Lingua Franca

See also: lingua franca and língua franca

English

Etymology

See lingua franca.

Proper noun

Lingua Franca

1. (historical, archaic) Sabir, the Italian-based pidgin that served as the lingua franca of Mediterranean trade in the late Middle Ages and early modern period (c. 11th–19th centuries)
   • 1864, J.C. Hotten, The Slang Dictionary, 22

     ...the Lingua Franca, or bastard Italian, spoken at Genoa, Trieste, Malta, Constantinople, Smyrna, Alexandria, and all Mediterranean seaport towns. The ingredients of this imported Cant are many. Its foundation is Italian, with a mixture of modern Greek, German, (from the Austrian ports,) Spanish, Turkish, and French.

   • 1961, Eric Partridge, The Routledge Dictionary of Historical Slang:

     ...tusheroon and its C.20 variant tossaroon (2s. 6d.) are manifest corruptions of Lingua Franca MADZA CAROON.

Usage notes

Formerly the language's most common English name, Lingua Franca is now usually referred to as Sabir or the Mediterranean Lingua Franca in order to avoid confusion with the generic term. Traditionally not prefaced by "the".

Synonyms

• Sabir
• Mediterranean Lingua Franca