Editing Neo-Latin (section)

===Time period===
[[Classics|Classicists]] use the term "Neo-Latin" to describe the [[Latin]] that developed in [[Renaissance]] Italy as a result of renewed interest in classical civilization in the 14th and 15th centuries.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.mml.cam.ac.uk/neo-latin |title=What is Neo-Latin? |access-date=8 October 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161009191707/http://www.mml.cam.ac.uk/neo-latin |archive-date=9 October 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="Knight 2015 13–26"/>{{efn|Particular academic studies may however refer to subsets of the time period. See {{harvnb|Knight|2016}}.}} Scientific nomenclatures sometimes prefer the term "New Latin", to show where their terms were coined in the same period.

Neo-Latin describes the use of the Latin language for any purpose, scientific or literary, during and after the Renaissance. The beginning of the period cannot be precisely identified. The spread of secular education, the acceptance of [[humanities|humanistic]] literary norms, and the wide availability of Latin texts following the invention of [[printing]], mark the transition to a new era of scholarship at the end of the 15th century, but there was no simple, decisive break with medieval traditions.<ref>{{harvnb|Knight|Tilg|2015|p=2}}</ref> Rather, there was a process of change in education, a choice of literary and stylistic models, and a move away from medieval techniques of language formation and argumentation.<ref>Black, Robert ''School'' {{harvnb|Knight|Tilg|2015|pp=223–9}}</ref>

The end of the Neo-Latin period is likewise indeterminate, but Latin as a regular vehicle of communicating ideas became rare following the dissolution of the [[Holy Roman Empire]] and after the [[Congress of Vienna]], where French replaced Latin as the language of diplomacy. By 1900, Latin survived primarily in [[international scientific vocabulary]] and [[taxonomy (biology)|taxonomy]], or more actively, in the upper echelons of the [[Catholic Church]]. The term "Neo-Latin" came into use during the 1800s among [[linguistics|linguists]] and [[scientist]]s.<ref>{{harvnb|Knight|Tilg|2015|pp=1–2}}</ref>

Neo-Latin can be said to be the current style of Latin writing, but different periods in its evolution can be seen. Neo-Latin writings were seen as less relevant and deserving of less attention than Classical Latin during the 1800s, as Classical models were asserted as the prime focus for study. Productive use of Latin for most purposes ended in the early 1800s.