Editing Accra (section)

== Etymology ==
The word ''Accra'' is derived from the [[Akan language|Akan]] word ''Nkran'' meaning "ants", a reference to the numerous anthills seen in the countryside around Accra.<ref>{{Cite book |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gmqTBQAAQBAJ&q=accra+nkran&pg=PT23 |title=KWAME, THE LAST SLAVE FROM WEST AFRICA |last=Akuamoa |first=Geoffrey |publisher=Lulu.com |isbn=978-1-291-35746-2 |language=en |chapter=The Gas |date=18 March 2013 |access-date=24 October 2020 |archive-date=17 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220217062306/https://books.google.com/books?id=gmqTBQAAQBAJ&q=accra+nkran&pg=PT23 |url-status=live }}{{self-published source|date=February 2020}}</ref>{{self-published inline|date=February 2020}} The name specifically refers to [[Army ant|soldier ants]], and was applied to both the town and people by the [[Twi]] speakers.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qv-AjAHjud8C&q=accra+etymology&pg=PA6 |title=Making the Town: Ga State and Society in Early Colonial Accra |last=Parker |first=John |date=1 January 2000 |publisher=ABC-CLIO, LLC |isbn=978-0-325-00190-6 |page=6 |language=en |access-date=24 October 2020 |archive-date=17 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220217062306/https://books.google.com/books?id=qv-AjAHjud8C&q=accra+etymology&pg=PA6 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HeibAAAAQBAJ&q=accra+nkran&pg=PA12 |title=Views of Africa |date=1 April 2012 |publisher=Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. |isbn=978-1-61535-571-6 |page=12 |language=en |access-date=24 October 2020 |archive-date=17 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220217062306/https://books.google.com/books?id=HeibAAAAQBAJ&q=accra+nkran&pg=PA12 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The name of Accra in the local [[Ga language]] is ''Ga'' or ''Gaga'', the same name as that of the [[Ga-Adangbe people|Ga people]] and a [[cognate]] with ''Nkran''. The word is sometimes rendered with the nasalised vowels as ''Gã'' or ''Gãgã''. Historian [[Carl Christian Reindorf]] confirmed this etymology, proposing a link between the martial qualities and migratory behaviour of the local ants and those of the Ga people. The link between the [[ethnonym]] and ants was explicitly reflected in the recognition of anthills as sacred places. Often ringed by sacred fences (''aklabatsa''), the tall red mounds dotting Accra's hinterland were seen as microcosms of human community and as nodal points between the known world and the world of the dead.<ref name=":0" />

The Gas used the reference to the invasive species of dark-red swarming ants to connote the military prowess of the Gas and their ancient conquest of [[Guang languages|Guang]] speakers residing in the Accra Plains.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6ZB2CgAAQBAJ&q=accra+nkran&pg=PA30 |title=Gold Coast Diasporas: Identity, Culture, and Power |last=Rucker |first=Walter C. |date=28 September 2015 |publisher=Indiana University Press |isbn=978-0-253-01701-7 |page=30 |language=en |access-date=24 October 2020 |archive-date=17 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220217062314/https://books.google.com/books?id=6ZB2CgAAQBAJ&q=accra+nkran&pg=PA30 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The name ''Ga'' is actually a cognate of the name ''Akan'', one of a few words in which {{IPA|[g]}} corresponds to {{IPA|[k]}} in Akan.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=erLnCwAAQBAJ&q=accra+akra&pg=PA113 |title=Korle Meets the Sea: A Sociolinguistic History of Accra |last=Dakubu |first=Mary Esther Kropp |date=1 January 1997 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-506061-4 |page=113 |language=en |access-date=24 October 2020 |archive-date=17 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220217062409/https://books.google.com/books?id=erLnCwAAQBAJ&q=accra+akra&pg=PA113 |url-status=live }}</ref> ''Ga'' also gave its name to the [[Greater Accra Region#Districts|Ga districts]] surrounding Accra.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PEQgnFtkxmMC&q=accra+nkran&pg=PA4 |title=The City of Accra&nbsp;– A Pictorial Visit |last=Ntiamoah |first=Eric Maclean |date=1 January 2008 |publisher=AuthorHouse |isbn=978-1-4343-5860-8 |page=4 |language=en |access-date=24 October 2020 |archive-date=17 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220217062410/https://books.google.com/books?id=PEQgnFtkxmMC&q=accra+nkran&pg=PA4 |url-status=live }}{{self-published source|date=February 2020}}</ref>{{self-published inline|date=February 2020}}

The spelling ''Accra'' was given to ''Nkran'' by [[Europeans]].<ref name=":1" /> An earlier spelling used by the [[Danish colonial empire|Danes]] was ''Akra.''<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tVJuQbQ0UgwC&q=accra+akra&pg=PA89 |title=The Spiritual in the Secular: Missionaries and Knowledge about Africa |last1=Harries |first1=Patrick |last2=Maxwell |first2=David |date=20 July 2012 |publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing |isbn=978-0-8028-6634-9 |page=73 |language=en |access-date=24 October 2020 |archive-date=17 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220217062410/https://books.google.com/books?id=tVJuQbQ0UgwC&q=accra+akra&pg=PA89 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zjD5z4Qan6sC&q=accra+akra&pg=PA86 |title=The Recovery of the West African Past: African Pastors and African History in the Nineteenth Century : C.C. Reindorf & Samuel Johnson : Papers from an International Seminar Held in Basel, Switzerland, 25–28th October 1995 to Celebrate the Centenary of the Publication of C.C. Reindorf's History of the Gold Coast and Asante |last=Jenkins |first=Paul |date=1 January 1998 |publisher=Basler Afrika Bibliographien |isbn=978-3-905141-70-2 |page=86 |language=en |access-date=24 October 2020 |archive-date=17 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220217062413/https://books.google.com/books?id=zjD5z4Qan6sC&q=accra+akra&pg=PA86 |url-status=live }}</ref>