 Latin
| Latin (Latīna, pronounced [laˈtiːna]) is an ancient Indo-European language that was spoken in the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire and had de facto status as the international language of mid and western Europe until the 17th century. It is the base language for the languages spoken in France, Italy, Romania, and the Iberian peninsula and through them to South America. The conquests of Rome spread the language throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe. It existed in two forms: Classical Latin, used in poetry and formal prose, and Vulgar Latin, spoken by the people. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the rise of the Roman Catholic Church Latin became the ecclesiastical language of the Roman Catholic Church and the lingua franca of educated classes in the West.
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