Why is Italy called like this? Where does the name Italia come from?
Japan gets its name from the rising sun, France from the Franks tribe, and America from the discoverer Amerigo Vespucci. But what about Italy?
Even many Italians will not be able to answer this question. One reason is that the origin is unclear to experts, too.
言葉の起源の理論
イタリアの名前は非常に古代のため、いくつかの神話的な理論がそれを説明しようとしています。
- プリンス説 - シラクサのアンティオコス（ギリシャの歴史家、紀元前5世紀）によると、名前は伝説のエノトリアの王子イタロに由来し、イタリア半島の最南端に彼の支配を広げ、この地域を彼の名前にちなんで「イタリア」と名付けたとされる。この説は神話的な解釈に基づいており、古代に一般的であったが、イタロという名前の語源に関する疑問が残されています。
- ヘラクレスと子牛 - – Another theory suggests that the name “Italy” derives from the word “vitulus,” meaning calf. According to this version, the Greek hero Hercules was crossing Italy in search of a runaway cattle. It was in this occasion that he learned that the natives called the calf “vitulus.” As a result, he called the entire region with the similar, v-less word, Italia.
- Sons of the bull—Another theory associates the name of the region with livestock. People of the modern Calabria region were identified with the name Italos probably because of the presence of abundant bovine livestock in the area. In this case Italians = inhabitants of the land of the calves. Another possible reason is that the totem of the Italian people was a calf (Italians = sons of the bull).
地理的拡張と統一
When the Romans conquered this region they kept the name of Italia to identify the whole geographic peninsula inside the Roman Empire. During the Middle Ages the term remained alive and various rulers used it, wishing to recall the ancient Roman power. The word indicated different areas such as the Kingdom of the Lombards in the North and the Byzantine Kingdom in the South.
Finally, thanks to the concept of a unified Italy already deeply ingrained in the minds of Italians, despite political divisions and uncertainty, the Kingdom of Italy was established in 1861, retaining the ancient name ITALIA.
Sources:
Crusca https://accademiadellacrusca.it/it/consulenza/il-nome-dellitalia/309
Enciclopedia Treccani https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/italia_%28Enciclopedia-Italiana%29/
日本語 
English