What is a romantic language?

Question

What is a romantic language? I know languages that are romantic say Italian, French... but what does romantic languages mean?

• It's what you speak when you are trying to woo your lover... - cheeseisyumm Oct 11, 2009

Answer 1

From Latin - the language of the Romans; hence Romantic (Romanic) language

Answer 2

Can anyone list all of them?

According to my dictionary they are Romanian, Italian, Rhaeto-Romantic, French, Provencal, Spanish, Catalan and Portuguese (although, I have seen others list Galician as a Romance language as well).

I even thought that there was one called Romansche

**Romansch (or Romansh) is one of the primary Rhaeto-Romanic dialects. Others include: Ladin, and Friulian.

Answer 3

I thought they were called Romance Languages... I even thought that there was one called Romansche (probably misspelled). Can anyone list all of them?

• They are called both Romance and Romantic languages - Izanoni1 Oct 11, 2009

Answer 4

The Romance Languages were derived from a Latin used in Romantic writing hence the name.

Answer 5

In English they are usually referred to as "Romance languages" (not "romantic" [perhaps to avoid confusion with the usual meaning of "romantic"]).