Language Centre Resources

The chief member of the Italic branch of Indo-European languages and the parent language of the Romance group of languages, initially spoken only in the ancient region of Latium, soon became the administrative, literary and liturgical language of the Roman Empire and spread throughout Europe, the Middle East and Africa as Roman political power increased. Today it has special status in the Vatican City State.

The earliest known inscriptions date from the 7th century BC, while literature made its appearance in the 3rd century BC. The period between the 2nd century BC and the 2nd century AD is known as the Classical period or the Golden and the Silver Ages of Latin literature. Major figures include the poet Virgil, the orator Cicero, and the historian Livy.

The Latin alphabet was derived form Greek via Etruscan. It has survived to the present and is the basis for the modern Western European scripts. The original alphabet had 21 letters and in its standard ancient form it had 23 letters.

The language is spelt in the Roman alphabet with diacritics.