Balearic Islands Totally Explained

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The Balearic Islands (Catalan and official: Illes Balears; Spanish: Islas Baleares) are an archipelago in the western Mediterranean Sea, near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. They form an autonomous community and a province of Spain, of which the capital city is Palma de Mallorca. The co-official languages in the Balearic Islands are Spanish and Catalan (for example mallorquí, menorquí and eivissenc, as Catalan is known by its speakers in this territory).

Etymology

The Balearic islands /ˈbeɪ̯lɪˌæɹɪk ˈaɪ̯ləndz/ have many names, in many languages. (/ˈiʎəz bəɫeˈaː(r)s/,, /ˈis·las·ba·leˈaː·res/, Greek: Gymnesiae – Γυμνησίαι, Balliareis - Βαλλιαρεῖς, Diod. v. 17, Eustath. ad Dion. 457; Baliareis - Βαλιαρεῖς, Baliarides - Βαλιαρίδες, Steph. B.; Balearides - Βαλεαρίδες, Strabo; Balliarides - Βαλλιαρίδες, Ptol. ii. 6. § 78; Baleariae - Βαλεαρίαι, Agathem., )
   There are various theories on the origins of the two ancient Greek and Latin names for the islands – Gymnasiae and Baleares. Two survive in classical sources.
   According to one account, the islands were called Gymnesiae (gymnos - γυμνός means naked in Greek) because its inhabitants were often nude.
The Greek and Roman writers generally derive the name of the people from their skill as slingers (baleareis, βαλεαρεῖς, from ballo, βάλλω), although Strabo considered the name to be of Phoenician origin. He observed that it was the Phoenician equivalent for the Greek word for lightly-armoured soldiers (γυμνῆτας) (gymnetas)
   The root bal does point to a Phoenician origin; perhaps the islands were sacred to the god Baal; and the accidental resemblance to the Greek root ΒΑΛ (in βάλλω - ballo), coupled with the occupation of the people, would be quite a sufficient foundation for the usual Greek practice of assimilating the name to their own language. That it was not, however, Greek at first, may be inferred with great probability from the fact that the common Greek name of the islands isn't Βαλεαρεῖς (Baleareis), but Γυμνησίαι (Gymnesiai), the former being the name used by the natives, as well as by the Carthaginians and Romans. (Plin.; Agathem.; Dion Cass. ap. Tzetz. ad Lycophr. 533; Eustath.) The latter name, of which two fancied etymologies have been already referred to, is probably derived from the light equipment of the Balearic troops (γυμνῆται- gymnetae)..Further Information

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