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A volcano, 1,281 m (4,203 ft) high, of southern Italy on the eastern shore of the Bay of Naples. A violent eruption in AD 79 destroyed the nearby cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum. Since that time it has erupted about three dozen times, most recently in the period from 1913 to 1944.
Ve·suvi·anadj.
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Mount Vesuvius
eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 1779, painted by Pierre Jacques Volaire (1729-1799)
Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:
The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.