What was the language of the common populace in the Roman Empire?

Question

I know Latin was spoken by the government and administrative people, but what about the average guy on the street?

Answer 1

It depends on where you were. Mostly Latin, but there were places where other languages were spoken for non official matters. Sort of like English in the United States, or French in France.

Answer 2

On the Roman streets, just Latin.

But anyone who travelled around the Empire would have learned "koine", the common Greek used all over the central and Eastern Mediterranean. This is the language in which Paul wrote his letters from Palestine to the various early Christian churches in Asia Minor. They all spoke different native languages, but they all understood Koine.

PS: "koine" is pronounced "coy-nay".

Answer 3

Aramaic was, i think, the lingua franca in the middle east.Greek was also widely spoken. Latin was only one of the Italic languages spoken in Italy. Roman soldiers mostly spoke a form of vulgar or common Latin. in Roman Britain, Spain, France, the common people spoke Celtic languages, for the most part. The Franks, Vandals, Goths, etc. spoke Germanic languages; but most of these lived on the frontiers of Roman territory. etc. etc. etc. Jews spoke Hebrew among themselves, Aramaic to Romans, Greeks, etc..

Answer 4

Latin, was the unifying language of the Empire, if you wanted to progress in life it was a good idea to learn it. However, it depended on where you were from and where you were in the empire. If you were from Judea you'd speak Hebrew, Britain the local celtic dialect, Germania you'd speak Frankish. There have been signs found in Roman towns that seem to indicate they catered for non-latin speakers (a bunch of grapes would indicate a bar, etc.)

Answer 5

In Rome itself it was Latin. In the provinces of the Empire it was whatever the local languages were. In Judea, for example it was Hebrew. But, Jesus and his disciples spoke Aramaic. Roman citizens in the provinces spoke Latin and/or Greek, as was the case with Saul of Tarsus who became known as Saint Paul.
Rome didn't use language assimilation. All they wanted was peace and quiet in the provinces and for those provinces to send in their taxes every years.

Answer 6

latin was used by the high class of society and greek was spoken by the commoners; more specifically. koine greek.
only in palestine did they speak a completely different language called aramaic. but most people there even understood and spoke koine greek

Answer 7

Latin was the language used by most people, and there was probably a dialect of it specific to Roman nationalists. But one of Rome's key strengths was incorporating other countries and cultures into theirs and harmonzing (or homogenizing) them. So people were more or less allowed to keep their own languages, I believe, from wherever they were from. But I've never heard of them speaking anything primarily aside from Latin.

Answer 8

probably Greek. But the Roman Empire was a huge piece of real estate, it would really depend on where you are in the Roman Empire.