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Brussels - If you thought that English is the language of the 21st century,
think again. In Europe, the future could be Latin. "It's not practical if you
have to translate the name of an EU programme into 23 languages, so if you
have a Latin word which can be pronounced in all 23 and means something at
the same time, it's practical," European Commission translator and classical
linguist Wolfgang Jenniges said.
In the EU, languages are big political business. Each member state fights
fiercely for its national tongue, with EU texts routinely translated into all
23 of the bloc's official languages.
As long as the EU has enough computer memory and printer paper to handle 23
versions of every text, it is a perfect political solution.
But trouble starts when there is only room to use one word from one language
- such as when creating an internet domain name.
English, the EU's most widespread language, might seem to have the advantage
in such questions. But other member states fear that too much English use
would cement it as the EU's unofficial working tongue, a politically
impossible position.
"English has become the lingua franca, but we are not allowed to say so," one
EU linguist commented.
The EU's solution has been to find a politically neutral language in the only
place it could realistically look: European history.
"The fact that Latin doesn't belong to any one nation makes things easier,"
Jenniges said.
With Latin at the root of many of the technical, scientific, religious and
legal terms in Europe, Virgil's language is perfectly placed to become the
EU's virtual language.
"There is a dose of Latin in all 23 EU languages: the dosage varies, but it's
always there," the linguist pointed out.
In a striking blend of ancient and modern, the EU has therefore adopted Latin
titles for some of its top internet addresses.
The European Court of Justice in Luxembourg has the domain name "curia" -
Latin for "court." The council of EU member states uses the domain name
"consilium," Latin for "council."
Both those names are sub-addresses of the EU's web domain, "europa" - the
Latin name for Europe.
EU projects are also being given Latin names. A recent translation contest
was called "juvenes translatores" ("young translators"), while the EU has a
"Tempus" ("time") project for upgrading universities outside the bloc.
Classical names are even coming back into fashion for EU military missions.
In recent years, the bloc has run operations named Althea, Artemis, Themis
and Concordia - the goddesses of healing, hunting, justice and
reconciliation.
The tradition was reinforced in December, when the EU sent a fleet of
warships to fight Somali pirates under the codename "Atalanta" - in Greek
myth, the only woman to sail on the quest of the Golden Fleece.
Those names "transcend modern cultural and historical references of a
national nature, as well as linguistic considerations," an EU official said.
Admittedly, EU-watchers are not likely to have to reach for their Latin
dictionaries any time soon.
Any decision to extend the use of Latin on a larger scale would be "eminently
political," and would have to be preceded by "the renewal of Latin teaching
in schools and universities almost from scratch," Jenniges pointed out.
But with political sensitivities showing no sign of fading, the EU may well
find that the simplest way of avoiding fights between living languages is to
look for more and more names in a dead one.