This paper presents some recent discoveries made in the framework of the Dictionnaire Étymologique Roman (DÉRom), a dictionary which aims to reconstruct the lexicon of Proto-Romance, i.e. the Latin lexicon as it can be reached by applying the comparative method to a series of Romance cognates. The first part emphasizes phonological, semantic, and morphosyntactic aspects of etymologies recently elaborated by the DÉRom team in comparison with parallel etymologies from the old tradition. The second part comments on two terminological innovations: idioromance (the opposite of Proto-Romance) and etymological declination (the discrepancy between the results of the Latin-centred approach to Romance etymology and those obtained by comparative reconstruction), while the last part seeks to clarify the definition of Proto-Romance.