Levant

See also: levant

English

Picture dictionary

Levant

Etymology

Borrowed from French levant (“rising, sun's point of rising”), form of lever (“to rise”), from Latin levō (“to rise”) (cf. also the present participle levāns), from levis (“light, not heavy”).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ləˈvænt/
(General American) IPA^(key): /ləˈvɑnt/, /lɪˈvɑnt/, /ləˈvænt/
Audio (US): (file)
Rhymes: -ænt

Proper noun

the Levant

A cultural region of West Asia, consisting of the countries bordering the eastern Mediterranean Sea, namely Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, Jordan and Cyprus (and sometimes, especially in a historical context, also including Turkey and Egypt, then part of the Ottoman Empire).
Synonyms: Mashreq, Greater Syria
- 1948 October, Winston S. Churchill, The Gathering Storm (The Second World War), volume I, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, →OCLC, book I (From War to War: 1919–1939), page 171:
  I see by the newspapers that the Mediterranean Fleet is leaving Malta for the Levant.

Coordinate terms

Maghreb (western Mediterranean, literally “where the sun sets”)
Ponant

Derived terms

Translations

the countries bordering the eastern Mediterranean Sea

Arabic: مَشْرِق m (mašriq), اَلْمَشْرِق اَلْعَرَبِيّ m (al-mašriq al-ʕarabiyy), اَلشَّرْق (ar) m (aš-šarq), الشَّام m (aš-šām), بِلَاد الشَّامِ (ar) f (bilād aš-šāmi)
Armenian: Լեւանտ (hy) (Lewant)
Bengali: শাম (bn) (śam)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 累范特 (Lèifàntè), 黎凡特 (zh) (Lífántè)
Czech: Levanta f
Danish: Levanten
Dutch: Levant (nl)
Esperanto: Levantenio
Finnish: Levantti (fi)
French: Levant (fr) m
Middle French: Levant m
Galician: Levante m
Georgian: ლევანტი (levanṭi)
German: Levante (de) f
Greek: Λεβάντες (el) m (Levántes)
Hebrew: לֶבַנְט m
Hindi: शाम (hi) (śām)
Icelandic: Austurlönd nær
Indonesian: Syam
Irish: an Leiveaint f
Italian: Levante m
Japanese: レバント (Rebanto), レヴァント (Revanto)
Korean: 레반트 (Rebanteu)
Ladino:
Hebrew: ליב׳אנטי m

Latin: Levante m
Malay: Syam
Manx: Yn Levaant m
Norwegian:
Bokmål: Levanten

Nynorsk: Levanten
Persian: شام (fa) (šâm)
Polish: Lewant (pl) m
Portuguese: Levante (pt) m
Russian: Лева́нт (ru) m (Levánt)
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: Лѐвант m

Latin: Lèvant (sh) m
Spanish: Levante (es) m
Swedish: Levanten (sv) c
Tajik: Шом (tg) (Šom)
Thai: ลิแวนต์
Turkish: Levant (tr)
Ukrainian: Лева́нт m (Levánt), Шам m (Šam)
Urdu: شام (śām)
Uzbek: Shom
Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can

Noun

Levant (plural Levants)

An easterly wind, generally in the western Mediterranean Sea.
Synonym: levanter
A type of leather.
- 1976, Geoffrey Wolff, Black Sun, New York Review of Books, published 2003, page 173:
  [I]t was bound by G. Levitsky […] in turquoise Levant, stamped back and front with the Crosby crest in gold.

Anagrams

-valent, valent, vental

Dutch

Dutch Wikipedia has an article on:

Levant

Wikipedia ^nl

Etymology

Borrowed from French Levant.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ləˈvɑnt/, /leːˈvɑnt/
Audio: (file)
Hyphenation: Le‧vant
Rhymes: -ɑnt

Proper noun

Levant m

Levant (a cultural region of West Asia consisting of the eastern Mediterranean countries, i.e. Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, Jordan and Cyprus)
- 1836, Nicolaas G. van Kampen, De Levant of Mohammedaansch Azië, vol. 3, publ. by de erven François Bohn, page 223.
  De hoofd- of liever de eenige stad des eilands, van denzelfden naam, sedert den moord van 1822 de schaduw niet meer van hetgeen zij vroeger was, plagt eene der beste plaatsen van de Levant te zijn.
  The capital - or rather the only city of the island, of the same name, no longer the shadow of what it formerly was since the murder of 1822, used to be one of the best settlements of the Levant.
- 2008, Klaas Vansteenhuyse, Culturen gaan altijd ten onder. De zeevolkeren in het Middellandse Zeegebied (1200 voor Christus), vol. 3, Davidsfonds (publ.).
  Deze hebben een algemene vorm die goed verspreid was in de Levant tijdens de late bronstijd.
  These have a general shape that was widespread in the Levant during the Late Bronze Age.