Malayan: dialect of W. Amboyna. See Wallace: “Malay Arch.”
Lasen or Lazen.
Sub-dialect of Georgian. Rosen: “Die Sprache der Lazen,” Lemgo, 1844. See [Lazic].
Lassa.
Bhot. Lassa, capital of Thibet, is the head-quarters of the Moghol-Buddhists.
Lasta, see [Agau].
Latin.
Head of the Italic branch of the Aryan family of languages, and closely allied to Oscan, Samnite, and Umbrian; originally the vernacular speech or idiom of old Italic, spoken in Latium, a small state S. of the basin of the R. Tiber. It originated the six so-called Romance languages, viz.: (1) Italian, (2) Spanish, (3) Portuguese, (4) Wallachian, (5) Romansch, of the canton Grisons, and (6) French, the latter being further sub-divided into two principal divisions, viz., Northern-French and Provençal. The Northern-French was called by Roquefort “La Langue Romaine”; the Provençal was called by Raynouard “La Langue Roman,”—both titles are misnomers. W. W. S.
Lausitz.
Sub-dialect of High-German. See Vocaby., Anton: “Oberlausitz üblichen,” Görlitz, 1825-39. See [Lusatian].