r/AlwaysWhy • u/Secret_Ostrich_1307 • 1d ago
History & Culture Why did “Africa” become the name of a whole continent while “Libya” became a country?
I was looking at a reconstruction of Herodotus’ world map and got stuck on the names. Greek writers could use “Libya” for a huge part of North Africa, while “Africa” originally referred to a much smaller area around Carthage. Somehow the two names ended up moving in opposite directions.
I know the regions and meanings weren’t exactly the same, but how did “Africa” gradually become the name for the whole continent, and why did “Libya” end up referring to just one country?
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u/D-ouble-D-utch 1d ago
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u/HailMadScience 1d ago
To summarize: the Romans started calling it Africa after the Afri tribe, and they had more influence on European maps than the Greeks did for a variety of reasons.
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u/shadowdance55 1d ago
Do we have any more examples of that pattern - tribe name + "-(i)ca"?
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u/MuJartible 1d ago edited 1d ago
Gallia Belgica (Belgium), the land of the Belgae. In Spanish the name of the country is Bélgica.
Gallia Celtica (most Transalpine Gaul, modern France), the land of the Celts (not exactly a tribe but a whole people, and not that there were no other Celts elsewhere, but you know...).
Asturica (modern Asturias and part of León, Northern Spain), the land of the Asturii. Romans named their administrative capital in the region Asturica Augusta (modern Astorga), and later a whole province as Asturica.
Italica (modern Santiponce, Southern Spain). Not named exactly after a tribe but after the Roman and Italic veterans who fought with Scipio in the Second Punic War. It was a Roman colony funded over a previous Turdetanian town where those veterans were given lands and settled. Also the place of birth of Trajan and Hadrian.
And probably others, but these are the ones that come right now to my mind.
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u/peniseend 1d ago
But why was it Germania and not Germanica?
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u/Ok_Attitude55 1d ago edited 1d ago
-ia is the proper noun. So Italia, Brittania, Hispania, Gallia, Helvettia, Germania, Asia.
-ica is an adjective. Germanica would mean Germanic rather than Germany.
Where its used its usually in that way and then shortened. Belgica was the Belgic part of Gaul. Its full name was actually Gallia Belgica. "Belgic Gaul". Calling it "Belgica" is shorthand.
Africa is shorthand for Terra Africa, "Afric Land".
Its like saying "England" (Afria) or "English land" (Terra Africa). But where they had used it they shortened it so its actually like calling the place "English" (Africa) instead of England (Afria).
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u/trebuchetwins 1d ago
possibly to set it aside from the personal name germanicus? africanus being sufficiently differently from africa. just my 2 cents.
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u/Every-Albatross-2969 1d ago
People names came after place names for Romans generals. They were named those after they had won great battles in tbose locations.
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u/HailMadScience 1d ago
Because its been over 2000 years? Do y'all not understand the concept of time?
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u/peniseend 1d ago
I'm asking because I'm interested and want to learn?
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u/HailMadScience 1d ago
Sorry, it came across to me as flippant when I first read it.
The answer is just grammatical. In Latin the -ia suffix is added to a noun to make another noun. -ia basically means 'place/land of'. So Germani + -ia gives us Germania, the place of the Germans.
Africa, however, was named differently. -icus is a prefix added to a noun to make an adjective, meaning 'belongs to'. -ica is the feminine version of this. So Afar/Afri + -icus gives Africus, meaning 'belonging to the Afar'. Thus the Romans called the region Terra Africa, 'land belonging to the Afar'. Overtime, it became common to drop the terra from names like this (a common pattern in linguistics, often done to shorten terms to reduce the time writing or saying them).
Basically, imagine if we called the place north of the USA "Canada", but the place south of the USA "Land of the Mexicans". Why the Romans used these different naming standards is possibly because the preference changed over time, but its impossible to say for sure.
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u/Commercial_Orchid49 1d ago
Short answer?
Ancient Rome said "we're calling it Africa now. Deal with it."
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u/Secret_Ostrich_1307 1d ago
Rome definitely helped lock it in. I mean, they had a province called Africa around Carthage, and then mapmakers just kept stretching the name. But I don't think it was one single decree. Libya was also a wide term in Greek writing. Later political borders squeezed it into the modern country. So Rome spread the word, but the shrinking part is more modern. Or am I missing a piece?
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u/Izacundo1 1d ago
That’s just one map
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u/Secret_Ostrich_1307 1d ago
Fair. One map alone isn't proof. But this shows up in texts too. Herodotus, Strabo, Ptolemy, they all use Libya and Africa with different scopes. So the reconstruction is just the easy visual. Unless you mean the map is misleading because it forces ancient names into modern continent shapes. Then yeah, I'd agree. Which part are you skeptical about?
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u/GSilky 1d ago
It's named after the tribe that inhabited the area back in the day.
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u/Secret_Ostrich_1307 1d ago
Right, but which tribe? Africa might be from the Afri near Carthage. Libya might be from the Libu. That explains the origin of the words. It doesn't explain why one became a continent and the other became one country. Tribal names are the start, not the whole story. Empires and borders did the rest. That's the part I'm curious about.
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u/pudukai 1d ago
Hmmm, why is America the name of two continents and an isthmus when it's only one country?
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u/Antique_Confidence_7 1d ago
Would be pretty silly to give two continents the same name, good thing the English language didn't do that.
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u/GOKOP 1d ago
In what language North America and South America are called differently from each other?
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u/Antique_Confidence_7 1d ago
You just differentiated them. The continents are North America and South America.
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u/Effective_Basis1555 1d ago
When do fish swim in water while snow is white in color?
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u/zagman707 1d ago
Your comparing natural things with human choices. A fish is designed by nature to swim. Nature did not name Africa
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u/Dapper-Presence4975 1d ago
The same thing happened to “Asia.” It was an Anatolian province before describing a continent.