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Re: Language Naming

From:John Cowan <cowan@...>
Date:Friday, January 22, 1999, 15:20
Eric Christopherson wrote:

> There's Ladino, which I assume is from Latinum. Also, Romantsch would > come from an adverb meaning "[speaking] in the Roman style."
Indeed. In general the words "Roman" and "Latin" survive only for dialects in close contact with non-Romance languages, where the important distinction is Romance/non-Romance (German for Romantsch, Slavic for Romanian, etc.). Elsewhere, in distinctions like French/Occitan, French/Italian, Spanish/Portuguese, Spanish/Catalan the important point is one Romance language vs. another, so "Roman(ce)" or "Latin" would not be distinctive. -- John Cowan http://www.ccil.org/~cowan cowan@ccil.org You tollerday donsk? N. You tolkatiff scowegian? Nn. You spigotty anglease? Nnn. You phonio saxo? Nnnn. Clear all so! 'Tis a Jute.... (Finnegans Wake 16.5)