ANDALUSIA, a province of Spain. Some authors assert that Andalusia is a corruption of Vandalusia, i. e. the country of the Vandals. R. P. Hardouin says, if this word was derived fromVandal, it would have been Vandalia. Others say Spain was first peopled by Andalous, son of Japhet. Herbelot says Andalous is the name the Arabs gave to Spain in general, from the name of one of its provinces, Andalusia; that this province was the first known to the Moors, and the first conquered by them ; and that it is not to be wondered at, that the Arabs, knowing nothing of theVandals, who were ancient in comparison with the Moors, should have imagined that Andalous was the grandson of Noah ; and that Oriental nations believed that Spain was one of the isles which, according to Sacred Writ, were bequeathed to the posterity of Japhet.
Richard Stephen CHARNOCK, Local etymology. A derivative dictionary of geographical names, 1859.
