Remarques sur la genèse du peuplement antique et médiéval du Maghreb: l’apport de la toponymie et de la philologie

Abstract

The issues relating to toponymy and the fundamental questions on settlement patterns in North Africa, from the ancient period to the Middle Ages, have sparked many debates around some controversies. The results of the research provided an extensive bibliography compiling works based on the archeology, history, epigraphy, numismatics, linguistics, etc. It is well known that the contribution to the historical study of ancient Algeria is largely integrated into the general history of the Maghreb due to many reasons. Several questions will be dealt with, in particular those concerning the origins of names Libyca and Africa, the ancient populations of the Maghreb in ancient sources, Arab sources and linguistic issues in ancient and medieval Maghreb: Libyco-Berber, Latin, Arabic. We will try our best to show a few problems concerning the origin and history of the evolution of place names in Maghreb before the first expansions: Roman, Byzantine, and Arab. Besides these toponymic issues, it is necessary to consider the origins of the ancient inhabitants of Maghreb, with the support of literary, archaeological and linguistic sources. Between plurality of place names and complexity of languages in use in the ancient and medieval Maghreb, it should be noted that our study calls for reconciliation between the traditional philological and historical methods and renewal of the issues on the history of language, settlements and territories in North Africa, ancient and medieval, made over the past three decades.