The Meaning of Town Names in Morocco

The Meaning of Town Names in Morocco

The Meaning of Town Names in Morocco: Morocco’s cities are distinguished by their beauty and ancient history, and the imprint of each one separately, and because behind each Moroccan city lies a history of steadfastness, civilization and art. Each Moroccan city has a name that has meanings and connotations that may be hidden to many Moroccans. marocain

Rabat:

The history of the city of Rabat goes back to different historical periods, except that the initial creation of the city dates back to the time of the Almoravids who established a fortified ligament, so it was called Rabat.

Fez:

When Mawla Idris I entered Morocco to flee Abbasid persecution, al-Qadr wanted to settle himself and his army in an area and struck the axe into it to begin construction, and so it was called the city of Fez because of the axe strike .

Meknes:

The name Meknès goes back to a Berber tribe calling itself Meknèsa, which at the time occupied the eastern Maghreb as far as Tafilalet, and which received Moula Idris I, founder of the Kingdom of Morocco and the Idrisid kingdom in particular in the 13th century AD.

Casablanca:

In the old days it was called Anfa, then the Portuguese came and called it Casa Branca, which means Casablanca in Portuguese, after one of the white houses overlooking the Atlantic coast. When the Spanish arrived, they converted the name to Spanish, where Casa means a house or home, and blanca means white. The French kept the name, as it was common at the time.

Tangier:

The oral legend that circulates among the inhabitants of the city of Tangier says that after the flood, Noah’s ship lost the way while looking for land, and one day a dove landed on the ship and a bit of mud in the legs, so the ship’s passengers shouted: l’argile est ja … clay is ja. Then the region was called Tangier and it is said that Tangier is the name of a queen who ruled Morocco in the past.

Tetouan:

People disagreed about the name of the city of Tétouan, for it reached seven images in books and official documents: Tétouan, Tataouan, Tataouine, Tataouine, Tataouan, Tataouan, Titawan, and these seven versions are all pure Berber and have no meaning in the Arabic language; as for the Amazigh language, it means an eye or eyes, and perhaps its most ancient inhabitants of the Amazighs called it so many eyes.

Marrakech:

The name Marrakech comes from the word Amor n yakush; that is, God’s country, where Berbers use the word tamuret or things that mean country. Many Arabs still refer to Morocco as a whole.

The Meaning of Town Names in Morocco: Nador:

This is due to the name of the Berber Ait Nador tribe who inhabited the area centuries ago, and it is thought that the use of the area during the Rif war as an advanced base to keep watch on the Spanish occupiers was also behind the name, while Mohammed V called it the first king of Morocco after independence, the town of El Nour.

Chefchaouen:

Stories differ and are numerous about the designation of Chefchaouen, one of which says that its Amazigh meaning is “the horns of the mountain”, and that the name was given to the town in reference to the peaks of the Rif mountain range overlooking it. Another narrative goes on to say that the name comes from “Chouf Chaouen” in the Moroccan dialect, which means in classical Arabic, “Look Shawn”, where the actual term is distorted to end with the name of the town: Chefchaouen.

Ouazzane:

Throughout studies of the town’s history, there are three contradictory accounts concerning the origin of the name of the town of Wazzan, which are difficult to weigh up and support one of them. There are 3 narrations that explain the name of this town:

The first narrative: It says that the origin of the word is Latin, and this name was pronounced over the city by one of the Roman emperors whose crown prince bore Ezinus, and from this came the word Oazzan

The second narration: this name is derived from the Arabic word that was given to one of the people named Abd al-Salam, who used to put his scales at the entrance to the city at the place now known as the sand, and where the merchants were obliged to use them to weigh their goods and wares, so they called it Al-Wazzan, which the city later carried, due to the large amount of traffic.

The third narration: This narration says that the origin of the word; Abbreviated from the word :; Wad Al-Zain; Wad Zaz; The so-called little river is located in the northern highlands, renowned for the enchanted beauty of the city’s distinctive landscape.

The Meaning of Town Names in Morocco: Taza:

Researchers have differed on the origin of the name Taza, but the closest thing to the right is a return to the barbarian word Tisa, meaning strait.

Taroudant:

Opinions differed on the origin of the name, as its origin in the Amazigh language means a low sky, perhaps due to its proximity to the hill of Sidi Borgah, 4 kilometers from the town, and it was said that the word is derived from the word Adraren combined Adrar in the sense of the High Atlas, with the exception of several widely accepted sources, which claim that the name derives from the term Taro Dante; Tamazight, “The Boys Are Going”

Ouarzazate:

An Amazigh compound made up of two words; It means without Zazat; And noise means, which is how the locals chose to give this name, meaning without noise to this town, which was built from the 1920s around a military barracks erected by the French authorities for protection, and Ouarzazate is the capital of cinema .

Oujda:

There’s a difference over the origin of its name, as one team of researchers maintains that its name is derived from the word grandmothers; that is, ambushes carried out by insurgents, bandits and bandits for caravan merchants. However, it is likely that its name was associated with a historical event represented in the pursuit of Suleiman Shammakh who assassinated King Idris I on the orders of the Abbasids who sent him on a special mission to liquidate Mawla Idris I who established an independent emirate from the Abbasid Rule in Morocco. The poison was destroyed by Maoula Idriss and he fled eastwards, but the Moroccans tracked him down and found him not far from today’s Oujda and killed him, Consequently, it was given the name Oujda before being dubbed the Eastern Maghreb’s capital.

The Meaning of Town Names in Morocco: Larache:

It’s likely that the Bani Arous tribes first called it Larache. Because the region was a vineyard. Dr. mentioned. Mohamed Al Maghraoui Article editor Larache In (the professor of Morocco); Larache’s inhabitants adopt the idea.