Dalmatian (/dælˈmeɪʃən/) or Dalmatic (/dælˈmætɪk/; Dalmatian: langa dalmata or simply dalmato; Italian: lingua dalmatica, dalmatico; Serbo-Croatian: dalmatski) was a Romance language that was spoken in the Dalmatia region of present-day Croatia, and as far south as Kotor in Montenegro. The name refers to a tribe of the Illyrian linguistic group, Dalmatae. The Ragusan dialect of Dalmatian, the most studied prestige dialect, was the official language of the Republic of Ragusa for much of its medieval history until it was gradually supplanted by other local languages.