All the data obtained show that its origin goes beyond all languages and is based on the ability of a scientific community to chat among themselves. So is this really the case?
Maybe many of you rightly say, “Why isn’t English used as a scientific language?” you can say. But when you learn the reason for its scientific use, you will be right about this situation.
Its origins can be traced back to the work of Carl Linnaeus.
Linnaeus wanted to scientifically create a common language that everyone could speak and understand what each other meant; also appeared in Latin. Thus, he gave birth to the binary nomenclature system consisting of only two Latin words to describe species in terms of classification in science.
So what was the main reason for choosing Latin for science?
In the simplest sense, it’s because Latin is a dead language. No nation or state used Latin as the mother tongue, which kept the language unchanged. Thus, scientists decided to adopt this language in the name of science, but since the 18th century, publications in other languages began to be made in the name of science.
Of course, the change of languages did not kill Latin. There were scientists who still use it, which we use actively in many areas even today.
The binary naming system is of great importance for science.
Before the 18th century, there was no specific naming system for living things on Earth. Although scientists were discussing the same thing, they were ignorant of it because there was no common term. This situation was also a factor that made it difficult to describe, there was no room for mistakes in science, and there was a situation that increased the extra margin of error.
To tackle the problem, Swedish biologist Carl Linnaeus invented the important naming system that we still use today. For this reason, he was also given the title of “father of taxonomy”, which is the science of naming and classification.
Carl Linnaeus; he made classifications such as the number of male and female organs, whether the plant is flowering or not.
Naturalists have used Linnaeus’ methods of classification and taxonomy for many years. But since this classification is not always based on natural relationships, modified versions of the original system were preferred. He applied a similar classification to the animal kingdom, but without the same sort of success.
Don’t be intimidated by the pronunciation of some terms, as it’s a dead language. Because no one knows exactly how to pronounce it.
Arnold Menke, an entomologist, discovers an insect species in 1977. Seeing that this species is not like the species he has encountered before, he turns to the person next to him and says, “Aha, it’s a completely different species” and the person next to him does not understand and says, “Ha?” gives the reaction. That’s how he names the new Australian bumblebee he discovered, Aha ha. Yes, Latin can also be used for fun sometimes!
In short, the use of Latin, which we use as the language of science, only by scientists, and using dead languages in science seems very important in order to avoid misunderstandings, according to the logic of “When the last person speaking a language dies, that language also dies.”
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