History
How Did We Come by the Name ‘Africa’? – Is it a Foreign Import? By NII NTREH | Associate Editor themselves do not beg the curiosity of most, even the avowed well-wishers of said places. Perhaps, it is very human to not have to wonder about the meaning of a place-name. We tend to find meaning and our connection to these places after we are thrust into that space by fate. This may well be a forgivable existential deficiency but in a related discourse, the etymology and etiology of continents such as Europe and America are not as discreet and controversial as Africa’s. Africa is spelled as such or with a ‘k’ instead of a ‘c’. This even reveals a disparity in how the continent is appreciated. Those who cling to the ‘k’, often Rastafarians and others of extremely Afrocentric persuasion Sebastian Münster’s map of Africa in 1554. Photo Credit: (sometimes called hoteps), claim that Princeton University Library Afrika was the spelling endorsed by the continent’s natives prior to colonization by Africa‘s primordial role in the inception and the Europeans. The globally-acclaimed Africa is sophistication of the human race has been superbly therefore usurpation. But this claim is problematic documented for so many decades; sometimes out for two reasons. First, spoken language, which precedes writing, of genuine anthropological and biological curiosity is phonetic and not alphabetic. Writing is an attempt and other times, because of racism. We have been told that the first ancestors of to formally render sound discernible in other the human race were formed on the continent. ways other than through the ears. Alphabets are So were the earliest attempts at human self- characters written to capture the qualities of speech preservation and community made in the east and sounds. To that effect, spelling the continent’s south of the continent more than one million years name with ‘c’ or ‘k’ can honorably be dismissed as a ago. The cradle of human civilization as it is called, matter of style not Africa’s meaning to the general human story is not and substance. in debate, largely. On the other hand, however, what the name of Substantially, the continent means and how we came to call it the way in the ‘Africa’ are two of the least-raised and answered which name is questions about the mother continent. Frankly, toponomastics, the research into the meaning of m e n t i o n e d place-names, is not the most popular branch of can be seen more the historical sciences except when a place-name as is so out of the common that it begs our curiosity. important. Second, if The names of countries and continents 84
January-February 2021
DAWN
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