- ämkän "young herd animal (eg sheep, goat)" - p. 308
- ārwiy "scorpion" (< *arwəl) - p. 452
- täygaḌ "young she-goat" (< *talgaḍ) - p. 577
- agaḏ̣iy "Moor, bidani (white man)" - p. 181
- täššänḍuḌ "mirror" - p. 129
- taʔgaṛḏ̣aS "paper". (Other varieties have similar forms, but without any final s.) - p. 24
- tämärwuS "bride" (Ahaggar Tuareg has rwəs "to be in rut" - obviously related, but not quite the same sense!) - p. 451
Friday, May 08, 2009
Some Zenaga (Mauritanian Berber) words
Zenaga is the barely surviving Berber language of southwestern Mauritania around Boutilimit. Here are a few words I think are found only in Zenaga (and in some cases Tetserret), all from Taine-Cheikh. Unfortunately, I haven't found any really comprehensive dictionaries of (for example) Tashelhit, so I could well be wrong. If I am (as I was with agwəḍ), I'd love to hear it!
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Is it possible to place also the pages [page number] where you found these words, i persume its from the dic. of Taine-Shaikh?
I think most Zenaga speakers are actually further west in the Trarza then Boutilimit - which has always puzzled me, because there is no real reason they should be nearer the coast, that I can think of.
As for the examples of Zenaga words, is it possible tamarwus is just derived from عرس (arabic for wedding). It seems pretty close to me...
araggwl: scorpion
The Berber literary tradition of the sous - Nico van den Boogert
http://books.google.nl/books?hl=nl&q=araggwl&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wp
tissit: mirror [souss, atlas, tamachek etc..]
C.T-cheikh makes in her book a link with D'D'/T'D' the root that gives the word EYE
ämkän "young herd animal (eg sheep, goat)" & "young she-goat"
I have seen once a similar word but do not remember which book/source.
Thanks! araggwl clearly works. I suppose the first part of "mirror" could come from tisit, though it seems like a stretch. I doubt "bride" is from Arabic, since the w seems to be part of the root (eg pl. tmərwäššən, v. yəmmərwəš).
Page numbers added. täygaḌ has a Tuareg cognate, by the way, but there it means "young she-camel" rather than "young she-goat".
I didn't had the time but i remember the dic. of taifi has a example close related to the - amkan ; young herd animal
because the -l- and the -n- change in certin words like in anemmas - alemmas : middle
I came up with these examples:
Anugud' (Anagud'):: Agneau: agneau d'un an [ntifa]
Anugud':: mouton de l'année [issafn ghbanin, m.peyron]
And for tämärwuS "bride" it could be from the root [M]RWS; dette
in the context of marriage: amrwas
www.ircam.ma/ecoleamazighe/publications/nouveau%20comptes%20pdf/Etudes%20Anthropologiques2.pdf
thanx for the page numbers !
abelghad': bouc
animaux - tifawin.com
Good link - connecting this use of RWS with "debt" seems plausible in such a context.
Dear Lameen,
I opend a book and looked and there it was on page 424 in:
-A course in spoken Tamazight: Berber dialects of Ayt Ayache and Ayt Seghrouchen, Abdel-Massih, Ernest T. (1971)
TAMAZIGHT (Moroccan - middle-Atlas)
Amyan/imyan: billy goat
ZENAGA (Mauretanian Berber):
ämkän "young herd animal (eg sheep, goat)" & "young she-goat"
forgot to mention also this one:
Amïan/imouïan: bouc
-Manuel de berbère marocain (dialecte rifain),Justinard (Léopold Victor, Commandant)p.114
Good find. Thank you!
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