Names of the Berber people

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The indigenous population of the Maghreb region of North Africa encompass a diverse grouping of several heterogenous ethnic groups who predate the arrival of Arabs in the Arab migration to the Maghreb. [1] [2] [3] They are collectively known as Berbers or Amazigh in English. [4] The native plural form Imazighen is sometimes also used in English. [5] [6] While "Berber" is more widely known among English-speakers, its usage is a subject of debate, due to its historical background as an exonym and present equivalence with the Arabic word for "barbarian." [7] [8] [9] [10] When speaking English, indigenous North Africans typically refer to themselves as "Amazigh." [11]

Contents

Historically, these groups of people did not refer to themselves as "Berbers" but had their own terms to refer to themselves. For example, the Kabyles use the term "Leqbayel" to refer to their own people, while the Chaouis identified themselves as "Ishawiyen" instead of Berber/Amazigh. [12]

The Numidian, Mauri and Libu populations of antiquity are typically understood to refer to approximately the same population as modern Amazigh or Berbers. [13] [14]

Today

Berber

In Archaic Greece, βάρβαροι (barbaroi) 'barbarians' was an onomatopoeic word to describe languages perceived as defective, as well as their speakers; bar-bar was an imitation of these languages. [15] [16] [13] Around the beginning of Classical Greece, the term had come to be used for all foreigners and non-Greek speakers. [15] [16] [17] Greeks referred to North African tribes as barbaroi, along with other generalized terms, such as "Numidians," and tribal designations. [8] Among the oldest written attestations of the word Berber is its use as an ethnonym in a document from the 1st century AD Periplus of the Erythraean Sea . [18] [ citation needed ]

The Greek barbaroi was borrowed as the Arabic word بربرة (barbara) 'to babble noisily, to jabber', which was used by conquering Arabs to describe indigenous North African peoples, due to the perceived oddness of their (non-Semitic) language. This usage was the first recorded to refer to indigenous North Africans as the "Berber" collective. [8] [19] Though "Berber" had been used in reference to East Africans as well, it was mostly applied to Maghreb tribes in conquest narratives, and this became the dominant usage of the term. [19]

Following a period of Islamization, the highly-influential Arab mediaeval writer Ibn Khaldun considered "Berbers" to be their own "race" or "great nation." This idea fell out of use as indigenous North Africans were increasingly marginalized, but was revived by French colonists in the nineteenth century in hopes of dividing the population. [8] [13] [20]

The English term "Berber" is derived from the Arabic word barbar, which means both "Berber" and "barbarian." [7] [21] [22] Due to this shared meaning, as well as its historical background as an exonym, the term "Berber" is commonly viewed as a pejorative by indigenous North Africans today. [8] [9] [10]

Amazigh

Amazigh (fem. Tamazight, pl. Imazighen) is an endonym for indigenous North Africans otherwise known as "Berber." [8] "Amazigh" is also used in English; the native language plural "Imazighen" is sometimes but not always used as well. [5] [6] [8] [9] There have been efforts by self-identified Amazigh to popularize the term over "Berber," including in English, due to the perceived derogatory nature of the latter. [8] [9] [11] The use of "Amazigh" is particularly common in Morocco, especially among Central Atlas Tamazight, Tarifit and Shilha speakers since 1980. [23] Its usage does not replace that for more specific ethnic groups, such as Kabyle or Chaoui. [24]

Relatedly, the endonym of Berber languages is typically Tamazight, and in English, "Tamazight" and "Berber languages" are often used interchangeably. [8] [25] [26] [27] "Tamazight" may also be used to a specific language, such as Central Atlas Tamazight or Standard Moroccan Amazigh, depending on the context of its usage. [28] [29] [30] [31]

Although Amazigh as a term had been used throughout history, its use as a claim on collective indigenous North African identity is more recent. Many scholars suggest that the 1945 poem “Kker a mmis umazigh” (“Rise up Son of Amazigh”) by Mohand Idir Aït Amrane to be its first use as a cultural claim. [32]

