The term Latin has been used to refer to several groups of people across various historical periods who have been, in some form or another, connected to ancient Rome and its ethnic, cultural, and/or religious legacy.
The term originally referred to the Latins, an ancient Italic tribe from Latium in the central Italian peninsula. Among them were the Romans, who united the Latins through conquest and built an empire which expanded not only to the entire Italian peninsula but to the rest of the Mediterranean region. Since then, "Latin" has been an ethnically-related or religious designation implying an ultimate origin from Roman civilization.[1]
- ^ "Definition of LATIN". www.merriam-webster.com. Retrieved 2024-04-04.