Editing Milan (section)

== Toponymy ==
[[File:Scrofa semilanuta.jpg|thumb|left|Bas-relief sculpted on the [[Palazzo della Ragione, Milan|Palazzo della Ragione]] of the ''[[scrofa semilanuta]]'' ("half-woolly sow") from which, according to tradition, the city's toponym derives|200x200px]]

Milan was founded with the Celtic name of Medhelanon,<ref name="Tellier"/><ref name="cronologia"/> later [[Latinisation of names|Latinized]] by the [[ancient Romans]] into [[Mediolanum]]. In [[Celtic language]] ''medhe-'' meant "middle, centre" and the name element ''-lanon'' is the Celtic equivalent of Latin ''-planum'' "plain", meant "(settlement) in the midst of the plain",<ref name="Delamarre 2003 https://archive.org/details/dictionnairedela00dela_348/page/n219 221–222">{{cite book |last= Delamarre |first= Xavier |title= Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise |url= https://archive.org/details/dictionnairedela00dela_348 |url-access= limited |edition= 2nd |year= 2003 |publisher= Errance |location= Paris |isbn= 2-87772-237-6 |pages= [https://archive.org/details/dictionnairedela00dela_348/page/n219 221]–222 |language= fr}}</ref><ref name="Quintela">{{cite journal|first=Marco|last=García Quintela|title=Celtic Elements in Northwestern Spain in Pre-Roman times|journal=Journal of Interdisciplinary Celtic Studies|year=2005|quote=[...] a toponym, clearly in the second part of the composite Medio-lanum (=Milan), meaning 'plain' or flat area [...]}}</ref> or of "place between watercourses" (Celtic ''medhe'' = "in the middle, central"; ''land'' or ''lan'' = "land"), given the presence of the [[Olona]], [[Lambro]], [[Seveso (river)|Seveso]] rivers and the Nirone and Pudiga streams.<ref name="CraccoRuggini17">L.Cracco Ruggini, ''Milano da "metropoli" degli [[Insubri]] a capitale d'Impero: una vicenda di mille anni'', in Catalogo della Mostra "''Milano capitale dell'Impero romani (286-402 d.C.)''", edited by Gemma Sena Chiesa, Milano, 1990, p.17.</ref>

The [[Ancient Rome|Latin]] name ''Mediolanum'' comes from the Latin words ''medio'' (in the middle) and ''planus'' (plain).<ref>{{cite book|last= Ambrogio|first= Renzo|title= Nomi d'Italia : origine e significato dei nomi geografici e di tutti i comuni|year= 2009|publisher= Istituto geografico De Agostini|location= Novara|isbn= 978-88-511-1412-1|page= 385}}</ref> However, some scholars believe that ''lanum'' comes from the [[Celtic languages|Celtic]] root ''lan'', meaning an enclosure or demarcated territory (source of the [[Welsh language|Welsh]] word ''[[Llan (placename)|llan]]'', meaning "a sanctuary or church", ultimately cognate to English/German ''Land'') in which Celtic communities used to build shrines.<ref>{{cite book|last= Wise|first= Hilary|title= The vocabulary of modern French origins, structure and function|year= 1997|publisher= Routledge|location= London|isbn= 0-203-42979-6|page= 39}}</ref>

Hence ''Mediolanum'' could signify the central town or sanctuary of a Celtic tribe. Indeed, about sixty Gallo-Roman sites in France bore the name "Mediolanum", for example: [[Saintes, Charente-Maritime|Saintes]] (''[[Mediolanum Santonum]]'') and [[Évreux]] (''[[Mediolanum Aulercorum]]'').<ref>{{cite book|last= Michell|first= John|title= The sacred center: the ancient art of locating sanctuaries|year= 2009|publisher= Inner Traditions|location= Rochester, Vt.|isbn= 978-1-59477-284-9|page= 32}}</ref> In addition, another theory links the name to the ''[[scrofa semilanuta]]'' ("half-woolly sow") an ancient emblem of the city, fancifully accounted for in [[Andrea Alciato]]'s ''Emblemata'' (1584), beneath a woodcut of the first raising of the city walls, where a boar is seen lifted from the excavation, and the etymology of ''Mediolanum'' given as "half-wool",<ref>''medius'' + ''lanum''; Alciato's "etymology" is intentionally far-fetched.</ref> explained in Latin and in French.

According to this theory, the foundation of Milan is credited to two [[Celts|Celtic peoples]], the [[Bituriges Cubi|Bituriges]] and the [[Aedui]], having as their [[emblem]]s a ram and a boar;<ref>''Bituricis vervex, Heduis dat sucula signum.''</ref> therefore "The [[Symbols of Milan|city's symbol]] is a wool-bearing boar, an animal of double form, here with sharp bristles, there with sleek wool."<ref>''Laniger huic signum sus est, animálque biforme, Acribus hinc setis, lanitio inde levi.''</ref> Alciato credits [[Ambrose]] for his account.<ref>{{cite web
| url = http://www.emblems.arts.gla.ac.uk/french/emblem.php?id=FALc002
| title = Alciato, ''Emblemata'', Emblema II
| publisher = Emblems.arts.gla.ac.uk
| access-date = 13 March 2009
| archive-date = 13 January 2012
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120113214852/http://www.emblems.arts.gla.ac.uk/french/emblem.php?id=FALc002
| url-status = live
}}</ref>