The

etymology Etymology ()The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p. 633 "Etymology /ˌɛtɪˈmɒlədʒi/ the study of the class in words and the way their meanings have changed throughout time". is the study of the history of the Phonological chan ...

of the name of Italy has been the subject of reconstructions by linguists and historians. Considerations extraneous to the specifically linguistic reconstruction of the name have formed a rich

corpus Corpus is Latin for "body". It may refer to: Linguistics * Text corpus, in linguistics, a large and structured set of texts * Speech corpus, in linguistics, a large set of speech audio files * Corpus linguistics, a branch of linguistics Music * ...

of solutions that are either associated with legend (the existence of a king named

Italus Italus or Italos (from ) was a legendary king of the Oenotrians, an ancient people of Italic origin who inhabited the region now called Calabria, in southern Italy. In his ''Fabularum Liber'' (or ''Fabulae''), Gaius Julius Hyginus recorded the ...

) or in any case strongly problematic (such as the connection of the name with the

grape vine ''Vitis'' (grapevine) is a genus of 79 accepted species of vining plants in the flowering plant family Vitaceae. The genus is made up of species predominantly from the Northern Hemisphere. It is economically important as the source of grapes, ...

, ''vitis'' in

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

).Alberto Manco, ''Italia. Disegno storico-linguistico'', 2009, Napoli, L'Orientale, . In fact, it is thought that the name derives from the word ''Italói'', a term with which the

ancient Greeks Ancient Greece ( el, Ἑλλάς, Hellás) was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity ( AD 600), that comprised a loose collection of cult ...

designated a tribe of Sicels who had crossed the

Strait of Messina The Strait of Messina ( it, Stretto di Messina, Sicilian: Strittu di Missina) is a narrow strait between the eastern tip of Sicily ( Punta del Faro) and the western tip of Calabria ( Punta Pezzo) in Southern Italy. It connects the Tyrrhenian S ...

and who inhabited the extreme tip of the Italic Peninsula, near today's

Catanzaro Catanzaro (, or ; scn, label= Catanzarese, Catanzaru ; , or , ''Katastaríoi Lokrói''; ; la, Catacium), also known as the "City of the two Seas", is an Italian city of 86,183 inhabitants (2020), the capital of the Calabria region and of its p ...

. In any case, it is known that in ancient times the name indicated the part located in the extreme south of the Italian Peninsula.Guillotining, M., History of Earliest Italy, trans. Ryle, M & Soper, K. in Jerome Lectures, Diciassettesima serie, p.50 This is attested by the fact that the ancient Greek peoples who colonized present-day Calabria by integrating with the pre-existing peoples, referred to themselves as

Italiotes The Italiotes ( grc-gre, Ἰταλιῶται, ') were the pre-Roman Greek-speaking inhabitants of the Italian Peninsula, between Naples and Sicily. Greek colonization of the coastal areas of southern Italy and Sicily started in the 8th ...

, that is, inhabitants of Italy. This group of Italian people had worshiped the simulacrum of a

calf Calf most often refers to: * Calf (animal), the young of domestic cattle. * Calf (leg), in humans (and other primates), the back portion of the lower leg Calf or calves may also refer to: Biology and animal byproducts * Veal, meat from calves * ...

(''vitulus'', in Latin), and the name would therefore mean "inhabitants of the land of calves". ''Italia'', the ancient name of the Italian Peninsula, which is also eponymous of the modern republic, originally applied only to the tip of the Italian ''boot''. During the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post- Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediter ...

, the name "Italy" was extended to refer to the whole

Italian geographical region The Italian geographical region, Italian physical region or Italian region is a geographical subregion of Southern Europe delimited to the north and west by the mountain chains of the Alps. This subregion is composed of a continental part in th ...

Hypothesis on etymology

The myth of Italus

There are various legends about the character of Italus, king of the Oenotrians who, according to the myth, lived 16 generations before the

Trojan War In Greek mythology, the Trojan War was waged against the city of Troy by the Achaeans (Greeks) after Paris of Troy took Helen from her husband Menelaus, king of Sparta. The war is one of the most important events in Greek mythology and ...

