The source of the English romaine is from the French laitue romaine, Italians call it lattuga romana. Romaine is the American term for this long leafed lettuce, also called cos or cos lettuce (by British-speaking countries) because it was said to have originated on the Greek island of Cos (Kos), off the coast of Turkey in the Aegean Sea. In fact its original home was western Europe and the eastern Mediterranean area. Romaine has been cultivated and eaten cooked or raw for almost 5,000 years and may very well be the oldest form of cultivated lettuce.