at the origin of the “History of Roman Literature” (“Geschichte der Römischen Literatur”) which appeared by the end of the 18th century. Both the Historia Latinae linguae and the “History of Roman Literature” encompass the study of ancient Latin documents which, after W. S. Teuffel’s (c. 1870) work, will be reduced to a sort of pre‐history of literature. Such documents have been included within a new linguistic paradigm of the “Geschichte der Lateinischen Sprache”. As such, the eighteenth‐century Historia Latinae linguae cannot be understood in terms of the “History of the Latin Language”.