Talk:Arabia Felix
Surely a better translation of Arabia Felix is 'fertile arabia'? This was surely the point of the name? — This unsigned comment was added by 80.1.250.200 (talk) at 08:29, 20 September 2009.
- felix#Latin gives fertile as a translation, so in a word, yes. Mglovesfun (talk) 08:45, 20 September 2009 (UTC)
- Might also be a calque of Ἀραβία Εὐδαίμων (Arabía Eudaímōn). — Kleio (t · c) 14:09, 12 December 2016 (UTC)
- @KIeio: Which would suggest that “fertile” is not the right adjective, since it appears that εὐδαίμων (eudaímōn) doesn’t mean that. — I.S.M.E.T.A. 03:24, 13 December 2016 (UTC)
- @I'm so meta even this acronym: It does seem that way, though I think it's still close to being accurate. According to LSJ, εὐδαίμων (eudaímōn) can also mean wealthy, which corresponds more or less to the meaning of fēlīx (listed by L&S but not on our entry) of prosperous. — Kleio (t · c) 04:15, 13 December 2016 (UTC)
- @KIeio: It does indeed. Referring to Aden, which is in Arabia Felix,
{{R:Smith's Geography|arabia-felix}}remarks “The ancient emporium of Arabian spices and Indian wealth, restored to importance, after the lapse of centuries, as a station and coal depôt for the overland mail, exhibits a curious link between the ancient and modern civilization of the East, and a strange example of the cycles in which history moves.” (underlining my emphasis). I also read something linking Arabia Felix to frankincense, though I can't at this moment find where I read that. — I.S.M.E.T.A. 10:19, 13 December 2016 (UTC)
- @KIeio: It does indeed. Referring to Aden, which is in Arabia Felix,
- @I'm so meta even this acronym: I changed the literal translation to Prosperous Arabia, and added that meaning to the entry for fēlīx. I also added the calque etymology to the entry. — Kleio (t · c) 19:57, 14 December 2016 (UTC)
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Sense 2 (the city of Aden). While cross-referencing with modern scholarship I came across this paper (JSTOR) discussing the meaning of the term, and the one mention of this sense suggests that it's only attested in Greek for Ἀραβία Εὐδαίμων (Arabía Eudaímōn), in the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea: "In the Periplus we hear about a city named Arabia eudaimо̄n which may be identical with Aden (Periplus § 26). But the relationship to the general concept of Happy Arabia is unclear and it may reflect a translation of the name Aden". The 19th-century source this sense was originally taken from, Smith's Geography, does not distinguish the Latin and the Greek. Is there any actual attestation in Latin? (Maybe post-Classically?) —Al-Muqanna المقنع (talk) 13:18, 15 November 2022 (UTC)
- RFV failed. This would be difficult to read into a quote as a distinct sense and even then figurative. Fay Freak (talk) 07:51, 29 July 2024 (UTC)