[Lucius Cornelius Sulla]

‘At the same time both sets of languages share a great deal of vocabulary with German and English, and when it comes to Finnish, WITH LATIN due to a conscious effort starting in the 1880s to “upgrade the couth” (so to speak). People even Latinized their names ~’

I remember reading many years ago that there was a Finnish radio station that broadcast at least part time in Latin. Your info helps explain that, thanks. I wonder if they broadcast in Medieval (Church) Latin, like Vatican radio, or in Classical Latin, which I guess is more likely, the Finns not being very Catholic these days.

[Lucius Cornelius Sulla]

So I used Google and found an amusing story about the Finns love for Classical Latin: “ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6079852.stm “ . It turns out that 75,000 Finns listen to the news in Classical Latin, and their is an academic who sings Elvis Presley songs in Classical Latin. It has a link to listen to it. Finns are not only stubborn but they also are pretty whimsical.

[muawiyah]

Could be the "Classical" type ~ that's the one I learned. You had to go to Catholic schools to learn Medieval since that's what the RC's use.

In later years I found the "Classical" was based on detailed analysis of what Latin was probably like back in J.Caesar's time, and then "recreated". In any case, Medieval Latin sounds remarkably like the other Gallo languages, so I wonder if it's really Latin, or just the dominant Gallo of the time.

Languages change over time.