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"When I hear the word 'Sahara' I think of a physical place, in northern Africa. When I hear the word 'desert' I think of an ecological system, characterized pri
by mrwnmonm 4y ago
"When I hear the word 'Sahara' I think of a physical place, in northern Africa. When I hear the word 'desert' I think of an ecological system, characterized primarily by low rainfall and sandy soils."
I understand that... but Sahara means the latter in Arabic. Any desert is Sahara.
- kingofpandora 4y agoBut Sahara doesn't mean desert in English... Languages are littered with these kind of things. Like every language.
- mrwnmonm 4y agoDesert doesn't mean Sahara in Arabic, and they never say Desert Sahara. Do you see my point? It is just a small observation actually, not a big deal.
- kingofpandora 4y agoI understand your point, but not why you are surprised. If a non-Arabic speaker hears this place referred to as "sahara", why wouldn't other languages adopt it as "Sahara"? My adjacent point is that this is very common: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tautological_place_names?wprov=sfla1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tautological_place_nam...
- mrwnmonm 4y agoDidn't know it is common, thanks for that reference.