Laurentine

Part of speech: adjective, noun

Definitions

1. Of or relating to Laurentum, the ancient city of Latium on the coast southwest of Rome
2. Describing something associated with Laurentum, an old Latin settlement near the Tyrrhenian Sea and home to the Latin king Latinus
3. Connected with the ancient city of Laurentum in Latium, known in Roman times for its coastal location and the villas built near it

Etymology: Laurentum was a coastal city of Latium, south of Rome. Roman tradition linked its name to the laurel ("laurus"), but modern scholars doubt that link, and the name may predate Latin. The adjective "Laurentine" comes from this place. Readers most often meet it in Virgil's "Aeneid," where the Laurentine shore is where Aeneas lands and where King Latinus rules. The word is also tied to Pliny the Younger, who around 100 CE wrote to a friend about his country villa at Laurentum, about seventeen miles from Rome. His letter describes the house and its quiet coastal surroundings, and it made the place famous as a retreat. In English, "Laurentine" remains a learned classical term, used mainly for the villa and the landscape.