Samoa i Sisifo

9.9

A former official name of Western Samoa, now called Samoa, a country in the South Pacific

proper noun

: Samoa

The country's official name was Samoa i Sisifo before it was changed to Samoa in 1997.

Examples

Many historical documents from the 20th century refer to the nation as Samoa i Sisifo.
The capital of Samoa i Sisifo is Apia.
During the 1980s, Samoa i Sisifo participated in several international sporting events under that name.
I visited Samoa i Sisifo last summer.
Many historical documents from the 20th century refer to the nation as Samoa i Sisifo.
The country's official name was Samoa i Sisifo before it was changed to Samoa in 1997.
During the 1980s, Samoa i Sisifo participated in several international sporting events under that name.

Synonyms

Samoa

vsSamoa i Sisifo

11 2.8

An island country in the South Pacific made of the western Samoan Islands

refers to the previous official name used when the country was a monarchy

Western Samoa

vsSamoa i Sisifo

Literature

4.9

The former name of the country now called Samoa in the South Pacific

is the same older official name that has been replaced by the current name

Surface Forms

Samoa i Sisifo main

Morphology

Samoa + i + Sisifo

This is a literal place name in Samoan formed compositionally: 'Samoa' plus a prepositional element meaning 'in' and 'Sisifo' meaning 'west/western', so the overall meaning 'Western Samoa' is directly derivable from the constituents rather than idiomatic. Although the constituents 'i' and 'Sisifo' are not listed in the provided dictionary entries, the internal grammatical logic (place name + directional descriptor) is transparent and predictable to a learner who knows those words.

Etymology

Samoa i Sisifo literally combines the words Samoa, i, and Sisifo and means 'Western Samoa' or 'Samoa in the west'. It was the country's official name to show it was the western part of the Samoan islands next to American Samoa, so people used 'Samoa i Sisifo' until the name changed to 'Samoa'.