Etymology

Some scholars suggest that the root word maziġ in the name Amazigh may be related to early Libyco-Berber tribes, which had been referred to as Mazices in some sources. [33] [34] According to Ibn Khaldun, the name Mazîgh is derived from one of the early ancestors of the Berbers. [34] [35]

According to the Berber author Leo Africanus, Amazigh meant 'free man'; some argued that there is no root of M-Z-Ɣ meaning 'free' in the modern Berber languages. However, mmuzeɣ ('to be noble', 'generous') exists among the Imazighen of Central Morocco and tmuzeɣ ('to free oneself', 'revolt') exists among the Kabyles of Ouadhia. [36] Further, Amazigh also has a cognate in the Tuareg word Amajegh, meaning 'noble'. [37] [38]

Historical

Libu

Numidians

Moors

Romans referred to the indigenous tribes of Mauretania as Mauri, or "Moors." [13] [19] [39]

Indigenous North African tribes, along with other populations, were referred to as "Moors" by medieval Europeans. [40]

The historical interchangeability between "Berbers" and "Moors" is a subject of academic inquiry. [19]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Berber languages</span> Family of languages and dialects indigenous to North Africa

The Berber languages, also known as the Amazigh languages or Tamazight, are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They comprise a group of closely related but mostly mutually unintelligible languages spoken by Berber communities, who are indigenous to North Africa. The languages are primarily spoken and not typically written. Historically, they have been written with the ancient Libyco-Berber script, which now exists in the form of Tifinagh. Today, they may also be written in the Berber Latin alphabet or the Arabic script, with Latin being the most pervasive.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tifinagh</span> Abjad of the Tuareg languages

Tifinagh is a script used to write the Berber languages. Tifinagh is descended from the ancient Libyco-Berber alphabet. The traditional Tifinagh, sometimes called Tuareg Tifinagh, is still favored by the Tuareg people of the Sahara desert in southern Algeria, northeastern Mali, northern Niger, and northern Burkina Faso for writing the Tuareg languages. Neo-Tifinagh is an alphabet developed by the Berber Academy by adopting Tuareg Tifinagh for use for Kabyle; it has been since modified for use across North Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Berbers</span> Ethnic group indigenous to North Africa

Berbers, or the Berber peoples, also known as Amazigh or Imazighen, are a diverse grouping of distinct ethnic groups indigenous to North Africa who predate the arrival of Arabs in the Maghreb. Their main connections are identified by their usage of Berber languages, most of them mutually unintelligible, which are part of the Afroasiatic language family.

Tamazgha is a fictitious entity and neologism in the Berber languages denoting the lands traditionally inhabited by the Berber peoples within the Maghreb. The term was coined in the 1970s by the Berber Academy in France and, since the late 1990s, has gained particular significance among speakers of Berber languages. Although Berberists see Tamazgha as the geographic embodiment of an imaginary once-unified Berber language and culture that had its own territory, it has never been a single political entity, and Berbers across the Maghreb did not see themselves as a single cultural or linguistic unit, nor was there a greater "Berber community" due to their differing cultures and languages. Despite this, certain Berberists such as members of the Algerian separatist Movement for the Self-Determination of Kabylia use the term to imagine and describe a hypothetical federation spanning between the Canary Islands and the Siwa Oasis, a large swathe of territory including Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Egypt, the Western Sahara, Burkina Faso and Senegal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Judeo-Berber language</span> Group of Berber-language varieties

Judeo-Berber also known as Judeo-Amazigh, Judeo-Tamazight, and Jewish Amazigh is any of several hybrid Berber dialects traditionally spoken as a second language in Berber Jewish communities of central and southern Morocco, and perhaps earlier in Algeria. Judeo-Berber is a contact language; the first language of speakers was Judeo-Arabic. Speakers immigrated to Israel in the 1950s and 1960s. While mutually comprehensible with the Tamazight spoken by most inhabitants of the area, these varieties are distinguished by the use of Hebrew loanwords and the pronunciation of š as s as seen in Judeo-Moroccan Arabic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kabyle language</span> Berber language of northern Algeria

Kabyle or Kabylian is a Berber language spoken by the Kabyle people in the north and northeast of Algeria. It is spoken primarily in Kabylia, east of the capital Algiers and in Algiers itself, but also by various groups near Blida, such as the Beni Salah and Beni Bou Yaqob.

