Cape Trafalgar is a point in the south west shore of the Iberian penninsula, north of Gibraltar. This is the place where the famous battle of Cape Trafalgar happened in October of 1805, and Admiral Horatio Nelson defeated the combined fleet of France and Spain, assuming supremacy of the seas for Britian for a century.Various sources spell it as:
- الطرف الأغر al-Taraf al-AgharThis is the contemporary translation in Arabic of Trafalgar, specially when Trafalgar Square is mentioned in the news. For example, this news article in the Arabic BBC.
- طرف الغار Taraf al-GharThis could mean one of two different things, since 'Ghar' means two things in Arabic: 'Cape of the Cave', or 'Cape of Laurels'.
- طرف الغرب Taraf al-GharbThis means 'Cape of the West'.
Richard Burton, in his translation of the Arabian Nights, notes in the footnotes that the correct etymology is the last one (Cape of the West), and rebuts Captian Peel that it is the second (Cape of Laurels).So, neither the current Spanish, English nor Arabic spelling is true to the original name.
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Comments
Anonymous (not verified)
طرف الغور Trafalgar
Fri, 2009/06/19 - 01:53I had thought the name derived from:
طرف الغور
that is: Taraf al-Ghawr, in the sense of "Edge of the Deep" -- a fitting Andalusian name for the border of the forbidding Western Ocean.
Is it possible this could be the correct derivation?
Khalid
Possible
Fri, 2009/06/19 - 11:13It is possible from a linguistic point of view, but I have never seen a reference or source mention it that way.
Hope (not verified)
Reference for "Taraf al-Guar"
Fri, 2010/12/10 - 09:13I found a reference to "taraf al guar" as the translation to Trafalgar in the Hans Wehr Dictionary of Modern Arabic. In the edition printed in 1994, it's at the bottom of page 652. So it could mean "edge of the deep" as suggested above.
SS (not verified)
trafalgar
Fri, 2009/08/14 - 16:53bob marley sang of the educated fools. here we are, a case study. harvard references, citation, generic references apply in a system that is a paradigm in the western way. look for connections in eastern, middle-eastern (other) literature, songs, stories for the answer. trafalgar has phonemic as well syntaxic link with arabic words for direction, west, cave,cape as well as metaphorical implication of edge of the land. very littel doubt is left to the etymology of trafalgar.
Lubna (not verified)
It could be الطرف الاغر
Thu, 2012/02/02 - 18:20It could be الطرف الاغر because the meaning of "اغر" in Arabic is "famous" or "the begining of something" or " the frontal side of something" ,and maybe that is because this place is in the edge of europe In front of the Arabs.
khaadimone (not verified)
Historical usage of these toponyms.
Tue, 2013/05/14 - 21:44السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته
My dear brother, Jazaakallaahu khayran kathiiran for the effort that you have made to bring this important and interesting information to light.
I would just like to inform you that Yáqút al-Hamawí in his Muºjam al-Buldán (<<بمقالة <<الأندلس) clarifies that Trafalgar is طرف الأغرّ whilst I have also read in one of the other traditional books of geography (although I can't recall which one at the moment - sorry,) جبل الأغرّ for the same place.
The term طرف الغرب was apparently used for Ponta de Sagres, Portugal; Al-Idrísí employs this usage in his Nuzhat al-Mushtáq. Earlier geographers including Strabo (& attested to by others such as Artemidorus) believed the promontory was the most westerly point of the "whole inhabited world."
I hope that I have not written anything here that has caused offence and that this information may benefit you in some useful way.
Baarakallahu fiika akhil-`aziiz
Respect, best wishes and salaams.
hood (not verified)
thank you very much dear
Sun, 2015/06/28 - 06:36thank you very much dear brother for this explanation
T Raywood (not verified)
etymology of Trafalgar
Wed, 2017/04/19 - 23:01Considering the history of the site, it seems that the name is more likely a truncation of the Spanish phrase trafa al agua, which means "fight to the water," or the Spanish phrase tra falguar, which means "to falter."
Gary (not verified)
But I think we cannot exclude
Sun, 2019/12/08 - 05:49But I think we cannot exclude غور as a possibility. Both Lane and Wehr record its usage to mean 'low lands' (the Jordan valley for example) and Trafalgar does seem to lie on a plateau.
لكن الله الاعلم