all roads lead to Rome

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English

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Etymology

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Modern wording of medieval sentiment; apparently originally a reference to Roman roads generally and the Milliarium Aureum (Golden Milestone) specifically.[1]

Appears in the Latin form mīlle viae dūcunt hominēs per saecula Rōmam (a thousand roads lead men forever to Rome) in Liber Parabolarum, 591 (1175), by Alain de Lille.[2]

The earliest English form appears to be “right as diverse pathes leden the folk the righte wey to Rome”, in A Treatise on the Astrolabe (Prologue, ll. 39–40), 1391, by Geoffrey Chaucer.[3][4][5][6]

Proverb

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all roads lead to Rome

  1. (idiomatic) Different paths can take one to the same goal.
    Synonyms: all roads lead to Mecca, there's more than one way to skin a cat, (Australia) all roads lead to Sydney

Translations

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ Schaaf, P. (1867/1886) Ante-nicene fathers: The Apostolic fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, electronic reprint edition, volume 1, Grand Rapids, MI, USA: CCEL: Roberts, A. & Donaldson, J, Eds., page 1
  2. ^ Samuel Singer, Kuratorium Singer (1995) Walter de Gruyter, editor, Thesaurus Proverbiorum Medii Aevi: Lexikon der Sprichwörter des Romanisch-germanischen Mittelalters[1], →ISBN, page 355
  3. ^ A Treatise on the Astrolabe, Part 1”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name)[2], 2008 November 2 (last accessed), archived from the original on 13 August 2009
  4. ^ Gregory Y. Titelman (1996) Random House Dictionary of Popular Proverbs and Sayings, →ISBN, page 8
  5. ^ Linda Flavell, Roger Flavell (1993) Dictionary of Proverbs and their Origins
  6. ^ “User Groups : Who Said It? : all roads lead to Rome”, in Quoteland.com[3], 2008 November 2 (last accessed), archived from the original on 14 May 2009