Old English from Latin latinus from Latium, an ancient province of Italy which included Rome. The Roman occupation of most of Britain from ad 43 until the early fifth cent. left no certain traces in the English language, apart from a few place-names, although some loanwords of Latin origin occurring early in the Old English period (such as candle) may have survived in Celtic and thence come into English. The large Latin element in English comes from five main sources. (1) The West Germanic language spoken by the Anglo-Saxon invaders of England in the fifth cent., which developed into English, contained some words borrowed from Latin in prehistoric times: belt, butter, chalk, cheese, copper, cup, pillow, street, and so on. (2) The activities of Latin-speaking missionaries from the end of the sixth cent. were responsible for the adoption of altar, disciple, and some other words mainly of a religious nature. (3) The Norman Conquest in 1066 led to the introduction of many words which were ultimately of Latin origin, but which came to English by way of French (see note at French²). (4) The large-scale adoption of Latinate vocabulary in English began with the revival of classical learning in the 16th cent., and continued strongly throughout the Tudor and Stuart periods; words introduced at this time include acumen, apparatus, appendix, area, candidate, census, estimate, focus, obscene, series, specimen, and vacuum. (5) The Latin- and Greek-based international scientific vocabulary of modern times has further increased the Latin element in English with words such as appendicitis, arboretum, and circadian; but the basic vocabulary of English, as well as its grammar, is distinctively Germanic