Palmer L.R. The Latin Language

Faber & Faber, 1988. — 382 p. — (The Great Languages).In this book, one of a series not primarily addressed to specialists, I have tried to summarize for classical students, for fellow scholars working in other fields, and for the interested laity the results reached by research into the history of Latin from the Bronze Age down to the break-up of the Roman Empire. No previous know- ledge of the principles and methods of comparative philology has been assumed, such matters being elucidated in the discussion of the various problems to which they are relevant. My aim has been to state the communis opinio where one exists and elsewhere to set forth as fairly as I could the evidence and the divergent views which have been expressed, although I have not everywhere been able to conceal the fact that I have opinions of my own.