Afer
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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[edit] Latin
[edit] Etymology
The adjective is used by Ovid and Horace. The substantive by Horace, Cicero and Vergil.
The term is derived from a Punic term for the country in which the city of Carthage was located. It is possibly derived from an ethnonym, viz. an indigenous tribe encountered by the Phoenician colonists. Perhaps related to Punic `afar "dust", or alternatively from Berber `ifri "cave", denoting cave dwellers. Flavius Josephus derived the ethnonym from the name of Abraham's grandson, Epher. The name is perhaps related to the tribal name Ifran recorded by medieval Arab authors.
[edit] Adjective
Āfer m. (Afra f., Afrum n.)
- From Africa (the region of modern-day Tunisia)
[edit] Proper noun
Afer (genitive Afri); m, second declension
- (Roman Republic) a Carthaginian
- (Roman Empire) as a cognomen, applied to a native of the Africa province
