Everyday LifeGreek → English
Naples
/ˈneɪpəlz/noun
The largest city in southern Italy, on the bay below Vesuvius.
The Greek roots
νέος
néos
new
πόλις
pólis
city
Literally: “new city”
The story of the word
Νεάπολις, the new city, was the later Greek settlement beside older Παρθενόπη on the same bay, and the name records a colony outgrowing itself. Latin took Neapolis whole, Italian wore it down to Napoli, and English received it through French as Naples. The adjective keeps what the noun lost, since Neapolitan still carries the Greek, as does Nablus in the West Bank, founded by the Romans as Flavia Neapolis.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → Italian → French → English
Same family
Neapolitanmetropolispoliceneophytecosmopolitan
In a sentence
Naples had Greek walls a century before Rome mattered.
The metro excavations in Naples keep hitting the ancient harbour.