Comoros

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A small island country in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa ; the volcanic archipelago between northern Madagascar and the African mainland
2. An independent nation made up of volcanic islands in the Mozambique Channel ; a group of islands lying between Madagascar and the coast of East Africa
3. A country of several small volcanic islands located in the Indian Ocean ; the island group that forms this nation, sitting between Madagascar and Africa

Etymology: The name of this island nation in the Indian Ocean comes from Arabic "juzur al-qumur", meaning "islands of the moon." Arab geographers and sailors used the phrase for the islands of the Comoros archipelago, and the name reached Europe through French "Comores," which is how English adopted it. The meaning rests on the Arabic word "qamar," "moon," which also gave the moon-related term "qumur" in the plural form used here. Whether the name refers to the islands' appearance from the sea, to lunar associations in local belief, or to something else is not settled, so the poetic image of moonlit islands is the traditional explanation rather than a documented one.