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Trying to Restore Obsolete Toponyms, as an Expression of the Ideal World: The Case of Muslim State

Riemer Reinsma*

After the terrorist assaults in Paris, on November 13, 2015, Muslim State (henceforth IS) communicated that the perpetrators ‘had come from all over the world to Gaul’. Doing this, IS drew on a long forgotten medieval name variant; in current Arabic, France is called Faransa.

Going back to obsolete toponyms is in itself not a recent phenomenon. For example, many Soviet locations have been renamed after the disintegration of the Soviet-Union; and the name of the Holy Roman Empire dates from the 14^th century, long after the Roman empire had ended. It was intended to suggest that the supreme power had been inherited from the emperors of Rome.

This paper inventarizes such restored or would-be restored ames: Andalus ‘Spain’, Gaul ‘France’, Habasha ‘Ethiopia’ and Rumiyya ‘city of Rome’.