-ia | Search Online Etymology Dictionary

Arabia

1711; see Arab + -ia. The older name for "the country of Arabia" was Araby (late 13c.).

Turkey

country name, late 14c., from Medieval Latin Turchia, from Turcus (see Turk) + -ia.

Alexandria

city in Egypt, founded 332 B.C.E. by Alexander the Great, for whom it is named. Also see -ia. Related: Alexandrian.

Nigeria

West African nation, named for river Niger, which runs through it, + country name ending -ia. Related: Nigerian.

Yugoslavia

1929 (earlier the country was Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes); from Yugoslav + -ia. The name vanished from the map in 2003.

Tanzania

east African nation, formed 1964 by union of Tanganyika (named for the lake, the name of which is of unknown origin) and Zanzibar. With country-name word-forming element -ia. Related: Tanzanian.

Aglaia

name of one of the Graces, Greek, literally "splendor, beauty, brightness," from aglaos "splendid, beautiful, bright," which is of unknown origin (probably connected with agauos "noble, illustrious;" see agave), + abstract noun ending -ia.

Belgravia

fashionable residential district of London, noted for the wealthiness and aristocracy of its residents, it was developed in the 1820s and after on land owned by Earl Grosvenor and named (with -ia) for Belgrave, site of a Grosvenor estate in Cheshire.

Manchuria

large part of China east of Mongolia and north of Korea, named for the Manchu (literally "pure") people + -ia. Related: Manchurian. Manchurian Candidate is 1959 as a novel, 1962 as a film.

Wisteria (n.)

genus of woody vines, 1819, formed by Thomas Nuttall, English botanist, in recognition of American anatomist Caspar Wistar (1761-1818) of Philadelphia + abstract noun ending -ia. The -e- apparently is a misprint. The Wistar Institute was founded in 1892 by his great-nephew and named for him.

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