rostrum: [16] Latin rōstrum originally meant ‘beak’ or ‘muzzle of an animal’ – it was derived from the verb rōdere ‘gnaw’ (source of English corrode [14], erode [17], and rodent [19]). The word was also applied metaphorically to the ‘beaklike’ prows of ships. In 338 BC the platform for public speakers in the Forum in Rome was adorned with the prows of ships captured from Antium (modern Anzio), and so in due course all such platforms came to be known as rostra – whence the English word. => corrode, erode, rodent
rostrum (n.)
1540s, from Latin rostrum, name of the platform stand for public speakers in the Forum in ancient Rome. It was decorated with the beaks of ships taken in the first naval victory of the Roman republic, over Antium, in 338 B.C.E., and the word's older sense is "end of a ship's prow," literally "beak, muzzle, snout," originally "means of gnawing," instrument noun form of rodere "to gnaw" (see rodent). Compare claustrum "lock, bar," from claudere "to shut." Extended sense of any platform for public speaking is first recorded 1766. Classical plural form is rostra.
