2006-07-01 18:01:43 · 9 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Other - Society & Culture
I refers to Latin America and the surrounding territories,
and the Prevailing language is Spanish, which is a romance language that is based in "Latin".
Basically if a stupid "PC" term to keep everybody happy shiney people.
2006-07-01 18:12:08 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Perhaps it's a misnomer. Why do we refer to some countries as Latin American countries when no one in those countries (except some of the Catholic priests) speaks it, reads it, etc.? However, the Spanish language is a Romance language, and is derived from Latin, so I suppose that's a clue as to how the whole business got started. On the other hand, the other Romance languages such as French and Italian were also derived from Latin, but French-speaking and Italian-speaking people are not called Latinos. it's all kind of curious, isn't it?
2006-07-02 01:13:41 · answer #2 · answered by sunny1 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in the region around Rome called Latium.
Although now widely considered an extinct language with very few fluent speakers and almost no native ones, Latin has had a major influence on many languages that are still thriving, and continues to see wide use in areas such as academia. Six out of every ten English words used in common language are derived, at least indirectly, from Latin, and an even greater proportion of scientific words are derived directly from Latin. All Romance languages are descended from Vulgar Latin, and many words adapted from Latin are found in other modern languages.
The expansion of the Roman Empire spread Latin throughout Europe, and over time Vulgar Latin evolved and dialectized in different locations, gradually shifting into a number of distinct Romance languages beginning around the 9th century AD. These were for many centuries only spoken languages, Latin still being used for writing. For example, Latin was the official language of Portugal until 1296, when it was replaced by Portuguese. Many of these languages, including Portuguese, Spanish, French, Italian, and Romanian, flourished, the differences between them growing greater over time.
2006-07-02 01:07:59 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Latinos are persons from Latin America. Latin America is not a single country. It is a region which includes several countries. The most common language is Spanish, which is a derivative of Latin.
2006-07-02 01:11:26 · answer #4 · answered by bikerchickjill 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
because Spanish, Portugese, Italian......are latin based languages rather than Germanic like English, and back in the day (white) Americans were too stupid to distinguish between any type of people that spoke these language so presto they gave us the label "Latinos" and it pretty much stuck, by the way "Latino" is diff from "Hispaninc" which refers to someone who speaks Spanish
2006-07-02 01:06:48 · answer #5 · answered by buttah_pecan_rican1 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
the term latinos comes from the Romans. They referred to anyone from the region of Spain. As the world expanded, it came to mean people who spoke spanish.
2006-07-02 01:08:09 · answer #6 · answered by Lonnie J 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Latin is a clan (family) and makes all who speak a form of latin family that is why Latinos.
2006-07-02 01:13:37 · answer #7 · answered by wiseornotyoudecide 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because they come from Latin America. It is called Latin America because all the languages spoken there came from latin. Spanish, Portuguese and French are all romance languages which means they came from latin.
2006-07-02 01:06:16 · answer #8 · answered by Custom fan 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
who are you talking about? hispanics that cant read, understand, speak spanish?
try making your question more specific
2006-07-02 01:06:03 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