Re: The Classical Tradition.

Mark Odegard wrote

> Caesar, I think it was, said Gaullic (or at least, certain dialects

of it)

> was very very easy to learn if you spoke Latin (tho', the converse

seems to

> have not been true, and Gauls had difficulty learning Latin).

Actually what Caesar said was the Gauls had a great deal of ease understanding his Latin dispatches, and for this reason he wrote them in Greek. Whether this was due to the Gauls, from a fair exposure to Latin Masaillot traders and were bilingual, or because of similarity between Gallic and Latin is never explained.

> We know Latin and Celtic are as different as Latin and > Greek, but 2000 years ago, the time span was not that great, and yes,

it

> seems a native Latin-speaker could have probably figured out Celtic

very

> quickly.

Latin and Celtic seem to have been closer than many other Indo-European languages certainly. The divergence seems to have been about the time of the Urnfield Cultures of about 15-1100 BCE. Regards John