Current in almost all major European languages for many centuries (OF palais, MHG palas, Spanish palacio, Italian palazzo etc.), the word “palace” is usually taken to derive from the Palatine (mons Palatinus), the hill of Rome on which the residences of the Roman emperors stood. Except in the case of the Italian palazzo, however, its meaning remained vague. In the 16th century, for instance, a French palais was…