Bilad al-Sudan
/bɪˈlɑːd æl suːˈdɑːn/noun
A historical Arabic geographical name meaning the lands south of the Sahara, broadly corresponding to parts of West and Central Africa.
Did you know?Medieval Arabic geographers used Bilād al-Sūdān as a broad regional term, not originally as the name of one modern nation; the present country inherited the shortened form Sudan.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Semitic
Proto-Semitic
*balad
“Inhabited place, territory, or country”
Classical Arabic
Arabic
balad
“Town, land, or country; its plural was bilād”
Classical Arabic
Arabic
aswad
“Black”
Medieval Arabic
Arabic
sūdān
“The plural of aswad, literally “black people” or “black ones””
Medieval period
Arabic
Bilād al-Sūdān
“The lands of the Black people; a broad region south of the Sahara”
19th Century
English
Sudan
“The name adopted in English for the northeastern African country”