Editing Lusitania (section)

== Etymology ==
The etymology of the name of the [[Lusitanians|Lusitani]] (who gave the Roman province its name) remains unclear. Popular etymology connected the name to a supposed Roman demigod [[Lusus]], whereas some early-modern scholars{{which|date=January 2016}} suggested that ''Lus'' was a form of the Celtic [[Lugus]] followed by another (unattested) root ''*tan-'', supposed to mean "tribe",<ref>{{cite book |title= Placenames of the World |page= 228 |last= Room |first= Adrian |publisher= McFarland Inc. |date= 2006 |isbn= 9780786422487}}</ref> while others derived the name from ''Lucis'', an ancient people mentioned in [[Avienius|Avienius' ''Ora Maritima'']] (4th century AD) and from ''tan'' ([[-stan]] in [[Iranian languages|Iranian]]), or from ''tain'', meaning "a region" or implying "a country of waters", a root word that formerly meant a prince or sovereign governor of a region.<ref>{{cite book |chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=boIBAAAAQAAJ&q=celtic+tan&pg=PA22 |title= An Universal History from the Earliest Account of Time |page= 22  |volume= VI |chapter= Chapter XII, Section I: The History of the Celtes |publisher= T. Osborne, A. Millar, and J. Osborn |location= London |date= 1747 |access-date= 18 October 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=z3WsOrbjfh4C&q=celtic+tan&pg=PA279 |first= Henry |last= Piers |editor-first= Charles |editor-last= Vallancey |title= Collectanea de Rebus Hibernicis |edition= 2nd |volume= 1 |chapter= No. IV: A Dissertation concerning the ancient Irish Laws, &c., Part II |page= 279 |publisher= Luke White |location= Dublin |date= 1786 |orig-year= 1682 |access-date= 18 October 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C30CAAAAQAAJ&pg=RA2-PA464 |chapter=Ta'n & Tàin |title= Focalóir gaoidhilge-sax-bhéarla, or An Irish-English dictionary |first= John |last= O'Brien |author-link=John O'Brien (bishop) |page= 464 |publisher=Nicolas-Francis Valleyre |date= 1768 |access-date= 18 October 2015}}</ref>

Ancient Romans, such as [[Pliny the Elder]] (''[[Pliny's Natural History|Natural History]]'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Plin.+Nat.+3.5 3.5]) and [[Marcus Terentius Varro|Varro]] (116 – 27 BC, cited by Pliny), speculated that the name ''Lusitania'' had Roman origins, as when Pliny says "''lusum enim Liberi Patris aut lyssam cum eo bacchantium nomen dedisse Lusitaniae et Pana praefectum eius universae''" [Lusitania takes its name from the ''[[Lusus]]'' associated with Bacchus and the ''[[Lyssa]]'' of his [[Bacchantes]], and [[Pan (mythology)|Pan]] is its governor].

''Lusus'' is usually translated as "game" or "play", while ''lyssa'' is a borrowing from the [[Greek language|Greek]] λυσσα, "frenzy" or "rage", and sometimes [[Rage (emotion)|Rage]] personified; for later poets, Lusus and Lyssa become flesh-and-blood companions (even children) of [[Dionysus|Bacchus]]. [[Luís de Camões]]' epic ''[[Os Lusíadas]]'' (1572), which portrays Lusus as the founder of Lusitania, extends these ideas, which have no connection with modern etymology.

In his work, [[Geographica|''Geography'']], the classical geographer [[Strabo]] (died ca. 24 AD) suggests a change had occurred in the use of the name "Lusitanian". He mentions a group who had once been called "Lusitanians" living north of the Douro river but were called in his day "Callacans".<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Strabo/3D*.html |title=Strabo, ''Geography'', Book III, Chapter 4, paragraph 20 |access-date=2021-02-19 |archive-date=2023-11-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231103151037/https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Strabo/3D%2A.html |url-status=live }}</ref>