ETYM Latin Italicus: cf. French italique. Related to Italian.
Characterized by slanting characters.

1. A style of handwriting with the letters slanting to the right.
2. A typeface with letters slanting upward to the right.
Style of printing in which the letters slope to the right like this, introduced by the printer Aldus Manutius of Venice in 1501. It is usually used side by side with the erect Roman type to distinguish titles of books, films, and so on, and for purposes of emphasis and (mainly in the US) citation. The term “italic” is also used for the handwriting style developed for popular use in 1522 by Vatican chancery scribe Ludovico degli Arrighi.
A type style in which the characters are evenly slanted toward the right. This sentence is in italics. Italics are commonly used for emphasis, foreign-language words and phrases, titles of literary and other works, technical terms, and citations. See also font family. Compare roman.

Of or relating to the Italic languages.

A branch of the Indo-European languages of which Latin is the chief representative; Also called: Italic language.