; the name "Italy" derives from him. Given first to the region corresponding to his kingdom, that is almost all of Calabria with the exception of the northern area. King Italus converted the Oenotrians from a nomadic people to a permanent one, establishing them in the extreme offshoot of the European coasts, in the current isthmus of

between the

Gulf of Squillace The Gulf of Squillace ( it, Golfo di Squillace; Latin: Scylleticus Sinus or Scyllaceus Sinus; Greek: ) is a body of water, an inlet of the Ionian Sea along the Calabrian coast of Italy. The gulf is part of the Ionian Sea and makes up part of the e ...

to the east and the

Gulf of Saint Euphemia The Gulf of Saint Euphemia ( it, Golfo di Santa Eufemia or Golfo di Sant'Eufemia, la, Lametikos Kolpos or Vibonensis Sinus) is a gulf on the west coast of Calabria, southern Italy. It is part of the Tyrrhenian Sea and borders the province of Cosen ...

to the west. The capital of his kingdom, according to Strabo, was Pandosia Bruzia, today probably corresponding to the city of

Acri Acri ( Calabrian: ) is a town of 19.949 inhabitants in the northern part of Calabria region in southern Italy. Since 17 September 2001 Acri has had the "status" of city. Acri's coat of arms is represented by three mountains surmounted by thre ...

. According to Strabo, Antiochus of Syracuse (5th century BC) already spoke of the borders of Italy in his work ''On Italy'', which identified it with the ancient Oenotrians. At that time it extended from the Strait of Sicily to the Gulf of Taranto (to the east) and the Gulf of Posidonia (to the west). Strabo, '' Geographica'', V, 1,1.

Italy as the land of calves

Not all ancient authors adhered to the mythological version.

Marcus Terentius Varro Marcus Terentius Varro (; 116–27 BC) was a Roman polymath and a prolific author. He is regarded as ancient Rome's greatest scholar, and was described by Petrarch as "the third great light of Rome" (after Vergil and Cicero). He is sometimes calle ...

who, citing

Timaeus Timaeus (or Timaios) is a Greek name. It may refer to: * ''Timaeus'' (dialogue), a Socratic dialogue by Plato *Timaeus of Locri, 5th-century BC Pythagorean philosopher, appearing in Plato's dialogue *Timaeus (historian) (c. 345 BC-c. 250 BC), Greek ...

, derives the word ''Italia'' from calves ("''Italia a Vitulis''") for the abundance and beauty of the

(''Vitulus'' in

; ''Vitlu'' in

Osco-Umbrian The Osco-Umbrian, Sabellic or Sabellian languages are an extinct group of Italic languages, the Indo-European languages that were spoken in Central and Southern Italy by the Osco-Umbrians before being replaced by Latin, as the power of Ancient Rom ...

) in the region. The passage from the ''Vitalia'' form to ''Italia'' can in this case be explained by the simple fall of the initial consonant by means of classical Greek, in which the letter V is absent. Other proposals that motivate the name beyond a real linguistic analysis can be remembered that of Domenico Romanelli, who, based on the ancient but never fully accepted the hypothesis that it was related to the

bull A bull is an intact (i.e., not castrated) adult male of the species ''Bos taurus'' (cattle). More muscular and aggressive than the females of the same species (i.e., cows), bulls have long been an important symbol in many religions, includin ...

s (''taurus'' in Latin), explained it with the fact that those who came from the sea from the west saw bull-like silhouettes in the ''Bruttia'' and ''Japigia'' peninsulas.Domenico Romanelli, ''Antica topografia istorica del Regno di Napoli'', Napoli 1815 In ancient times the lands of present-day Calabria were known as Italy. The ancient Greeks indicated the origin of the name in ''Ouitoulía'' from the word "Italói" (plural of ''Italós''), a term with which the Achaeans settlers who arrived in the lands of present-day Calabria ambiguously designated the Vitulis, a population that inhabited the lands of current southern Calabria whose ethnonym was etymologically related to the word indicating the bull, an animal sacred to the Vitulis. The ancient Greek ''italós'' is of Italic derivation from the Osco-Umbrian ''uitlu'', precisely bull (see the Latin ''uitellus'', form with diminutive suffix meaning calf). ''Ouitoulía'' thus came to mean "land of the Vitulis" or "land of the bulls". In support of this hypothesis, it is highlighted that in the southern part of the Calabrian peninsula, and in the Sicilian coast of the

