1620s, from Italian, literally "Frankish tongue." A stripped-down Italian peppered with Spanish, French, Greek, Arabic, and Turkish words, it began as a form of communication in the Levant. The name probably is from the Arabic custom, dating back to the Crusades, of calling all Europeans Franks (see Frank). In 17c. English sources also known as Bastard Spanish.

"foreign speech," 1650s, probably a corruption of Latin lingua "speech, language; tongue" (from PIE root *dnghu- "tongue"), perhaps immediately as a shortening of lingua franca (q.v.), or from Provençal lingo "language, tongue," from Old Provençal lenga, from Latin lingua.

*dnghū-, Proto-Indo-European root meaning "tongue."

It forms all or part of: bilingual; language; languet; lingo; lingua franca; Linguaphone; linguiform; linguine; linguist; linguistics; multilingual; sublingual; tongue; trilingual.

It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Latin lingua "tongue, speech, language" (from Old Latin dingua); Old Irish tenge, Welsh tafod, Lithuanian liežuvis, Old Church Slavonic jezyku "tongue;" Old English tunge "tongue; speech."

one of the Germanic tribal people (Salian Franks) situated on the lower Rhine from 3c. that conquered Romano-Celtic northern Gaul c.500 C.E.; from their territory and partly from their language grew modern France and French. Old English franc, franca "freeman, noble; Frank, Frenchman," from Medieval Latin francus, a Late Latin borrowing of Frankish *Frank, the people's self-designation (cognate with Old High German Franko, the Latin word also is the source of Spanish and Italian names Franco).

The origin of the ethnic name is uncertain; it traditionally is said to be from the old Germanic word *frankon "javelin, lance" (compare Old English franca "lance, javelin"), their preferred weapon, but the reverse may be the case. Compare also Saxon, traditionally from root of Old English seax "knife." The adjectival sense of "free, at liberty" (see frank (adj.)) probably developed from the tribal name, not the other way round. It was noted by 1680s that, in the Levant, this was the name given to anyone of Western nationality (compare Feringhee and lingua franca).

1824, in reference to the northern branch of the Semitic language group, from Greek Aramaia, the biblical land of 'Aram, roughly corresponding to modern Syria. The place name probably is related to Hebrew and Aramaic rum "to be high," thus originally "highland." As a noun, "the Aramaic langue," from 1833; Aramaic was the lingua franca of the Assyrian empire, the official language of the Persian kingdom, and the daily language of the Jews at the time of Christ.

name for a group of related native people in the Columbia River region of Washington and Oregon, from Salishan /činuk/, name of a village site [Bright]. The name was extended to a type of salmon (1851) and a warm spring wind in that region (1860). Chinook jargon was a mishmash of native (Chinook and Nootka), French, and English words; it once was the lingua franca in the Pacific Northwest, and this sense is the earliest attested use of the word (1840).

Middle High Indian dialect used in sacred Buddhist writings (the lingua franca of northern India from c. 6c. B.C.E.-2c. B.C.E.), 1690s, from Sanskrit Pali, from pali bhasa "language of the canonical books," from pali "line; canon" + bhasa "language."

by 1944, from Italian linguine, plural of linguina "little tongue," diminutive of lingua "tongue," from Latin lingua "tongue" (from PIE root *dnghu- "tongue").

"something in the shape of a little tongue," early 15c., from Old French languete (Modern French languette), literally "little tongue," diminutive of langue "tongue," from Latin lingua "tongue" (from PIE root *dnghu- "tongue"). As the name of a kind of hood in 17c. women's dress it probably is a separate borrowing of the French word.

"of or pertaining to the tongue," 1640s, from Medieval Latin lingualis "of the tongue," from Latin lingua "tongue," also "speech, language," from Old Latin dingua, from PIE *dnghu- "tongue" (source also of Old English tunge "tongue;" see tongue (n.)). Altered in Latin probably in part by association with lingere "to lick." Earlier "tongue-shaped" (c. 1400).