[Menydh]

The Rise of Amazigh (I)

The term "Amazigh" used in this study is the preferred term for the Berber people of North Africa. The still widely used ethnolinguistic word "Berber" is disliked because of its pejorative and demeaning character—it implies that the person so called is "barbarian" in every sense of the word. The Rise of Amazigh Nationalism and National Consciousness in North Africa

The Issue,definitions:

"Berber" derives from the Greek word "barbaroi," denoting one who did not speak Greek but babbled unintelligibly and was thus a barbarian. The Romans and Byzantines continued this use of the term. During and after the Arab invasions of the seventh century, the Arabs followed the Greco-Roman practice and referred to the indigenous peoples they encountered as "barbar." The French and English speakers adopted "Berber" and "Berber" coined the word "Barbary," implying that the inhabitants were indeed barbarians.

On the Internet and elsewhere, Amazigh "nationalists" are lobbying for the use of the term "Amazigh," which they use to describe themselves in their own languages. "Amazigh" signifies "free" or "noble" person; the plural is Imazighen. To define, in the most generic way, the language that they speak, Imazighen use the term "Tamazight." This term is also used specifically for the speech of the Imazighen of Kabylia in Algeria and the Middle Atlas in Morocco. Regional Tamazight speakers use their own localized terms to define their own regional variations, such as Tarrifit in northern Morocco, Tashilhit in Morocco’s Sous Valley, and the like. The original Amazigh alphabetic transcription system is referred to as "Tifinagh." Variant transcription systems in use include Latin and Arabic adaptations of Tifinagh representations.

Tuareg elements in Mali call their ancestral homeland Azouad (in northwestern Mali), and the Tuareg of Niger call theirs Air (in the Air mountain massif of north central Niger, with its capital at Agadez) and refer to themselves as the Kel Air (i.e., "People of Air). Small groups of Imazighen are also found in Libya and at Siwa Oasis, Egypt, but they have not been as vocal as other groups in their expression of ethnic or national consciousness. The word "Amazighité" (i.e., Berberism) is often used to sum up the qualities that Amazigh persons might share. These include speaking an Amazigh language, revering the national homeland (Tamazgha) of the Amazigh people (including all of the Arab Maghreb Union [AMU] countries, Siwa Oasis in Egypt, and parts of Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, the Canary Islands, and Chad), practicing various customs common to the Imazighen, and instilling a historical awareness of the basic outlines of Amazigh history and famous historical figures.


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