

It wasn’t, the term lingua franca originates from the Mediterranean Lingua Franca, also known as Sabir, a pidgin language made up of bits from primarily romance languages (notably those of northern Italy) around the Mediterranean. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediterranean_Lingua_Franca









I mean, I would argue that trade is a form of diplomacy, but whatever. My source points to the first example known as a lingua franca, and shows that the phrase “lingua franca” has nothing to do with the French language; however I can acknowledge the wide acceptance of French as a lingua franca much after the times where Sabir was widely spoken. Anyways, I think that’s enough arguing with strangers on the internet for me today.