Editing Languages of Europe (section)

=== Lingua franca ===
Europe has had a number of languages that were considered [[linguae francae]] over some ranges for some periods according to some historians. Typically in the rise of a national language the new language becomes a lingua franca to peoples in the range of the future nation until the consolidation and unification phases. If the nation becomes internationally influential, its language may become a lingua franca among nations that speak their own national languages. Europe has had no lingua franca ranging over its entire territory spoken by all or most of its populations during any historical period. Some linguae francae of past and present over some of its regions for some of its populations are:
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* [[Ancient Greek language|Classical Greek]] and then [[Koine Greek]] in the [[Mediterranean Sea|Mediterranean Basin]] from the [[Athenian Empire]] to the [[Eastern Roman Empire]], being replaced by [[Modern Greek]].
* [[Koine Greek]] and [[Modern Greek]], in the [[Byzantine Empire|Eastern Roman or Byzantine Empire]] and other parts of the Balkans south of the [[Jireček Line]].<ref>{{cite journal |title=Review [untitled] of Ariadna Camariano-Cioran, Les Academies Princieres de Bucarest et de Jassy et leur Professeurs |journal=Church History |volume=45 |number=1 |date = March 1976|pages=115–116 |quote=...Greek, the ''lingua franca'' of commerce and religion, provided a cultural unity to the Balkans...Greek penetrated Moldavian and Wallachian territories as early as the fourteenth century.... The heavy influence of Greek culture upon the intellectual and academic life of Bucharest and [[Iași|Jassy]] was longer termed than historians once believed. |first=James Steve |last=Counelis |doi=10.2307/3164593|jstor=3164593 |s2cid=162293323 }}</ref>
* [[Vulgar Latin]] and [[Late Latin]] among the uneducated and educated populations respectively of the [[Roman Empire]] and the states that followed it in the same range no later than 900&nbsp;AD; [[Medieval Latin]] and [[Renaissance Latin]] among the educated populations of western, northern, central and part of eastern Europe until the rise of the national languages in that range, beginning with the first language academy in Italy in 1582/83; [[Neo-Latin]] written only in scholarly and scientific contexts by a small minority of the educated population at scattered locations over all of Europe; [[ecclesiastical Latin]], in spoken and written contexts of liturgy and church administration only, over the range of the [[Roman Catholic Church]].{{Citation needed|date=August 2022}}
* [[Old Occitan]] in central and southern France, north-western Italy and the main territories of the [[crown of Aragon]] (Catalonia, Valencia, the Balearic Islands and Aragon).<ref>{{Cite web |title=A troubadour literary koiné? |url=https://www.trob-eu.net/en/a-troubadour-literary-koine.html}}</ref>
* [[Mediterranean Lingua Franca|Lingua Franca]] or Sabir, the original of the name, an Italian and Catalan-based [[pidgin]] language of mixed origins used by maritime commercial interests around the Mediterranean in the Middle Ages and early Modern Age.<ref>{{cite book |title=Lingua Franca in the Mediterranean |first=John E. |last=Wansbrough |chapter=Chapter&nbsp;3: Lingua Franca |year=1996 |publisher=Routledge}}</ref>
* [[Old French]] in continental western European countries and in the [[Crusader states]].<ref name=calvet175-176>{{cite book |title=Language wars and linguistic politics |first=Louis Jean |last=Calvet |location=Oxford [England]; New York |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1998 |pages=175–76}}</ref>
* [[Czech language|Czech]], mainly during the reign of [[Holy Roman Empire|Holy Roman Emperor]] [[Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles&nbsp;IV]] (14th century) but also during other periods of Bohemian control over the Holy Roman Empire.{{Citation needed|date=August 2022}}
* [[Middle Low German]], around the 14th–16th century, during the heyday of the [[Hanseatic League]], mainly in Northeastern Europe across the Baltic Sea.
* [[Spanish language|Spanish]] as Castilian in Spain and [[New Spain]] from the times of [[the Catholic Monarchs]] and [[Christopher Columbus|Columbus]], c.&nbsp;1492; that is, after the [[Reconquista]], until established as a national language in the times of [[Louis XIV]], c.&nbsp;1648; subsequently multinational in all nations in or formerly in the [[Spanish Empire]].<ref>{{cite book |page=[https://archive.org/details/decolonizinginte00jone/page/n55 98] |title=Decolonizing international relations |url=https://archive.org/details/decolonizinginte00jone |url-access=limited |first=Branwen Gruffydd |last=Jones |location=Lanham, MD|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |year=2006}}</ref>
* [[Polish language|Polish]], due to the [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]] (16th–18th centuries).{{Citation needed|date=August 2022}}
* [[Italian language|Italian]] due to the [[Renaissance]], the [[opera]], the [[Italian Empire]], the [[Italian fashion|fashion industry]] and the influence of the [[Roman Catholic church]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Kahane |first=Henry |date=September 1986 |title=A Typology of the Prestige Language |journal=Language |volume=62 |issue=3 |pages=495–508 |doi=10.2307/415474 |jstor=415474}}</ref>
* [[French language|French]] from the golden age under [[Cardinal Richelieu]] and [[Louis&nbsp;XIV]] c.&nbsp;1648; i.e.,&nbsp;after the [[Thirty Years' War]], in France and the [[French colonial empire]], until established as the national language during the [[French Revolution]] of 1789 and subsequently multinational in all nations in or formerly in the various [[French colonial empire|French Empires]].<ref name=calvet175-176/>
* [[German language|German]] in Northern, Central, and Eastern Europe.<ref>{{cite journal |first1=Jeroen |last1=Darquennes |first2=Peter |last2=Nelde |title=German as a Lingua Franca |journal=Annual Review of Applied Linguistics |volume=26 |pages=61–77 |year=2006 |doi=10.1017/s0267190506000043|doi-broken-date=18 December 2024 |s2cid=61449212 }}</ref>
* [[English language|English]] in [[Great Britain]] until its consolidation as a national language in the [[Renaissance]] and the rise of [[Modern English]]; subsequently internationally under the various states in or formerly in the [[British Empire]]; globally since the victories of the predominantly English speaking countries ([[United States]], [[United Kingdom]], [[Canada]], [[Australia]], [[New Zealand]], and others) and their allies in the two world wars ending in 1918 ([[World War&nbsp;I]]) and 1945 ([[World War&nbsp;II]]) and the subsequent rise of the United States as a [[superpower]] and major [[United States#Culture|cultural influence]].{{Citation needed|date=August 2022}}
* [[Russian language|Russian]] in the former [[Soviet Union]] and [[Russian Empire]] including [[Northern Asia|Northern]] and [[Central Asia]].{{Citation needed|date=August 2022}}