Safí

"Safí (en amazig: Asfi ; en francés: Safi) es un consejo local y una ciudad costera de Marruecos en el océano Atlántico. Cuenta con una población de 284 750 habitantes, según censo de 2004. Es además centro de una importante aglomeración urbana, cuyo estimado era de 793 000 habitantes (1987). Safí es el principal puerto pesquero de la industria de la sardina en el país y ha desarrollado la extracción de fosfatos, la industria textil y de cerámica. Durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial, Safí fue uno de los sitios de desembarco en la Operación Antorcha. En esta ciudad aún se conservan importantes fortificaciones que datan de siglos atrás. Bajo el nombre Safim, perteneció al Imperio portugués de 1488 a 1541. Su santo patrón es Abu Mohámmed Salih. Safí se ubica a 153 km de Marrakech, una ciudad edificada sobre pueblos grecorromanos."

"The city's name as it is locally pronounced is "Asfi", which was Latinized as "Safi" and "Safim" under Portuguese rule. "Asfi" means flood or river estuary in Berber and comes from the Berber root "sfi/sfey" which means to flood, to spill or to pour. 11th-century geographer Al-Idrisi gave an apparently false explanation to the origin the name "Asfi" as he linked it to the Arabic word "Asaf" (regret); Asafi (my regret). He based this claim on a strange story about some sailors from al-Andalus who sailed to discover the other end of the Atlantic ocean but got lost and landed on some island where the natives captured them and sent them back on their ships blindfolded. The ships eventually ended on the shores of "Asfi" and locals helped the lost sailors and told them that they were two months away from their native land al-Andalus. Upon hearing this one of the sailors responded by saying: "Wa asafi" (Oh my regret). Al-Idrisi wrote that from that time the city carried the name "Asafi". This story is thought to be a legend and unlikely explanation of the origin of the name."