In the course of his boorish reply to Grzegorz, "Patrick Ryan"
<proto-language@...> wrote:
> Who says Ro:ma: is Etruscan? You? Who cares?
>
> So, the name of Rome comes from an Etruscan word meaning 'ford'? Was
>there a ford across the Tiber at the site of Rome. No! What a
pitifully >silly etymology. Oh, named for a bridge. Same word for
'bridge' and >'ford'???? No other bridges across the Tiber so that is
'the' bridge? >Be real.
***********
Yes, there was a ford across the Tiber at the site of Rome. From:
http://mars.acnet.wnec.edu/~grempel/courses/wc1/lectures/11republic.html
"Rome itself owed its beginnings to a river, a ford, and the "seven
Hills." For, in very early times, there was a vigorous trade in salt
from the mouth of the Tiber along the river to the tribes of the
interior. Some sixteen miles from the Tiber's mouth, navigation ends.
At this same point an island makes a ford possible and low hills give
shelter. This is where Rome began."
Rome was on the border between Etruria and Latium, several of the
kings were Etruscan, so there is no a priori reason to reject an
Etruecan etymology for the name.
Dan Milton