From Marrakesh
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The French capital is at once historic, modern, romantic, intellectual, grandiose and elegantly understated.
Marrakech
Marrakech and its urban area have a little over one million inhabitants in 2020N 2. By population, the city is the third largest agglomeration in the country, tied with its historical rival, Fez, behind Casablanca and Rabat. Imperial city, along with Meknes, Fez and Rabat, Marrakech was the capital of Morocco for nearly 350 years, under the Almoravid (11th–12th centuries), Almohad (12th–13th centuries), Saâdienne (16th–17th centuries) dynasties ), as well as during the reign of Mohammed ben Abdallah of the current Alaouite dynasty (reigning from 1757 to 1790).
Marrakech is home to a vast medina of 600 hectares, the most populated in North Africa, and classified as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. Thanks to the vitality of its 900-year-old medina, its world-class hotel infrastructure and its sunny climate, Marrakech has established itself as the undisputed capital of tourism in Morocco. Served by the country’s second airport in terms of traffic, Marrakech – Menara Airport, the city welcomed nearly 3 million visitors in 2019.
origin of the name
Several hypotheses coexist as to the origin of the name of the city. The most widespread considers that the name of Marrakech is a contraction of the Berber *Amur (n) Yakuš where amur has the meanings “share, lot, promise, protection”6 and Yakuš (and its variants Yuš and Akuš) means “God”7 . The contemporary expression “amur n Ṛebbi” where Ṛebbi is another word for God (borrowed from the Arabic رَبِّي (rabbī) “My Lord”) means “protection of God”8. However, others see in amur an augmentative of the word tamurt which means “country”, *Amur (n) Yakuš would then take on the meaning of “land of God”9.
A less widespread alternative etymology proposes the interpretation of “land of range”10.
The Arabic-speaking medieval sources [Which?] were numerous to propose Arabic origins in the name of Marrakech. Louis Deroy and Marianne Mulon, authors of the Dictionary of place names, take up the idea that the name comes from the Arabic Marruquch “the well adorned” 11 from رقش “to adorn, to embellish”.
