Azania - some etymological considerations.

Abstract

There have been a number of attempts to establish an etymology for the name Azania. Liddell and Scott offer the derivation 'land of Zan or Zeus', Casson suggests that Azania has the same root as Zanzibar, and that this root had the meaning 'black'. Huntingford argues that the name derives from the Greek 'to dry, parch up'. Finally, Dreyer points out that the Afro-Asiatic languages of north-east Africa have a word meaning 'brother' which may have given rise to the name. Liddell and Scott's derivation refers to Azania in Arcadia, whereas the others refer to a region in north-east Africa. This article investigates these derivations and goes on to ask whether the use of the same name for the Arcadian and the African Azania is a coincidence or not.