, a town of the mediaeval Islamic Sahara. Various hypotheses have been put forward regarding the name S̲h̲inḳīṭ/S̲h̲ind̲j̲īṭ, of which the following two merit discussion. The first gives to it the meaning “source of horses”, with sen = “sources” and gīti = “horses”. According to the various proponents of this etymology, the word’s origin could be either from Azayr or Azer (a Soninké tongue, now extinct, formerly spoken in the Western Sahara) or else Zenāga Berber. The second hypothesis derives the name from s̲h̲in , said to be a deformation of sen or sin , which in …