Pharos became the etymological origin of the word 'lighthouse' in Greek (φάρος), Persian (Fānūs - فانوس), many Romance languages such as French (phare), Italian and Spanish (faro), Romanian (far) and Portuguese (farol), some Germanic languages like Norwegian (fyr), and even some Slavic languages like Bulgarian (far).
In 2008 it was suggested[REF] that the Pharos was the vertical yardstick used in the first precise measurement of the size of the earth.