Latin

     Latin properly refers only to the language spoken by the Ancient Romans more than 2,000 years ago. In modern times it has become a "dead" language--meaning that no one speaks it. It was kept alive in Europe for many centuries by clerics and scholars--priests, lawyers, doctors, scientists and philosophers--as a written language, although a few people could speak it.  In this way scholars from all over Western Europe could read what the other educated people were writing. There were very few people who could read and write at the time, so they made something of an international community. Almost no one can read Latin now--perhaps just enough to understand medical terms and scientific nomenclature.
     We commonly call South America and Central America "Latin America".  This is because the languages spoken there are "Latin" languages. Both Spanish and Portuguese are "Latin" languages--said to be linguistic "descendants" of Latin. Modern French and Italian are also "Latin" languages. English is not called a "Latin" language, although we have used Latin for many scientific and technical terms. Much of English has its roots in the ancient language of the Anglo-Saxons. More words were added when the Normans conquered England. The Normans came from part of what is now France, and had been led for centuries by Vikings and their descendants--so the "story" of English becomes quite complicated.