Phoenician language
Very little remains of the Phoenician language, but numismatic inscriptions record that the Phoenicians knew the site as “a Gadir” or “Agadir” (Phoenician: ‬𐤀𐤂𐤃𐤓, ʾgdr), meaning "the wall", "the compound", or (by metonymy) "the stronghold". Borrowed into Berber languages, this became “the agadir” (Tamazight: "wall"; Shilha: "fortified granary"), a word that is common in North African place names. (The Israeli town “Gedera,” and the Spanish city “Cadiz” have a shared etymology with the Moroccan city “Agadir”.) The Carthaginians continued to use this name, and all later names derive from it. (The Greek word “cothon” refers to a Carthaginian type of fortified basin that can be seen at ancient sites such as Motya.)