Editing Latins

{{Short description|Peoples using Latin-derived languages}}

The term '''Latins''' has been used throughout history to refer to various peoples, ethnicities and religious groups using [[Latin language|Latin]] or the Latin-derived [[Romance languages]], as part of the [[legacy of the Roman Empire]]. In the [[Ancient World]], it referred to the [[Latins (Italic tribe)|people of ancient Latium]], including the [[Roman people#Classical antiquity|Romans]]. Following the spread of [[Christianity]], it came to indicate the [[Catholics]] of the [[Latin Church]], especially those following [[Western liturgical rites]]. Currently, it defines the peoples using the Romance languages in Europe and the Americas.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Definition of LATIN |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Latin |access-date=2024-04-04 |website=www.merriam-webster.com |language=en}}</ref>

==Antiquity==
{{Main|Latins (Italic tribe)}}

{{further|Latin League|Romanization (cultural)}}[[File:Volsci.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Map of 5th century-BC [[Old Latium|Latium]] (''Latium Vetus'') and surrounding regions in central [[Italy]] that were eventually annexed by Rome to form "New Latium". The [[Alban Hills]], a region of early Latin settlement (from {{circa|1000&nbsp;BC}}) and the site of the ''Latiar'', the most important Latin communal festival, are located under the "U" in {{sc|latium}}. The region's two main lakes, Nemi and Albanus, are visible under the "I". The leading Latin city-states of Rome, Tibur ([[Tivoli, Lazio|Tivoli]]), Praeneste ([[Palestrina]]), [[Ardea, Lazio|Ardea]] and [[Gabii]] are shown.]]

The Latins were an [[Italic peoples|ancient Italic people]] of the [[Latium|Latium region]] in [[central Italy]] (''Latium Vetus'', "Old Latium"), in the 1st millennium BC. Although they lived in independent city-states, they spoke a common language ([[Latin]]), held common [[Roman mythology|religious beliefs]], and extended common rights of residence and trade to one another.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ancient Rome - Latin League, Republic, Empire {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/ancient-Rome/The-Latin-League |access-date=2024-04-04 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en }}</ref> Collectively, these Latin states were known as the [[Latin League]].

A rupture between [[Roman Republic|Rome]], one of the Latin states, and the rest of the Latin League emerged as a result of the former's territorial ambitions. The Latin League fought against Rome in the [[Latin War]] (340-338 BC), which ended in a Roman victory. 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.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ancient Rome - Latin League, Republic, Empire {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/ancient-Rome/The-Latin-League |access-date=2024-04-04 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en }}</ref>

The [[Roman Empire]] would go on to dominate the [[Mediterranean Sea|Mediterranean]] region for the next several centuries, spreading the Latin language and Roman culture. The Latin-speaking [[Western Roman Empire]] ended in AD 476, while [[Byzantine Empire|the Greek-speaking eastern half]] survived on until 1453.

==Middle Ages==
{{further|Latins (Middle Ages)}}
[[File:12th century unknown painters - Crusaders - WGA19723.jpg|thumb|233x233px|[[12th century]] depiction of Latin [[Crusades|Crusaders]]]]
In the [[Eastern Roman Empire]], and the broader Greek-Orthodox world, ''Latins'' was a synonym for all people who followed the [[Roman Catholic Church|Roman Catholicism]]<ref name="ReferenceA">George Ostrogorsky, History of the Byzantine State</ref> of [[Western Christianity]],<ref name="Orbilat">{{cite web |title=Distinguishing the terms: Latins and Romans |url=http://www.orbilat.com/General_Survey/Terms--Latins_and_Romans.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180709112810/http://www.orbilat.com/General_Survey/Terms--Latins_and_Romans.html |archive-date=2018-07-09 |website=[[Orbis Latinus]]}}</ref> regardless of ethnicity.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Distinguishing the terms: Latins and Romans |url=https://www.orbilat.com/General_Survey/Terms--Latins_and_Romans.html |website=Orbilat}}</ref> The term was related to the predominance of the [[Latin Church]], which is the largest autonomous [[Catholic particular churches and liturgical rites|particular church]] within the broader [[Catholic Church]], and took its name from its origins in the Latin-speaking world which had Rome as its center.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Why So Many Rites in the Church {{!}} EWTN |url=https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/library/why-so-many-rites-in-the-church-4827 |access-date=2024-03-08 |website=EWTN Global Catholic Television Network |language=en}}</ref>

