Latin
Language: English
Part of speech: name
Pronunciation: enpr: lătʹĭn
ipa: /ˈlæt.ɪn/
ipa: /ˈlæt.ɪn/
ipa: [ˈlæt.ən]
ipa: [ˈlæʔ.ən]
ipa: /ˈlæt.ɪn/
rhymes: -ætɪn
Forms: form: Latins
form: Latten
form: Latine
form: Latten
form: Latine
Etymology: From Middle English Latin, Latyn, from Old English Lǣden, from Vulgar Latin *ladinum (“Latin”) and Old French latin (“Latin”); all from Latin Latinus (“belonging to Latium”). Later influenced in form by the Latin word. Compare Dutch Latijn (“Latin”), German Latein (“Latin”), Swedish Latin (“Latin”).
Senses: examples: text: Supper being over, the lawyer took his leave, and the doctor began to ſound the learned clerk reſpecting his proficiency in the dead languages. "As to dead languages," replied the ſchoolmafter, "I was once a vaſt pretty ſcholar indeed, but want of exercise has made me main ſlack—I can't get over my ground as I uſed to do. Then as to the t'other dead fellow, I could never greek it at all, that's flat. And, Lord bleſs you! my Latin is of no more uſe to me here than—than—" Here he ſtuck for want of a ſimile; when Mr. Le Dupe helped him out by ſaying, "that it is to a young man at college, where it is conſidered a pedantic inſult, and an unpardonable bore, to utter a Latin ſentence."
ref: 1799, Edward Dubois, A Piece of Family Biography, volume II, page 20:
text: To Hall [Robert A. Hall, Jr.], the development would be something as follows: Latin > Proto-Romance (dated late Republic and Early Empire) > Proto-Continental Romance > Proto-Italo-Western Romance (to which Hall would limit the term "Vulgar Latin") > Proto-Western Romance > Proto-Gallo Romance, etc. Each of these main divisions splits off into further languages: Latin > Classical Latin; Proto-Romance > Proto-Southern Romance > Sardinian, Lucianian, Sicilian; Proto-Continental Romance > Proto-Eastern Romance > Proto-Balkan Romance, etc.
ref: 1999, Karl Strecker, transl. by Robert B. Palmer, Introduction to Medieval Latin: English Translation and Revision, 2nd ed. (2nd reprint of the ed. Dublin/Zürich 1971 (Berlin 1957)), Weidmann: Zürich & Hildesheim, p. 29
text: When the Christian Church rose in stature in the Dark Ages, its adoption of Latin as the official language assured its eternal life.
ref: 2003, Natalie Harwood, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Learning Latin, 2nd edition, page 13:
text: Like Copernicus and Galileo, Johannes Kepler was a renowned astronomer who wrote in Latin.
ref: 2010, Elizabeth Heimbach, A Roman Map Workbook, page 134:
text: I call them otroverts—from otro, the Spanish word for “other,” and vertere, Latin for “to turn.” Otroverts are people who turn in a different direction: not inward like introverts, not outward like extroverts, but elsewhere. They turn toward something else entirely—independence, clarity, and observation.
ref: 2025 June 19, Rami Kaminski, “How Outsiders Can Thrive in a World That Wants Them to Fit In”, in Next Big Idea Club:
glosses: The language of the ancient Romans, other Latins and of the Roman Catholic church, especially Classical Latin.
glosses: The Latin alphabet or writing system.
topics: media
printing
publishing
glosses: The nonsense placeholder text (often based on real Latin) used in greeking.
Hyponyms: Anglo-Latin
Early Latin
Neo Latin
Neo-Latin
Derived terms: African Latin
Anglo-Latin
apothecary's Latin
cod Latin
hog Latin
Latinate
Latiner
Latinisation
Latinise
Latinism
Latinist
Latinization
Latinize
Latin name
law Latin
macaronic Latin
mock Latin
neo-Latin
pig Latin
Pig Latin
Sir John Lack-Latin
Related terms: Latinity
Latino
Latium
latus
Lazio