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Hartsville, S.C. - For most people, Latin is a dead language no longer relevant in the modern world. However, nothing could be further from the truth according to a group of students and their professor at Coker College.

Latin, the language of Julius Caesar, came to life at Coker College this fall in a class taught by Dr. Adelheid Eubanks, associate professor of language and literature. Her Intensive Elementary Latin course, which covers vocabulary, syntax and Roman culture, was filled with 13 students who quickly grew to love the ancient tongue. They even had t-shirts made proudly stating that “Latin is not dead, it is immortal!”

“Latin is great,” said Kristin Caswell, a junior communication major from Augusta, Ga. “Studying it makes us think how meaning is created and that makes us much better writers and public speakers.”

That enthusiasm was not necessarily evident on the first day of class. At first, students thought they had signed up for a dead language, but within a few days they came to realize that Latin is still important in the 21st century.

According to Eubanks, who also teaches German and French and is director of the college’s liberal arts studies program, about 70% of the English dictionary is related to Latin.

“English and Latin are connected in very complex ways that operate on levels of names, parts of verbs, suffices, prefixes, and so on” she said. “Students wonder why they have never noticed the all-pervasive presence of Latin-Roman linguistic and cultural influences upon their own language and culture.”

Eubanks has taught Latin at Coker once before and the success of the class is laying the ground work for future classical language courses, such as Ancient Greek. Latin, says Eubanks, is provoking students to broaden their outlook to include other languages that influence our culture.

The Roman poet Virgil would approve. “Felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas,” he said. (“Happy is he who has been able to learn the causes of things.”)

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December 7, 2005