Roma

Forms

Rōma f sg (genitive Rōmae); first declension^[1] The Greek form R(h)omē is cited by the jurist Capito (reported by Servius) and by Festus.^[2]

Etymology

The origin of the name is uncertain.^[1] Georges and Köbler take it to be of Etruscan origin,^[3][4] and Wiktionary, for lack of a secure Indo-European etymology, finds it most appealing that it is from Etruscan 𐌓𐌖𐌌𐌀 (ruma), the name of an Etruscan family, which is from 𐌓𐌖𐌌 (rum, “teat”).^[1] Another proposal traces it to an archaic name of the Tiber, made from Proto-Indo-European *srew- (“to flow”), perhaps through an Indo-European substrate.^[1]

The Romans themselves derived the name from that of the founder, Rōmulus,^[1] as Varro does (“Roma ab Romulo”).^[5] This is almost certainly a folk etymology, and the founder's name is more likely made from the city's.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The name is found from Naevius on,^[4] for the city of Rome on the Tiber.^[1][3]

Semantic evolution

Besides the city, the name stood by metonymy for its people, as when Martial speaks of kissing “all Rome” (totam basiare Romam).^[2] Roma was also worshipped as a goddess, with her own temple, as Livy and Tacitus record.^[6][3] Varro dated the founding of the city to 21 April 753 BC, and Cato to 751 BC.^[7]

In Late Latin the name covered both Rome and Constantinople, the “New Rome”.^[1][8] Medieval writers used it for the Christian city, the seat of the papacy and a goal of pilgrimage,^[8] and in Ecclesiastical Latin, chiefly in poetry, it could stand for the Roman Catholic Church.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 235–200 BC – Naevius uses the name.^[4]
• 116–27 BC – Varro derives Roma from Romulus.^[5][4]
• 59 BC–AD 17 – Livy records a temple of the goddess Roma.^[6][4]
• 40–102/103 AD – Martial uses it for the population of Rome.^[2][4]

Meanings

Proper noun

1. Rome, the city on the Tiber.^[2][6]
2. (metonymy) The population of Rome.^[2]
3. The goddess Roma, the city personified.^[2][6]
4. (Late Latin) Rome or Constantinople, the “New Rome” (Rōma nova).^[1][8]
5. (Medieval Latin) Rome as the seat of the papacy and a place of pilgrimage.^[8]
6. (Ecclesiastical Latin, poetic) The Roman Catholic Church.^[1]

Word family

• rōmānicus
• rōmānus

Related words

• Rōmulus

Usage notes

A separate medieval word roma, from Middle English, meant a compartment of a fish-weir or a room in a building.^[8]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b Marcus Terentius Varro, De lingua Latina (text of The Latin Library; book and paragraph numbers as there).
6. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c d e Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press