The name "Libya" is a indigenous (i.e. Berber) one, which is attested in ancient Egyptian texts as , R'bw (= Libu), which refers to one the tribes of Berber peoples living west of the Nile. In Greek the tribesmen were called Libyes and their country became "Libya", although in ancient Greece the term had a broader meaning, encompassing all of North Africa west of Egypt. Later on, at the time of Ibn Khaldun, the same big tribe was known as Lawata.See e. g., the chapter "Les Loouatah" in René Basset, Le dialecte de Syouah, Paris, Leroux, 1890 (pdf text online)(p. 1-14). P. 3: "On voit que les Lebou figurent au premier rang des barbares qui menaçaient l'Egypte du côté de l'ouest ; c'est aussi dans les régions qu'ils occupaient que les auteurs arabes placent les Loouata dont le nom correspond aux Lebou des Egyptiens, aux Loubim de la Bible, aux Levathae (Λευαθαι) de Procope et aux Ilaguaten de Corripus" ("We see that the Lebu are recorded in the first line among the barbarians who threatened Egypt on the western side; in the very regions where they dwelled, the Arab authors place the Lawata, whose name corresponds to the Egyptian Lebu, to the Lubim of the Bible, to the Levathae of Procopius and to the Ilaguaten of Corippus")

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