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{{for|the magazine|Lingua Franca}}
A '''lingua franca''' is any language widely used beyond the population of its native speakers. The [[de facto]] status of ''lingua franca'' is usually "awarded" by the masses to the language of the most influential nation(s) of the time. Any given language normally becomes a ''lingua franca'' primarily by being used for international commerce, but can be accepted in other cultural exchanges, especially [[diplomacy]]. Occasionally the term "lingua franca" is applied to a fully established formal language; thus formerly it was said that French was the lingua franca of diplomacy.
The term "lingua franca" was originally used by Arabs{{Fact|date=January 2007}} to name all Romance languages, and especially Italian (Arabs used the name '[[Franks]]' for all peoples in [[Western Europe]]). Then, it meant a language with a Romance lexicon (most words derived from Latin which then evolved into early forms of Spanish and Italian) and a very simple grammar, that till the end of the 19th century was used by mariners in the Mediterranean Sea, particularly in the Middle East and Northern Africa.
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