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Maghreb Placename Etymology
The place names of the Maghreb come from a variety of origins, mostly Arabic and Berber, but including a few derived from Phoenician, Latin, and several other languages. This is well illustrated by the three largest cities of Algeria, for instance: Algiers from Arabic ''al-jazā'ir'' "the islands", Oran from ''wahran'' from Berber ''wa-iharan'' "place of lions" and Constantine (Arabic ''Qasantina'' ) from the Latin name of the emperor Constantine. Phoenician names include Jijel, shortened from Latin ''Igilgili'', from Phoenician ''i gilgilt'' "Skull Island" (according to Lipinski), and Carthage, ultimately from Punic ''qrt-ḥdšt'' () "New City." Given the fact that Arabs founded very few cities in the regions they conquered, a large portion of cities in Arab countries have non-Arab etymologies. Many places, however, have had their names changed and "Arabized." The following toponymic elements are common in place names in the Maghreb: *'' agadir'', granary, wall , fro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maghreb
The Maghreb (; ar, الْمَغْرِب, al-Maghrib, lit=the west), also known as the Arab Maghreb ( ar, المغرب العربي) and Northwest Africa, is the western part of North Africa and the Arab world. The region includes Algeria, Libya, Mauritania (also considered part of West Africa), Morocco, and Tunisia. The Maghreb also includes the disputed territory of Western Sahara (controlled mostly by Morocco and partly by the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic) and the Spanish cities Ceuta and Melilla.Article 143. As of 2018, the region had a population of over 100 million people. Through the 18th and 19th centuries, English sources often referred to the region as the Barbary Coast or the Barbary States, a term derived from the demonym of the Berbers. Sometimes, the region is referred to as the Land of the Atlas, referring to the Atlas Mountains, which are located within it. The Maghreb is usually defined as encompassing much of the northern part of Africa, includi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Casbah
A kasbah (, also ; ar, قَـصَـبَـة, qaṣaba, lit=fortress, , Maghrebi Arabic: ), also spelled qasba, qasaba, or casbah, is a fortress, most commonly the citadel or fortified quarter of a city. It is also equivalent to the term ''alcazaba'' in Spanish (), which derives from the same Arabic word. By extension, the term can also refer to a medina quarter, particularly in Algeria. In various languages, the Arabic word, or local words borrowed from the Arabic word, can also refer to a settlement, a fort, a watchtower, or a blockhouse. Citadel or fortress The term ''qasaba'' was historically flexible but it essentially denotes a fortress, commonly a citadel that protects a city or settlement area, or that serves as the administrative center. A kasbah citadel typically housed the military garrison and other privileged buildings such as a palace, along with other amenities such as a mosque and a hammam (bathhouse). Some kasbahs are built in a strategic elevated position o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sabkha
A sabkha ( ar, سبخة) is a coastal, supratidal mudflat or sandflat in which evaporite-saline minerals accumulate as the result of semiarid to arid climate. Sabkhas are gradational between land and intertidal zone within restricted coastal plains just above normal high-tide level. Within a sabkha, evaporite-saline minerals sediments typically accumulate below the surface of mudflats or sandflats. Evaporite-saline minerals, tidal-flood, and aeolian deposits characterize many sabkhas found along modern coastlines. The accepted type locality for a sabkha is at the southern coast of the Persian Gulf, in the United Arab Emirates.Neuendorf, K.K.E., J.P. Mehl, Jr., and J.A. Jackson, eds. (2005) ''Glossary of Geology'' (5th ed.). Alexandria, Virginia, American Geological Institute. 779 pp. Tucker, M.E. and Wright, V.P., 2009. ''Carbonate sedimentology.'' John Wiley & Sons. and Warren, J.K., 2006. Evaporites: sediments, resources and hydrocarbons. Springer Science & Business Media.Warr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oued
Wadi ( ar, وَادِي, wādī), alternatively ''wād'' ( ar, وَاد), North African Arabic Oued, is the Arabic term traditionally referring to a valley. In some instances, it may refer to a wet (ephemeral) riverbed that contains water only when heavy rain occurs. Etymology The term ' is very widely found in Arabic toponyms. Some Spanish toponyms are derived from Andalusian Arabic where ' was used to mean a permanent river, for example: Guadalcanal from ''wādī al-qanāl'' ( ar, وَادِي الْقَنَال, "river of refreshment stalls"), Guadalajara from ''wādī al-ḥijārah'' ( ar, وَادِي الْحِجَارَة, "river of stones"), or Guadalquivir, from ''al-wādī al-kabīr'' ( ar, اَلْوَادِي الْكَبِير, "the great river"). General morphology and processes Wadis are located on gently sloping, nearly flat parts of deserts; commonly they begin on the distal portions of alluvial fans and extend to inland sabkhas or dry lakes. In basin and ra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ksar
Ksar or qsar (Maghrebi Arabic: قصر ''qṣer'' or ڭصر ''gser'', plural ''qṣur''; Berber: ⵉⴴⵔⵎ ''aghrem'' or ''ighrem'', plural: ''igherman''), plural ksars, qsars, ksour or qsour, is the North African term for "fortified village," from Arabic ''qaṣar'' (), itself possibly loaned from Latin ''castrum''. The term generally refers to a Berber fortified village. Related terms The origin of the Maghrebi Arabic term ''qsar'' is ''qaṣar'' () in Standard Arabic, which means "castle" or "palace"; this term is also found elsewhere in the Muslim world. See, for example, the Iberian ''alcázar''. The Berber (Amazigh) original word for "ksar" used in North Africa by the Berber-speaking populations is ''aghrem'' (singular) or ''igherman'' (plural). In the Maghreb, the term has a more general meaning of "fortified village," or "fort". The Berber word ''igherman'' might be a cognate word, with an identical meaning, with the word '' Garamantes'', which is the name o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tamahaq
