Well attestedNamed from the place
Timbuktu
noun · first attested 19th century
A real Malian city became English shorthand for the middle of nowhere.
Any place impossibly far away.
Record
- Relationship
- Named from the place
- Confidence
- Well attestedThe place link is the standard scholarly account.
- Attested
- 19th century
- Part of speech
- noun
Explanations here are written for this atlas. Dictionary text is not copied; the sources are linked so the claim can be checked.
- Step 1
Timbuktu
- In English
Timbuktu
Timbuktu was a wealthy centre of trade and scholarship on the Niger bend. European unfamiliarity turned its name into a byword for remoteness.