Euxine Sea (The)
—i.e. the hospitable sea. It was formerly called Axine (inhospitable). So the “Cape of Good Hope” was called the Cape of Despair. “Beneventum” was originally called Maleventum, and “Dyrrachium” was called Epidamnus, which the Romans thought was too much like damnum to be lucky.
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Entry taken from
Dictionary of Phrase and Fable,
edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.