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Latin

//ˈlæt.ɪn// adj, name, noun

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Of or relating to Latin: the language spoken in ancient Rome and other cities of Latium. not-comparable

    "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. 2
    Of or relating to the script of the language spoken in ancient Rome and many modern alphabets. not-comparable

    "The Serbo-Croatian incunabula printed in Latin letters are indubitably the products of a very modest establishment."

  3. 3
    Of or relating to ancient Rome or its Empire. not-comparable

    "The earliest Latin culture of Ireland was heavily indebted to that of Britain[…]"

  4. 4
    Of or relating to Latium (modern Lazio), the region around Rome. not-comparable

    "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. 5
    Of or relating to the customs and people descended from the ancient Romans and their Empire. not-comparable

    "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[…]"

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  1. 6
    Of or from Latin America or of Latin American culture. not-comparable

    "As such, today's Latin music is a synthesis of European, African, and the few indigenous elements that remain."

  2. 7
    Roman Catholic; of or pertaining to the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church. not-comparable

    "The Latin bishop now took the Greek bishop by the hand and conducted him to his throne[…]"

Adjective
  1. 1
    of or relating to the ancient Latins or the Latin language wordnet
  2. 2
    of or relating to the ancient region of Latium wordnet
  3. 3
    relating to languages derived from Latin wordnet
  4. 4
    relating to people or countries speaking Romance languages wordnet
Proper Noun
  1. 1
    The language of the ancient Romans, other Latins and of the Roman Catholic church, especially Classical Latin. uncountable

    "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.""

  2. 2
    A surname from Middle English.
  3. 3
    The Latin alphabet or writing system. countable, uncountable
  4. 4
    The nonsense placeholder text (often based on real Latin) used in greeking. countable, uncountable
Noun
  1. 1
    A person native to ancient Rome or its Empire. historical

    "This appears incontestably from the manner in which the Latins wrote Greek words and names[…]"

  2. 2
    any dialect of the language of ancient Rome wordnet
  3. 3
    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. historical
  4. 4
    a person who is a member of those peoples whose languages derived from Latin wordnet
  5. 5
    A person from one of the modern European countries (including Italy, Spain etc.) whose language is descended from Latin.

    "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."

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  1. 6
    an inhabitant of ancient Latium wordnet
  2. 7
    A person from Latin America.

    "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."

  3. 8
    A person adhering to Roman Catholic practice.

    "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[…]"

Etymology

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 Ladin and Ladino.

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”).

Etymology 3

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”).

Etymology 4

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

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