Etymology is the study of the origin and meaning of words. Derived from Greek words etumon (true) and logos (word), it literally means to rediscover the ‘true’ sense of a word. Generally it doesn’t go beyond the mere spark of interest lit when stumbling upon a term that does not yield its obscure sense immediately. Yet grasping the meaning of a word can help us interpret the reasons by which man contemplated its existence.

A Romulean Origin?

ROMA. How many times have we read: Romulus, the eponymous founder of Rome? Yet what way does the eponymy go? Virgil says: “Mavortia condet mœnia. Romanosque suo de nomine dicet” (Æneid, i. 276 – Romulus will receive a people and build Martial walls, and he will name the Romans after his own name). Does the word ‘Roma’ stem from Romulus? The sober mind has to consider that it could have been the opposite