this post was submitted on 18 Oct 2025
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Lingua franca is technically two words. Lingua franca refers to an old Germanic language lost to language evolution and time, not modern-day French. And using the term to denote a language that is widely understood by different people who don't all speak it natively is perfectly understood, 20 years ago and today. The admittedly very eurocentric expression fills a useful niche because any explanation in vernacular English inevitably becomes much longer than these two established Latin words. But because it's Latin the expression is also widely understood on the European continent as well.
Thanks for the correction
Lingua franca has nothing to do with French.
I'm pretty sure the first diplomatic language was Latin.
It wasn't, the term lingua franca originates from the Mediterranean Lingua Franca, also known as Sabir, a pidgin language made up of bits from primarily romance languages (notably those of northern Italy) around the Mediterranean. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediterranean_Lingua_Franca
I mean, I would argue that trade is a form of diplomacy, but whatever. My source points to the first example known as a lingua franca, and shows that the phrase "lingua franca" has nothing to do with the French language; however I can acknowledge the wide acceptance of French as a lingua franca much after the times where Sabir was widely spoken. Anyways, I think that's enough arguing with strangers on the internet for me today.