How did Latin as in the ancient language come to have the same name as latin as in Latino?

Answer 1

"Latin", as in the ancient language came first. The people we refer to as the "Romans" and their neighbors were known as Lacians or Latins and the name came to stand for their language, as often happens. When the Romans conquered much of Western Europe (and other parts) the conquered peoples adopted the language of their conquerors which then evolved separately to become the languages we now refer to as Romance languages: french, italian, portuguese, spanish, rumanian, among others. Speakers of these languages came to be known as latin people (as in Latin America) in general which in spanish is spelled latino. Thus spanish speakers, or people of such descent are referred to as latinos in the U.S. and other places

Answer 2

The common Spanish language, used today, is derived from the ancient language known as Latin, the Catholic Church and some parts of the world still use it. Over the years those that speak Spanish have come to be known as Latins because it sounds almost like they are speaking Latin, the actual language.
This however is wrong but who cares the majority of the people use it so it must be right. (Sarcasm)
I may be mistaken but I believe the true Latin’s are people that come from Italy mainly during the Roman Empire time. Latin was a common language throughout the empire just as Greek was during the time of the Persian Empire.
It is very possible I can have some or most of the historical facts mixed up but it’s a start on the right path.

Answer 3

Latin is the language that was spoken in Europe and the Church.
Latino is a name given to a person that is born in Latin America. (The concept of "Latin America" was coined by the French in the 1800s as a means of legitimizing French influence over the Spanish-speaking countries of the Americas. When Napoleon III proposed a Monarchy in Mexico. They came up with the name because the languages spoken there were derived from Latin)
Latino is not officially used as a racial label, as a 'Latino' or 'Latin American' can be of any race

Answer 4

The Romans, who spoke Latin, conquered Spain from the Carthaginians in 206 B.C. However, it still took them another 200 years to subdue some of the wilder Celtiberian tribes in northern Spain and Portugal that the Carthaginians never conquered.

Roman rule lasted in Spain for over 600 years. During this time, the Latin language of the Roman conquerors gradually replaced the languages of the native Iberian and Hispano-Celtic peoples. By about 600 A.D. everyone in the Iberian Peninsula spoke a Latin or "Romance" vernacular of some kind except the Basques in the Pyrennes Mountains who still speak their ancient language even today.

Gradually the term "Latin" came to apply to all peoples who spoke languages descended from Latin (Spanish, Portuguese, Italians and Romanians) although it doesn't seem to have been used much until about the middle of the nineteenth century. Thats when the term "Latin America" originated in France.

Ironically, the word has never really been applied to the French even though their language is descended from Latin too. I have found in talking to French and French Canadian people that they don't like to be called "Latins." They consider themselves to be more of a Germanic people.

I'm sure there are some Mexican, Spanish and Italian people who don't really like the term to describe them either for different reasons. Therefore, I think it will only be a temporary word in the English language for these peoples

Answer 5

As I understand it, the term was adopted to describe the language of all speakers of Spanish or Portuguese in the Americas. Both Spanish and Portuguese are forms of Latin, so this is a term generally acceptable to all people of this description. It is a kind of shorthand.

There is another language called "Ladino" spoken by Sephardic Jews and derived from Spanish. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ladino_language