Populus Romanus Quirites (or, later, Quiritium) was the official term for the Roman citizenry. It contains the name of the city (Romanus) and that of the populus (Quirites), as with Ardea (Ardeates Rutuli) and Lavinium (Laurentes Lavinates), where the name of the city stood alongside that of the people living there. The singular form, Quiris, survives only in archaic formulae (Fest. 304: ollus Quiris).
The etymological derivation of the term is still disputed. The Romans themselves wished to separate Quirites neither from the god Quirinus nor the Quirinal Hill (Mons Q…