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Re:Dominant languages can spread even without coercion by CryptoPunk on Thursday January 20, 2022 @12:58AM (#30005289)
Was Latin really the lingua franca, or just the language of liturgy, over that period?
Re:Dominant languages can spread even without coercion by inawarminister on Thursday January 20, 2022 @01:24AM (#30005485)
Latin was also the lingua franca of nobles and merchants. Lingua Franca Mediterrania itself, the language spoken by medieval sailors in Italy, Egypt, and nearly all the coastline of Mediterranean is a creole of Italian, Portuguese, and Arabic. To the point that Shakespearean Moors spoke it as "Arabic".

Then, the language of science until the 1900s is Latin. Isaac Newton wrote in Latin. Nearly all scientific papers and books were published in "Neolatin".

Re:Dominant languages can spread even without coercion by kragen on Thursday January 20, 2022 @01:34AM (#30005550)
Latin was also the language of academia, which gradually separated from the Church starting in the Late Middle Ages.
Re:Dominant languages can spread even without coercion by umanwizard on Thursday January 20, 2022 @07:02AM (#30007818)
Both. (Less and less towards the end, of course).