from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Latin \Lat"in\, a. [F., fr. L. Latinus belonging to Latium,
Latin, fr. Latium a country of Italy, in which Rome was
situated. Cf. {Ladin}, Lateen sail, under {Lateen}.]
1. Of or pertaining to Latium, or to the Latins, a people of
Latium; Roman; as, the Latin language.
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2. Of, pertaining to, or composed in, the language used by
the Romans or Latins; as, a Latin grammar; a Latin
composition or idiom.
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{Latin Church} (Eccl. Hist.), the Western or Roman Catholic
Church, as distinct from the Greek or Eastern Church.
{Latin cross}. See Illust. 1 of {Cross}.
{Latin races}, a designation sometimes loosely given to
certain nations, esp. the French, Spanish, and Italians,
who speak languages principally derived from Latin.
{Latin Union}, an association of states, originally
comprising France, Belgium, Switzerland, and Italy, which,
in 1865, entered into a monetary agreement, providing for
an identity in the weight and fineness of the gold and
silver coins of those countries, and for the amounts of
each kind of coinage by each. Greece, Servia, Roumania,
and Spain subsequently joined the Union.
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