Etymologically
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Africa

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈaː.frɪ.ka][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈaː.fri.ka][1]

Forms

Āfrica f sg (genitive Āfricae); first declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin āfricus (“African”), the feminine of the adjective used as a noun with terra (“land”) understood.[1][2] The adjective is formed from Āfer (“an African”), plural Āfrī, the name of a people near Carthage, with the suffix -icus.[1][2] Etymonline calls the origin of that name uncertain;[2] Lewis & Short say that the Romans took the name from the Carthaginians for their own country, and that Ancient Greek Ἀφρική (Aphrikḗ) has only this sense.[3] Lewis & Short cite the adjective, beside the word for land, already in Ennius.[3]

Solinus and Martianus Capella derived it from a son of Hercules called Afer.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first author in the OLD is Cicero, for the Roman province: a praetor then held Africa.[5][6][7]

Semantic evolution

At first it was the territory of Carthage, and after Carthage was destroyed it became the name of the Roman province, roughly modern Tunisia.[8][5] Sallust uses it for the whole continent as the ancients knew it, and also by metonymy for its people.[8][3] Pomponius Mela and Pliny the Elder distinguish Africa in the narrow sense from the wider continent,[3][4] and late writers count it as the third part of the world beside Europe and Asia.[4]

The Latin word, at first used only of the region around Tunisia, was gradually extended to the whole continent.[2] A medieval English chronicle uses it for the south-west wind, in place of Āfricus.[9]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of the Roman province.[5][7]
  • 86–34 BC – Sallust uses it of the continent and of its people.[8][3][7]
  • 43/44 AD – Pomponius Mela marks off Africa in the narrow sense.[3][4][7]
  • 5th century AD – Martianus Capella derives the name from Afer, son of Hercules.[4][7]

Meanings

Proper noun

  1. Africa, the continent, or the part of it known to the ancients.[5][10]
  2. The Roman province of Africa, the former territory of Carthage.[5][8]
  3. (by metonymy) The people of Africa.[5][6]
  • Āfer
  • Āfrī
  • āfricānus
  • āfricus
  • English Africa

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d e Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ a b c d e f Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  7. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  8. ^ a b c d Simpson, D. P. (1959), Cassell's New Latin Dictionary, London: Cassell
  9. ^ du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre
  10. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.