Latin

views updated

Latin pert. to Latium or the ancient Romans; sb. the Latin language. XIII. —(O)F. latin or L. Latīnus, f. Latium designation of the portion of Italy which included Rome. In OE. the learned form latin occurs occas.; the pop. repr. was lǣden Latin, language, ME. leden speech, utterance.
So Latinist XVI. —medL. Latinista. Latinity XVII. — L.

More From encyclopedia.com