Latin

Latin is named in the Bible only at the crucifixion, where it appears as one of the three languages in which the title fixed over Jesus' cross was written. The Synoptic notice in Luke records the wording of the superscription; the Johannine parallel adds the explicit list of languages, with Latin among them.

The Superscription Over the Cross

Luke records the inscription itself without naming the languages: "And there was also a superscription over him, THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS" (Lu 23:38). The wording of the title is the same charge that has run through the trial scene — "the King of the Jews" — now fixed in writing above the crucified.

The Three Languages of the Title

John adds the further detail that the title was trilingual and that Latin was one of the three: "This title therefore read many of the Jews, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near to the city; and it was written in Hebrew, [and] in Latin, [and] in Greek" (Joh 19:20). The order — Hebrew, Latin, Greek — is preserved in UPDV with bracketed conjunctions, and the three languages together cover the local Jewish tongue, the ruling Roman language, and the Mediterranean lingua franca. The proximity of the crucifixion site to the city is given as the reason the title was widely read.