Pompeii

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An ancient city located near Naples, Italy, known for its well-preserved ruins buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79
2. A historically significant Roman settlement that provides valuable insights into daily life and culture due to its preservation under volcanic ash
3. A site of archaeological importance, drawing researchers and tourists alike, where the remnants of a bustling city reveal life in the first century AD

Etymology: The city of Pompeii takes its name from a number. Its Oscan-speaking founders, who lived in southern Italy long before Rome absorbed the region, called the place by a word built from "pompe", meaning "five", and the Latin name-forming suffix "-eiī" was later attached to it. The name is generally read as a reference to the city's five districts. That same ancient number turns up in some unexpected corners of modern language. The Latin "quinque" and English "five" are cousins, but "pompe" belongs to a separate line of descent that also produced the Italian "cinque" and the older English slang "pimp", which once meant "five" in thieves' cant. The Japanese "ponzu" sauce and the beverage "punch", whose name is traced to a Sanskrit word for "five" in its ingredients, share the same numerical ancestry, as do the African currency "sengi" and the Italian slang "pimp" for a related sense of five-fold dealing.