Madagascar
English
![](Images/wiktionary/TabulaRogeriana.jpg.webp)
Etymology
Borrowed from Middle French Madagascar, from Madageiscar, popularly reputed as a corrupted transliteration of Mogadishu by Marco Polo's misreading of Arabic.[1][2] 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-mālāʾiyy, “The Island of Mālāī”) listed along side 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. To conflate matters further, the populations of both regions are of Austronesian background, a thing pointed out by Arab explorers who identified Madagascar as colony of the former region. A second wave of Austronesians, including Malays, did indeed migrate to the island after the first group had originally left from what was likely Southern Borneo from linguistic and genetic analysis.
"Mālāī-Gezīra" also holds connection to the term for the people and languages of the island, Malagasy, which had earlier forms Malegass and Madegass, because of dialect division.
Pronunciation
- (UK) IPA(key): /madəˈɡaskə/, /-ɑː/
- (US) IPA(key): /mædəˈɡæskɑɹ/
Audio (UK) (file)
Proper noun
Madagascar
- A country and island off the east coast of Africa. Official name: Republic of Madagascar. Capital: Antananarivo
Holonyms
- Subsahara
Derived terms
- Madagascan
- Madagascar bean
- Madagascar jasmine
- Malagasy
Translations
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See also
- Countries of the world
- (countries of Africa) countries of Africa; Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cabo Verde, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Côte d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, São Tomé and Príncipe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Western Sahara, Zambia, Zimbabwe (Category: en:Countries in Africa) [edit]
Noun
Madagascar (plural Madagascars)
- (rare, obsolete) a resident of Madagascar.
References
- Douglas Harper (2001–2023), “Madagascar”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
- “Madagascar, n.”, in OED Online
, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, September 2021.
Catalan
Pronunciation
- (Balearic, Central) IPA(key): /mə.də.ɡəsˈka/
- (Valencian) IPA(key): /ma.da.ɡasˈkaɾ/
Audio (Valencian) (file)
Proper noun
Madagascar m
- Madagascar
Central Huasteca Nahuatl
Proper noun
Madagascar
- Madagascar (a country in Africa)
Central Nahuatl
Proper noun
Madagascar
- Madagascar (a country in Africa)
French
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ma.da.ɡas.kaʁ/
Audio (file)
Proper noun
Madagascar m
- Madagascar
- Synonym: Grande Île
Derived terms
- porcelaine de Madagascar
Related terms
- malgache
- Malgache
Italian
Proper noun
Madagascar m
- Madagascar
Related terms
- malgascio
Manx
Proper noun
Madagascar m
- Madagascar
Mutation
Manx mutation | ||
---|---|---|
Radical | Lenition | Eclipsis |
Madagascar | Vadagascar | unchanged |
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs. |
Portuguese
Pronunciation
- (Brazil) IPA(key): /ma.da.ɡasˈkaʁ/ [ma.da.ɡasˈkah]
- (São Paulo) IPA(key): /ma.da.ɡasˈkaɾ/
- (Rio de Janeiro) IPA(key): /ma.da.ɡaʃˈkaʁ/ [ma.da.ɡaʃˈkaχ]
- (Southern Brazil) IPA(key): /ma.da.ɡasˈkaɻ/
- Hyphenation: Ma‧da‧gas‧car
Proper noun
Madagascar f
- Brazilian Portuguese standard spelling of Madagáscar.
Spanish
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /madaɡasˈkaɾ/ [ma.ð̞a.ɣ̞asˈkaɾ]
Audio (file) - Rhymes: -aɾ
- Syllabification: Ma‧da‧gas‧car
Proper noun
Madagascar ?
- Madagascar