Earliest tsk-tsk?

[Mai Kuha]

Very nice! Thanks. I was actually hoping for quotes that don't give away
which language the speaker is grieving for, but I can definitely use this
one.

-Mai

On Thu, 24 May 2001, A. Maberry wrote:

> how about the epitaph of the Roman poet Naevius (d. ca. 199 B.C.E.).
>
> inmortales mortales si foret fas flere,
> flerent diuae Camenae Naeuium poetam.
> itaque postquam est Orcho traditus thesauro,
> obliti sunt Romae loquier lingua Latina.
>
> Allen
> maberry at u.washington.edu
>
> On Thu, 24 May 2001, Mai Kuha wrote:
>
> > What might be the earliest documented cases of negative reactions to
> > language change (for example, statements along the lines of "young
> > people nowadays don't speak the language well")? I've heard that these
> > sentiments were expressed in ancient Greece and Rome, but haven't found
> > the actual quotes. Does anyone have such quotes handy? Thanks in advance.
> >
> > -Mai
>

_____________________________________________
Mai Kuha                  mkuha at bsuvc.bsu.edu
Department of English     (765) 285-8410
Ball State University