, there are toponyms of Magna Graecia origin (some translated into Latin by the

Normans The Normans ( Norman: ''Normaunds''; french: Normands; la, Nortmanni/Normanni) were a population arising in the medieval Duchy of Normandy from the intermingling between Norse Viking settlers and indigenous West Franks and Gallo-Romans. ...

) probably belonging to the most ancient etymology of the land of the bulls (of cattle). These include Tauriana, a city destroyed by the Saracens in the 10th century whose name survives today in the municipalities of

Gioia Tauro Gioia Tauro () is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Reggio Calabria (Italy), on the Tyrrhenian coast. It has an important port, situated along the route connecting Suez to Gibraltar, one of the busiest maritime corridors in t ...

Taurianova Taurianova is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Reggio Calabria in the southern Italian region Calabria, located about southwest of Catanzaro and about northeast of Reggio Calabria. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of ...

, and Terranova Sappo Minulio, Bova,

Bovalino Bovalino is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Reggio Calabria in the Italian region Calabria, located about southwest of Catanzaro and about east of Reggio Calabria. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 8,406 and an area o ...

and

Itala Itala was a car manufacturer based in Turin, Italy, from 1904 to 1934, started by Matteo Ceirano and five partners in 1903. Ceirano family background The Ceirano brothers, Giovanni Battista Ceirano, Giovanni Battista, Giovanni Ceirano, Giovanni ...

. The similarity with the name "Italy" of the last toponym, "Itala", is evident. Danish archaeologist and philologist Frederik Poulsen, in a study on the origin of the name "Italia", claimed that it was used for the first time in the 5th century BC, precisely with reference to the territory south of Messina where Itala is situated and where a population of the Oenotrians lived, which had a bull as its emblem ("''Vitulus''"). With the arrival of the ancient Greeks, the consonant V was eliminated from the word ''Vitulus'', which disappeared in classical Greek, and only the word "''Itulus''" remained. From the Oenotrians, the populations of the Italics, Morgetes and Sicels would then be distinguished. Subsequently, according to Poulsen, the name "Italy" was extended to the whole peninsula. Poulsen's thesis, however, seems to be questioned by the fact that the oldest documentable toponymic form for Itala is that of ''Gitala'', as shown by a donation diploma from Count Roger of 1093. The name would then undergo many variations over the centuries: ''Quitala'', ''Gitalas'', ''Gytalas'', ''Kitala'', ''Hitala'' and finally Itala.

Greek origin

ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...

tradition the name revived the theory of expansion from south to north in that the

would gradually apply the name "Italy" to an ever wider region, until the time of the Roman conquest, when it was extended to the entire peninsula. For some linguists who supported this theory, the name would be based on a hypothetical ancient Greek form such as Aιθαλία (''Aithalìa'') which in its initial part Aith- (typical of words referring to fire) would contain a reference to the volcanic dimension of the lands of the peninsula. This meaning would resist for example in the name of Etna, in ancient Greek "''Aitna''". This proposal had already been advanced by Gabriele Rosa, according to whom the first ancient Greeks who arrived in the peninsula would have called it precisely: Rosa, however, did not address and clarify the strictly linguistic arguments that had led him to such a solution, thus leaving his proposal in the pre-scientific dimension. It was mainly Silvestri who recovered this theory, assuming three ancient Greek or

Proto-Greek The Proto-Greek language (also known as Proto-Hellenic) is the Indo-European language which was the last common ancestor of all varieties of Greek, including Mycenaean Greek, the subsequent ancient Greek dialects (i.e., Attic, Ionic, Aeo ...

