ROMAN MILITARY VOCABULARY I
ROMAN MILITARY VOCABULARY I

Summary/Abstract: Latin is the language of the civilization which ruled the ancient world for a long time, a world on three continents. Arcana Imperii, as Tacitus, the great Roman historian called it, was the army. The Roman army built, organized and coordinated this Roman world power, therefore the Latin language is very rich in words related to this almost complete institution of force. Latin military vocabulary is very rich, it includes both names of military structures, weapons, techniques, equipment, military ranks, and names of strategic actions, arrangement in battle formations, logistics, moral support of the Roman troops, etc. The Roman soldiers were not brutes, on the contrary they were educated and very well prepared for any situation. This study is a beginning, which included the Latin military vocabulary (without the military lexical expressions, the subject-matter of our other studies) selected in this first part from letter A to letter E. We grouped this vocabulary into categories, namely: military units and structures, military ranks, weapons, equipment, symbols and military decorations, punishments, distribution of the Roman army on the front, diplomats of the army and actions to support the morale of the Roman army. The Latin language we examine here is far from being a mere list of military words, it is the language of a remarkable civilization, which today has many viable examples for mankind as well, especially in the field of force institutions.

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