Tamahaq (''Tahaggart Tamahaq'', ''Tamahaq Tahaggart'') is the only known Northern Tuareg language, spoken in Algeria, western Libya and northern Niger. It varies little from the Southern Tuareg languages of the Aïr Mountains, Azawagh and Adagh. The differences mostly consist of sound substitutions, such as ''Tamahaq'' instead of ''Tamajaq'' or ''Tamasheq''. Varieties There are three main varieties of Tamahaq: *''Tahaggart'', spoken around the Ahaggar Mountains in southern Algeria by the Kel Ahaggar confederation *''Ajjer'', spoken by the Kel Ajjer confederation *''Ghat'', spoken around Djanet in southeast Algeria and Ghat Ghat, a term used in the Indian subcontinent, depending on the context could refer either to a range of stepped hills with valleys (ghati in Hindi), such as the Eastern Ghats and Western Ghats; or the series of steps leading down to a body o ... in Libya. According to Blench (2006), Tahaggart and Ghat are distinct Tuareg languages. References ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ancient Egyptian Language
The Egyptian language or Ancient Egyptian ( ) is a dead Afro-Asiatic language that was spoken in ancient Egypt. It is known today from a large corpus of surviving texts which were made accessible to the modern world following the decipherment of the ancient Egyptian scripts in the early 19th century. Egyptian is one of the earliest written languages, first being recorded in the hieroglyphic script in the late 4th millennium BC. It is also the longest-attested human language, with a written record spanning over 4000 years. Its classical form is known as Middle Egyptian, the vernacular of the Middle Kingdom of Egypt which remained the literary language of Egypt until the Roman period. By the time of classical antiquity the spoken language had evolved into Demotic, and by the Roman era it had diversified into the Coptic dialects. These were eventually supplanted by Arabic after the Muslim conquest of Egypt, although Bohairic Coptic remains in use as the liturgical lan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hassi
Hassi is a Finnish surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Jouko Hassi (born 1959), Finnish sprinter * Satu Hassi Satu Maijastiina Hassi (born 3 June 1951) is a Finnish politician, and former Member of the European Parliament for the Green League. She served as the Minister of Environment and Development Co-Operation in Paavo Lipponen's second cabinet bet ... (born 1951), Finnish politician {{surname, Hassi Finnish-language surnames ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hamada
A hamada ( ar, حمادة, ) is a type of desert landscape consisting of high, largely barren, hard rocky plateaus, where most of the sand has been removed by deflation. The majority of the Sahara is in fact hamada. Other examples are Negev desert in Israel and the in Algeria. Formation Hamadas are produced by the wind removing the fine products of weathering: an aeolian process known as deflation. The finer-grained products are taken away in suspension, while the sand is removed through saltation and surface creep, leaving behind a landscape of gravel, boulders and bare rock. Related landforms Hamada is related to desert pavement (known variously as reg, serir, gibber or saï), which occurs as stony plains or depressions covered with gravels or boulders, rather than as highland plateaus. Hamadas exist in contrast to '' ergs'', which are large areas of shifting sand dunes.McKnight, Tom L. and Darrel Hess. ''Physical Geography: A Landscape Appreciation'', 8th ed., pp. 495-6. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Qanat
A qanat or kārīz is a system for transporting water from an aquifer or water well to the surface, through an underground aqueduct; the system originated approximately 3,000 BC in what is now Iran. The function is essentially the same across North Africa and the Middle East but the system operates under a variety of regional names: ''qanat'' or kārīz in Iran, ''foggara'' in Algeria, ''khettara'' in Morocco, ''falaj'' in Oman, ''karez'' in Afghanistan, ''auyoun'' in Saudi Arabia, et al. The largest extant and functional qanat systems are located in Iran, Afghanistan, Oman, the oases of Turfan region of China, Algeria, and Pakistan. This is a system of water supply that allows water to be transported over long distances in hot dry climates without loss of much of the water to evaporation. The system has the advantage of being resistant to natural disasters such as earthquakes and floods, and to deliberate destruction in war. Furthermore, it is almost insensitive to th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sahara
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Erg (landform)
An erg (also sand sea or dune sea, or sand sheet if it lacks dunes) is a broad, flat area of desert covered with wind-swept sand with little or no vegetative cover. The word is derived from the Arabic word ''ʿarq'' (), meaning "dune field". Strictly speaking, an erg is defined as a desert area that contains more than of aeolian or wind-blown sand and where sand covers more than 20% of the surface. Smaller areas are known as "dune fields". The largest hot desert in the world, the Sahara, covers and contains several ergs, such as the Chech Erg and the Issaouane Erg in Algeria. Approximately 85% of all the Earth's mobile sand is found in ergs that are greater than . Ergs are also found on other celestial bodies, such as Venus, Mars, and Saturn's moon Titan. Description Ergs are concentrated in two broad belts between 20° to 40°N and 20° to 40°S latitudes, which include regions crossed by the dry, subsiding air of the trade winds. Active ergs are limited to regions that ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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