Local name:	lingva latina
Language family:	Indo-European > Italic > Latino-Faliscan
Native speakers:	Dead language
Script:	Latin alphabet
Official in:	The Holy See
Spoken mostly in:	Catholic churches and university institutions for classic studies

Latin was the language of Latium, a small area surrounding the city of Rome, before it was spread with the Roman Empire to big parts of southern Europe, and later developed into what would be called the Romance languages, including Portuguese, Spanish, Catalan, French, Italian and Romanian.

Latin continued, even after having developed in the new Romance language, to be used by the Catholic church, and was also used as the scientific language in most of Europe far into the 18th century. The scientific names for flowers and animals are still in Latin, and much new terminology in scientific fields are based on Latin.

Latin: “De Sole et Vento”
Speaker: André Age at recording: 40 (2007) Pronunciation: Classic


Sol et Aquilo certabant uter sit fortior. Conventum est experiri vires in
Viatorem, ut palmam ferat qui excusserit Viatoris manticam. Boreas
horrisono turbine Viatorem aggreditur. At ille non desistit, amictum
gradiendo duplicans. Assumit vires Sol qui, nimbo paulatim evicto,
totos emolitur radios. Incipit Viator aestuare, sudare, anhelare.
Tandem progredi nequiens, sub frondoso nemore, obiecta mantica,
resedit et ita Soli victoria contingebat.