Sir, Translators are very aware of the changing meaning of words, especially in a world of instant communication. However, it seems unfair to criticise the use of a dead language on the grounds that such use limits the words and concepts to those of the times when Latin was widely used and understood (letter, Sept 7). Words may change, but concepts are just as comprehensible today as they ever were.
Technology has changed our manner of living, but humans, though more numerous, have not become more perfect since biblical times. We still have vices and virtues, tyrants and heroes, suffering and joy, all of which were known to earlier authors, whatever their language. As for making a translation from a translation, any transmission