''Latin'' was generally a negative characterization, especially after the [[East-West schism|1054 schism]].<ref name="ReferenceA" /> The term is still used by the [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Orthodox church]] communities, but only in a theological context. Nonetheless, it did not share this negative connotation in the West, where many self-identified with the term, such as [[Petrarch]], when he states ''"Sumus enim non greci, non barbari, sed itali et latini."'' ("We are not Greeks or barbarians; we are Italians and Latins.").<ref>{{Cite web |title=Invectiva contra eum qui maledixit Italiam - Wikisource |url=https://la.wikisource.org/wiki/Invectiva_contra_eum_qui_maledixit_Italiam |access-date=2022-09-11 |website=la.wikisource.org |language=la}}</ref>

== Latin peoples and regions ==
{{Further|Romance languages|Languages of Europe#Romance|Latin America}}{{See also|Category:Latin regions}}
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| caption2 = Map of the [[Roman Empire]].
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The various [[Romance languages|Romance-speaking]] groups of the present day, usually those of Latin Europe and [[Latin America]], have sometimes been collectively referred to as "Latin peoples".<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-06-10 |title=Latin Definition & Meaning – Merriam-Webster |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Latin#kidsdictionary:~:text=Latin%20grammar-,b,Latin%20languages,-2 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230610084939/https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Latin#kidsdictionary:~:text=Latin%20grammar-,b,Latin%20languages,-2 |archive-date=2023-06-10 |access-date=2024-03-08 |website=Merriam-Webster }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i69BAQAAIAAJ |title=MultiCultural Review: Dedicated to a Better Understanding of Ethnic, Racial, and Religious Diversity |date=2001 |publisher=GP Subscription Publications |isbn=978-0-8239-9700-8 |language=en }}</ref> Other synonymous terms are "Romance peoples"<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dame |first=Frederick William |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eyUkAQAAIAAJ |title=History of Switzerland: Historical Switzerland from the Romans to Napoleon |date=2001 |publisher=E. Mellen Press |isbn=978-0-7734-7386-7 |language=en |chapter=The Swiss Romance Peoples And Their Identity }}</ref> or "Romanic peoples".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Pavlovic |first=Zoran |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7rovXFnqXYMC |title=Europe |date=2006 |publisher=Infobase Publishing |isbn=978-1-4381-0455-3 |language=en |chapter=Romanic Peoples }}</ref> Likewise, the Romance languages themselves are sometimes referred to as the Latin or Neo-Latin languages.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-06-10 |title=Latin Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Latin#kidsdictionary:~:text=Latin%20grammar-,b,Latin%20languages,-2 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230610084939/https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Latin#kidsdictionary:~:text=Latin%20grammar-,b,Latin%20languages,-2 |archive-date=2023-06-10 |access-date=2024-03-08}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Definition of NEO-LATIN |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Neo-Latin |access-date=2024-03-08 |website=www.merriam-webster.com |language=en}}</ref> The designation also specifically survived in the names of two Romance-speaking groups: the [[Ladins|Ladin people]] of [[northern Italy]] and the [[Ladino people]] of [[Central America]]. 

