 However, according to modern research by Manuel Pellicer Catalán, the name derives from Phoenician "spal" "lowland", rendering the above explanations of "Hispania" highly unlikely.Occasionally Hispania was called "Hesperia ultima" "farthest western land" by Roman writers since the name "Hesperia" "western land" had already been used by the Greeks to refer to the Italian peninsula.During the 18th and 19th centuries, Jesuits scholars like Larramendi and José Francisco de Isla tied the name to the Basque word "ezpain" ‘lip’, but also ‘border, edge’, thus meaning the farthest area or place.