HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

(singular ) was a Latin name for the inhabitants of
Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
, referring in its widest sense to all the lands south of the Mediterranean (
Ancient Libya The Latin name ''Libya'' (from Greek Λιβύη: ''Libyē'', which came from Berber: '' Libu'') referred to North Africa during the Iron Age and Classical Antiquity. Berbers occupied the area for thousands of years before the recording of histo ...
). Latin speakers at first used as an adjective, meaning "of Africa". As a substantive, it denoted a native of ; i.e., an African.


Etymology

The etymology of the term remains uncertain. It may derive from a Punic term for an indigenous population of the area surrounding
Carthage Carthage was the capital city of Ancient Carthage, on the eastern side of the Lake of Tunis in what is now Tunisia. Carthage was one of the most important trading hubs of the Ancient Mediterranean and one of the most affluent cities of the classi ...
. (See Terence for discussion.) The name is usually connected with Phoenician ''ʿafar'' "dust" (also found in other Semitic languages), but a 1981 hypothesis asserted that it stems from the Berber '' ifri'' (plural ''ifran'') "cave", in reference to
cave dweller A cave dweller, or troglodyte, is a human being who inhabits a cave or the area beneath the overhanging rocks of a cliff. Prehistory Some prehistoric humans were cave dwellers, but most were not (''see'' '' Homo'' and Human evolution). Suc ...
s.Geo. Babington Michell, "The Berbers"
''Journal of the Royal African Society'', Vol. 2, No. 6 (January 1903), pp. 161-194.
(See
Tataouine Tataouine ( ber, Tiṭṭawin; ar, تطاوين) is a city in southern Tunisia. It is the capital of the Tataouine Governorate. The below-ground "cave dwellings" of the native Berber population, designed for coolness and protection, render the ...
.) The same word may be found in the name of the
Banu Ifran The Banu Ifran ( ar, بنو يفرن, ''Banu Yafran'') or Ifranids, were a Zenata Berber tribe prominent in the history of pre-Islamic and early Islamic North Africa. In the 8th century, they established a kingdom in the central Maghreb, with ...
from
Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...
and Tripolitania, a Berber tribe originally from
Yafran Yafran ( Berber: ⵢⴼⵔⴰⵏ ''Ifran'', ar, يفرن, links=https://www.temehu.com/Cities_sites/Yefren.htm ', it, Iefren), also spelled ''Jefren'', ''Yefren'', ''Yifran'', ''Yifrin'' or ''Ifrane'', is a city in northwestern Libya, in the J ...
(also known as ''Ifrane'') in northwestern Libya. The classical historian Flavius Josephus asserted that descendants of
Abraham Abraham, ; ar, , , name=, group= (originally Abram) is the common Hebrew patriarch of the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In Judaism, he is the founding father of the special relationship between the Jews ...
's grandson
Epher Epher*Ephera'im, Effrain* ( ''ʿĒp̄er'') was a grandson of Abraham, according to Gen. 25:4, whose descendants, Jewish historian Flavius Josephus claimed, had invaded Libya. Josephus also claimed that Epher's name was the etymological root of the ...
invaded the region and gave it their own name.


Africa

This ethnonym provided the source of the term ''Africa''. The Romans referred to the region as ''Africa terra'' (land of the Afri), based on the stem ''Afr-'' with the adjective suffix ''-ic'', giving ''Africus'', ''Africa'', ''Africum'' in the nominative singular of the three Latin genders. Following the defeat of Carthage in the Third Punic War, Rome set up the province of
Africa Proconsularis Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
. ''Afer'' came to be a cognomen for people from this province. The
Germanic tribe This list of ancient Germanic peoples is an inventory of ancient Germanic cultures, tribal groupings and other alliances of Germanic tribes and civilisations in ancient times. The information comes from various ancient historical documents, beginn ...
of the Vandals conquered the Roman Diocese of Africa in the 5th century; the empire reconquered it as the
Praetorian prefecture of Africa The praetorian prefecture of Africa ( la, praefectura praetorio Africae) was an administrative division of the Eastern Roman Empire in the Maghreb. With its seat at Carthage, it was established after the reconquest of northwestern Africa from the ...
in AD 534. The Latin name ''Africa'' came into
Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walte ...
after the Islamic conquest as '' Ifriqiya''. The name survives today as Ifira and Ifri-n-Dellal in Greater
Kabylie Kabylia ('' Kabyle: Tamurt n Leqbayel'' or ''Iqbayliyen'', meaning "Land of Kabyles", '','' meaning "Land of the Tribes") is a cultural, natural and historical region in northern Algeria and the homeland of the Kabyle people. It is part of ...
(
Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...
). A Berber tribe was called
Banu Ifran The Banu Ifran ( ar, بنو يفرن, ''Banu Yafran'') or Ifranids, were a Zenata Berber tribe prominent in the history of pre-Islamic and early Islamic North Africa. In the 8th century, they established a kingdom in the central Maghreb, with ...
in the Middle Ages, and Ifurace was the name of a Tripolitan people in the 6th century. Herodotus wrote that the
Garamantes The Garamantes ( grc, Γαράμαντες, translit=Garámantes; la, Garamantes) were an ancient civilisation based primarily in present-day Libya. They most likely descended from Iron Age Berber tribes from the Sahara, although the earliest kno ...
, a North African people, used to live in caves. The Greeks called an African people who lived in caves ''
Troglodytae The Troglodytae ( el, , ''Trōglodytai''), or Troglodyti (literally "cave goers"), were people mentioned in various locations by many ancient Greek and Roman geographers and historians, including Herodotus (5th century BCE), Agatharchides (2nd c ...
''.{{citation needed, date=March 2019


See also

*
Zenata The Zenata (Berber language: Iznaten) are a group of Amazigh (Berber) tribes, historically one of the largest Berber confederations along with the Sanhaja and Masmuda. Their lifestyle was either nomadic or semi-nomadic. Etymology ''Iznaten (� ...


References


External links


Africism
bc.edu History of Africa