When people began to call Italy ; ITALY .?

Question

Wher this name comes from ?

Answer 1

The name "Italia" ("Italy" is the English adaptation) has been used for the first time by the Greek author Herodotus, in order to indicate the southern part of the Italian peninsula. Following Herodotus, this name was extended to all the inhabitants of the Magna Graecia colonies, called Italiótai.

The real etymology of the name is controversial: an ancient theory is that it comes from the Greek word "italós", meaning "bull", coming itself from the Umbrian "vitlu", meaning "calf".

In fact the Greeks (Dionysius of Halicarnassus and others) said that the very origin of the name was the word "Ouitoulía", meaning "country of the calfs".

Others say the name comes from the word "Italòi", as the Greeks called the people of Vituli, inhabitants of a region of southern Italy, which used to worship a calf. The name would meaning "inhabitants of the country of calfs".