Latin

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English

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Pronunciation

Alternative forms

Etymology 1

From Middle English Latyn, Latyne, Latin, from Old French latin, latyn, from Latin latīnus, from Latium (the region around Rome) + -īnus (adjective suffix). Displaced or merged with Old English Lǣden. Doublet of Ladino.

Adjective

Latin (not comparable)

  1. Of or relating to Latin: the language spoken in ancient Rome and other cities of Latium.
    • 1948, L. E. Elliott-Binns, The Beginnings of Western Christendom, page 257:
      Africa was the natural leader because there the number of Christians who were of Roman origin and Latin speech was probably far greater than in so cosmopolitan a city as Rome.
  2. Of or relating to the script of the language spoken in ancient Rome and many modern alphabets.
    Synonym: Roman
    • 1968, Mladen Bošnjak, A Study of Slavic Incunabula, page 62:
      The Serbo-Croatian incunabula printed in Latin letters are indubitably the products of a very modest establishment.
  3. Of or relating to ancient Rome or its Empire.
    Synonym: Roman
    • 2000, T. M. Charles-Edwards, Early Christian Ireland, page 176:
      The earliest Latin culture of Ireland was heavily indebted to that of Britain []
  4. Of or relating to Latium (modern Lazio), the region around Rome.
    Synonym: Latian
    • 1913, Oscar Browning, A General History of the World, page 151:
      From the Campagna and the Latin hills, the flame of rebellion spread to Antium and Terracina, and to the most remote allies of the Romans, the cities of the Campanian plains.
  5. Of or relating to the customs and people descended from the ancient Romans and their Empire.
    Synonym: Romance
    • 2002, Dean Foster, The Global Etiquette Guide to Mexico and Latin America, page 11:
      Therefore, although Portugal is a Latin culture, the significant African influence in Brazil creates a culture that cannot be defined simply as Latin; consequently, Brazilians prefer to define themselves as South American []
  6. Of or from Latin America or of Latin American culture.
    Synonyms: Latin American, Latino
    • 2008, Michael Miller, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Music History, page 254:
      As such, today's Latin music is a synthesis of European, African, and the few indigenous elements that remain.
  7. (Christianity) Roman Catholic; of or pertaining to the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church.
    Synonyms: Catholic, Roman, Roman Catholic
    • 1901, John Hackett, A History of the Orthodox Church of Cyprus, page 117:
      The Latin bishop now took the Greek bishop by the hand and conducted him to his throne []
Quotations
Derived terms
Descendants
  • Jamaican Creole: Latn
Translations
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Etymology 2

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).

Proper noun

Latin (countable and uncountable, plural Latins)

  1. (uncountable) The language of the ancient Romans, other Latins and of the Roman Catholic church, especially Classical Latin.
    • 1799, Edward Dubois, A Piece of Family Biography, volume II, page 20:
      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."
    • 1999, Karl Strecker, transl. by Robert B. Palmer, Introduction to Medieval Latin: English Tranlation and Revision, 2nd ed. (2nd reprint of the ed. Dublin/Zürich 1971 (Berlin 1957)), Weidmann: Zürich & Hildesheim, p. 29:
      To Hall , 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.
    • 2003, Natalie Harwood, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Learning Latin, 2nd edition, page 13:
      When the Christian Church rose in stature in the Dark Ages, its adoption of Latin as the official language assured its eternal life.
    • 2010, Elizabeth Heimbach, A Roman Map Workbook, page 134:
      Like Copernicus and Galileo, Johannes Kepler was a renowned astronomer who wrote in Latin.
  2. The Latin alphabet or writing system.
  3. (printing) The nonsense placeholder text (often based on real Latin) used in greeking.
Quotations
Hyponyms
Derived terms
Translations

Noun

Latin (plural Latins)

  1. (historical) A person native to ancient Rome or its Empire.
    Synonym: Roman
    • 1833, Philipp Buttmann, translated by Edward Robinson, A Greek grammar for the use of high schools and universities, page 23:
      This appears incontestably from the manner in which the Latins wrote Greek words and names []
  2. (historical) A member of an Italic tribe that included the early inhabitants of the city of Rome, and from about 1000 BC inhabited the region known as Old Latium.
    Synonyms: Latial, Latian
  3. A person from one of the modern European countries (including Italy, Spain etc.) whose language is descended from Latin.
    • 1933, Gilbert Keith Chesterton, 'All I Survey': a book of essays, page 148:
      No; the test of the contrast between modern Latins and modern Teutons is exactly like the test of the contrast between modern Latins and ancient Latins.
    • 1982, Lawrence Durrell, Constance (Avignon Quintet), Faber & Faber, published 2004, page 760:
      Latins are always conspicuously dangerous when they are serving an unpopular cause for money.
  4. A person from Latin America.
    Synonyms: Latin American, Latino
    • 1922, William Edmund Aughinbaugh, Advertising for trade in Latin-America, page 150:
      In the use of patent medicine the average Latin resembles the American of fifty years ago, who generally had a bottle of some concoction on which he depended whenever he felt out of sorts.
  5. (Christianity) A person adhering to Roman Catholic practice.
    Synonyms: Catholic, Roman, Roman Catholic
    • 1853, William Palmer, Dissertations on Subjects Relating to the "Orthodox" or "Eastern-Catholic" Communion, page 118:
      The modern Latins have been in the habit of blaming the Greek and other Eastern Liturgies for not consecrating by the recital of OUR SAVIOUR'S words of Institution []
Coordinate terms
Translations
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
See also

Etymology 3

Metonymic occupational surname for a Latinist, a clerk or keeper of Latin records, from Middle English Latyn. Compare Latimer.

Proper noun

Latin (plural Latins)

  1. A surname from Middle English.
Statistics
  • According to the 2010 United States Census, Latin is the 35246th most common surname in the United States, belonging to 639 individuals. Latin is most common among Black/African American (44.44%), White (37.09%) and Hispanic/Latino (15.34%) individuals.

Further reading

Anagrams

French

Pronunciation

Noun

Latin m (plural Latins)

  1. Latin (resident or native of Latium)
  2. resident or native of a Romance country such as Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, Romania, etc, whose language is derived from Latin

Derived terms

Anagrams

Malay

Etymology

From Latin latīnus, from Latium (the region around Rome) + -īnus (adjective suffix).

Pronunciation

Noun

Latin

  1. Latin (language of the ancient Romans)
    Synonym: Rumawi

Maltese

Pronunciation

Noun

Il-Latin m

  1. Latin (language)

Middle English

Etymology 1

From Old English latin and Old French latin.

Adjective

Latin

  1. Alternative form of Latyn

Etymology 2

From Old English Latin and Old French latin.

Proper noun

Latin

  1. Alternative form of Latyn

Serbo-Croatian

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /lǎtiːn/
  • Hyphenation: La‧tin

Proper noun

Làtīn m (Cyrillic spelling Ла̀тӣн)

  1. Latin (person native to ancient Rome or its Empire, descended from the ancient Romans or speaking a Romance language)

Declension

Tagalog

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish latín.

Pronunciation

Proper noun

Latín (Baybayin spelling ᜎᜆᜒᜈ᜔)

  1. Latin (language)

Derived terms

Noun

Latín (Baybayin spelling ᜎᜆᜒᜈ᜔)

  1. Latin (native of Ancient Rome)
  2. (colloquial) any incomprehensible language

Further reading

  • Latin”, in Pambansang Diksiyonaryo | Diksiyonaryo.ph, Manila, 2018

Anagrams