niger · noun1
- Latin · derived fromNigris
- English todayniger
From the name of the Niger River, from Latin Nigris. See further etymology at Niger.
Niger · proper noun2
- Tuaregn'igherren?
- Latinnigerinflu.
- FrenchNiger
- English todayNiger
Borrowed from French Niger. For further etymology, commonly linked by folk etymology to Latin niger (“black”), which likely influenced the modern spelling. Some sources give the term to Tuareg roots, deriving it from a claimed gher n-gheren or egereou n-igereouen (“river of rivers”). Compare Tarifit iɣzar-n-iɣezran. Older sources derive Niger, via a series of mistranslations and geographic misplacements by Greek, Roman and Arab geographers, from Ptolemy's descriptions of the wadi Gir (in modern Algeria) and the "Lower Gir" (or "Ni-Gir") to the south.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.