Etymologically, the term lingua franca comes from a medieval Latin phrase which can be roughly translated as “free language” or “trade language”. Though not so obvious, the word lingua is translated as language and the word franca literally means free. However, the concept behind this two-word term does not rigorously stem from the phrase free language.

The most accepted historical hypothesis among scholars —as referred by Cyril Brosch in his 2015 paper On the Conceptual History of the Term Lingua Franca— suggests that, during the late Middle Ages, a great trade exchange between Europe, the Middle East and North Africa arose throughout the Mediterranean. Within this context, Arabs from the Eastern Mediterranean used to refer to any European as ‘Frankish’, extending by these means the name given to one of the communities who inhabited the Old World. Actually, this community was named Frankish or free for it was one of the most unyielding against domination of the Roman Empire.

Be that as it may, what can be historically proven is that a mixed language spontaneously developed and allowed for a real exchange between people from both sides of the Mediterranean. That mix was named lingua franca, after the generic appellation above referred. At that time, thus, the meaning of the term was something like “the language for exchange between Arabs and Franks (Europeans).” From then on, throughout history, any language or linguistic code which serves as a trade vehicle between many speech communities or cultures has been called lingua franca.

Latin, for instance, was the linga franca for those peoples dominated by the Roman Empire. During the European conquest of America and the Caribbean, a number of pidgins (mixed languages) developed and worked as bridge languages (linguas francas) between Europeans, Africans and local indigenous peoples. In Latin American countries where various indigenous and creole languages are spoken, Spanish is a lingua franca for many communities. Even though independence had been already attained in India, English was made the second official language due to its status as a lingua franca in the roughly 14 different speech communities. Indeed, English has played a major role over recent decades, working as a worldwide lingua franca. By being a worldwide lingua franca…

In Lingua Franca, we have decided to take this name with a twofold aim. On the one hand, we would like to keep the sense of freedom preserved in the etymology of franca; and, on the other hand, we want to highlight the concept of inclusiveness which causes its historical origin of the whole phrase. Actually, the term lingua franca reminds us the significance of language for our species and the essential social cohesion among us. The name Lingua Franca, thus, seeks to capture the role of freedom, inclusiveness and fundamentality related to language phenomena in human life.