Romance (English)
Where does "Romance" come from?
The English noun 'Romance' descends from Old French 'romanz', meaning 'vernacular language (of France)'[1][5]. This Old French term traces back to Late Latin 'rōmānicē', built upon the Latin adjective 'rōmānicus'[1][5]. The root of this lineage is the Latin 'rōmānus', which combines 'Rōma' and the suffix '-ānus'[2]. The meaning of the term was extended during the seventeenth century to encompass all languages derived from Latin[1].
Full etymology tree
- Romance (English), 'The group of languages and cultures which are derived from Vulgar Latin.'
- borrowed romanz (Old French), 'Old French (language)'
- inherited romanice (Latin), 'in the Roman manner'
- derived romanicus (Latin), 'Roman; made in Rome.'
- derived romanus (Latin), 'Roman'
- derived Roma (Latin), 'Rome (a major city, the capital of Italy and the Italian region of Lazio, located on the Tiber River; the ancient capital of the Roman Empire)'
- suffix -anus (Latin), 'Of or pertaining to; -ian; usually indicates a relationship of origin, position, or possession.'
- suffix -icus (Latin), 'of or pertaining to; belonging to; derived from; connected with: -ic, -ish'
- derived romanus (Latin), 'Roman'
- derived romanicus (Latin), 'Roman; made in Rome.'
- inherited romanice (Latin), 'in the Roman manner'
- borrowed romanz (Old French), 'Old French (language)'
Descendants and derived words
- African Romance (English)
- Proto-Romance (English)
- Romance Neolatino (English)
- romlang (English)
Sources
- Romance (English) - Wiktionary
- romanus (Latin) - Wiktionary
- romanice (Latin) - Wiktionary
- romanicus (Latin) - Wiktionary
- romanz (Old French) - Wiktionary
Updated August 2026
Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris