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Glite Dictionary
🌊 The Mediterranean Sea 🚢 A rescue operation
mare nostrum

mare nostrum

9.9
An Italian naval rescue operation to save migrants at sea
  • proper noun
translation icon : mare nostrum
  • Many lives were saved during the Italian naval operation known as mare nostrum in 2013 and 2014.

Examples

  • In 2013 the Italian navy began mare nostrum to rescue migrants in the central Mediterranean.

  • Humanitarian groups praised mare nostrum for saving thousands of lives at sea during its operation.

  • After 2014 Italy replaced mare nostrum with a smaller EU operation focused on border control.

  • The mare nostrum operation was crucial in saving lives at sea.

  • Many migrants were rescued during the mare nostrum campaign.

  • In 2013, the Italian navy launched mare nostrum to rescue migrants crossing the central Mediterranean.

  • The humanitarian mission named mare nostrum aimed to assist those in peril at sea while seeking refuge.

Surface Forms

mare nostrum main

Morphology

mare + nostrum

This is a Latin proper name (literally 'our sea') rather than an English compositional phrase, and B1 learners will not reliably know the Latin constituents or derive the sense 'Italian search‑and‑rescue operation' from them. As a fixed proper noun referring to a specific operation and historical concept, its meaning is referential and not predictable from the constituent forms, so it is opaque.

Etymology

The Italian navy named its 2013-2014 rescue operation mare nostrum after the old Latin words mare 'sea' and nostrum 'our'. The name showed Italy wanted to look after and save people in the Mediterranean, so the phrase became the name of that rescue mission.