"By twisting it should go through the air more easily." It's a piece of Latin that I have been asked to translate from an eighteenth century applied science textbook, Robin's Tracts of Gunnery, and describes the benefits of a rifled gun barrel. More often I transcribe and translate administrative Latin or legal English, from 1066 onwards. Bubbling away on my hob at the moment are a 700-year run of manorial court rolls, a monastic cartulary, and several wills and other probate documents. But this latest little task is a reminder that Latin was for long the western language of science and technology, as well as of the arts, humanities and administration.
Jones' and Sidwell's Reading Latin course from CUP acknowledged the long time span of European Latin, using mottoes and quotations from mediaeval and later texts as well as the classical staples. http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/ also provides both mediaeval and later texts for learning and study, but there is more.
Constantly turning a problem to look at it from different angles and using different sources is a good way to progress in research enquiry as well. "Drilling down" has become a hackneyed phrase, but here's a new thought about it: not only do you see so many layers relating to an issue, but the spiral motion of the drillbit suggests scrutiny from or towards all sides, and it is this that propels deeper into the subject. Looking straight ahead and banging your head against the proverbial brick wall is not the best way to do anything but suffer a bad headache.
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