Berber music refers to the musical traditions of the Berbers, a diverse grouping of distinct ethnic groups indigenous to North Africa who predate the arrival of Arabs in the Arab migration to the Maghreb. Their main connections are identified by their usage of the mostly mutually unintelligible Berber languages. Berber music varies widely across North Africa. It is stylistically diverse, with songs being predominantly African rhythms and a stock of oral literature.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Berberism</span> Berber political-cultural movement of North Africa

Berberism is a Berber ethnonationalist movement, that started mainly in Kabylia (Algeria) and Morocco during the French colonial era with the Kabyle myth and was largely driven by colonial capitalism and France's divide and conquer policy. The Berberist movement originally manifested itself as anti-Arab racism, Islamophobia, and Francophilia, that was sanctioned and sponsored by French colonial authorities. The movement later spread to other Berber communities in the Maghreb region of North Africa and was facilitated by colonial policies such as the Berber Dahir. The Berberist movement in Algeria and Morocco is in opposition to cultural Arabization, pan-Arabism and Islamism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kabyle people</span> Berber ethnic group

The Kabyle people are a Berber ethnic group indigenous to Kabylia in the north of Algeria, spread across the Atlas Mountains, 160 kilometres (100 mi) east of Algiers. They represent the largest Berber population of Algeria and the second largest in North Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal Institute of Amazigh Culture</span> Institute of Morocco responsible for the promotion of the Berber languages and culture

The Royal Institute of Amazigh Culture is an academic institute of the Moroccan government in charge with the promotion of the Berber languages and culture, and of the development of Standard Moroccan Amazigh and its instruction in Morocco's public schools.

The Berber Latin alphabet is the version of the Latin alphabet used to write the Berber languages. It was adopted in the 19th century, using a variety of letters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Berber calendar</span> Agricultural calendar traditionally used by Berbers

The Berber calendar is the agricultural calendar traditionally used by Berbers. The calendar is utilized to regulate the seasonal agricultural works.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Central Atlas Tamazight</span> Berber language of central Morocco

Central Atlas Tamazight or Atlasic is a Berber language of the Afroasiatic language family spoken by 3.1 million speakers.

Académie Berbère d'Échange et de Recherches Culturels, usually shortened to Académie Berbère or the Berber Academy was a Paris-based Kabyle cultural association formed in 1966 and officially authorized in March 1967 with the objective of raising Berber consciousness. The association was renamed Agraw Imazighen in Tamazight in 1969.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jerba Berber</span> Berber language of Tunisia

Tamazight of Djerba, Shilha of Djerba, Djerbi or Djerbian is a Berber language of the Eastern Maghreb, spoken on the island of Djerba, in Tunisia. It is a component of what is regularly denominated Tunisian "Shilha" or "Chelha" in the south of the country.

Beni Snous berber or Ait Snous berber is a Berber variety close to Zenati languages spoken near Tlemcen in Algeria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Berber flag</span> Ethnic flag of the Berber peoples of North Africa

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Berber orthography</span> Writing systems for the Berber languages

Berber orthography is the writing system(s) used to transcribe the Berber languages.

Standard Moroccan Amazigh, also known as Standard Moroccan Tamazight or Standard Moroccan Berber, is a standardized language developed by the Royal Institute of Amazigh Culture (IRCAM) in Morocco by combining features of Tashelhit, Central Atlas Tamazight, and Tarifit, the three major Amazigh languages in Morocco. It has been an official language of Morocco since 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jewellery of the Berber cultures</span> Traditional jewellery of Berber peoples in North Africa

