The Afri (singular, Afer) were a people located on the shores of the southern Mediterranean Sea near the city of Carthage, nowadays Tunisia. The first record of their existence was made during the Punic Wars (264-146 B.C.) between ancient Rome and Carthage. The name may be connected with Phoenician `afar, dust (also found in other Semitic languages). The most common etymology for the continent of Africa is traced to this group. The Romans referred to the region as Africa terra (land of the Afri), combining "Afri" with the suffix "-ca" to form an adjective. Following the defeat of Carthage in the Third Punic War, Rome set up the province of Africa.
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Another sense
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. Herodotus wrote that the Garamantes, a North African people, used to live in caves. The Ancient Greek called troglodytès an African people who lived in caves. Africa was coined by the Romans and "Ifriqiyeh" is the arabized Latin name.[1]
See also
References
- ^ Names of countries, Decret & Fantar, 1981
External links
- Africism, bc.edu
