The
Italic language of ancient
Latium and ancient
Rome. It was originally spoken as the language of the people of
Latium, small groups of people living along the lower
Tiber River, south of the
Apennines. The rise of
Rome led to the spread of Latin as the
official and
literary language of the
Roman Empire, first throughout
Italy and then throughout most of western and southern
Europe and the central and western
Mediterranean coastal regions of
Africa.
The modern Romance languages developed from the spoken Latin of various parts of the Roman Empire. During the Middle Ages and until relatively recent times, Latin was the language most widely used in the West for scholarly and literary purposes.
After the Fall of the Roman Empire, Latin became the basis of local spoken forms which evolved in the modern Romance languages. It also continued in a more or less standardized form as the language of law, the sciences, and particularly religion. In this form, it had great influence on the development of the languages of western Europe.
See also: Old Latin, Late Latin, Classical Latin, Vulgar Latin, Silver Latin, Low Latin, Medieval Latin, Modern Latin