Lepanto

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A port town on the Gulf of Corinth in western Greece, historically known by the Italian name Naupaktos ; a decisive sea engagement in 1571 in which a Holy League fleet defeated the Ottoman navy
2. A harbor town on the northern shore of the Gulf of Corinth in western Greece ; a famous 1571 naval clash where Christian forces under Don John of Austria crushed the Ottoman fleet
3. Nafpaktos, a coastal Greek town in Aetolia-Acarnania ; the great 1571 sea battle in which a combined Catholic naval force broke Ottoman dominance in the Mediterranean

Etymology: Lepanto is a town on the northern shore of the Gulf of Corinth in Greece, and it is the source of the English word. The Greeks called it Naupactus, and the Italian form Lepanto grew out of that ancient name. English took the name from Italian, so the word is a borrowing of a place name rather than a native coinage. The town became famous through a naval battle fought off its coast, which gave the name its wider meaning. The word now refers to that engagement and to the Holy League's victory over the Ottoman fleet there, and it survives in English as a proper noun tied to that encounter.