 The largest groups of Romanesque survivors are in areas that were less prosperous in subsequent periods, including parts of southern France, rural Spain and rural Italy.Survivals of unfortified Romanesque secular houses and palaces, and the domestic quarters of monasteries are far rarer, but these used and adapted the features found in church buildings, on a domestic scale.According to the "Oxford English Dictionary", the word "Romanesque" means "descended from Roman" and was first used in English to designate what are now called Romance languages (first cited 1715).