itālis

Etymology
Borrowed from, itself possibly a borrowing from , a name for the southwestern tip of the boot of Italy (today's Calabria), possibly a cognate of 🇨🇬, meaning perhaps “land of cattle.” Other theories include the name of an ancient or legendary leader Italus, or also an old borrowing from Illyrian.

Noun

 * 1) Italic; a member of the ancient Italic peoples of primitive Italy
 * , the Italic peoples
 * 1) Italian (i.e., a man born in Italy)
 * 2)  Italian; pertaining to Italy and its people

Usage notes
The noun is preferred in almost all senses;  is most often used in the plural  to refer to the Italic peoples of ancient (pre-Roman) Italy. The only exception is the name of the Italian language, for which is as frequent as.