bases ("Aitalía", "Eitalía", and "Etalía") in order to give scientific basis to the proposal. According to this theory, Italy would originally have meant "fiery land", "land of the fiery sunset" (or "land of the West"), or "smoking land".D. Silvestri, “Per una etimologia del nome Italia”, AIΩN-linguistica 22, 2000

Etruscan origin

This theory is opposed by that which, with a solution that has authoritative precedents and yet little remembered in its most recent revival, proposes an

Etruscan __NOTOC__ Etruscan may refer to: Ancient civilization *The Etruscan language, an extinct language in ancient Italy *Something derived from or related to the Etruscan civilization **Etruscan architecture **Etruscan art **Etruscan cities ** Etrusca ...

solution of the name of Italy; it is a reconstruction that deems the "Greek" hypothesis inadmissible and implies conclusions symmetrically opposed to the latter, such as the fact that the name has spread from north to south.

Oscan origin

The ultimate etymology of the name is uncertain, in spite of numerous suggestions. According to the most widely accepted explanation, Latin may derive from

Oscan Oscan is an extinct Indo-European language of southern Italy. The language is in the Osco-Umbrian or Sabellic branch of the Italic languages. Oscan is therefore a close relative of Umbrian. Oscan was spoken by a number of tribes, including ...

''víteliú'', meaning "

and or AND may refer to: Logic, grammar, and computing * Conjunction (grammar), connecting two words, phrases, or clauses * Logical conjunction in mathematical logic, notated as "∧", "⋅", "&", or simple juxtaposition * Bitwise AND, a boolea ...

of young cattle" (c.f.

''vitulus'' "calf",

Umbrian Umbrian is an extinct Italic language formerly spoken by the Umbri in the ancient Italian region of Umbria. Within the Italic languages it is closely related to the Oscan group and is therefore associated with it in the group of Osco-Umbrian ...

''vitlu''), via

transmission (evidenced in the loss of initial

digamma Digamma or wau (uppercase: Ϝ, lowercase: ϝ, numeral: ϛ) is an archaic letter of the Greek alphabet. It originally stood for the sound but it has remained in use principally as a Greek numeral for 6. Whereas it was originally called ''waw' ...

). The

was a symbol of the southern

Italic tribes The Italic peoples were an ethnolinguistic group identified by their use of Italic languages, a branch of the Indo-European language family. The Italic peoples are descended from the Indo-European speaking peoples who inhabited Italy from at leas ...

and was often depicted goring the Roman wolf as a defiant symbol of free Italy during the Social War. On the coinage of the Social War, dating back to 90 BC, found in the ancient city of

Corfinium Corfinium (Greek: ) was a city in ancient Italy, on the eastern side of the Apennines, due east of Rome, near modern Corfinio, in the province of L'Aquila (Abruzzo region). History Corfinium was the chief city of the Paeligni, situated in the ...

(in Abruzzo), there is a personification of Italy as a goddess, accompanied by a legend that reproduces her name, ITALIA, in the

Latin alphabet The Latin alphabet or Roman alphabet is the collection of letters originally used by the ancient Romans to write the Latin language. Largely unaltered with the exception of extensions (such as diacritics), it used to write English and th ...

, or the equivalent VITELIU (''Víteliú'' = Italy) in the Oscan alphabet. This is the first epigraphic testimony of the use of the name ''Italia''.

Semitic origin

Another theory, rather contested, suggests that Italy derives from "Atalu", an

Akkadian Akkadian or Accadian may refer to: * Akkadians, inhabitants of the Akkadian Empire * Akkadian language, an extinct Eastern Semitic language * Akkadian literature, literature in this language * Akkadian cuneiform Cuneiform is a logo- syllabi ...

word (

Semitic language The Semitic languages are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They are spoken by more than 330 million people across much of West Asia, the Horn of Africa, and latterly North Africa, Malta, West Africa, Chad, and in large immigrant a ...

like Phoenician) reconstructed by the scholar Giovanni Semerano, which would mean "land of sunset".

