Word of the Week: Lingua Franca

A lingua franca is a common language used between people that do not have the same native language. It can also be used to describe a mixture of languages where words from multiple languages are combined. A lingua franca is often used between people that oversee trade, facilitate business, or communicate information academically, scientifically, or technologically.

The original Lingua Franca was used for trading purposes around the Mediterranean Sea during the Renaissance era. It was a mixed language of Italian and borrowed words from Turkish, French, Spanish, Greek, and Arabic. The term lingua franca comes from Italian and means “Language of the Franks” or “Frankish Tongue.” Western Europeans were referred to as Franks in the Arabic speaking world. The term lingua franca was first recorded in English in 1678.

Today, lingua franca refers to a language used for communication purposes between speakers of different languages. Some examples of modern lingua francas are English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Chinese, Arabic, Swahili, and Afrikaans. English became the first global lingua franca as a result of the expansion of the British empire and rise of the US as a global power. Lingua francas are used by many people each day as without it many people would be unable to communicate for important tasks.