According to the most authoritative opinion the name of Socotra comes from a Sanscrit term for the “abode of the blest” (dvipa sukhadhara).
East historians spell the name of the island as Soqutri, Sou'qatra or Soqotra. Antique Greeks called it Dioscorida, Romans - Dyo-Socor-Yahlas or Dyo-Sotori. In an ancient Greek dialect the name of Socotra sounded as Fia-Soqa'tra or Soqater.
It is also assumed that the name of Socotra may be derived from the Arabic suqs qutra (means “the market of dragon’s blood”- a reference to the resin of its most famous tree species).