Conclusions

It can be observed that the notion of Italy is a dynamic and plural notion, in progress until the 3rd century BC. In fact, in the conception of Italy a

Greek Italy Magna Graecia (, ; , , grc, Μεγάλη Ἑλλάς, ', it, Magna Grecia) was the name given by the Romans to the coastal areas of Southern Italy in the present-day Italian regions of Calabria, Apulia, Basilicata, Campania and Sicily; the ...

(limited to the southern Italy), another

(separated from the Apennines, from the Gallic and ancient Greek world), and probably also a first Roman Italy, which initially coincided with the large western coastal region between northern Etruria and the '' ager Campanus'', and which then absorbed the others.

Evolution of the territory called "Italy"

''Italia'', the ancient name of the Italian Peninsula, which is also eponymous of the modern republic, originally applied only to a part of what is now Southern Italy. According to

Antiochus of Syracuse Antiochus of Syracuse ( grc-gre, Ἀντίοχος ὁ Συρακούσιος) was a Greek historian, who flourished around 420 BC. Little is known of Antiochus' life, but his works, of which only fragments remain, enjoyed a high reputation because ...

, it included only the southern portion of the Bruttium peninsula (modern Calabria): the actual

province of Reggio Calabria The Province of Reggio Calabria ( it, Provincia di Reggio Calabria) was a province in the Calabria region of Italy. It was the southernmost province in mainland Italy and is separated from the island of Sicily by the Strait of Messina. The capita ...

and part of the modern provinces of Catanzaro and

Vibo Valentia Vibo Valentia (; Monteleone before 1861; Monteleone di Calabria from 1861 to 1928; scn, label= Calabrian, Vibbu Valenzia or ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in the Calabria region of southern Italy, near the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is the ca ...

. The town of Catanzaro has a road sign (in Italian) also stating this fact. But by this time,

Oenotria The Oenotrians (Οἴνωτρες, meaning "tribe led by Oenotrus" or "people from the land of vines - Οἰνωτρία") were an ancient Italic people who inhabited a territory in Southern Italy from Paestum to southern Calabria. By the sixth ...

and Italy had become synonymous and the name also applied to most of

Lucania Lucania was a historical region of Southern Italy. It was the land of the Lucani, an Oscan people. It extended from the Tyrrhenian Sea to the Gulf of Taranto. It bordered with Samnium and Campania in the north, Apulia in the east, and Bruttiu ...

as well. Coins bearing the name ''Víteliú'' in

() were minted by an alliance of

Italic peoples The Italic peoples were an ethnolinguistic group identified by their use of Italic languages, a branch of the Indo-European language family. The Italic peoples are descended from the Indo-European speaking peoples who inhabited Italy from at lea ...

( Sabines, Samnites,

Umbrians The Umbri were an Italic people of ancient Italy. A region called Umbria still exists and is now occupied by Italian speakers. It is somewhat smaller than the ancient Umbria. Most ancient Umbrian cities were settled in the 9th-4th centuries BC on ...

and others) competing with Rome in the 1st century BC. The ancient

Greeks The Greeks or Hellenes (; el, Έλληνες, ''Éllines'' ) are an ethnic group and nation indigenous to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea regions, namely Greece, Cyprus, Albania, Italy, Turkey, Egypt, and, to a lesser extent, oth ...

gradually came to apply the name ''Italia'' to a larger region, but it was during the

Roman Republic The Roman Republic ( la, Res publica Romana ) was a form of government of Rome and the era of the classical Roman civilization when it was run through public representation of the Roman people. Beginning with the overthrow of the Roman Ki ...

, in 264 BC, that the territory called "Italy" was extended to the Italian Peninsula south of the

Arno The Arno is a river in the Tuscany region of Italy. It is the most important river of central Italy after the Tiber. Source and route The river originates on Monte Falterona in the Casentino area of the Apennines, and initially takes a ...

and

Rubicon The Rubicon ( la, Rubico; it, Rubicone ; rgn, Rubicôn ) is a shallow river in northeastern Italy, just north of Rimini. It was known as Fiumicino until 1933, when it was identified with the ancient river Rubicon, famously crossed by Julius Ca ...

rivers, to then include, thanks to the addition of Sulla in 81 BC, also

Liguria it, Ligure , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

, the addition of

Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, an ...

in 45 BC of Cisalpine Gaul and even Istria in 7 AD, this latest addition by

Augustus Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pr ...

