Mappa

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A cloth used in ancient Rome to signal the start of games or as a ceremonial banner
2. An old Roman linen or cloth that was waved at competitions to mark their beginning
3. A piece of fabric from Roman times, traditionally employed to open sporting events or ceremonies

Etymology: Romans used a "mappa," a piece of cloth, to start races in the circus. An official let it fall to signal the start. The word was an ordinary Latin noun for a napkin or towel, so the starting signal took its name from a household cloth. The cloth also served as a ceremonial banner, but its later life is more surprising. Medieval Latin speakers used "mappa mundi," or "cloth of the world," for a map painted on a sheet. English borrowed that phrase as "mappemounde" and later shortened it to "map." So the English word for a chart of the earth descends from a Roman napkin.