section_path: Etymology
section_name: Etymology
paragraph_text: Etymology
  
  The name Tanzania was created as a clipped compound of the names of the two states that unified to create the country: Tanganyika and Zanzibar. It consists of the first three letters of the names of the two states ("Tan" and "Zan") and the suffix "-ia."
  
  The name Tanganyika is derived from the Swahili words tanga "sail" and nyika "uninhabited plain, wilderness", creating the phrase "sail in the wilderness". It is sometimes understood as a reference to Lake Tanganyika.
  
  The name of Zanzibar derives from Zanj, the name of a local people (said to mean "black"), and Arabic barr "coast" or "shore."