Latin

Latin, Latini, Latins. Latini, ‘Latins’, was the name of a people in Italy who in the early Iron Age were occupying the southern part of the lower valley of the river Tiber (between, to the south, the Greek culture of Magna Graecia and, to the north, the Etruscan culture of Etruria). They gave their name to this territory, Latium. See LATIN LEAGUE. For a later use of the name ‘Latins’ see BYZANTIUM. See also LATIN LANGUAGE.