Abstract

Exploring interest in Latin in the milieu of the Russian nobility could seem at first glance a question whose scope is rather limited and which would be of interest for specialists only. However language learning reveals a lot about the culture of a particular social group and about cultural and social oppositions and rivalries existing in a given society. Latin, not being part of a long-lasting cultural tradition in Russia, offered some possibilities for enhancing one's cultural capital. However, its position in Europe was rapidly changing at the end of the seventeenth century, when Russia started to open up to Europe, and the Russian nobility were able to see what Latin could bring them compared with other languages such as German and French. Even if we find hardly any meta-discourse about Latin in this milieu, the history of Latin learning among the nobility in Russia gives us insight into the image of this language forged within this social group and into its cultural and social strategies linked to the usage of different languages.

Keywords: Russia, nobility, clergy, Latin, French, German, language choice

Exploring interest in Latin in the milieu of the Russian nobility could seem at first glance a question whose scope is rather limited and which would be of interest for specialists only. However language learning reveals a lot about the culture of a particular social group and about cultural and social oppositions and rivalries existing in a given society. Latin, not being part of a long-lasting cultural tradition in Russia, offered some possibilities for enhancing one's cultural capital. However, its position in Europe was rapidly changing at the end of the seventeenth century, when Russia started to open up to Europe, and the Russian nobility were able to see what Latin could bring them compared with other languages such as German and French. Even if we find hardly any meta-discourse about Latin in this milieu, the history of Latin learning among the nobility in Russia gives us insight into the image of this language forged within this social group and into its cultural and social strategies linked to the use of different languages.