Rarely is it possible to determine the origin of a word or phrase in common usage with precision. Usually, we must be content with tracing it back through time as evidenced in extant writings. Often, the trace is not linear, but instead branches to multiple possibilities and renders likely letters to the editors of publications of “word columns” touting a preferred origin.
In 338 BC, the expanding city-state of Rome was in the process of yet again enlarging its territory. In that year, a battle was fought with the galley fleet of the people of Antium. The outcome was, of course, a victory for the Romans. To commemorate the victory, the bronze beaks used for ramming were removed from the captured Antean vessels and installed as decorations in a wall surrounding a raised platform. It was an impressive sight, and the victorious Roman leader decided that the platform would make an excellent place from which to declaim his victory.
War memorials have been sites of oratory ever since, and a new word was coined—or brought ashore. The Latin word for the beak-rams was derived from rodere, meaning “to gnaw.” They were called “rostra.” When the Antean beaks were installed around the raised platform, it became known as the rostra, too, or the “place of beaks.”
In the 18th century, the word was brought into the English language in its singular form, “rostrum, meaning a platform for public speaking. It is not the first time a navy has supported a politician.