Why scientific names are written in italics?

Why scientific names are written in italics? 

Reference -Ncert
                   -class -11
                   Page no -7
It is written in NCERT that biological names are written in italics. But what is the reason behind it ?
Reason is given in the ncert itself in point no. 3 that "both the words................. printed in italics to indicate their Latin origin". So it is clear that biological names are written in italics to show that they are in Latin. Now why to show Latin origin italics is used. 
Is Latin written in italics? 
Answer is no. It is not due to Latin. It is due English.Because it is rule in English that the words that are borrowed from other languages(English has many words that are borrowed from other languages like German, French, Latin etc) are written in italics to show that they are not the words from English language. 

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