Kuwait Place Names Explained

Having blogged samples of my books on English place names and also examined the etymologies of the nations of the world and their respective capitals I thought it time I cast my net a little wider. As English place names share some links to other tongues it would be interesting to see if any of the elements contributing to our place names could be found elsewhere. Continuing an alphabetical tour of the world and a look at the largest Kuwaiti cities.

Kuwait City shares its name with the country, the settlement giving the name to the country and not vice versa. Here the Arabic Al-Kuwayt refers to the former Potuguese fort here as 'the enclosed'.

Dasma is an area of the capital city with a name translating as 'rich'.

Surra is an Arabic word meaning 'belly button'. A rather strange concept one would think, but appropriate as it is the central part of the urban district.

Hittin has revealed archaeological remains dating from the Early Bronze Age five thousand years ago, Its name comes from the Old Hebrew Kfar Hittin or 'village of grain'.

Al-Qurain comes from the Arabic for 'elevated land' or maybe simply 'hill'.

Al Ahmadi was named after Sheikh Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and created in 1946. Sheikh Ahmad ruled the province from 29 March 1921 to 29 January 1950 and was the tenth ruler of Kuwait and succeeded his uncle as ruler.

Note the spellings of the places are English as the piece is written in English.