Algerianadj.n.

Etymology: Partly (originally) < †Alger (although this is apparently first attested slightly later in an English context: 1585), †Algier, †Arger, †Argier, variants of Algiers (Arabic al-Jazā'ir, lit. ‘the Islands’, French Alger), the name of a city in North Africa (now the capital of Algeria) and in early use also of the territory controlled by it + -ian suffix; and partly (in later use) < Algeria (1575 in an English context), originally another name of the territory controlled by the city of Algiers, now the name of an independent country in North Africa (named after the city; Arabic al-Jazā'ir, French Algérie) + -an suffix. Compare French algérien (1575 or earlier as noun).The name of the city (and hence the country) in Arabic is al-Jazā'ir < al the + jazā'ir , broken plural of jazīra island, so called on account of four former islands off the shore of the city, which became part of the mainland in the 16th cent. Forms of the place name beginning in Ar- and their derivatives (compare the β. forms) are apparently the result of assimilation in European languages. Algiers and its sphere of influence along the coast were part of the Ottoman Empire from 1516 from to 1830. This territory and a large part of the adjacent desert subsequently came under French rule and were known in French as Algérie française. Algeria gained independence in 1962. Compare the following earlier references to the name of the city in English contexts:1545 R. Ascham Toxophilus i. f. 36^v The emperour his maiestie him selfe, at the Citie of Argier in Aphricke had h[is] hooste sore handeled wyth the Turkes arrowes.1549 W. Thomas Hist. Italie f. 187 His notable seruice in themperours affaires (as in his viages to Tunise and Algier).