[proxy_user]

"Latin’s stability makes it unique among languages still in use. Although centuries ago its grammar and vocabulary became essentially frozen (thus earning the designation “dead”)....

On the other hand, some might say that it continued to evolve like a normal language, until its dialects turned into French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, and Romanian.

[freedom moose]

On the other hand, some might say that it continued to evolve like a normal language, until its dialects turned into French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, and Romanian.
I have read several times that Latin did modernize itself and that there was actually a high form and a low form. The low form being spoken by less educated members of society particularly at military garrisons. In the articles I have read linguists say this explains the differences in several latin based languages. For example Catalan spoken in the north eastern coastal region of Spain has many important differences with Spanish. The verb to eat for example "comer" - spanish and "menjar" catalan, can apparently be traced to this. Catalan developed in a heavily militarized area and Spanish in the more central part of Spain which at the time was heavily involved in mining IIRC and there was a slightly more educated populace.And somehow this carries over to portuguese which often has spellings that resemble catalan (lots of X's for example) I can't really give a source for this stuff since I've never read it on the internet, however I think the book "Barcelona" by Robert Higgs talks a little about it, unfortunately not the most accurate source. Maybe someone else can help out.