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References

  1. ↑ Andrews, Jonathan (2019-04-30). The Missiology behind the Story: Voices from the Arab World. Langham Publishing. ISBN   978-1-78368-599-8. Berber: A collective term for the indigenous peoples of North Africa who predate the arrival of Arabs during the expansion of the Arab empire in the seventeenth century.
  2. ↑ Skutsch, Carl (2013-11-07). Encyclopedia of the World's Minorities. Routledge. p. 211. ISBN   978-1-135-19388-1. Berber is a generic name given to numerous heterogenous ethnic groups that share similar cultural, political, and economic practices.
  3. ↑ Fields, Nic (2011-01-26). Roman Conquests: North Africa. Casemate Publishers. ISBN   978-1-84884-704-0. It must be said that modern Berbers are a very diverse group of peoples whose main connections are linguistic.
  4. ↑ "Berber | Definition, People, Languages, & Facts | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 2022-12-13.
  5. 1 2 Aïtel, Fazia (2014). We are Imazigen : the development of Algerian Berber identity in twentieth-century literature and culture. Gainesville, FL. ISBN   978-0-8130-4895-6. OCLC   895334326.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  6. 1 2 Ilahiane, Hsain (2017). Historical dictionary of the Berbers (Imazighen) (2nd ed.). Lanham, Maryland. ISBN   978-1-4422-8182-0. OCLC   966314885.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  7. 1 2 Oxford Arabic dictionary : Arabic-English · English-Arabic. Tressy Arts (First ed.). Oxford. 2014. pp. 979, 990. ISBN   978-0-19-958033-0. OCLC   881018992.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: others (link)
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Maddy-Weitzman, Bruce (2011). The Berber Identity Movement and the Challenge to North African States. University of Texas Press. pp. 14–17. ISBN   9780292745056.
  9. 1 2 3 4 Vourlias, Christopher (January 25, 2010). "Moroccan minority's net gain". Variety. Vol. 417, no. 10. Penske Business Media, LLC.
  10. 1 2 ""Respecting Identity: Amazigh Versus Berber"". Society for Linguistic Anthropology. 2019-09-23. Retrieved 2022-10-25.
  11. 1 2 Language Diversity Endangered. Matthias Brenzinger. Berlin. 2015. p. 124. ISBN   978-3-11-090569-4. OCLC   979749010.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: others (link)
  12. ↑ Goodman, Jane E. (2005-11-03). Berber Culture on the World Stage: From Village to Video. Indiana University Press. p. 7. ISBN   978-0-253-21784-4.
  13. 1 2 3 4 Maddy-Weitzman, Bruce (2022). Amazigh politics in the wake of the Arab Spring. Austin. ISBN   978-1-4773-2482-0. OCLC   1255524815.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  14. ↑ Zimmermann, K. (2008). "Lebou/Libou". Encyclopédie berbère. Vol. 28-29 | Kirtēsii – Lutte. Aix-en-Provence: Edisud. pp. 4361–4363. doi: 10.4000/encyclopedieberbere.319 .
  15. 1 2 Gibbon, Edward. The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Vol. 5. p. 162.
  16. 1 2 "The term barbaros, "A Greek-English Lexicon" (Liddell & Scott), on Perseus". Perseus.tufts.edu. Retrieved 2018-07-12.
  17. ↑ Delante Bravo, Chrostopher (2012). Chirping like the swallows: Aristophanes' portrayals of the barbarian "other". p. 9. ISBN   978-1-248-96599-3.
  18. ↑ Schoff, Wilfred Harvey (1912). The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea: Travel and Trade in the Indian Ocean by a Merchant of the First Century. Longmans, Green. p. 56. Retrieved 29 March 2018.
  19. 1 2 3 4 Rouighi, Ramzi (2019). Inventing the Berbers: History and Ideology in the Maghrib. University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 19. ISBN   978-0-8122-5130-2. JSTOR   j.ctv16t6h7b.
  20. ↑ Soulaimani, Dris (2016). "Writing and rewriting Amazigh/Berber identity: Orthographies and language ideologies". Writing Systems Research. 8 (1): 1–16. doi:10.1080/17586801.2015.1023176. S2CID   144700140.
