Spain

There is an etymological link between the name Spain and rabbits.

When the Phoenicians reached the Iberian Peninsula around the 11th century BC, they encountered wild rabbits there in large numbers, which they confused with the rock hyraxes known to them.

In Punic/Phoenician they would the area

“i-saphan-im”

or have called them similar, often interpreted as “land of the rock hyraxes/rabbits”.

The term is said to have ended up in the Latin name “Hispania” via the Carthaginian tradition, which later became “España” and “Spanje” in Dutch.

Roman sources and later traditions often interpret “Hispania” as “land with rabbits in abundance”; on Roman coins, Hispania is sometimes depicted as a woman with a rabbit at her feet.

The Roman poet Catullus calls the Iberian region “Cuniculosa Celtiberia” (“rabbit kingdom of Celtiberia”), which further confirms the association with rabbits.

Linguistic historians point out that the origin of “Hispania” is not definitive; Celtic and other Phoenician explanations also circulate (for example, a connection with “metal smiths” or “hidden land”).

Nevertheless, the “rabbit” etymology remains one of the best-known and most popular, partly because it is biologically correct that the European rabbit originally occurred primarily on the Iberian Peninsula.

Pascal Brackman