Vulgar Latin facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Vulgar Latin
Proto-Romance sermō vulgāris
Native to	Roman Republic, Roman Empire
Era	Antiquity; developed into Romance languages 6th to 9th centuries
Language family	Indo-European Italic Latino-Faliscan Latin Vulgar Latin
Writing system	Latin
Linguist List	lat-vul
The Roman Empire in 117 AD
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Vulgar Latin, or Common Latin, is one of the two types of Latin. Latin is an old language that was spoken by the Romans. Vulgar Latin is not spoken anymore, but its many dialects eventually became what are now Romance languages (such as Italian, Spanish, French, Portuguese, and Romanian). Vulgar Latin was spoken by the regular people ("vulgus" in Latin means "common"): farmers, workers and those without a great deal of education

Origin

Classical Latin is the type of Latin that was first spoken by the Romans. As time went by, fewer and fewer people spoke Classical Latin, and in the end the language changed to become Vulgar Latin. After a while, only scholars spoke Classical Latin. Books were still written in it. Nobody speaks Latin anymore except for people who study it and the Roman Catholic Church's officials.

Grammar

Vulgar Latin is similar to Classical Latin but has some differences in pronunciation and vocabulary. Latin has 5 basic noun cases.

Images for kids

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  An extract of the Oaths of Strasbourg, the earliest known Gallo-Romance text.

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  The Cantar de Mio Cid (Song of my Cid) is the earliest Spanish text

See also

In Spanish: Latín vulgar para niños