Where does the word "fascism" come from?

Fasces (plurale tantum, from the Latin word fascis, meaning "bundle") symbolise summary power and jurisdiction, and/or "strength through unity."

The traditional Roman fasces consisted of a bundle of birch rods tied together with a red ribbon as a cylinder. One interpretation of the symbolism suggests that despite the fragility of each independent single rod, as a bundle they exhibit strength. Wartime symbolism added an axe amongst the rods. Numerous governments and other authorities have used the image of the fasces as a symbol of power since the end of the Roman Empire. Italian fascism, which derives its name from the fasces, arguably used this symbolism the most in the 20th century.

The fasces in the United States of America

1. The reverse of the United States "Mercury" dime (minted from 1916 to 1945) bears the design of a fasces and an olive branch.
2. Two fasces appear on either side of the flag of the United States in the United States House of Representatives, representing the power of the House and the country.
3. The Mace of the United States House of Representatives, designed to resemble fasces, consists of thirteen ebony rods bound together in the same fashion as the fasces, topped by a silver eagle on a globe.
4. The official seal of the United States Senate has as one component a pair of crossed fasces.
5. Fasces ring the base of the Statue of Freedom atop the United States Capitol building.
6. A frieze on the facade of the Supreme Court building depicts the figure of a Roman Centurion holding a fasces, to represent "order". [1]
7. At the Lincoln Memorial, Lincoln's seat of state bears the fasces on the fronts of its arms. (Fasces also appear on the pylons flanking the main staircase leading into the memorial.)
8. Four fasces flank the two bronze plaques on either side of the bust of Lincoln memorializing his Gettysburg Address at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
9. The fasces appears on the state seal of Colorado, USA, beneath the "All-seeing eye" (or Eye of Providence) and above the mountains and mines.
10. On the seal of the New York City borough of Brooklyn, a figure carries a fasces; the seal appears on the borough flag.
11. Used as part of the Knights of Columbus emblem (designed in 1883).
12. The top border of the Los Angeles Police Department badge features a fasces. (1940)
13. The regimental crest of the U.S. 71st Infantry Regiment of the New York National Guard consisted of a gold fasces set on a blue background.