Rome
/ɹəʊm/ proper noun
Forms Rom Roome Room Rhoome Romme Rowme Roym Rum Roma
- proper noun A major city, the capital of Italy and the Italian region of Lazio, located on the Tiber River; the ancient capital of the Roman Empire.
- proper noun A metropolitan city of Lazio, Italy.
- proper noun (metonymic) The Italian government.
- proper noun (historical) An ancient empire based out of the city of Rome, covering vast territories in Europe, Asia and Africa; in full, Roman Empire.
- proper noun The Holy See, the leadership of the Roman Catholic Church, particularly prior to the establishment of the Vatican City in the 19th century.
- proper noun The Church of Rome, the Roman Catholic Church generally.
- proper noun An unincorporated community in Covington County, Alabama.
- proper noun A city, the county seat of Floyd County, Georgia.
Synonyms
Ancient Rome Stout Romeburg Romeburgh Romeland Romelede Romethede Rome town Rome city Istanbul Constantinople Moscow Roma Eternal City Italian capital capital of Italy
Etymology
From Middle English Rome, from Old English Rōm, from Proto-West Germanic *Rūmu, from Proto-Germanic *Rūmō and influenced by Late Latin Rōma (“Rome, Constantinople”), from Classical Latin Rōma (“Rome”). In Roman mythology, the name was said to derive from Romulus, one of the founders of the city and its first king.
The name appears in a wide range of forms in Middle English, including Rom, Room, Roome, and Rombe as well as Rome; by early modern English, it appeared as Rome, Room, and Roome, with the spelling Rome occurring in Shakespeare and common from the early 18th century on. The final spelling was influenced by Norman, Middle French, Anglo-Norman, and Old French Rome. Doublet of Roma and Rum.
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 — from the Wiktionary entry “Rome”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details