Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Names of the Canary Islands and their Verification

  • Chapter
Biogeography and Ecology in the Canary Islands

Part of the book series: Monographiae Biologicae ((MOBI,volume 30))

Abstract

As names for the archipelago we have to discuss the following: the Elysian Fields, coming from Homer (about 800 BC), Odyssey, IV, 563–568, adopted by the Greek geographer Strabo (63 BC-AD 26); the 3 Gorgones and the 3 Hesperides, coming from Hesiod (about 800 BC) in his ‘Theogony’; the Happy Islands, coming from a wide-spread mythical tradition; the Atlantides, coming from Plato’s dialogues ‘Timaios’ and ‘Kritias’1 (428/27–348/347 BC), adopted by the Greek biographer Plutarch (about AD 50–119) and discussed by innumerable authors, the Eternal Islands 2, coming, as far as I can see, only from Arabian authors about AD 1000, for example from Abu Ubayd al-Bakri who also tells us that in Greek these islands were called Quartianis 3 (maybe from gr. χύαρ, ‘cave’); and finally the Canariae Insulae, first so named as a group of islands by the African author Arnobius, who died in AD 330. Highly doubted is a relationship between the Canaries and the ‘Island of the nappies’ in the Irish myth, Mag Meli, which was reigned over by Thetra, the King of the Fomores. (Famara is the name of a bay and a mountain on Lanzarote.)

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Notes and Sources

  1. Juan Vernet, op. cit. p. 416.

    Google Scholar 

  2. Fr. Esteban Ibañez, ‘Diccionario Español-baamarani’, Madrid, 1954, p. 44.

    Google Scholar 

  3. Wolfgang Schadewaldt, ‘Legende von Homer, dem fahrenden Sänger, ein altgriechisches Volksbuch’, München, 1942.

    Google Scholar 

  4. In ‘An Anthology of World Poetry’, edited by Mark van Doren, New York, 1928, p. 312.

    Google Scholar 

  5. In ‘Hermes’, Nr. 73, 1938, p. 237 ff.

    Google Scholar 

  6. In ‘Jahrbuch für Philologie und Pädagogik’, Nr. 99, 1869, p. 316 ff.

    Google Scholar 

  7. Literature in: Günther Kunkel, ‘Plantas Vasculares de Gran Canaria’, Las Palmas, 1972, p. 52.

    Google Scholar 

  8. Dominik Josef Wölfel, ‘Monumenta Linguae Canariae’, herausgegeben von Alois Closs, Graz, 1965, IV, § 395.

    Google Scholar 

  9. Günther Kunkel, op. cit., p. 58.

    Google Scholar 

  10. James Krüss, ‘Altkanarische Idyllen’ in ‘Adeva-Mitteilungen’, Graz, Heft 40, Dec. 1974, p. 22 ff.

    Google Scholar 

  11. His article in the Encyclopaedia Britannica from 1969, II, p. 973.

    Google Scholar 

  12. J. D. Wölfel, op. cit., IV, § 174.

    Google Scholar 

  13. Johann Baptist Hoffmann, ‘Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Griechischen’, Darmstadt, 1969, p. 200.

    Google Scholar 

  14. D. J. Wölfel, op. cit., IV, § 11.

    Google Scholar 

  15. Leonardo Torriani, ‘Die Kanarischen Inseln und ihre Urbewohner’, translated from Italian into German and edited by Dominik Josef Wölfel, Leipzig, 1940.

    Google Scholar 

  16. Torriani/Wölfel, op. cit., p. 49, note.

    Google Scholar 

  17. Juan Alvarez Delgado, ‘Las Islas Afortunadas en Plinio’ in ‘Revista de Historia’, XI, 1945, p. 26–61.

    Google Scholar 

  18. Georges Marcy, ‘Nota sobre algunos topónimos y nombres antiguos de tribus Bereberes en las Islas Canarias’, traduccion y commentaries por J. Alvarez Delgado in ‘Anuario de Estudios Atlanticos’, 8, p. 239 ff.

    Google Scholar 

  19. Alonso de Santa Cruz, ‘Islario General de todas las islas del Mundo’, cited in: Francisco Morales Padrón, ‘Canarias en las cronistas de Indias’. (‘Anuario de Estudios Atlanticos’, 10, p. 189.)

    Google Scholar 

  20. ‘Cuarta Década de Alonso de Palencia’, Estudio, texto y traduccion por José López de Toro, Madrid, 1970, part II, p. 40.

    Google Scholar 

  21. George Marcy, op. cit., p. 259 f.

    Google Scholar 

  22. D. J. Wölfel, op. cit., IV, § 478.

    Google Scholar 

  23. Fr. Esteban Ibañez, op. cit., p. 191.

    Google Scholar 

  24. Cited in Wölfel, op. cit., IV, § 262.

    Google Scholar 

  25. Friedrich Kluge, ‘Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache’, Berlin, 1967, p. 15.

    Google Scholar 

  26. Latin ventus, ‘wind’.

    Google Scholar 

  27. Hans Hausen, ‘On the Geology of Fuerteventura’, Copenhagen, 1958, p. 13.

    Google Scholar 

  28. Nat. Hist. VI, 32, 205. (See note 6).

    Google Scholar 

  29. A. de Palencia, op. cit., II, p. 24: ‘Nauticis nonnumquam licet ex pacto conversari aliquantisper cum barbaris illis Planasiam possidentibus ut orchiliam scilicet herbam tinctoribus lamificii accomodam es permutatione vilium rerum habeant nostri.’

