Well attestedNamed from the place
Rome wasn't built in a day
verb · first attested 16th century
The proverb about Rome reached English through medieval France.
A reminder that anything worth making takes time and cannot be hurried.
Record
- Relationship
- Named from the place
- Confidence
- Well attestedThe place link is the standard scholarly account.
- Attested
- 16th century
- Part of speech
- verb
Explanations here are written for this atlas. Dictionary text is not copied; the sources are linked so the claim can be checked.
- Step 1
Rome
- In English
Rome wasn't built in a day
It circulates in twelfth-century French collections as "Rome ne fut pas faite toute en un jour" and entered English proverb books in the 1500s, notably John Heywood's. Rome is standing in for the largest thing anyone could picture building, not making a claim about actual construction schedules.
Also pinned to Rome
5 more from the same place
romaineThe other name for cos lettuce is simply Roman.RomeRoman noseA facial profile is named for a city's portrait busts.Romeall roads lead to RomeThe Roman road network really did radiate from one gilded marker in the Forum.Romefiddle while Rome burnsThe fiddle would not be invented for another fourteen centuries.Romewhen in Rome, do as the Romans doThe advice started as a bishop's ruling on which day to fast.Rome
Italy
All 63 entries 57 more words from Italy
jeansThe trousers point to Genoa, not to the American West.GenoaparmesanThe grater cheese is an English take on Parma.ParmasybariteThe pleasure-seeker is named for a vanished Greek city in Italy.SybarismagentaThe color is named for a battle in Lombardy.MagentacantaloupeThe melon is named for a papal estate in the Sabine hills.Cantalupo in SabinatarantulaThe spider is named for Taranto.TarantoitalicSlanted type is named for Italy, and more tightly for Venice.VenicesardineThe fish may be named for Sardinia. It also may not.Sardinia