Where does “Mauritania” come from?
Mauritania derives from Latin Mauritania, the Roman province named after Latin Maurus, from Ancient Greek Μαυρός, originally meaning dark or swarthy.
Ancestry of “Mauritania”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Latin | Maurītānia | — |
| 2 | Latin | Mauritanus | Mauritanian, of the Moors |
| 3 | Latin | maurus | Moorish, North African |
| 4 | French | maure | Moorish |
| 5 | Middle French | moré | Moor (person of Berber descent) |
| 6 | Old French | More | — |
| 7 | Latin | Maurus | Of or pertaining to the Moors; Moorish,... |
| 8 | Ancient Greek | Μαυρούσιος | an inhabitant of Mauretania; a Mauretanian |
| 9 | Ancient Greek | -ούσιος | forms relational adjectives: of or pertaining to |
| 10 | Ancient Greek | -ῐος | belonging to; of”, “belonging to”, “pertaining to |
| 11 | Proto-Indo-European | -yós | Creates adjectives from noun or verb stems |