"Torino" is Italian for Turin

Turin or Torino? It's the Olympic version of "You say tomato, I say tomahto."

The city in northern Italy that's hosting the Winter Olympics this month is "Torino" to the locals and NBC. For most of us non-Italians, it's always been Turin.

The explanation for the different versions is simple.

Sort of.

"Turin is the English translation of the Italian word 'Torino,' " said Clara Orban, a professor of Italian at DePaul. "Standard practice in the United States is if a city name has been translated differently, go with the English translation."

That's what The Associated Press and The Seattle Times are doing. AP's policy — and it was around long before Turin was awarded the Olympic Games — is to use the English version of foreign cities. It's Rome, not Roma. Munich, not Muenchen. So why the confusion?

The official name of the games is "Torino 2006," and the International Olympic Committee refers to the city by its Italian name. When the games were awarded in June 1999, then-IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch announced, "The hosts of the 2006 Games will be Torino."

After NBC Sports chairman Dick Ebersol took a trip to Turin, he decided the network would go with Torino, too. NBC has the U.S. broadcast rights to the games.

"Dick was hearing the way the locals were saying Torino, and how it's so magnificently Italian how it rolls off the tongue," said Mike McCarley, vice president of communications and marketing for NBC Sports.

So, Turin or Torino.

Either way, the Winter Olympics will simply call the city home this month.

The Associated Press