Old English latin, from Latin Latinus "belonging to Latium," the region of Italy around Rome, possibly from PIE root *stela- "to spread, extend," with a sense of "flat country" (as opposed to the mountainous district of the Sabines), or from a prehistoric non-IE language. The Latin adjective also was used of the Roman language and people.
Centurion: What's this, then? "People called Romanes they go the house?"
Brian: It ... it says, "Romans, go home."
Centurion [thrashing him like a schoolboy]: No, it doesn't. 'Go home?' This is motion towards. Isn't it, boy?
Brian: Ah ... ah, dative, sir! Ahh! No, not dative! Not the dative, sir! No! Ah! Oh, the ... accusative! Domum, sir! Ah! Oooh! Ah!
Centurion [pulling him by the ear]: Except that domum takes the ...?
Brian: The locative, sir!
[Monty Python, "Life of Brian"]
Used as a designation for "people whose languages descend from Latin" (1856), hence Latin America (1862). The Latin Quarter (French Quartier latin) of Paris, on the south (left) bank of the Seine, was the site of university buildings in the Middle Ages, hence the place where Latin was spoken. The surname Latimer, Lattimore, etc. is from Vulgar Latin latimarus, from Latin latinarius "interpreter," literally "a speaker of Latin." "What Latin was to the learned, that their tongue was to laymen; hence latino was used for any dialect, even Arabic and the language of birds ...." [Donkin, "Etymological Dictionary of the Romance Languages," 1864].
Latin (n.)
"the language of the (ancient) Romans," Old English latin, from Latin latinium (see Latin (adj.)). The more common form in Old English was læden, from Vulgar Latin *ladinum, probably influenced by Old English leoden "language."
双语例句
1. Carol is a tall, dark, Latin type of woman.
卡萝尔身材高大，黑发棕肤，是个有着拉丁风情的女子。
来自柯林斯例句
2. Latin and Greek will be squeezed out of school timetables.
拉丁语和希腊语将退出学校的课程表。
来自柯林斯例句
3. Above its doors was a Latin inscription: Non omnia possumus omnes.
门的上方刻有拉丁文铭“人非万能”。
来自柯林斯例句
4. Leaders of eight Latin American countries are meeting in Caracas, Venezuela, today.
拉美8个国家的领导人今天在委内瑞拉的加拉加斯会晤。
来自柯林斯例句
5. He eventually took Charlie's place in a popular Latin band.