    Google Scholar 

  30. Juan Alvarez Delgado, ‘Alonso de Palencia y la historia de Canarias’ in ‘Anuario de Estudios Atlanticos’, 9, p. 51 ff.

    Google Scholar 

  31. Johanna Schmidt, ‘Jenseits der Säulen des Herkules’ in ‘Anuario de Estudios Atlanticos’, 17, p. 365 f.

    Google Scholar 

  32. The Egyptian type of a reed-bundle-boat is to be seen in: Björn Landström, ‘Das Schiff’, Gütersloh, 1973, p. 10, figure 3.

    Google Scholar 

  33. Nat. Hist. V, 1, 13–16: ‘qui proximos inhabitent saltus, refertos elephantorum ferarumque et serpentium omni genere, Canarios appelari, quippe victum eius animalis promuscuum iis esse et dividua ferarum viscera.’

    Google Scholar 

  34. Literature to find in G. Kunkel, op. cit., p. 62.

    Google Scholar 

  35. James Krüss, ‘Canarian Common Names of Wild Plants and their Meaning in Botany and Linguistics’ in ‘Proceedings of the I. International Congress pro Flora Macaronesica’, Las Palmas, 1973, p. 49 ff.

    Google Scholar 

  36. D. J. Wölfel, op. cit., V, § 291.

    Google Scholar 

  37. Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1969, 4, p. 723: ‘Canaan, probably meaning “Land of the Purple”…’.

    Google Scholar 

  38. All these informations are to be found in the note 20, p. 54 of Torriani/Wölfel, op. cit.

    Google Scholar 

  39. D. J. Wölfel, op. cit., IV, § 221.

    Google Scholar 

  40. Fr. Estaban Ibañez, op. cit., p. 173.

    Google Scholar 

  41. D. J. Wölfel, op. cit., IV, § 154.

    Google Scholar 

  42. Fr. Esteban Ibañez, op cit., p. 173.

    Google Scholar 

  43. Discussed in Wölfel, op. cit., IV, §111.

    Google Scholar 

  44. Fr. Esteban Ibañez, op. cit., p. 104.

    Google Scholar 

  45. Discussed in Wölfel, op. cit., IV, § 485.

    Google Scholar 

  46. George Marcy, op. cit., p. 264 f.

    Google Scholar 

  47. Fr. Esteban Ibañez, op. cit., p. 104.

    Google Scholar 

  48. All formes, besides the analysis of Marcy, discussed in Wölfel, op. cit., IV, § 111.

    Google Scholar 

  49. Wölfel, op. cit., IV, § 486.

    Google Scholar 

  50. Wölfel, op. cit., IV, § 6.

    Google Scholar 

  51. Torriani/Wölfel, op. cit., p. 196/197.

    Google Scholar 

  52. Attilio Gaudio, ‘Sur l’origine Canariens Prehispaniques’ in ‘Anuaroiv de Estudios Atlanticos’, 4, p. 156.

    Google Scholar 

  53. ‘Al parecer, cada cantón poseía uno o mas adoratorios en forma de pirámide…’. Mauro S. Hernández Pérez en ‘Carta arqueologica de La Palma’. (Anuario de de Estudios Atlanticos, 18, p. 552.)

    Google Scholar 

  54. Sabin Berthelot, op. cit., p. 42.

    Google Scholar 

  55. Torriani’s drawing of the statue is to be seen in the Spanish edition of Torrianis book, translated by Alejandro Cioranescu, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, in front of page 72. (1959).

    Google Scholar 

  56. Torriani/Wölfel, op. cit., p. 71.

    Google Scholar 

  57. Torriani/Wölfel, op. cit., p. 86.

    Google Scholar 

  58. Discussed in Wölfel, op. cit., IV, § 151.

    Google Scholar 

  59. Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1969, 3, p. 407.

    Google Scholar 

  60. Wölfel, op. cit., IV, § 491.

    Google Scholar 

  61. Fr. Esteban Ibañez, op. cit., p. 75.

    Google Scholar 

  62. George Marcy, op. cit., p. 288.

    Google Scholar 

  63. Torriani/Wölfel, op. cit., p. 181.

    Google Scholar 

  64. Wölfel, op. cit. IV, §315.

    Google Scholar 

  65. In his commentary to George Marcy, op. cit., p. 275.

    Google Scholar 

  66. Torriani/Wölfel, op. cit., p. 116/117.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors
  1. James Krüss
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratorio de Botánica, Excmo, Cabildo Insular de Gran Canaria, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Islas Canarias, Spain

    G. Kunkel

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 1976 Dr. W. Junk b.v., Publishers, The Hague

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Krüss, J. (1976). The Names of the Canary Islands and their Verification. In: Kunkel, G. (eds) Biogeography and Ecology in the Canary Islands. Monographiae Biologicae, vol 30. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-1566-0_3

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-1566-0_3

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-010-1568-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-010-1566-0

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation