Latin language summary

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They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors.</div> </a> <div data-popper-arrow></div> </div> <span class="btn btn-link editor-link p-0 qa-byline-link gtm-byline font-12 byline-contributor text-decoration-underline"> The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica</span></div></div> <div class="mt-20"> <div class="mb-20 font-sans-serif font-weight-bold"> Below is the article summary. For the full article, see <a href="/topic/Latin-language">Latin language</a>. </div> <div class="collection-content topic-paragraph"> <article class="content"><span class="marker before-article"></span><section data-level="1" id="ref1"><span class="marker PREMOD1 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph"><strong>Latin language</strong>, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/summary/Indo-European-languages" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Indo-European language</a> of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/summary/Italic-languages" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Italic</a> group; ancestor of the modern <a href="https://www.britannica.com/summary/Romance-languages" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Romance languages</a>. Originally spoken by small groups of people living along the lower Tiber River, Latin spread with the growth of Roman political power, first throughout Italy and then through most of western and southern Europe and the central and western Mediterranean coastal regions of Africa. The earliest known Latin inscriptions date from the 7th century <span class="text-smallcaps">bc</span>; Latin literature dates from the 3rd century <span class="text-smallcaps">bc</span>. A gap soon appeared between literary (classical) Latin and the popular spoken language, Vulgar Latin. The Romance languages developed from <a href="https://www.britannica.com/summary/dialect" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">dialect</a>s of the latter. During the Middle Ages and much of the Renaissance, Latin was the language most widely employed in the West for scholarly and literary purposes. Until the latter part of the 20th century, its use was required in the liturgy of the Roman Catholic church.</p><span class="marker MOD1 mod-inline"></span></section> </article></div> </div> <div class="imagelink-with-image-on-the-side card card-horizontal mb-20" > <div class="position-relative card-media" style="flex: 0;"> <a class="ilf-image position-relative" href="/summary/Theodor-Mommsen"> <img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.britannica.com/80/160080-050-1E8CC0A4/Theodor-Mommsen.jpg?w=100&h=75&c=crop" alt="Theodor Mommsen." width="100" height="75" /> </a> </div> <div class="card-body ilf-content"> <a class="font-weight-semi-bold d-block mb-5 font-16 ilf-title" href="/summary/Theodor-Mommsen" >Theodor Mommsen Summary</a> <div class="font-weight-light font-serif font-14 line-clamp clamp-2 ilf-description">Theodor Mommsen was a German historian and writer, famous for his masterpiece, Römische Geschichte (The History of Rome). He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1902. 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Latin language summary | Britannica