Gharb
/ɡɑːrb/noun
A historical region and fertile plain in northwestern Morocco, also derived from Arabic for “the west.”
Did you know?In Arabic, the related root connects the west with sunset and with being foreign or distant, linking geography to the feeling of exile.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Semitic
Proto-Semitic
*ġrb
“A reconstructed root associated with setting, the west, remoteness, and foreignness.”
Classical Arabic
Arabic
ġarb (غرب)
“West; sunset; the western direction.”
Medieval Arabic
Arabic
al-Gharb (الغرب)
“The west or western land; the definite form became a regional designation.”
Medieval Period
Arabic
al-Maghrib
“The western land, especially the far western Islamic lands of North Africa.”
19th Century
English
Gharb
“An English geographical name for the region or plain of northwestern Morocco.”
Modern English
English
Gharb
“A historical or geographic name for northwestern Morocco and its former plain region.”