Darfur
/dɑːrˈfʊər/noun
A region of western Sudan and the historical sultanate that once ruled it.
Did you know?The name combines Arabic dār, “abode or land,” with Fur, the ethnonym of the region’s Fur people; it is not originally a word meaning desert or war.
Etymological Timeline
Classical Arabic
Arabic
dār
“Abode, dwelling, house, or domain”
Medieval Arabic
Arabic
Dār Fūr
“The land or abode of the Fur people”
17th–18th Century
Arabic
Sultanate of Dar Fur
“The independent Fur-ruled sultanate centered in western Sudan”
19th Century
English
Darfur
“The region and sultanate known in English by its Arabic name”
Modern English
English
Darfur
“A region of western Sudan”
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