- Rome
- Old English, from Old French Rome, from Latin Roma, of uncertain origin. "The original Roma quadrata was the fortified enclosure on the Palatine hill," according to Tucker, who finds "no probability" in derivation from *sreu- "flow," and suggests the name is "most probably" from *urobsma (cf. urbs, robur) and otherwise, "but less likely" from *urosma "hill" (cf. Sanskrit varsman- "height, point," Lithuanian virsus "upper").
Another suggestion is that it is from Etruscan (cf. Rumon, former name of Tiber River). Common in proverbs, e.g. Rome was not buylt in one daye (1540s), for when a man doth to Rome come, he must do as there is done (1590s), All roads alike conduct to Rome (1806).