English
Madagascar
Madagascar comes from Middle French Madagascar.
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600Madagascar
- Englishearliest quotation 2020same form
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600Madagascar
- Englishearliest quotation 2020same form
Earliest quotation: 2020, Cyrus Multhauf, How a Malagasy Teenager Created the World’s Second-Largest D: “Malagasy, like many indigenous languages in the Global South,…”
The story
The maps of particular interest are that of al-Idrisi in the 12th century, who produced the Tabula Rogeriana, the most advanced world map at the time. The actual misconstrued term was Arabic جَزِيرَة المَالَائِيّ (jazīrat al-mālāʔiyy, “The Island of Mālāī”) listed alongside Arabic جَزِيرَة القَمَر (jazīrat al-qamar, “The Island of the Moon”) which lent its name to Comoros; Madagascar however likely being the original based on its dimensions. The map in question warps the direction of Africa's east coast to be parallel to the coast of southeast Asia, prompting a conflation of the regions furthest east and furthest south, in the reaches of Arab exploration. This perhaps makes the Island of Mālāī both representing Madagascar and an island in Indonesia, likely Sumatra, in close proximity to Malaysia.
Every English word from Middle French Madagascar
Today it means
name An island and country off the east coast of Africa. Official name: Republic of Madagascar. Capital: Antananarivo.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Middle French Madagascar / Madagascar