L'Italo-Americano

L'Italo-Americano THURSDAY, AUGUST 5, 2021 www.italoamericano.org 4 FRANCESCA BEZZONE NEWS & FEATURES TOP STORIES PEOPLE EVENTS W hat does "I t a l i a " r e a l l y mean? In a mo- ment such as this, without a doubt, it seems legit to say "victory," "commitment," "re- silience," "strength," as in- spired by the great athletes of our Olympic team. With its 35 medals – at the time of writing, but we hope they will be more when you read – Italy is 12 th among the Olympic nations, far from the USA's second place, but in a good position nevertheless. Between Sunday and Mon- day, in particular, Italy won 2 golds and 1 silver thanks to the efforts of Gianmarco Tamberi in the high jump, and the immense talent of Vanessa Ferrari -- second only to America's Jade Carey, but with a performance dur- ing the final that was sheer perfection – in women's gym- nastics. But for Italian-Americans or for all those Italians who feel a special connection w i t h t h e U S , L a m o n t Marcell Jacobs'gold in the 100 meters is, perhaps, the most welcome medal of all: the first Italian to win a gold medal in the discipline, J a c o b s – w h o h a s a n A m e r i c a n f a t h e r a n d a n Italian mother – was born in El Paso, but moved to Desenzano del Garda when he was 18 months old. The product of our two cultures, we can well say his victory i s I t a l i a n - A m e r i c a n a t heart. Jacobs' victory – just like the victories of all our ath- letes – is a beautiful exam- ple of what we, usually, like t o a s s o c i a t e t h e w o r d "Italia" with: commitment, resilience and strength, we said, but also courage, hard work and a pinch of creativ- ity. Let's face it, if we are a s k e d " w h a t d o e s I t a l i a m e a n , " w e ' r e l i k e l y t o answer by listing these very characteristics, which have b e e n q u i n t e s s e n t i a l l y Italian through history and that today we see embodied in the work and effort of our Olympians and athletes in general. Yes, in a summer such as this we could go on and on about the character of our country and its people, tak- ing a leaf off the examples of endurance, hard work and commitment offered by our athletes. Yet, I'd like to take a more literal approach to the question of this arti- cle's title, but not before, of course, saying two things to our sport heroes: bravissi- m i a n d " w e ' r e p r o u d o f you." Very, very much. "What are you going to write about, then?" you may wonder, if "the meaning of Italia" doesn't refer to the emotional and socio-cultur- al connotations of belong- ing to the Italian nation, nor to the wave of pride and joy our athletes have been causing this year? Well, the answer is quite simple: I'd like to write about the real meaning of "Italia," the word. Because we all know what "Italia" represents, but have you actually ever won- dered what "Italia" means? If you are interested, follow me, then, through this more or less historical deep-dive i n t o t h e o r i g i n s o f o u r beloved country's name, between legend and anec- dotes, historical documents and hypotheses: there is a lot to uncover and a lot to learn. The etymology of our country's name has been at the heart of much discus- sion among linguists and historians alike, and more than one explanation about the origin and meaning of the toponym "Italia" have b e e n c o n s i d e r e d , s o m e more credible than others. All, however, agree on the fact we are talking about a n a m e o r i g i n a t i n g i n o u r country's classical tradition. The most reliable hypothe- s i s s t a t e s t h a t t h e w o r d c o m e s f r o m t h e O s c a n víteliú, which meant "the land of young cattle," via its Greek translation Italói; the Greek would use it to i n d i c a t e a n c i e n t p e o p l e inhabiting the area around modern-day Catanzaro, in Calabria. Their original name was Vituli and they were known to worship a c a l f - i d o l ( o r v i t u l u s i n Latin). Indeed, the term Italia was initially used only to i n d i c a t e t h e r e g i o n o f C a l a b r i a a n d , l a t e r , t h e South of Italy. In the 3 rd century BC, after Roman v i c t o r i e s a g a i n s t t h e Samnites and Pyrrhus, all Roman territories up to the Rubicon and Magra Rivers became known as Italia. The term became the offi- cial name of the peninsular part of the country in 42 BC, while, in the year 49 B C , w h e n t h e p e o p l e o f Cisalpine Gaul were allowed to become Roman citizens, the peninsula's northern- most regions became part o f I t a l i a , t o o . I n 2 7 A D , Emperor Augustus extend- ed the borders of Italia to Nice (in modern France) to the West and Istria (mod- ern Croatia) to the East. L a t e r , u n d e r E m p e r o r Diocletian, who ruled from Continued to page 6 Gianmarco Tamberi celebrates his gold in the high jump (Photo: Luca Pagliaricci GMT Sport, per gentile concessione dell'Ufficio Comunicazioni CONI) What's the meaning of Italia?

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