Which Countries Spoke Latin?

map placeholder
Latin as Official Language

Official Language

Latin as Official Language

4
Country
Latin as Official Language
Additional Details
CroatiaOfficial LanguageLatin was the official language of Croatian Parliament (Sabor) from the 13th to the 19th century
HungaryOfficial LanguageFrom the 11th to the mid 19th century
PolandOfficial LanguageOfficially recognised and widely used between the 10th and 18th centuries
Vatican CityOfficial LanguageVatican City is the only country in which Latin is still an official language and the only country that regularly uses Latin at a national level (Latin is spoken during mass.)
  • Countries listed are those which have used Latin as an official language within the past 500 years. During the height of the Roman Empire (Approx 300 BC-450 AD), Latin was used more widely, thought often as a secondary language.
  • Latin is no longer spoken regularly. It is used primarily in the scientific naming of organisms and for liturgical purposes by the Roman Catholic Church.
  • However, many modern languages, including Italian, French, Portuguese, Spanish, Romanian, Catalan, Romansh and other Romance languages, are direct descendants of Latin. There are also many Latin borrowings in English and Albanian, as well as a few in German, Dutch, Norwegian, Danish and Swedish.
  • Therefore, although use of Latin has faded, the many languages it evolved into are very much alive today.