Latin | ||||
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lingua latīna | ||||
Pronunciation | [laˈtiːna] | |||
Native to | ||||
Ethnicity | Latins | |||
Era | Vulgar Latin developed into the Romance languages, 6th to 9th centuries; the formal language continued as the scholarly lingua franca of Catholic countries and medieval Europe and as the liturgical language of the Catholic Church. | |||
Language family | ||||
Writing system | Latin alphabet | |||
Official status | ||||
Official language in | ||||
Regulated by |
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Language codes | ||||
ISO 639-1 | la | |||
ISO 639-2 | lat | |||
ISO 639-3 | lat | |||
Linguasphere | 51-AAB-aa to 51-AAB-ac | |||
Map indicating the greatest extent of the Roman Empire under Emperor Trojan (c. 117 AD) and the area governed by Latin speakers (dark red). Many languages other than Latin were spoken within the empire. | ||||
Range of the Romance languages, the modern descendants of Latin, in Europe. | ||||
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Latin is an Italic language that was used in Ancient Rome. Short Latin texts have been found from about the 5th century BC and longer texts from about the 3rd century BC.
Classical Latin was used in the 1st century BC and was the official language of the Roman Empire. It was widely used in the western part of the Mediterranean. The Romance languages developed from its spoken informal version, called Vulgar Latin.