. The term "Italy" also included Liguria up to the Varo river and Istria up to

Pola Pola or POLA may refer to: People * House of Pola, an Italian noble family * Pola Alonso (1923–2004), Argentine actress * Pola Brändle (born 1980), German artist and photographer * Pola Gauguin (1883–1961), Danish painter * Pola Gojawiczyńsk ...

. All its inhabitants were considered ''Italic'' and ''Roman''. The northern area of Cisalpine Gaul was occupied by Rome in the 220s BC and became considered geographically and ''

de facto ''De facto'' ( ; , "in fact") describes practices that exist in reality, whether or not they are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms. It is commonly used to refer to what happens in practice, in contrast with ''de jure'' ("by la ...

'' part of Italy, but remained politically and ''

de jure In law and government, ''de jure'' ( ; , "by law") describes practices that are legally recognized, regardless of whether the practice exists in reality. In contrast, ("in fact") describes situations that exist in reality, even if not legally ...

'' separated. It was legally merged into the administrative unit of Italy in 42 BC by the triumvir

as a ratification of

's unpublished acts (''Acta Caesaris''). Under Emperor Diocletian the Roman region called "Italia" was further enlarged with the addition in 292 AD of the three big islands of the western

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ...

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

(with the

Maltese archipelago Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label=Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after ...

and Corsica, coinciding with the whole

. The borders of Roman Italy, ''Italia'', are better established. Cato's ''

Origines (, "Origins") is the title of a lost work on Roman and Italian history by Cato the Elder, composed in the early-2nd centuryBC. Contents According to Cato's biographer Cornelius Nepos, the ''Origins'' consisted of seven books. Book I was the hi ...

'', the first work of

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

composed in

, described Italy as the entire peninsula south of the

Alps The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Swi ...

. According to Cato and several Roman authors, the Alps formed the "walls of Italy". The Latin term ''Italicus'' was used to describe "a man of Italy" as opposed to a provincial. For example,

Pliny the Elder Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/2479), called Pliny the Elder (), was a Roman author, naturalist and natural philosopher, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the emperor Vespasian. He wrote the encyclopedic ' ...

notably wrote in a letter ''Italicus es an provincialis''? meaning "are you an Italian or a provincial?". The adjective ''italianus'', from which are derived the Italian (and also French and English) name of the

Italians , flag = , flag_caption = The national flag of Italy , population = , regions = Italy 55,551,000 , region1 = Brazil , pop1 = 25–33 million , ref1 = , region2 ...

, is

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

and was used alternatively with Italicus during the early modern period. After the

fall of the Western Roman Empire The fall of the Western Roman Empire (also called the fall of the Roman Empire or the fall of Rome) was the loss of central political control in the Western Roman Empire, a process in which the Empire failed to enforce its rule, and its vas ...

, which was caused by the invasion of the

Ostrogoths The Ostrogoths ( la, Ostrogothi, Austrogothi) were a Roman-era Germanic people. In the 5th century, they followed the Visigoths in creating one of the two great Gothic kingdoms within the Roman Empire, based upon the large Gothic populations who ...

, the

Kingdom of Italy The Kingdom of Italy ( it, Regno d'Italia) was a state that existed from 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Sardinia was proclaimed King of Italy, until 1946, when civil discontent led to an institutional referendum to abandon the monarchy and f ...

was created. After the Lombard invasions, "Italia" was retained as the name for their kingdom, and for its successor kingdom within the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire was a political entity in Western, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars. From the accession of Otto I in 962 ...

, which nominally lasted until 1806, although it had ''

'' disintegrated due to factional politics pitting the empire against the ascendant city republics in the 13th century.Italian "Comuni"

References

External links

Origin of the name "Italia"
{{Italy topics History of Italy

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...