Editing Catania (section)

==Etymology==
The ancient [[Indigenous peoples|indigenous population]] of Sicily, the [[Sicels]], named their villages after geographical attributes of their location. The {{not a typo|[[Siculian]]}} word ''katane'' means "grater, flaying knife, skinning place" or a "crude tool apt to pare". Other translations of the name are "harsh lands", "uneven ground", "sharp stones", or "rugged or rough soil". The latter etymologies are easily justifiable since, for many centuries following an eruption, the city has always been rebuilt within its black-lava landscape.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://sicilia.indettaglio.it/eng/comuni/ct/catania/catania.html |title=The meaning of the name Catania |publisher=Sicilia.indettaglio.it |date=4 November 2006 |access-date=5 April 2011}}</ref>

Around 263 BC, the city was variously known as ''Catĭna'' ({{IPA|la|ˈkatɪna|lang}}) and ''Catăna'' ({{IPA|la|ˈkatana|lang}}; {{langx|grc|Κατάνη}} {{IPA|el|katánɛː|}}).{{efn|Roman writers fluctuate between the two forms Catana and Catina, of which the latter is, perhaps, the most common, and is supported by inscriptions (Orell. 3708, 3778); but the analogy of the Greek {{lang|grc|Κατάνη}}, and the modern Catania, would point to the former as the more correct.}} The former has been primarily used for its supposed assonance with ''catina'', the Latin feminization of the name ''catinus''.<ref>Holm Adolf (1925), ''Catania Antica'', G. Libertini</ref> ''Catinus'' has two meanings: "a gulf, a basin or a bay" and "a bowl, a vessel or a trough", thanks to the city's distinctive topography.

Around 900, when Catania was part of the [[emirate of Sicily]], it was known in [[Arabic language|Arabic]] as ''Balad al-fīl'' ({{lang|ar|بلد الفيل}}) and ''Madīnat al-fīl'' ({{lang|ar|مدينة الفيل}}), respectively meaning "the Village (or Country) of the Elephant" and "the City of the Elephant".<ref>{{cite book|last=Amari|first=Michele|title=Edrisi, Il Libro di Re Ruggero|language=it|volume=I|page=71}}</ref> The Elephant likely referred to the ancient lava sculpture, now placed over the fountain in Piazza Duomo. The sculpture is most likely a prehistoric sculpture that was reforged during the Byzantine Era, prized as a protective talisman against enemies, both human, natural or geologic. Another Arab toponym was ''Qaṭāniyyah'' ({{lang|ar|قطانية}}), allegedly from the Arabic word for the "[[Legume|leguminous plants]]".<ref name="autogenerated1">{{cite book|year=1987|title=Enciclopedia di Catania|language=it|publisher=Tringale}}</ref> Pulses like [[lentil]]s, beans, peas, [[Vicia faba|broad beans]], and [[lupin]]s were chiefly cultivated in the plains around the city well before the arrival of [[Aghlabid]]s. Afterwards, many Arabic agronomists developed these crops and the [[citrus]] orchards in the area around the city. The toponym ''Wādī Mūsá'' ({{lang|ar|وادي موسى}}), or "the Valley of Moses" (from the Arabic name of the [[Simeto]] River), was rarely used.<ref name="autogenerated1"/><ref>{{cite book|last=Correnti|first=Santi|year=1981|title=La Città Semprerifiorente|language=it|location=Catania|publisher=Greco}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Correnti|first1=Santi|last2=Spartà|first2=Santino|year=2007|title=Le Strade di Catania|language=it|location=Rome|publisher=Newton Compton}}</ref>