# Etymology of Morocco **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 11, 2005, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-morocco/284197 "2005-01-11T10:16:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bromley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4da419/32.png) [@Bromley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bromley)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2005, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-morocco/284197/1 "2005-01-11T10:16:58Z")
I looked at the [Online Etymology Dictionary](http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?l=m&p=21) for a little help on where Morocco comes from. They make a link between Moor and the Latin Mauretania. So people from that region were called Moors because the region used to be called Mauritania. It might therefore be reasonable to assume that the current name of the region is derived from the same source, so Morocco=Moor-something. However, the entry for Morocco itself says otherwise - specifically that it’s a bastardisation of Marrakesh, which comes from Arabic. What’s up? Any ideas what the _-occo_ segment could be? > [@](#): > > Moor > “North African, Berber,” 1390, from [O.Fr](http://O.Fr). More, from M.L. Morus, from L. Maurus “inhabitant of Mauritania” (northwest Africa, a region now corresponding to northern Algeria and Morocco), from Gk. Mauros, perhaps a native name, or else cognate with mauros “black” (but this adj. only appears in late Gk. and may as well be from the people’s name as the reverse). Being a dark people in relation to Europeans, their name in the Middle Ages was a synonym for “Negro;” later (16c.-17c.) used indiscriminately of Muslims (Persians, Arabs, etc.) but especially those in India. > [@](#): > > morocco > “kind of fine flexible leather,” 1634, short for Morocco leather, from Morocco, the country in northwest Africa, where the tanned leather was first made. The country name is from It., from Berber Marrakesh (properly the name of the city of Marrakesh), from Ar. Maghrib-al-Aqca “Extreme West.” ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2005, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-morocco/284197/2 "2005-01-11T18:43:48Z")
The two etymologies are not in conflict: they describe different words. Moor comes from the word(s) in the Romance languages that referred to the people who originated in what was, for a time, the Roman province of Mauretania and who came to be called _moros_, in Spanish, after they invaded/migrated to the Iberian peninsula. Morocco comes from the the Arabic name for the city of Marrakesh, as introduced through Italian (as noted in your article). (The -cco ending would appear to be the typical habit of any people to use their own sounds (as in word endings) to make foreign sounding words more familiar. Why English borrowed the word from Italian and not Spanish, I couldn’t say, other than to note that in the period that the word first appears in English (mid-17th century), England was in a state of ongoing sporadic warfare with Spain. We tend to expect that the words that resemble each other that identify related terms will have a common origin. While this is a reasonable epectation, it can mislead us–as happens here. It is possible, even probable, that the English association of the Moors to Morocco led to spelling similarities _in English_. Note, however, that in Italian, French, and Spanish, the words we translate as “Morocco” are actually _M **a** rocco_, _M **a** roc_, and _M **a** rruecos_, keeping a as the first vowel. The official long and short forms of the country’s name are: Al Mamlakah al Maghribiyah and Al Maghrib (without an “o” anywhere to be found). The French word for “Moor” (which is relevant because France colonized North Africa as the Spanish empire retreated, so Spain never actually “owned” Morocco), is _Maure_ in which one can still see the Latin Mauretania. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2005, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-morocco/284197/3 "2005-01-11T19:21:06Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > The official long and short forms of the country’s name are: > Al Mamlakah al Maghribiyah > and > Al Maghrib > (without an “o” anywhere to be found). And as a geographical term _maghrib_ or _maghreb_ usually refers to the whole of northwest Africa sheltered by the Atlas range, including most of the countries of Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia, but not Libya. Politically the Arab Maghreb Union includes Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, and Libya. - Tamerlane ---
**Author:** ![Bromley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4da419/32.png) [@Bromley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bromley)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2005, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-morocco/284197/4 "2005-01-12T17:04:23Z")
Thanks guys.