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A language of the past, lost over time due to the demise of the Roman Empire, Latin was the main language of Ancient Rome. It is mainly recognised as the language of the dead, due to the fact that no one speaks Latin as their first language, despite its influence within most eras.
Due to the impact of the Roman Empire, their main language, Latin, was also important historically as the language spread with the Romans. As an effect, after the Roman Empire’s fall, Latin, over time, was overwritten by the Romance languages (Spanish, Italian, French, Portuguese, Romanian and more). However, English, despite being a Germanic language, is majorly influenced by Latin (Though most of the influences are words derived from other languages taken by Latin, as only 10% are directly from Latin). With around or over 60% of English words either indirectly or directly converted from Latin, English has the most Latin out of non-Romance languages. Some Latin phrases (e.g. (exempli gratia) etc. (et cetera) i.e. (id est) and more) are even still used today in the English language.
Originating from Latium located on the Italian Peninsula, Latin was picked up by the Roman Kingdoms and Roman Republic before the Roman Empire. However, the Latin alphabet is derived from the language of Ancient Greece, Etruscan and Phoenician alphabets, which, by extension, means that every Romance language is also derived from them. Latin changed over time, with Old Latin being the first version of Latin and Contemporary Latin being the newest version.
As the language changed over time, its alphabet changed as well, with new letters being added. Originally, Old Latin only had 21 letters, with the same letters as the English alphabet (with the letters J, U, W, Y and Z missing). Y and Z were added to Latin from Greek (making the amount of letters 23) however J, U and W still weren’t present. Medieval Latin added W, making 24 letters. Eventually, U and J were added, creating the current English alphabet.
The ancestor to the Romance languages, Latin originated in Latium, later becoming the language of the Roman empire.