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Do not fill this in! ==Etymology== [[File:AS17-148-22733 (21516723298).jpg|thumb|The totality of Africa seen by the [[Apollo 17]] crew]] ''[[Afri]]'' was a [[Latin]] name used to refer to the inhabitants of then-known northern Africa to the west of the [[Nile]] river, and in its widest sense referred to all lands south of the [[Mediterranean Sea|Mediterranean]] ([[Ancient Libya]]).<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|last1=Georges|first1=Karl Ernst|editor1-last=Georges|editor1-first=Heinrich|encyclopedia=Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch|date=1913–1918|location=Hannover|edition=8th|url=http://latin_german.deacademic.com/1644|access-date=20 September 2015|language=de|title=Afri|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160116044500/http://latin_german.deacademic.com/1644|archive-date=16 January 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia|last1=Lewis|first1=Charlton T.|last2=Short|first2=Charles|encyclopedia=A Latin Dictionary|date=1879|publisher=Clarendon Press|location=Oxford|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0059%3Aentry%3DAfer|access-date=20 September 2015|title=Afer|archive-date=16 January 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160116044500/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0059%3Aentry%3DAfer|url-status=live}}</ref> This name seems to have originally referred to a native Libyan tribe, an ancestor of modern [[Berbers]]; see [[Terence#Biography|Terence]] for discussion. The name had usually been connected with the [[Phoenician language|Phoenician]] word ''{{lang|phn|ʿafar}}'' meaning "dust",<ref>Venter & Neuland, ''NEPAD and the African Renaissance'' (2005), p. 16</ref> but a 1981 hypothesis<ref>{{cite web |url=http://michel-desfayes.org/namesofcountries.html |title=The Names of Countries |last=Desfayes |first=Michel |website=michel-desfayes.org |quote=Africa. From the name of an ancient tribe in Tunisia, the ''Afri'' (adjective: ''Afer''). The name is still extant today as ''Ifira'' and ''Ifri-n-Dellal'' in Greater Kabylia (Algeria). A Berber tribe was called ''Beni-Ifren'' in the Middle Ages and ''Ifurace'' was the name of a Tripolitan people in the 6th century. The name is from the Berber language ''ifri'' 'cave'. Troglodytism was frequent in northern Africa and still occurs today in southern Tunisia. Herodote wrote that the Garamantes, a North African people, used to live in caves. The Ancient Greek called ''troglodytēs'' an African people who lived in caves. ''Africa'' was coined by the Romans and {{'}}''Ifriqiyeh''{{'}} is the arabized Latin name. (Most details from Decret & Fantar, 1981). |date=25 January 2011 |access-date=9 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190627022921/http://michel-desfayes.org/namesofcountries.html |archive-date=27 June 2019 |url-status=dead }}</ref> has asserted that it stems from the [[Berber languages|Berber]] word ''ifri'' (plural ''ifran'') meaning "cave", in reference to cave dwellers.<ref name="Michell">{{Cite journal|jstor = 714549|title = The Berbers|journal = Journal of the Royal African Society|volume = 2|issue = 6|pages = 161–194|last1 = Babington Michell|first1 = Geo|year = 1903|doi = 10.1093/oxfordjournals.afraf.a093193|url = https://zenodo.org/record/1782363|access-date = 30 August 2020|archive-date = 30 December 2020|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20201230012624/https://zenodo.org/record/1782363|url-status = live}}</ref> The same word<ref name="Michell" /> may be found in the name of the [[Banu Ifran]] from [[Algeria]] and [[Tripolitania]], a Berber tribe originally from [[Yafran]] (also known as ''Ifrane'') in northwestern Libya,<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=SLSzNfdcqfoC&pg=PA200 Edward Lipinski, ''Itineraria Phoenicia''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160116044459/https://books.google.com/books?id=SLSzNfdcqfoC&pg=PA200 |date=16 January 2016 }}, Peeters Publishers, 2004, p. 200. {{ISBN|90-429-1344-4}}</ref> as well as the city of [[Ifrane]] in Morocco. Under [[Roman Empire|Roman]] rule, [[Carthage]] became the capital of the province it then named ''[[Africa Proconsularis]]'', following its defeat of the [[Ancient Carthage|Carthaginians]] in the [[Third Punic War]] in 146 BC, which also included the coastal part of modern [[Libya]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.consultsos.com/pandora/africa.htm |title=Africa African Africanus Africus |publisher=Consultos.com |access-date=14 November 2006 |archive-date=29 January 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090129111458/http://www.consultsos.com/pandora/africa.