Toponomastics of Eritrea in the Light of Arabic Geographical Atlases Part I

Toponomastics of Eritrea in the Light of Arabic Geographical Atlases Part I. Generalities, 2016 by BOGUSŁAW R. ZAGÓRSKI

Summary

Eritrea as a part of the Arab World is an unclear idea and it is of interest therefore to study its presentation as a cultural-geographical entity with its toponymic coverage by Arabic publications. The scarcity and difficult availability of the local cartographic products and other publications documenting the state-of-the-art of Arabic toponyms in the country, directs research towards external sources, in this case foreign school atlases in Arabic. This study surveys all Eritrean toponyms found in the collection of 48 such atlases and attempts at finding the rules of Arabicizing the names, the use of verbal roots and word structure patterns, both original Arabic ones as well as those spontaneously created for this occasional purpose, and underlines the low degree of standardization occurring in observed procedures.

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