America and Italy, a Story Written in Ancient Rome?
Trump happens to be right on America’s relationship with Italy and ancient Rome.
Trump has a habit of saying things that are really stupid, or at least things that sound stupid. Many people think that he really is an idiot. I’m not sure. A common rule of thumb is to never attribute to malice that which can adequately be explained by stupidity, but Trump just seems like the world’s greatest troll.
And so when Trump made a comment about the relationship between Italy and, the United States, and ancient Rome, people jumped on him. Part of the problem is that the media is dishonest and journalists have no problem misquoting people if it gets reads. Part of the problem is that Trump constantly says things that can easily be seen as trollish.
Trump recently said that “The United States and Italy are bound together by a shared cultural and political heritage dating back thousands of years to Ancient Rome.” It’s an interesting statement, and some have quoted it as him saying that the United States and Italy have been allies since ancient Rome. Obviously such a statement is absurd, as there was no America during that time. However, it is true that the United States and Italy are bound together by thousands of years of shared history, dating back to ancient Rome. Here’s how.
A Country by Any Other Name
It’s always interesting to learn about the origin of names and words. And the name for this country and the continent as a whole, does have a fairly strong tie with Italy, and a weaker one to Rome. The country is named after Amerigo Vespucci, a relatively unknown Italian explorer. So there is already a relationship between America and Italy. But the Roman, or rather Latin, influence comes from the fact that America is from Americus Vespucius, his Latinized name.
So not only is America itself named after an Italian explorer, but it is named after the Latinized version of that person’s name. Why was his name chosen? That’s a complicated issue. I’m still looking into that matter, but it seems that there were a number of letters, probably written by someone other than Vespucci himself. Regardless, his name is forever tied to American history.
