-tania

The suffix -tania or -etania (English demonym "-tanian", "-tanians")^{[note 1]} denotes a territory or region in the Iberian Peninsula. Its historical origin is in the pre-Roman Iberia. Its etymological origin is discussed by linguists. Spanish Jesuit philologist Hervás y Panduro proposed their link to the Celtic languages, in which the root *tan or *taín means department or region.^[1] "In Irish, tan (genitive, tain) expresses the idea of country, territory."

Other philologists such as Pablo Pedro Astarloa suggest a combination of the Basque abundance suffix *-eta (as in Arteta, Lusarreta, Olleta) with the Latin root *nia used in place names (such as Romania, Hispania, Italia).^[1]

The form of demonym used by some epigraphs in the Iberian language found in coins is -ken or -sken, as in Ikalesken, which is unrelated to the Latin-Hispanic -tanus. This suggests that -tania may be a denomination of Roman origin. According to the historian and archaeologist Manuel Gómez-Moreno, the Latin suffix -tani corresponds to the Iberian -scen,^[2] For example, the Ausetanians (Ausetani) who called themselves Ausesken. The Romans also applied this suffix to other peoples of the (Sardinia and Sicily), and to a lesser extent to those of the Italian Peninsula, where however the suffix -ates prevails. Before Roman contact with the Iberian peoples, there were already Greek colonies in Iberia. The ancient Greeks used the older suffix -ητες (-etes), -εται or -ηται (-etai), which would be replaced by -ητανοι or -ετανοι (-etani), according to researcher Ulrich Schmoll (1953).^[3]

Another theory, partially developed by the Aragonese jurist Joaquín Costa, relates that suffix to the Berber *ait, which means both "son of" and "the tribe", or with *at, meaning "people." This theory that supports that "aide" (aita) is a relative in Basque.^[4]

• Accitania
• Ausetania, nowadays Osona.
• Bergistania, nowadays Berga.
• Bastetania
• Carpetania
• Ceretania
• Contestania, nowadays Cocentaina.
• Cosetania
• Ilergitania, nowadays Lérida.
• Ilorcitania, nowadays Lorquí.
• La Jacetania
• Lacetania
• Layetania
• Lusitania
• Oretania
• Ossigitania
• Sedetania
• Turdetania

• Aquitania (Aquitaine)
• Mauritania
  • Tingitania or Transfretania
  • Zeugitania
• Occitania
  • Arpitania, which was created in the 70s of Arpes (Alps) and -tania (imitating Occitania)
• Tripolitania

• -land
• -stan
• -patnam

• Campión, Arturo. Revista Bascongada (ed.). "Celtas, íberos y euskaros - Capítulo XIII: Estudio de la toponimia ibérica á la luz de la lengua euskara" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 June 2016. Retrieved 9 May 2016.