the.com/apartment
A box of your own, stacked among strangers, paid for monthly in dreams.
means A self-contained living space within a larger building, rented or owned, sharing walls with neighbors you'll never quite know.
from From French appartement, via Italian appartamento — literally a place set apart, from appartare, to separate. The whole point was privacy within a shared structure.
Same word, two worldsBrits say flat; Americans say apartment.
Roman ancestorAncient Rome stacked tenants in insulae, multi-story apartment blocks.
Set apartThe name literally means separated, not stacked.