There has been quite a heavy discussion in another thread about grammar, related to descriptivism/prescriptivism. I knew if I asked my question there, it would be ignored because it was off-topic.

So here is what I've been wondering as people have been debating "grammar:" Did the term "grammar school" come from the teaching of grammar? If so, did grammar schools used to only teach languages? Did they evolve to teach other subjects, such as social studies, science and math? Or...did they always teach other subjects as well? When I looked "grammar school" up, it said the phrase was chiefly British. However, in our area of the country, we either call them grammar schools or elementary schools.

I grew up in Ohio, where elementary schools were also referred to as grammar schools. I think of grammar school as a more old-fashioned term, though, and yes, I think they always taught all subjects, and not just grammar. The term for me connotes the one-room schoolhouse that my father attended as a child growing up in the country.

Wordmatic

I went to Reigate Grammar School and we learnt most things there - apart from interpersonal relationships since it was a single-sex establishment

I think grammar schools were were so-called because they originally taught Latin grammar. Later, of course, they expanded the curriculum somewhat.

We certainly learnt Latin grammar - although I have to say that I haven't found it to be all that useful in my working life.

I think grammar schools were were so-called because they originally taught Latin grammar.

Yes, the grammar that was tuaght in grammar schools was originally Latin grammar. They basically prepared a student for acceptance to a university (link). English grammar was not thought worthy of teaching until much later (probably the 18th century when an interest in the subject developed).

You can even learn about television acting if your attend the Kelsey Grammar School.

I grew up hearing "grammar school," and didn't hear "elementary school" until I moved to the west coast.

If you're home-schooled it could be both a grammar and a grammpar school.

WM, you are right; "grammar school" does sound a bit old-fashioned now. It's like the term "junior high." Now, in the U.S., it seems to be "middle school."

I didn't know that "grammar" part was for Latin, though. That's really interesting. I didn't have Latin until high school.

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I didn't have Latin until high school.

Same here, and precious little of it stuck in my noggin.

How about Greek? Upon reading the history of classical education it seems that Greek was taught as well, but not universally.

School before the 19th century was a very different thing than it is today. Before the Reformation instruction at university was in Latin. You needed to know Latin before you were accepted. The age one got into university was lower than it is today, too.

Latin was the language of the Western Roman Empire and (Koine) Greek of the Eastern (Byzantine) Empire. When the latter empire fell in the 15th century many Greek scholars ended up in Western Europe. After the Reformation with the beginning of the Humanist movement, Greek (and Hebrew) began to be taught. (There were a lot of Jewish scholars who had been displaced from the Iberian peninsula after the reconquest of Spain and the expulsion of the Arabs.)

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After the Reformation with the beginning of the Humanist movement, Greek (and Hebrew) began to be taught. (There were a lot of Jewish scholars who had been displaced from the Iberian peninsula after the reconquest of Spain and the expulsion of the Arabs.)

Somewhere recently I read something about the reconquest, and the author said, "Exit Maimonides; enter tyranny." Considering how the Arabic culture was the keeper of - and expander of Greek knowledge, it's somewhat surprising that classical scholarship didn't include Arabic too.