The term ''Latin Europe'' is sometimes used in reference to European nations and regions inhabited by Romance-speaking people.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Friedman |first1=Lawrence |author-link1=Lawrence M. Friedman |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wEMUKyPTE9AC&q=%22latin+europe%22 |title=Legal Culture in the Age of Globalization: Latin America and Latin Europe |last2=Perez-Perdomo |first2=Rogelio |date=2003 |publisher=Stanford University Press |isbn=0-8047-6695-9 |page=1}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Iiams |first=Thomas M. |date=1971 |title=National Libraries of Latin Europe |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25618521 |journal=American Libraries |volume=2 |issue=10 |pages=1081–1085 |jstor=25618521 |issn=0002-9769}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=The History of the Romanian Language |url=https://linguistics.byu.edu/classes/Ling450ch/reports/romanian.html |access-date=2023-02-25 |website=linguistics.byu.edu}}</ref>

''Latin America'' is the region of [[Americas|the Americas]] that was [[Colonization|colonized]] by Latin Europeans, and came to be called so in the 19th century.<ref>{{cite book |last=Chasteen |first=John Charles |author-link=John Charles Chasteen |url=https://archive.org/details/borninbloodfirec00chas_0 |title=Born in Blood and Fire: A Concise History of Latin America |publisher=[[W. W. Norton]] |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-393-97613-7 |page=[https://archive.org/details/borninbloodfirec00chas_0/page/156 156] |url-access=registration}}</ref> The term is usually used to refer to [[Spanish language|Spanish-]] and [[Portuguese language|Portuguese-speaking]] countries, namely [[Hispanic America]] and [[Brazil]]. Latin Americans are called ''latinoamericanos and'' ''latino-americanos'' in Spanish and Portuguese, respectively; the shortening of this term resulted in the name for [[Latino (demonym)|Latinos]],<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Gutiérrez |first1=Ramón A. |title=The new Latino studies reader: a twenty-first-century perspective |last2=Almaguer |first2=Tomás |date=2016 |publisher=University of California press |isbn=978-0-520-28483-8 |location=Oakland (Calif.)}}</ref> who are themselves sometimes just called "Latin".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Definition of LATIN |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Latin |access-date=2024-03-10 |website=www.merriam-webster.com |language=en }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Fajkus |first=Michelle Margaret |date=2022-11-21 |title=10 Differences in Latin Culture Compared to U.S. Culture |url=https://www.spanish.academy/blog/10-differences-in-latin-culture-compared-to-u-s-culture/ |access-date=2024-03-10 |website=Homeschool Spanish Academy |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Horvath |first=Richard |date=2021-11-23 |title=10 things in Latin Culture that Will Influence a Workplace |url=https://www.englishtospanishraleigh.com/blog/latin-culture-influence-workplace |access-date=2024-03-10 |website=English to Spanish Raleigh |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=highheelsandabackpack |date=2023-01-30 |title=Dating Latin Men - Everything you need to know |url=https://www.highheelsandabackpack.com/dating-latin-men/,%20https://www.highheelsandabackpack.com/dating-latin-men/ |access-date=2024-03-10 |language=en-US }}</ref> 

Many of the present-day independent states of [[Africa]] have main official languages that are Romance, as a result of colonization by Romance-speaking European nations in the 19th century.<ref>{{Citation |title=Manual of Romance Languages in Africa |date=2023-12-18 |url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110628869/html |access-date=2024-08-04 |publisher=De Gruyter |language=en |doi=10.1515/9783110628869 |isbn=978-3-11-062886-9 |editor-last1=Reutner |editor-first1=Ursula }}</ref> [[Barthélémy Boganda]], a politician of the [[Central African Republic]], proposed a "[[United States of Latin Africa]]" in 1957 that would serve as a federation of the Romance-speaking countries in [[Central Africa|the region of Central Africa]], which never came into fruition. [[African Americans|African-American]] author [[Richard Wright (author)|Richard Wright]], who criticized the proposal, said that "Latin Africa" correlated with "Catholic Africa" and would create an unnecessary religious division against the [[English-speaking world|English-speaking]] "[[Protestantism|Protestant]] Africa".<ref>R. Wright, « To French Readers », Mississippi Quarterly, 42, 4, 1989 (Automne) {1959}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[Latin Rights]]
* [[Latin Valley]]
* [[Greek East and Latin West]]
* [[Roman people#Later history]]
* [[Latin Union]]
* [[Pan-Latinism]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20180709112810/http://www.orbilat.com/General_Survey/Terms--Latins_and_Romans.html Distinguishing the terms: Latins and Romans]

[[Category:Latin language]]
[[Category:Italic peoples]]