Venice

From Middle English Venyse, from Old French Venise or Old Italian, from Medieval Latin Venetia, from Latin Venetī + -ia (“forming place names”), a local tribe in antiquity whose own little-attested language is now known as Venetic. Initial scholarly agreement that they were Illyrian was based on arguments since refuted. They worshipped Belenus and were possibly Celtic or heavily influenced by Celtic culture, despite repeatedly supporting the Romans against the Gauls. Compare the identical ethnonym Venetī used for Celts of Armorica (ancient Britanny) from Gaulish Uenetoi (“friendly ones, kinsmen”), from Proto-Celtic *wenet, a modified form of *wenyā (“kindred”). Widely but mistakenly derived by the ancient Greeks and Romans from the Eneti of Pamphylia, supposed to have fled to the Adriatic and become the Veneti after supporting the losing side of the Trojan War. As American places, named after the Italian city. Doublet of Venetia.

• IPA^(key): /ˈvɛnɪs/

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• Rhymes: -ɛnɪs

Venice (countable and uncountable, plural Venices)

1. A port city in Veneto, on the Adriatic, in northeastern Italy, the former capital of an independent republic.
   • 1600, William Shakespeare, The Most Excellent Hiſtorie of the Merchant of Venice, Act III, Scene iii:

     An. The Duke cannot denie the courſe of law:
     for the commoditie that ſtrangers haue
     vvith vs in Venice, if it be denyed,
     will much impeach the iuſtice of the ſtate,
     ſince that the trade and profit of the citty
     conſiſteth of all Nations.

   • 2010, Graham Holderness, Shakespeare and Venice, →ISBN, page 141:

     As I indicated at the outset, for us Shakespeare's Venetian plays lie between the early modern republic described in Chapter 2, and all the subsequent Venices of our experience, education and imagination, […]

2. A province of Veneto, Italy, around the city.
3. (historical) A former polity in Europe, a republic and colonial empire around the Adriatic and eastern Mediterranean from AD 697 to 1797 with its capital at Venice.
4. A township in Illinois, United States.
5. A township in Michigan, United States.
6. A township in Ohio, United States.
7. A neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States.

   Hyponyms: Venice Beach, Muscle Beach

• (Italian city): Serenissima, Venezia (endonym)
• (former republic): Republic of Venice, Most Serene Republic of Venice, Serenissima

• (Italian city): Cannaregio, Castello, Dorsoduro, San Marco, San Polo, Santa Croce
• (LA neighborhood): Venice Beach, Muscle Beach

• → Japanese: ベニス (Benisu), ヴェニス (Venisu)
• → Korean: 베니스 (Beniseu)
• → Mandarin: 威尼斯 (Wēinísī)
  • → Cantonese: 威尼斯 (wai1 nei4 si1)
• → Welsh: Fenis
• → Malay: Venis

• evince

Venice

1. Alternative form of Venyse