2007-01-04 02:51:04 · 6 answers · asked by OU812 5 in Society & Culture ➔ Languages
Romance languages are Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, French and Romanian. It is called romance because these languages are descended from one of the languages of the roman empire, vulgar/popular Latin, not the classical Latin spoken by the elite.
2007-01-04 02:55:13 · answer #1 · answered by Mordent 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Romance languages are typically considered to be those languages derived from Latin, such as French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, and Catalan.
As to why they are called "romance languages", I suppose it derives from Latin having been the language of the Holy Roman Empire, which was a dominant world force conquering and settling lands throughout western and central Europe from the 800s through to about the 1800s. How "romance" evolved to its current meaning is less clear, though many people think the romance languages sound prettier than other languages and are better suited to love. People who natively speak the romance or Latin-based languages are often attributed with romantic qualities, as well; hence, the proverbial "Latin lover."
2007-01-04 03:22:53 · answer #2 · answered by poetic license 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The romance languages come from Latin, the language spoken in the Roman Empire. They are Spanish, French, Italian, Romanian, Portuguese, Rumansch. You could mention also Gallego.
To hy'all: never, ever tell a Catalan that his language is a dialect.
In Spain there are FOUR languages: Castellano, Gallego, Catalan and Vasco
2007-01-04 09:36:15 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Romance languages are those languages that began as vulgar Latin (the language of the ROMANS, who dominated Europe during many centuries). In different regions of Europe vulgar Latin, evolving independently and sometimes influenced by neighboring languages, became today's romance languages.
They are:
French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Romanian, Romansch (in Switzerland). There are others that are not languages proper, but dialects, like Catalan.
2007-01-04 02:59:29 · answer #4 · answered by Hi y´all ! 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The "Romance" languages are Italian, French, Spanish, and Portugese. They all have common roots in Latin, which of course was the language of ancient Rome, hence the term "Romance." If you study all of these languages you will find many words in common, with slightly different spellings, and a very similar grammar.
2007-01-04 02:55:24 · answer #5 · answered by link955 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romance_languages
more than you could ask for
2007-01-04 02:57:03 · answer #6 · answered by izaboe 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