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> The Latin suffix ''[[wikt:-ica#Latin|-ica]]'' can sometimes be used to denote a land (e.g., in ''[[Gallia Celtica|Celtica]]'' from ''[[Celts|Celtae]]'', as used by [[Julius Caesar]]). The later Muslim region of [[Ifriqiya]], following its conquest of the [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine (Eastern Roman)]] Empire's ''[[Exarchate of Africa|Exarchatus Africae]]'', also preserved a form of the name. According to the Romans, Africa lies to the west of Egypt, while "Asia" was used to refer to [[Anatolia]] and lands to the east. A definite line was drawn between the two continents by the geographer [[Ptolemy]] (85–165 CE), indicating [[Alexandria]] along the [[Prime Meridian]] and making the isthmus of Suez and the [[Red Sea]] the boundary between Asia and Africa. As Europeans came to understand the real extent of the continent, the idea of "Africa" expanded with their knowledge. Other etymological hypotheses have been postulated for the ancient name "Africa": * The 1st-century Jewish historian [[Flavius Josephus]] (''Ant. 1.15'') asserted that it was named for [[Epher]], grandson of [[Abraham]] according to Gen. 25:4, whose descendants, he claimed, had invaded Libya. * [[Isidore of Seville]] in his 7th-century ''[[Etymologiae]]'' XIV.5.2. suggests "Africa comes from the Latin ''aprica'', meaning "sunny". * Massey, in 1881, stated that Africa is derived from the Egyptian ''af-rui-ka'', meaning "to turn toward the opening of the Ka." The [[Egyptian soul#Ka|Ka]] is the energetic double of every person and the "opening of the Ka" refers to a womb or birthplace. Africa would be, for the Egyptians, "the birthplace."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://gerald-massey.org.uk/massey/cmc_nile_genesis.htm|title=Nile Genesis: the opus of Gerald Massey|publisher=Gerald-massey.org.uk|date=29 October 1907|access-date=18 May 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100130200159/http://gerald-massey.org.uk/massey/cmc_nile_genesis.htm|archive-date=30 January 2010|url-status=dead}}</ref> * Michèle Fruyt in 1976 proposed<ref>{{cite journal|author=Fruyt, M. |title= D'Africus ventus a Africa terrain |journal=Revue de Philologie|volume= 50|year= 1976|pages= 221–238}}</ref> linking the Latin word with ''africus'' "south wind", which would be of Umbrian origin and mean originally "rainy wind". * Robert R. Stieglitz of [[Rutgers University]] in 1984 proposed: "The name Africa, derived from the Latin *Aphir-ic-a, is cognate to Hebrew [[Ophir]] ['rich']."<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.2307/3209914|jstor=3209914|title=Long-Distance Seafaring in the Ancient Near East|journal=The Biblical Archaeologist|volume=47|issue=3|pages=134–142|year=1984|last1=Stieglitz|first1=Robert R.|s2cid=130072563}}</ref> * [[Ibn Khallikan]] and some other historians claim that the name of Africa came from a [[Himyarite Kingdom|Himyarite]] king called Afrikin ibn Kais ibn Saifi also called "Afrikus son of Abraham" who subdued Ifriqiya.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3cdLAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA35|title=Kitab Wafayat Ala'yan. Ibn Khallikan's Biographical Dictionary Transl. by (Guillaume) B(aro)n Mac-Guckin de Slane|last=Hallikan|first='Abu-l-'Abbas Sams-al-din 'Ahmad ibn Muhammad Ibn|date=1842|publisher=Benjamin Duprat|language=en|access-date=30 July 2018|archive-date=24 September 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190924231636/https://books.google.com/books?id=3cdLAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA35|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mcN7AAAAQBAJ&pg=PA38|title=Science in the Medieval World|last=al-Andalusi|first=Sa'id|year=2010|publisher=University of Texas Press|isbn=978-0292792319|language=en|access-date=30 July 2018|archive-date=24 September 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190924231632/https://books.google.com/books?id=mcN7AAAAQBAJ&pg=PA38|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pbo5AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA113|title=Travels in the Arabian Desert: With Special Reference to the Arabian Horse and Its Pedigree|last=Upton|first=Roger D.|date=1881|publisher=C.K. Paul & Company|language=en|access-date=30 July 2018|archive-date=24 September 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190924231639/https://books.google.com/books?id=pbo5AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA113|url-status=live}}</ref> * Arabic ''afrīqā'' (feminine noun) and ''ifrīqiyā'', now usually pronounced ''afrīqiyā'' (feminine) 'Africa', from ''‘afara'' [‘ = ''‘ain'', not ''’alif''] 'to be dusty' from ''‘afar'' 'dust, powder' and ''‘afir'' 'dried, dried up by the sun, withered' and ''‘affara'' 'to dry in the sun on hot sand' or 'to sprinkle with dust'.<ref>Modified from Wilhelm Sturmfels and Heinz Bischof: ''Unsere Ortsnamen im ABC erklärt nach Herkunft und Bedeutung'', Bonn, 1961, Ferdinand Dümmlers Verlag.</ref> * Possibly Phoenician ''faraqa'' in the sense of 'colony, separation'.<ref>Serge Losique: ''Dictionnaire étymologique des noms de pays et de peuples'', Paris, 1971, Éditions Klincksieck.</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. 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