romanophile means one who has a love of Ancient Rome. Lexicurio rates it Rare gem — a strength score of 83 out of 100.
Why “romanophile” is a great word
ROMANOPHILE — [Noun] One who possesses a profound admiration for Ancient Rome, the nation of Romania, or the Roma people. From Romano- (pertaining to Rome, Romania, or the Roma) + -phile (lover of). Unlike a philhellene, whose devotion is fixed upon Greece, or a Romanophobe, whose outlook is defined by aversion, the Romanophile’s affection is a deliberate orientation toward a complex inheritance. It is the tactile weight of a cool marble fragment in the palm, the traveler feeling the echo of a different history in a Bucharest square, and the listener attuned to the cadence of an old Romani melody—a quiet, gravitational pull toward the fragments of a world.
noun
- One who has a love of Ancient Rome.“Coerced British workers had to have built the grand buildings and roads that so impressed later Romanophiles.”
- One who has a love of Romania.“Its first prelate was the Ukrainian-born Bukovinian Romanophile and avid promoter of all things Romanian, Metropolitan Nectari Kotlearciuc […]”
- One who has a love of the Roma people.“George Borrow (1803-1881) has stood as the acknowledged source of inspiration for countless Romanophiles (as well as Romanophobes) ever since his literary heyday in the 19th century; in fact Brian Vesey-Fitzgerald saw himself as quite "unfashionable" (1944:x) because he was one of the few who didn't make his "first acquaintance with [Gypsies] in the pages of George Borrow".”