Colloseum or Coliseum, the name says it all?

Janice commented on this photo she posted at Facebook, from which I got the answer of why it was called Colosseum by Romans.

“Incidentally, it was originally called the Flavian Amphitheater, named for the family of emperors who had it built. But there used to be a giant statue of Nero outside of it that stood over 100 feet tall. Given the colossal size of the statue, the building was eventually referred to as the Colosseum.”

I often ponder the words of colosseum and coliseum, which are interchangeable.  Americans generally use coliseum as a stadium, instead of colosseum, such as West Virginia University (WVU) Coliseum.

Colosseum is Latin

Coliseum is Medieval Latin

Coliseum is modern American English (one ‘s’ is somehow dropped)

colossus (original meaning is a huge statue; Greek is kolossos)

As Janice said Colosseum is originally called Flavian Amphitheater, I wonder why it was called Colosseum after Vespasian/Titus.  Some say Colosseum was the largest amphitheater the Romans ever built, but I think it was not quite true.  The following is from Will Durant,

“Circus Flaminius in the Field of Mars, or, more usually, at the Circus Maximus as rebuilt by Caesar between the Palatine and Aventine hills.  This was an immense ellipse 2200 feet long and 705 feet wide, with wooden seats on three sides for 180,000 spectators.  We may judge the wealth of Rome by noting that Trajan rebuilt these seats in marble”

“By comparison the Colosseum was a modest structure, seating only 50,000.”

So it is safe to say the name of Colosseum came from the giant statue [colossus] of Nero outside the amphitheater, not because of the ‘colossal’ (huge) size of the building itself.

By the way, the ‘huge” (or is it?) WVU Coliseum seats 17,000 spectators.