Arabic and Cushitic Toponymy: One Coast with Two Maps

A “linear” reading of the African Red Sea coast leads to describing a succession of shores only interrupted by mangroves or reefs. A more comprehensive analysis taking into account geography, local history, and sociology differentiates the shores from the coastal plain beyond, the land-marks from the sea-marks. What is seen from the sea as bare land behind an arid coast the pastoralists consider seasonal grazing land. The place-names express this difference with more seamarks than permanent wells, and more attention paid to food resource for the cattle than to anchoring. The two lists do not coincide even if they coexist.