Maurus

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A name of uncertain historical significance, possibly linked to ancient regions or peoples
2. A term potentially relating to characteristics associated with the Moorish culture or ethnicity
3. A word that may denote a common personal name in various cultures, indicating ancestry or heritage

Etymology: The Latin "Maurus" named a person from Mauretania, the Roman province covering roughly northwest Africa, in what is now Morocco and Algeria. The Romans borrowed the name from Greek "Mauros," and its ultimate source is uncertain, though it may come from a local North African language. Mauretania's people were mainly Berber-speaking, so "Maurus" was an outsider's label for a region's inhabitants rather than a name for a culture. In English, the descendant "Moor" came to cover North Africans and, in the Iberian context, Muslims of North African and Arab descent, and it was often used loosely for dark-skinned people. Its sense shifted with each period's politics and prejudices, so the historical usage tells you more about the people using the term than about any shared set of customs. Because the root names a place, the term does not describe a characteristic or aesthetic in itself.