From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Latins" can refer to several groups of people. Its meaning has changed throughout time, and can still refer to different things even today.

Antiquity

Groups within the Italian peninsula.      Ligures      Veneti      Etruscans      Piceni      Umbrians      Latins      Osci      Messapii      Greeks

The Latins were an ancient Italic people of the Latium region in central Italy, (Latium Vetus - Old Latium). Although they lived in independent city-states, the Latins had a common language (Latin), common religious beliefs, and a close sense of kinship, expressed in the myth that they were all descendants of Latinus. Latinus was worshiped on Mons Albanus (Monte Cavo) during an annual festival that was attended by all Latins, including those from Rome, one of the Latin states. The Latin cities extended common rights of residence and trade to one another. Rome's territorial ambitions united the rest of the Latins against it in 341 BC, but the final victory was on Rome's side in 338 BC. Consequently, some of the Latin states were incorporated within the Roman state, and their inhabitants were given full Roman citizenship. Others became Roman allies and enjoyed certain privileges.

Gradually, with the spread of Roman power throughout Italy and Western Europe, 'Latin' ceased to be an ethnic term and became a legal category.

Middle Ages

In the Byzantine Empire, "Latins" was a synonym of "Western Europeans", referring to all people of the Latin Rite, who were of the Roman Catholic faith (which at the time included northern Europe as well). Today, the term "Latins" is used in the sense of "Latin Rite Roman Catholic" - as a distinction to Eastern Orthodox.

The term was later borrowed, in various variants, by several languages of the Middle East and southern Asia, sometimes referring to any European.^{[citation needed]}

Modern uses

Worldwide nowadays the term "Latin" refers to peoples whose native tongue derives from the Latin language. This ethno-linguistic group is generally categorized under Latin Europeans and Latin Americans.

Latin Europeans

In Europe, the term "Latin" refers to the inhabitants of Latin Europe, which draws from the culture left there by the Roman Empire, thus including the use of a Romance language, and Roman Catholicism or Orthodoxism in case of Romanians.^[1] The descendants of these peoples are the ethnic groups Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italians, Sicilians, and Corsicans. Latin Europe is distinguishable from Germanic and Slavic ethno-linguistic influenced Europe.

Latin Americans

The term "Latin" also refers to the inhabitants of Latin America,^[2] which was colonized by European countries that spoke Romance (Latin-based) languages and have strong Roman legal and cultural traditions. Romance languages (mainly Spanish, Portuguese, and French) prevail in the region, and most Latin Americans have some degree of biological descent from Romance speaking Europeans, especially the Spanish and Portuguese.

The term "Latin America" (from "Amérique latine") was coined under Napoleon III and played a role in his campaign to return Mexico to a monarchical form of government, install Archduke Maximilian of Austria as Maximilian I, emperor of Mexico, imply cultural kinship with France, transform France into a cultural and political leader of the area, and return the "Latin" race to its former glory.^[3]

"Latin America" is distinguishable from those parts of the Americas sometimes referred to as "Anglo America". There is a dispute in categorizing the largely English speaking state of Canada as an "Anglo" country, due to its containing the important province of Quebec. French speaking Quebec, a former colony of France, is itself classified a "Latin" country by some.

Hispanic and Latino Americans

In the United States, Hispanic and Latino Americans are sometimes referred to as "Latins".

See also

• Franks (disambiguation)
• Latin Right
• Race and ethnicity in the United States Census
• Mediterranean race

External links

• Distinguishing the terms: Latins and Romans

References

Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary

English

Proper noun

Latins

1. Plural form of Latin.

Anagrams

• Anagrams of ailnst
• instal
• Stalin