  21. ↑ Hoad, T.F., ed. (2003) [1996]. "Berber". The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. Oxford University Press. ISBN   9780191727153. XIX. — Arab. barbar.
  22. ↑ "berber | Etymology, origin and meaning of the name berber by etymonline". www.etymonline.com. Retrieved 2023-03-15.
  23. ↑ "INALCO report on Central Morocco Tamazight: maps, extension, dialectology, name" (in French). Archived from the original on July 27, 2010. Retrieved October 2, 2012.
  24. ↑ Mohand Akli Haddadou (2000). Le guide de la culture berbère. Paris Méditerranée. pp. 13–14.
  25. ↑ Heggoy, Willy N. (July 1947). "The Mozabites of Algeria". The Muslim World. 37 (3): 192–208. doi:10.1111/j.1478-1913.1947.tb02488.x. ISSN   0027-4909.
  26. ↑ "Tamazight language | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 2023-02-13.
  27. ↑ The encyclopaedia of Islam. H. A. R. Gibb, P. J. Bearman (New ed.). Leiden: Brill. 1960–2009. ISBN   90-04-16121-X. OCLC   399624.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  28. ↑ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-05-22. Retrieved 2016-01-06.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  29. ↑ Sanga, Oumar; Mackie, Chris (October 31, 2022). "Education in Morocco". World Education News & Reviews.
  30. ↑ Gross, Joan E. (1993). "The Politics of Unofficial Language Use: Walloon in Belgium, Tamazight in Morocco". Critique of Anthropology. 13 (2): 181. doi:10.1177/0308275X9301300204. ISSN   0308-275X. S2CID   145058398. Tamazight in Morocco is divided by linguists into three major dialect areas usually referred to as: Taselhit in the south, Tamazight in the Middle Atlas mountains, and Tarifit in the north.
  31. ↑ Alalou, Ali (2018-04-03). "The question of languages and the medium of instruction in Morocco". Current Issues in Language Planning. 19 (2): 136–160. doi:10.1080/14664208.2017.1353329. ISSN   1466-4208. S2CID   149159548.
  32. ↑ Aïtel, Fazia (2014). We are Imazighen: the development of Algerian Berber identity in twentieth-century literature and culture. Gainesville, FL. p. 7. ISBN   978-0-8130-4895-6. OCLC   895334326.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  33. ↑ Morocco's Berbers Battle to Keep From Losing Their Culture. San Francisco Chronicle. March 16, 2001.
  34. 1 2 Lipiński, Edward (2001). Semitic Languages: Outline of a Comparative Grammar. Leuven: Peeters Publishers. p. 38. ISBN   978-90-429-0815-4.
  35. ↑ Ibn Khaldun (1925). Histoire des Berbères et des dynasties musulmanes de l'Afrique septentrionale (in French). Vol. 2. Translated by de Slane, William MacGuckin. Paris: P. Geuthner. p. 180. OCLC   556514510.
  36. ↑ Brugnatelli, Vermondo (16–18 June 2012). À propos de la valeur sémantique d' amaziɣ et tamaziɣt dans l'histoire du berbère [About the semantic value of amaziɣ and tamaziɣt in Berber history]. BaFraLe (in French). Retrieved 30 March 2022.
  37. ↑ Brett, Michael; Fentress, E. W. B. (1996). The Berbers. Blackwell Publishing. pp. 5–6.
  38. ↑ Maddy-Weitzman, Bruce (2006). "Ethno-politics and globalisation in North Africa: The Berber culture movement". The Journal of North African Studies. 11 (1): 71–84. doi:10.1080/13629380500409917. S2CID   143883949.
  39. ↑ οἰκοῦσι δ᾽ ἐνταῦθα Μαυρούσιοι μὲν ὑπὸ τῶν Ἑλλήνων λεγόμενοι, Μαῦροι δ᾽ ὑπὸ τῶν Ῥωμαίων καὶ τῶν ἐπιχωρίων "Here dwell a people called by the Greeks Maurusii, and by the Romans and the natives Mauri" Strabo, Geographica 17.3.2. Lewis and Short, Latin Dictionary, 1879 s.v. "Mauri"
  40. ↑ Blackmore, Josiah (2009). Moorings: Portuguese Expansion and the Writing of Africa. U of Minnesota Press. p. xvi, 18. ISBN   978-0-8166-4832-0.
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