Etymology
Afri was a Latin name used to refer to the Carthaginians, who dwelt in North Africa in modern-day Tunisia. This name seems to have originally referred to a native Libyan tribe; however, see Terence#Biography for discussion. The name is usually connected with Phoenician afar, "dust", but a 1981 hypothesis[8] has asserted that it stems from the Berber ifri (plural ifran) "cave", in reference to cave dwellers.[9] The same word[9] may be found in the name of the Banu Ifran from Algeria and Tripolitania, a Berber tribe originally from Yafran (also known as Ifrane) in northwestern Libya.[10]
Under Roman rule, Carthage became the capital of Africa Province, which also included the coastal part of modern Libya.[11] The Latin suffix "-ica" can sometimes be used to denote a land (e.g., in Celtica from Celtae, as used by Julius Caesar). The later Muslim kingdom of Ifriqiya, modern-day Tunisia, also preserved a form of the name.
According to the ancient Romans, Africa lay to the west of Egypt, while "Asia" was used to refer to Anatolia and lands to the east. A definite line was drawn between the two continents by the geographer Ptolemy (85–165 AD), indicating Alexandria along the Prime Meridian and making 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.
Other etymological hypotheses have been postulated for the ancient name "Africa":
The 1st-century Jewish historian Flavius Josephus (Ant. 1.15) asserted that it was named for Epher, grandson of Abraham according to Gen. 25:4, whose descendants, he claimed, had invaded Libya.
Isidore of Seville in Etymologiae XIV.5.2. suggests the Latin aprica "sunny".
Leo Africanus (1488–1554) proposed the Greek aphrike (Αφρική), "without cold". Africanus suggested that the Greek phrike (φρίκη, "cold and horror"), combined with the privative prefix "a-", indicated a land free of cold and horror.[12]
Massey, in 1881, states that Africa is derived from the Egyptian af-rui-ka, "to turn toward the opening of the Ka." The Ka is the energetic double of every person and "opening of the Ka" refers to a womb or birthplace. Africa would be, for the Egyptians, "the birthplace."[13]
Yet another hypothesis was proposed by Michèle Fruyt,[14] linking the Latin word with africus "south wind", which would be of Umbrian origin and mean originally "rainy wind".
Africa's name is derived from an ancient area in modern day Tunisia known as Ifriqiya or sunny place, in Tamazight.[citation needed]
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