Turin versus Torino
February 12th, 2006 @ 18:11 — jjkWhy are there two names for the Italian city of Torino (the second being Turin)? If English and Italian share the same alphabet, why do they not share the same spelling and pronunciation of names of cities? Surely Italians don’t have alternate spellings and pronunciations of their last names, right? What gives?
February 14th, 2006 at 12:37
Historians of physics will remember that Heraclitus famously said, “panta rheei” (loosely: “all things change”). Not only does the natural world keep changing but so also does language. When Turin/Torino was founded it was a Roman military establishment called Augusta Taurinorum. “Augusta” after one of the emperor’s titles (”augustus”) and Taurinorum, “of the Taurini,” named after the local Celtic group. (There were lots of Augustas in the Roman world and they were distinguished from one another by the names of the local peoples. Trier in Germany was Augusta Treviorum and Augsburg, also in Germany, was another Augusta.) The Taurini were presumably the “bull-like ones” (tauros = ‘bull’) but any relationship to the Chicago Bulls is still controversial.
At some point, probably early on, Augusta Taurinorum was simplified to Taurinum (’the Taurine [place]‘). By regular phonetic change that results in Italian Torino. Of course it’s not only its own inhabitants that need to talk about a place and, in the course of the Middle Ages, Taurinum/Torino became known to French speakers and, through the latter, English speakers. Naturally the French referred to it, as closely as the different phonological structure of French would allow, by the same name as the inhabitants of Torino did and the English speakers, in turn, called it the same thing, as closely as the phonological structure of English allowed, as the French did. But, just as Italian speakers were gradually, and regularly, changing Taurinum into Torino so did French speakers and English speakers change their pronunciations of Taurinum/Torino as their languages changed. Thus Torino is the regular Italian outcome of Latin Taurinum just as Turin is the regular English outcome of Taurinum. The relationship between the English and Italian versions of Rome/Roma (Latin Roma), Florence/Firenze (Latin Florentia), and Naples/Napoli (Latin Neapolis) is the same. Turning the tables, both English London and Italian Londra are the expected outcomes in the two languages of Latin Londinium.
October 15th, 2006 at 16:58
Sorry, Turin was not founded by Romans. Previous name of the “pagus” was Taurasion, place of Taurini tribe. Nothing is related with the bull. Only about the I° century b.C. this animal became tipical of the place because at Industria, previous name Bodincomagos, now Monteu da Po, few kms east from Torino, there were roman industries producing bronze votive bulls about oriental cults imported by the transferred legions. There is an archeo camp. Bulls exposition at Museo di antichità di Torino. “tauro” is a term related with a preindoeuropen radical element meaning “mountain”, Taurini is for “highlander”, “mount people”, ecc. It is true for many other peoples like Taurisci from northeast Italy and southwest austria and other peoples in cisalpina, liguntika, germania and illiria. The radical “tau” appears from atlanic coasts of bretagna to anatolia through the mountain regions of berberian places.
Roman foundation of Augusta Taurinorum was in in 28 b.C. Augusto Imperante.
About Taurasion (or Taurasia) wrote many classical authors two centuries before. In 218 a.C. this “dunum” was destroyed by Hannibal’s troops descending from western alps. Taurini at this time were in conflict with Insubri federation, allied of the Carthaginean chief against Roma.
Kailin ti!
November 3rd, 2006 at 11:16
Interesting post. I would have never guessed you both would have come to such a researched comclusion as of the duplicate names. I enjoyed the responses. Thanks for tmore useless dinner party info to make myself sound more intelligent. :)~ Would be interested in any other double name origins you all have found over the course of you studies.
Ken
http://www.j-ams.org
ken@j-ams.org
March 11th, 2007 at 21:26
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March 19th, 2007 at 12:38
Can you then explain the variation between “Deutschland” and “Germany” and even “Allemania?” I figure the suffix to the latter is typical latinization, but what about “Alleman?” It’s significantly different from “Deutsch” and “German.”
That should be good for several paragraphs or even a full-on story, huh?
TS
November 22nd, 2007 at 10:33
Really intersting…from now on, to confuse the waters, I will say “Nuova York” for “New York”, “Le Veggenti” for “Las Vegas”…
December 1st, 2007 at 12:03
As a citizen of the city i may say the everybody call the city “Torino”. The Turin name is used while speaking to non-italian people.
February 19th, 2008 at 18:19
Dear Sir/Madam
I would love to know the true origin of the name Torino. Some says it is the legend in the old times a young bull used to walk in the nights and making lots of noise…I am not sure pl;ease can you explain to me better to have more idea about these things
Dino