Why is Italy called Italy?

The origin of the name Italy (Italy) is not entirely clear. Historians have several hypotheses about this.

A good contender for the etymology of Italy is that it is an ancient Greek term meaning 'land of calves' or 'land of young cattle'. Then Italy from the Oscan word Viteliú to come.

Italy, land of cattle (photo: Wikimedia)

Another popular explanation is that Italy was named after King Italus (or Italos). This was the legendary king of Enotria and one of the first official inhabitants of the country of Italy. In this case, Italy would be an eponym, just like the terms august, celsius and decibel for example.

Another possibility is that the name is derived from a tribe that lived in the south of the peninsula, the Italoi.

3.000 years old

In any case, it is certain that the name Italy is more than 3.000 years old and that this term originally only referred to the southernmost coastal regions.

During the time when the Roman Empire was flourishing, the term Italy gradually came to be used for the entire peninsula. However, until well into the 19th century, the name Italy was only used as a geographic designation for an area.

It was only after the completion of the unification of Italy in 1870 that the country of Italy took its current shape and name. Only then was Italy the official name for the nation-state of Italy.

gross

The Greeks already used the term Italy before Roman times to refer to the southern part of the Bruttium peninsula, which is now known as Calabria. This concerned the modern provinces of Reggio and part of Catanzaro and Vibo Valentia.

This region was then part of the Great Greek Empire, Magna Graecia.

Bruttium in the toe of the Italian boot (source: anticopedie.fr)

From this narrow definition of Italy, the area so called has gradually expanded.

Even before the expansion of the Roman Republic, the name Italy was used by the Greeks to designate the country between the Strait of Messina and the line connecting the Gulf of Salerno and the Gulf of Taranto, which roughly corresponds to the entire present-day region of Calabria. .

The gradual expansion of the area called Italy through to the addition of the great islands by Diocletian (source: Wikimedia)

According to historians, in addition to 'Greek Italy' in the south, 'Etruscan Italy' in the center of the peninsula would also be referred to by the same name at some point.

Roman Italy

In the time of the Romans, the borders of Italy are clearer. In the Origins of Cato, one of the first works in the Latin language, Italy has already been described as the entire peninsula south of the Alps.

Marcus Porcius Cato, Consul of the Roman Republic (Photo: Wikimedia)

In the year 264 BC. Roman Italy stretched from the rivers Arno and Rubicon in the north to the Mediterranean in the south.

In the years 220 BC. the entire north of Italy – known as Gallia Cisalpina – was occupied by the Romans. Politically, it remained separate from the rest of Italy for the time being, but geographically it belonged to the same area.

Legally, the north was joined to the center and south in 42 BC. The islands of Sardinia, Corsica, Sicily and Malta were conquered in the year 292 AD Emperor Diocletian added to Italy.

Comments