That term meant the "language of the Franks" and was the Mediterranean trade language in the medieval through Renaissance eras. It was actually a pidgin of Italian, French, Greek and Arabic adopted as being roughly mutually intelligible among Venetians, Byzantines and North Africans.

The reference to the 'Franks' is because the generic word for a western European (in the Byzantine, Greek world) had long been "Frank".

[–] southsamurai@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

No kidding? That's what I get for just accepting information without checking it! I heard that from an old family member and have never bothered to question it

Thank you, for the correction and doing in such a friendly way :)

[–] Badass_panda@lemmy.frozeninferno.xyz 3 points 1 year ago

I always thought the same thing! I only found this out relatively recently, and I thought it was pretty cool