Lingua franca

I have opted for English on this webpage because—whether fortunately or unfortunately—it has become the modern lingua franca.

Personally, I would have selected many other languages before that spoken by the more remote Suebic tribes (as compared to the Semnones and Langobardi), the Angles or Ingvaeonic peoples.

Which language would I have chosen? On a personal (though not universal) level, I should have opted for the most noble and cultivated language of Ancient Greek, for a multitude of reasons. We are who we are, and we think as we do, because of the Greeks. Personally, I am quite convinced that those Greeks who, between wars, developed ideas and philosophies that utterly transformed the course of humanity were not human beings at all, but extraterrestrials—aliens who chose to visit us for a few centuries. Consider, for instance, what Thales of Miletus (Θαλῆς) proclaimed some three thousand years ago: The universe is governed by immutable laws. We may deduce these laws through reason. The gods have no part in any of this. And to think that today there are still those who insist the world is flat… It is why I rather incline towards existentialism…

Yet, how many readers—let alone speakers!—of Ancient Greek remain? Alas, far too few. And the number dwindles further. Bear in mind that nowadays, people are no longer categorised merely as “scientists” or “humanities scholars” (an absurd, deplorable distinction), but we have descended into ever more minute sub-sub-categories. How often have I heard someone I considered intelligent declare, “That isn’t my specialism, so I know nothing about it”? For my part, I take great pride in admitting—nay, insisting—that I know nothing about anything.

Which is why my poor children have endured, since the age of six, an education in Ancient Greek (and, incidentally, Latin) imposed by their paternal lineage. Hope, as they say, is the last to die…