Africa - Etymology Africa - Etymology: Encyclopedia II - Africa - Etymology The name Africa came into Western use through the Romans, who used the name Africa terra — "land of the Afri" (plural, or "Afer" singular) — for the northern part of the continent, as the province of Africa with its capital Carthage, corresponding to modern-day Tunisia.
The Afri were a tribe — possibly Berber — who dwelt in North Africa in the Carthage area. The origin of Afer may be connected with Phoenician `afar, dust (also found in most other Semitic languages); some other etymologies that have ...
See also: Africa , Africa - Etymology , Africa - Geography , Africa - History , Africa - Politics , Africa - Precolonial Africa , Africa - Colonial Africa , Africa - Post-colonial Africa , Africa - Modern Africa , Africa - Economy , Africa - Demographics , Africa - Languages , Africa - Culture , Africa - Religion , Africa - Territories , Africa - Independent states , Africa - Territories possessions départements , Africa - Disputed territories , Africa - Table of territories and regions
Africa , Africa - Colonial Africa , Africa - Culture , Africa - Demographics , Africa - Disputed territories , Africa - Economy , Africa - Etymology , Africa - Geography , Africa - History , Africa - Independent states , Africa - Languages , Africa - Modern Africa , Africa - Politics , Africa - Post-colonial Africa , Africa - Precolonial Africa , Africa - Religion , Africa - Table of territories and regions , Africa - Territories , Africa - Territories possessions départements , Travel guide to Africa from Wikitravel , 2005 in Africa - 2006 in Africa , 31st G8 summit , AIDS in Africa , African Anarchism , African philosophy , African Union , African cuisine , Confederation of African Football , Congo craton , Ecology of Africa , Education in Africa , History of Africa , Human rights in Africa , Regions of Africa , Sub-Saharan Africa , Universities in Africa , Heart of Africa (game)
Africa: Encyclopedia II - Africa - Etymology
Africa - Etymology
The name Africa came into Western use through the Romans, who used the name Africa terra — "land of the Afri" (plural, or "Afer" singular) — for the northern part of the continent, as the province of Africa with its capital Carthage, corresponding to modern-day Tunisia.
The Afri were a tribe — possibly Berber — who dwelt in North Africa in the Carthage area. The origin of Afer may be connected with Phoenician `afar , dust (also found in most other Semitic languages); some other etymologies that have been postulated for the ancient name 'Africa' that are much more debatable include:
the Latin word aprica , meaning "sunny";
the Greek word aphrike , meaning "without cold" (see also List of traditional Greek place names). The historian Leo Africanus (1495-1554) attributed the origin to the Greek word phrike (φρικε, meaning "cold and horror"), combined with the negating prefix a-, so meaning a land free of cold and horror. However, the change of sound from ph to f in Greek is datable to about the first century, so this is unlikely to be the origin.
Egypt was considered part of Asia by the ancients, and first assigned to Africa by the geographer Ptolemy (85 - 165 AD), who accepted Alexandria as Prime Meridian and made 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.
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List of African countries by GDP ,
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agriculturalists ,
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blues ,
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citizens ,
civilizations ,
coal ,
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from the Judaic tradition ,
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mbalax ,
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mi² ,
monolithic churches ,
music of Africa ,
music of the Democratic Republic of Congo ,
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ninth century BCE ,
official languages ,
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oldest inhabited territory ,
one or both of ,
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sq mi ,
stock exchange ,
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tallies ,
the world ,
third millennium BCE ,
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violence Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Etymology", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki
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