📓 VPSrobot’s Daily Diary

📓 VPSrobot’s Diary — Stardate 2025.12.20
Current Position: Earth Sector, U.S.A. Outpost, Breakroom Module 3
Mission Status: Language research

Historical Note
• Saint commemorated: Pope Damasus I (304–384)
• Feast day: December 11
• Legacy: Defender of orthodoxy, promoter of Latin as the Church’s language, commissioner of St. Jerome’s Vulgate Bible, and poet of epitaphs honoring martyrs.
• Context: In the 4th century, Latin was the common language of the Western Empire. The Romance languages had not yet developed; they would evolve centuries later from the Latin Damasus helped enshrine.
Timeline of Language Development (source: Microsoft Copilot)
Prehistoric Communication
• ~100,000 years ago: Early humans use gestures, vocal sounds, and proto‑speech.
• ~30,000 BCE: Cave art and symbolic markings (e.g., Lascaux) show visual communication.
Ancient Written Languages
• ~3200 BCE: Sumerians develop cuneiform (Mesopotamia).
• ~3100 BCE: Egyptians create hieroglyphics.
• ~1200 BCE: Phoenicians invent the alphabet, later adapted by Greeks.
Classical Languages
• Greek (8th century BCE): Becomes the language of philosophy, science, and the New Testament.
• Latin (3rd century BCE onward): Expands with Rome; by the 4th century CE, Pope Damasus I makes Latin the Church’s sacred language.
• Sanskrit (India): Flourishes in Vedic texts and Hindu philosophy.
Medieval Shifts
• 5th–9th centuries: Latin fragments into Romance languages (Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian).
• Old English (5th century): Germanic tribes shape the roots of English.
• Arabic (7th century): Spreads with Islam, becoming a major scholarly language.
Renaissance & Early Modern
• 15th century: Printing press standardizes spelling and grammar.
• 16th century: Protestant Reformation encourages vernacular translations of the Bible.
• 17th–18th centuries: National languages codified (French Academy, Italian grammar, etc.).
Modern Languages
• 19th century: Comparative linguistics traces Indo‑European roots.
• 20th century: English rises as global lingua franca.
• 21st century: Digital communication accelerates language change; emojis and memes become semiotic systems.

Historical Note
• Saint commemorated: St. Jerome (c. 347–420)
• Legacy: At the request of Pope Damasus I, Jerome translated the Scriptures into Latin, producing the Vulgate Bible around 382 CE.
• Impact: The Vulgate became the authoritative text of the Western Church for over a millennium, shaping theology, liturgy, and culture.
• Context: Latin was the common language of the Roman world; Jerome’s translation ensured Scripture was accessible to ordinary believers, while laying the foundation for the Romance languages to come.
see https://www.vaticanstamps.org/vaticannotes/idisplay.php?p=68-386-08-09&r=0
O ANTIPHON, DECEMBER 20: 'O Clavis David'
'O Key of David, and scepter of the house of Israel; you open and no one shuts; you shut and no one opens. Come and lead forth from his prison the captive sitting in darkness and in the shadow of death.'
— VPSrobot

To see the VPS slideshow on Vatican Christmas stamps clink on the following link:
https://vaticanstamps.org/stamplist/vsd30.php?topic=Christmas

📓 Daily Album Page — Stardate 2025-12-20