The meaning of the name Yemen in the Islamic era

Abstract

Unusually, we will start by confirming the meaning of the name Yemen in the Islamic era and that it is clear in its meaning and in its geographical scope and is very stable, although some perceptions differ slightly from the limits of what the word (Yemen = south) means. Therefore, the various citations that we have seen in the books of history, hadith, geography, genealogies, and travels confirm the general geographical field of Yemen as defined by those books. I do not see that these books established the meaning of Yemen and its borders. Rather, it is more likely that they reflected the nature of the prevailing general awareness about geographical perceptions within the Arabian Peninsula at that time.
"Yemen" is a northern Arabic word, meaning the south, and is matched by the southern Arabic word "Yement". Opposite to “Al-Sham” and “Shamat” which means the north. They are singular to specify two geographic destinations from any location that takes a point of determination. Our colleague, Dr. Mounir Arabish, explained in his article that it is difficult for students of southern inscriptions to define the "south" meant in some inscriptions, but in all cases it remains south, and that the word Yement expresses it. This south is the entire south of the island, as it was later known as Yemen, not Yement al-Naqshiyya. And there is an indication that we will follow.