Etymology Afri was a Latin name used to refer to the Carthaginians, who dwelt in North Africa in modern-day Tunisia.

This name seems to have originally referred to a native Libyan tribe; however, see Terence !iogra"hy for discussion. The name is usually connected with #hoenician afar, $dust$, but a %&'% hy"othesis(') has asserted that it stems from the !erber ifri *"lural ifran+ $cave$, in reference to cave dwellers.(&) The same word(&) may be found in the name of the !anu ,fran from Algeria and Tri"olitania, a !erber tribe originally from -afran *also .nown as ,frane+ in northwestern Libya.(%/) 0nder 1oman rule, Carthage became the ca"ital of Africa #rovince, which also included the coastal "art of modern Libya.(%%) The Latin suffi2 $-ica$ can sometimes be used to denote a land *e.g., in Celtica from Celtae, as used by 3ulius Caesar+. The later 4uslim .ingdom of ,fri5iya, modern-day Tunisia, also "reserved a form of the name. According to the ancient 1omans, Africa lay to the west of Egy"t, while $Asia$ was used to refer to Anatolia and lands to the east. A definite line was drawn between the two continents by the geogra"her #tolemy *'67%86 A9+, indicating Ale2andria along the #rime 4eridian and ma.ing the isthmus of :ue; and the 1ed :ea the boundary between Asia and Africa. As Euro"eans came to understand the real e2tent of the continent, the idea of Africa e2"anded with their .nowledge. <ther etymological hy"otheses have been "ostulated for the ancient name $Africa$= The %st-century 3ewish historian >lavius 3ose"hus *Ant. %.%6+ asserted that it was named for E"her, grandson of Abraham according to ?en. @6=A, whose descendants, he claimed, had invaded Libya. ,sidore of :eville in Etymologiae B,C.6.@. suggests the Latin a"rica $sunny$. Leo Africanus *%A''7%66A+ "ro"osed the ?ree. a"hri.e *DEFGHI+, $without cold$. Africanus suggested that the ?ree. "hri.e *EFJHK, $cold and horror$+, combined with the "rivative "refi2 $a-$, indicated a land free of cold and horror.(%@) 4assey, in %''%, states that Africa is derived from the Egy"tian af-rui-.a, $to turn toward the o"ening of the La.$ The La is the energetic double of every "erson and $o"ening of the La$ refers to a womb or birth"lace. Africa would be, for the Egy"tians, $the birth"lace.$(%M) -et another hy"othesis was "ro"osed by 4ichNle >ruyt,(%A) lin.ing the Latin word with africus $south wind$, which would be of 0mbrian origin and mean originally $rainy wind$. AfricaOs name is derived from an ancient area in modern day Tunisia .nown as ,fri5iya or sunny "lace, in Tama;ight.(citation needed)