Named after Latium, the plain where Rome was founded — a regional label that conquered the Western world.
The Italic language of ancient Rome and its empire, ancestor of the Romance languages. Also, a native or inhabitant of ancient Latium, or relating to peoples and cultures descended from Latin-speaking traditions.
From Latin 'Latīnus,' meaning 'of or pertaining to Latium,' the region of central Italy surrounding Rome. The Latini were the Italic people inhabiting this plain. The name 'Latium' is traditionally derived from Latin 'lātus' ('wide, broad'), referring to the flat, broad plain between the Apennine mountains and the Tyrrhenian Sea. An alternative ancient etymology connected it to 'latēre' ('to lie hidden'), from the myth that Saturn hid (latuit) in Latium from Jupiter. Modern scholarship generally
In Old English, 'læden' meant not only 'Latin' but also 'any foreign language' and even 'learning' itself — because for the Anglo-Saxons, to encounter a foreign language almost always meant to encounter Latin, and to learn to read almost always meant to learn Latin. The word became a synonym for education.