Afer

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, a name of an indigenous tribe encountered by the Phoenician colonists, or perhaps related to Punic 𐤏𐤐𐤓‎ (ʿafar, “dust”) akin to Biblical Hebrew עָפָר‎ (ʿāp̄ār, “dust”), or alternatively from a Berber language افري (`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.

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈaː.fer/, [ˈaː.fɛr]

Āfer (feminine Āfra, neuter Āfrum); first/second declension

1. from Africa (the region of modern-day Tunisia)

First/second declension, nominative masculine singular in -er.

Āfer m (genitive Āfrī); second declension

1. (Roman Republic) a Carthaginian
2. (Roman Empire) cognomen applied to a native of the province of Africa:
   1. Publius Terentius Afer, a Roman playwright

Second declension, nominative singular in -er.

• Āfricus
• Āfricānus
• Āfrica

• Afer in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• Afer in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• Afer in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Hachette