Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The common speech of the ancient Romans, which is distinguished from standard literary Latin and is the ancestor of the Romance languages.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • proper noun The Latin language as spoken by the Roman people, as opposed to Classical Latin as written in formal literature until about 4c.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun nonclassical Latin dialects spoken in the Roman Empire; source of Romance languages

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

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Examples

  • Polyglot, and collate it exactly with the Vulgar Latin, which is in the second column, writing down all (even the least) variations or differences between them.

    Hetty Wesley Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch 1903

  • Unlike Classical Latin, Vulgar Latin was not standardized, so no rules governed its grammar or spelling.

    The English Is Coming! Leslie Dunton-Downer 2010

  • I can't say for sure why this has happened but I'll just blame it on the peculiarities of later Vulgar Latin until I do. ;o

    The etymology of Latin tofus 'tufa' isn't written in stone 2009

  • This archaic feature, direct from Vulgar Latin, also turns up in Portuguese O lobo Oo loh-boo "The wolf" too, and Romanian Lupu-l.

    languagehat.com: ITALIAN DIALECTS. 2005

  • And this sense is followed by the Vulgar Latin, "Oleum autem peccatorum non impingat caput meum;" but the other construction and sense of the words is more natural.

    The Sermons of John Owen 1616-1683 1968

  • If the candidate's major elective be Romanic, the technical Greek requirement is waived as far as practically possible, and he is guided into the history of the Roman popular vernacular, the common source of the Romanic tongues, and into an acquaintance with the authors illustrating the Vulgar Latin in literature.

    University of Virginia Record 1915

  • Romanic tongues, and into an acquaintance with the authors illustrating the Vulgar Latin in literature.

    University of Virginia Record 1913

  • 'Cantium', because, according to the rules of Vulgar Latin, 'Cantium' would have been pronounced 'Cantsium' in the fifth century, when the

    The Romanization of Roman Britain 1889

  • The modern Romance languages are almost entirely descended from Vulgar Latin, which was Latin spoken by the common people in the later centuries of the Roman Empire.

    Conservapedia - Recent changes [en] 2009

  • Latin has also given us the alphabet used to write most Western European languages, including English. almost entirely descended from Vulgar Latin, which was Latin spoken by the common people in the later centuries of the Roman Empire.

    Conservapedia - Recent changes [en] GregorySKroeger 2009

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