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Glite Dictionary
Italic language

Italic language

9.9
A group of related ancient languages spoken in Italy, including Latin
  • noun
  • Specialized
translation icon : lengua itálica
  • Oscan and Umbrian are examples of ancient Italic languages spoken in Italy.

Examples

  • The evolution of the Romance languages can be traced back to their roots in the Italic language family.

  • Scholars often study Italic languages to understand the origins of Latin grammar and vocabulary.

  • The Italic language family includes Latin and its descendants.

  • Did you know that the Italic languages influenced many modern tongues?

  • Oscan and Umbrian are examples of ancient Italic languages spoken in Italy.

  • Scholars often study Italic languages to understand the origins of Latin grammar and vocabulary.

  • The evolution of the Romance languages can be traced back to their roots in the Italic languages family.

Synonyms

Italic
vsItalic language
  • Specialized
9.4

A group of old languages once spoken in Italy, including Latin

focuses more on those languages being spoken in ancient Italy

Surface Forms

Italic language singular
Italic languages plural

Morphology

Italic + language

The phrase 'Italic language' is compositionally transparent: 'Italic' specifies the language family and 'language' denotes a speech system, so the meaning 'a language of the Italic family' is directly derivable from the parts. This follows a common adjective + noun pattern found across languages, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will understand the expression.

Etymology

Italic language comes from an old Latin name for 'Italy', because these were the languages people spoke in ancient Italy. So, Italic language now means the 'group of related languages' (like Latin, Oscan, and Umbrian) that grew in that area.