Mdtryhht

All are Latin, or I guess come from Latin, but is it a direct shot to say that whenever Suburbs first became recognized and named, that they were given the status of being Superb? At one point was that kind of synonymous in the minds of the general public?

Where this is coming from is that I'm trying to understand the Latin word Superbas (which does mean Suburb), as the Brooklyn Dodgers were called the 'Brooklyn Superbas' for many years back in the day. The meaning thus, I suppose, being that Brooklyn was a Suburb – and a kind of lesser double entendre that they were a Superb team.

But isn't the NY borough of Brooklyn NOT a suburb?, since it's about a stone's-throw away from downtown and in fact a part of the city proper?

So I've got era, coastal, and dyslexic issues working against me here.

When you hear that a team from 1900 was called the Brooklyn Superbas, which one should be thought of first? Did fans from that era just understand it primarily meant one or the other? (Suburb vs. Superb)

Apparently, the "Superbas" name used for the Dodgers under the management of Ned Hanlon was a pluralized form of "Superba," a reference to an apparently somewhat well-known vaudeville production put on by the Hanlon brothers, an unrelated group of performers, acrobats, and inventors. I'm stumped as to any connection to the word "suburb" (beside a certain phonetic similarity).

I haven't been able to find any sources about the origin of the vaudeville event's name, but it looks to me like it's just the feminine form of Latin "superbus" in the sense of "excellent": "Superba" is apparently the name of a good character in the play.

This would make the 'Brooklyn Superbas' nickname ultimately related to the word "superb."

Source:
http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/bridegrooms_brooklyn_baseball_team

These two words aren't related; they have different roots from Greek and Latin. Superb uses the root super- while suburb uses the root sub-. Super- is for above while sub- is for below (See: List of Greek and Latin roots in English). The word suburb uses the sub and urb roots to make an under-city, or an outlying area of a city. The word superbas is still sub and not super because the sub root can be used as su/suf/sug/sup/sus and it creates confusion. In the case of it meaning suburb in latin, the "sup" part of the word refers to below, not above.

Another Latin word for suburb is suburbio.

Brooklyn Superbas is an interesting name - and I think a sophisticated play on words. Pronounced English it recalls suburb - Latin sub + urb-, under + city.
It also reminds of Latin super and superbus. Superbus has a lot of meanings, one is excellent. So the name indicates "the team from the suburb", but also "the excellent team, maybe the best".

From http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/today-in-1899-the-brooklyn-superbas-were-born/:

Today in 1899, The Brooklyn Superbas Were Born by Alex Remington -
February 7, 2013

Today in the 1898-1899 offseason, a remarkable thing happened: as the
ownership groups in Baltimore and Brooklyn swapped part shares in each
other’s clubs, the Orioles effectively merged with the Dodgers, with
the class of the two ballclubs going to Brooklyn and the dregs staying
in Baltimore — with the exception of star Baltimore third baseman John
McGraw, who refused to leave. (Imagine if Jeffrey Loria traded a stake
in the Marlins to Rogers Communications to obtain a stake in the Blue
Jays, and you begin to get the idea.) The super-team in Brooklyn,
formerly called the Trolley Dodgers, became known as the “Superbas.”

And this from http://www.boweryboyshistory.com/2011/08/brooklyn-baseball-superbas-and-worst.html:

A couple weeks ago I wrote about the daredevil vaudevillian acrobats
the Hanlon Brothers, known for extraordinary feats of human agility
mixed into theatrical extravaganzas. They made their debut at Niblo’s
Garden in 1858, and fifty years later, their sons were still carrying
on the tradition of thrilling audiences with their mix of fantasy,
theater and gymnastics.

In the 1890s, the Hanlon sons focused their energies on two popular
traveling variety shows, elaborate productions akin to a stadium rock
show, often employing revolving stages, costumed casts, and
sophisticated harnesses and props. The first, Fantasma!, would later
be the subject of Thomas Edison’s early films. Their second, Superba!,
would accidentally inspire the world of baseball.

In 1899, scrappy baseball superstar Ned Hanlon — who made his career
in the 1880s in Cleveland and Pittsburgh — moved to Brooklyn to manage
the then-named Brooklyn Bridegrooms. Ned Hanlon was not related to
the flamboyant Hanlon brothers in any way. However, simply by
confusion or a cheeky name-play by journalists, the team was soon
called the Brooklyn Superbas, borrowing the title of the popular
theatrical show. (You pronounce it the Su-PER-bas.) The name stuck
until the early 1910s, when the borough’s primary form of
transportation inspired another nickname — the Trolley Dodgers, soon
shortened to just the Brooklyn Dodgers.

So I'm not seeing any connection to the suburbs here.

Lucius Tarquinius Superbus (died 495 BC) was the legendary seventh and final King of Rome, reigning from 535 BC until the popular uprising in 509 that led to the establishment of the Roman Republic. He is commonly known as Tarquin the Proud, from his cognomen Superbus (Latin for "proud, arrogant, lofty").[1]

superbas was a roman king around 400 bc