Crete

The island is first referred to as Kaptara in texts from the Syrian city of Mari dating from the 18th century BC, repeated later in Neo-Assyrian records and the Bible (Caphtor). It was also known in ancient Egyptian as Keftiu, strongly suggesting a similar Minoan name for the island.

The current name of Crete is thought to be first attested in Mycenaean Greek texts written in Linear B, through the words ke-re-te (*Krētes; later Greek: Κρῆτες, plural of Κρής), ke-re-si-jo (*Krēsijos; later Greek: Κρήσιος),”Cretan”. In Ancient Greek, the name Crete first appears in Homer’s Odyssey. Its etymology is unknown. One proposal derives it from a hypothetical Luwian word, *kursatta (cf. kursawar “island”, kursattar “cutting, sliver”). In Latin, it became Creta.

The original Arabic name of Crete was Iqrīṭiš, but after the Emirate of Crete’s establishment of its new capital at ربض الخندق Rabḍ al-Ḫandaq (modern Iraklion), both the city and the island became known as Chandax or Chandakas, which gave Latin, Italian and Venetian Candia, from which were derived French Candie and English Candy or Candia. Under Ottoman rule, in Ottoman Turkish, Crete was called Girit