Latin

===Old Latin===
{{Main|Old Latin}}
[[Image:Lapis-niger.jpg|thumb|right|The [[Lapis Niger]], probably the oldest extant Latin inscription, from Rome, {{Circa|600 BC|lk=no}} during the semi-legendary [[Roman Kingdom]]]]

The earliest known form of Latin is Old Latin, also called Archaic or Early Latin, which was spoken from the [[Roman Kingdom]], traditionally founded in 753 BC, through the later part of the [[Roman Republic]], up to 75 BC, i.e. before the age of [[Classical Latin]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|title=Archaic Latin|encyclopedia=The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition}}</ref> It is attested both in inscriptions and in some of the earliest extant Latin literary works, such as the comedies of [[Plautus]] and [[Terence]]. The [[Latin alphabet]] was devised from the [[Etruscan alphabet]]. The writing later changed from what was initially either a [[Right-to-left script|right-to-left]] or a [[boustrophedon]]<ref>{{harvnb|Diringer|1996|pp=533–4}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title = Collier's Encyclopedia: With Bibliography and Index|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=H9xLAQAAMAAJ|publisher = Collier|date = 1 January 1958|language = en|page = 412|quote = In Italy, all alphabets were originally written from right to left; the oldest Latin inscription, which appears on the lapis niger of the seventh century BC, is in boustrophedon, but all other early Latin inscriptions run from right to left.|access-date = 15 February 2016|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160421225204/https://books.google.com/books?id=H9xLAQAAMAAJ|archive-date = 21 April 2016|url-status = live}}</ref> script to what ultimately became a strictly left-to-right script.<ref>{{cite book |first=David |last=Sacks |year=2003 |title=Language Visible: Unraveling the Mystery of the Alphabet from A to Z |location=London |publisher=Broadway Books |page=[https://archive.org/details/languagevisibleu00sack/page/80 80] |isbn=978-0-7679-1172-6 |url=https://archive.org/details/languagevisibleu00sack/page/80 }}</ref>