lat (Russian) [ˈlætɪn] ˈlætɪn

Latin is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages․ Latin was originally spoken in the area around Rome, known as Latium․ It gained importance as the language of the Roman Republic and later the Roman Empire, becoming the lingua franca of the Western world for centuries․

Latin has significantly influenced many modern languages, particularly the Romance languages (French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, and Romanian), and has contributed a vast amount of vocabulary to English and other languages․ It remains important in fields such as law, medicine, science, and theology․

There are two main forms of Latin:
— Classical Latin – the formal literary language used by ancient Roman writers
— Vulgar Latin – the colloquial form spoken by common people, which eventually evolved into the Romance languages
Today, Latin is considered a «dead language» in the sense that it is no longer anyone’s native language, but it is still studied academically and used in certain religious, legal, and scientific contexts․ The Catholic Church continues to use Latin as its liturgical language, and many mottos, phrases, and scientific terms remain in common use․