The word Afrika!
From: Rastafari Speaks Message Board
Posted By Ta'ziyah Bandele
February 13, 2004
Greetingz Afrikanz and others,
I'm seeking for the etymology of the word Afrika? How did this word came to be? I know the first name of Afrika was Alke-bulan, that's how our Ancestors named it. What I'm seeking for is some history about the transmission from AlkeBulan to Afrika....
Could some one share his knowledge with INI here or give certain certain links where I could find Truth...
Posted By Djehuti
February 13, 2004
From Gerald Massey en Dr. Ivan Van Sertima we learn that the Kemmiu (ancient Egyptians) used the term "Af-Rui-Ka" to designate beginnings, refering to inner Africa, the place the ancestors of the ruling class came from, the so called "followers of Horus", who had invented metalurgy.
Later the Romans would latinize this word to 'Africa', and the adjective for Africa is 'Afer', which means 'black', 'dark'.
It has been suggested that Northwest Africa was called Alke-bulan by its original inhabitants (those who lived there before the Phoenicians arrived). But the Romans would destroy the most important local civilization, Carthage,and would add the whole area to their empire, which was already known as Africa in those days.
The Roman general who finally defeated Hannibal, among the greatest military geniuses of all time, Scipio the younger, was as a badge of honor named for the country he had conquered. So Africa is not named for a Roman general as many people still think, no, the Roman general in question was named for the country he had conquered: he was already known as Scipio the younger, but only after his conquest he was named Scipio Africanus.
And by the way, Europe was named for the Black Phoenician goddess Europa, which etymologically means 'the place where the sun sets'; the west. And the Greeks used to call Africa 'Libya'.
Posted By Ancient Youth
February 13, 2004
I read that it was a europeon map-maker by the name of Leo Afrikanos who it was named after around the 1500's.
Posted By Djehuti
February 13, 2004
Yes, this is a mistake many, many people are making. Who was Leo Africanus?
Well, the man was named al-Hassan ibn Mohammed al Wazzani by his parents and was born in either 1493 or 1494 in the city of Granada; he was a Moor. He became a very learnt and very well-travelled man, but unfortunately he was captured and enslaved by European pirates in 1518 and offered to pope Leo X as a present.
The pope baptized him, named him for himself Giovanni Leone, but the man became popularly known as Leo Africanus because of his skincolor. But the pope was quite impressed by the erudition of this African and set him free.
Leo Africanus became quite annoyed with the negative image European writers were, even then, creating of Africa so he wrote a famous book called "The History and Description of Africa" to set the record straight.
Several scholars have suggested that the Leo's lifestory has inspired Shakespear to write Othello, so one might argue that Leo Africanus was the original Othello! Leo Africanus can be seen as a forerunner of great African scholars like Cheikh Anta Diop, John Henrik Clarke, John G. Jackson, etcetera, and I think we must stop confusing him for a white European.
Posted By Ta'Ziyah Bandele
February 15, 2004
Give Thanks Brotha Djehuti for the Info.
I also found some information about the word Afrika. It comes from a book named "De Afrikanen" (The Africans) it is saying;
The old romans called their colonial province in recent Tunis and East-Algeria 'Africa', probably because the name was in combination with a Latin or Greek word for that area or population , or the name was descend from out of the local used languages like Berbers or Phoenisch (Foenisch). Further he is asking in his text; Did the Romans called this Continent after the Latin word Aprica, meaning "sunny". Or did the Romans and Greeks used the Greek word Aphrike, meaning "without cold". Next he is also saying that Arabic immagrants transmissed the word Africa to Ifriqia and that these two sources (Semetic and a Greek-roman) have gave their support to the identification of the word Africa.
What ya think Djehuti? and others....
Posted By I-Am-In-Hotep!
February 15, 2004
Afuraka/Afuraitkait(Africa) Afurakanu/Afuraitkaitnut(Africans) Afurakani/Afuraitkaitnit(African) culture
By the ancient Kemites..... thousands of years before any greeks and romans came to the scene.
Afu-Ra-Ka meaning house of the great soul of Ra!!
Do the Math!
Posted By Djehuti
February 15, 2004
Yeah, you might translate it like that, but Af-Rui-Ka was merely a term, like I said before, the Kemmiu used to designate beginnings, refering to inner Africa, so you might translate it the way as has been done above.
But what about the book "The Africans", is it the book by Kenyan scholar Ali Mazrui, the one who avoided any discussion on the ethnic background of the kemmiu?
Eurocentric scholars are always trying to start history with the Greeks and Romans, suggesting the Kemmiu didn't possess a proper civilization. And by the way, in my book "The Return of the Black Star Line" I discuss the etymology of the word Africa (p. 41).
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