David Beckham, Angelina Jolie tattoos spark Latin craze amongst school kids

Latin, one of the most ancient languages, may be on the road to revival as celebrity tattoos spark a craze for the language amongst school goers.

David Beckham sports a tattoo, for instance, that says 'Ut Amem Et Foveam' (meaning 'So that I love and cherish') inscribed on his left forearm and 'Perfectio In Spiritu' (meaning 'Perfection in spirit') on his right.

While Angelina Jolie's says 'Quod me nutrit me destruit', which means 'What nourishes me also destroys me'.

The OCR exam board today launched a new Latin qualification aimed at teenagers as secondary schools increasingly offer the subject, either during the curriculum or after-hours.

A computer-based Latin course backed by Cambridge University is said to have made it easier for schools to offer Latin.

"'It proves how much demand there is for this great subject and will provide the perfect platform for the next generation of classicists," the Daily Mail quoted Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London and a long-standing advocate of Latin, as saying.

So popular is the language these days that even babies are being named in Latin - Olivia (from Latin 'Oliva' meaning Olive) and Emily (from the Latin 'Aemilianus', a Latin family name).

Paul Dodd, qualifications manager for languages and literature at OCR, said, "Latin vocabulary has had a rich and lasting influence on English, as well as being the foundation for modern day Spanish, French and Italian."

"Our new Entry Level qualification provides a good bridge to further attainment as well as providing a way of recognising the skills learned," he added.