Tunisian Words of Amazigh Origin

TUNISIAN WORDS OF AMAZIGH ORIGIN

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Tunisian Words of Amazigh Origin Jihëd G. MEJRISSI League of Tunisian Humanists

Table of Contents Abstract.................................................................................................................................................1 1.Introduction......................................................................................................................................2 2.List of Words....................................................................................................................................4 1.B | ⴱ............................................................................................................................................4 2.Ch | ⵛ...........................................................................................................................................4 3.D | ⴷ.............................................................................................................................................5 4.Ɛ | ⵄ.............................................................................................................................................5 5.F | ⴼ..............................................................................................................................................5 6.G | ⴳ & Gh | ⵖ.............................................................................................................................5 7.H | ⵀ............................................................................................................................................6 8.Ħ | ⵃ.............................................................................................................................................6 9.I | ⵉ...............................................................................................................................................6 10.J | ⵊ............................................................................................................................................6 11.K | ⴽ & Kh | ⵅ...........................................................................................................................6 12.L | ⵍ............................................................................................................................................7 13.M | ⵎ..........................................................................................................................................7 14.N | ⵏ.............................................................................................................................................7 15.Q | ⵇ...........................................................................................................................................8 16.R | ⵔ..........................................................................................................................................8 17.S | ⵙ...........................................................................................................................................8 18.T | ⵜ.............................................................................................................................................8 19.W | ⵡ..........................................................................................................................................8 20.Z | ⵣ...........................................................................................................................................9 3.Other.................................................................................................................................................9 1.Phonology and Morphology........................................................................................................9 2.Grammar....................................................................................................................................11 4.Words often Mistaken to be of Amazigh Origin.............................................................................13 5.Conclusion......................................................................................................................................14 Acknowledgement..............................................................................................................................14

Abstract This document presents a list, incomplete and inconclusive, of Tunisian words of Amazigh origin, as well as other elements related to the Amazigh substrata in Tunisian. Should any other words, errors, or other be found, please feel free to contact the author, and to check the most recent version. This document was first published in December 21 st, 2013 and its current revision is that of May

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14th, 2015; the revision consisted mainly in updating the list of words. This document was produced with free and open-source software. The author's material is released under both the CC BY-SA 3.0 and the GFDL 1.3. Keywords: Amazigh, Substrata, Tunisia, Tunisian, North Africa

1. Introduction Tunisian refers to the group of linguistic varieties1 spoken within the state of Tunisia, which in their turn are part of the North African dialect continuum, characterised by its substantial Amazigh substrata, its extensive Arabic vocabulary, as well as its Latin, Italian, French, Turkish, Greek, and other, loanwords and influences. The official recognition of Tunisian as a language has been hindered by multiple factors, mainly the concern that such recognition would affect the role of Arabic, the liturgical language of Islam, as well as the role of Islam as the state religion of the country. These same arguments are also echoed when discussing the status of Amazigh as a regional, national, or an official language, in Tunisia and in other North African States. Nevertheless, Tunisian has been undergoing standardisation attempts by Tunisian Civil Society and other independent components, and its use in official communication gradually continues to replace Arabic. This is perhaps an infinitesimal bit of the sociopolitical and sociolinguistic relationships between Tunisian, Amazigh, and Arabic in Tunisia. However linguistically, Arabic may be to Tunisian, what French2 is to English, with Amazigh being English's Anglo-Saxon: In the period following the Norman Conquest of England, English retained most of its Germanic substrata and borrowed extensively from the new linguistic varieties, which were those of the new conquering Elite. This process resulted after many centuries in “Middle English”, in turn resulting after multiple other centuries in “Early Modern English”, of which the current standardised form that this 1 2

The article does not distinguish between a language and a dialect, as linguistically there is not that much difference. The difference is only political. Particularly, Norman.

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document uses, is a descendant, after multiple other eras. Similarly, the Arab Islamic invasion of Tunisia and the subsequent Hilalite settlements, accompanied by the status of Arabic as the language adopted by the new rulers since it is that of the new religion, pushed for an Arabisation of the region, resulting after around twelve hundred years in Tunisian in its current forms. A proper metaphor to describe it could perhaps be that of an Amazigh mindset trying to imitate Arabic in an environment filled with Mediterranean new words for inventions and discoveries. It is however needless to say that a Tunisian and a Saudi, for instance, would nowadays be unable to understand each other if each speaks only their own local linguistic variety, and they would need to resort to a third language, which would nowadays most likely be Egyptian3 or English4. This document presents a list, incomplete and inconclusive, of Tunisian words of Amazigh origin, id est words that retained their local Amazigh origin, e.g. Tasendit or Sendi, Tajerbit or Jerbi, Tanfussit or Nafussi, Takbaylit or Kabyle, … etc., and are employed commonly in any of the linguistic varieties spoken within Tunisia5. Sources that were accessible include OUSSOUS (n.d.), DE CALASSANTI-MOTYLINSKI (1904), PROVOTELLE (1911), CHAKER (2003), and ) ‫اليفرني‬ 2005). Tunisian words are transcribed using the STUNdard method found in STUNdard (2013). Other foreign words are also transcribed, when needed, using the same method, and are indicated between parentheses.

2. List of Words Below is a table containing a list of words with an English translation. In the class column, the letter “v” stands for verb, the letter “n” stands for noun, the letter “a” stands for adjective or adjectival noun6, and the letter “d” stands for adverb. Verbs are given in the past tense with the third 3 4 5

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Due perhaps, among other, to the substantial film industry products of the country that were heavily exported to all of North Africa and West Asia. Due perhaps, among other, to the international lingua franca status that English managed to obtain. The article does not list words of non-Amazigh origin that underwent Amazigh transformation mechanisms, rendering them considered to be Amazigh or Tunisian. For instance “zins” is a Tunisian loanword from the Arabic “ ‫( ”جنس‬jins), and although the word “zins” was adopted and morphed to suit the Amazigh phonotactics, it still remains a Tunisian word of an Arabic origin. In Tunisian, adjectives can also be used as nouns, often without any morphological transformation.

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person masculine singular pronoun. Nouns are given in singular masculine, except when indicated with “(f)” where no masculine form exists. Letters where no words were found are omitted. Table 1: List of Words of Amazigh Origin Word

Class

Translation

Notes

1. B | ⴱ Babbouch n Bagges v Bahbàr a Bahloul a Bakhnoug n Balbez v Balɛet v Balħouħ n Ballout n Ballouta n (f) Baqqeq v Barbech v Barkous n Barwel v Bawwet v Bazzaɛ v Bazzoula n (f) Berchni n Besel / Beser a Bettiye n (f) Bezwich n Botti a Boublèl n Bouzoggar n Bziz n

Snail To shine / To take over Talkative Dull Type of cloth To mess things up To deceive Throat Lie Earring To stare To search / To bother Big sheep To deceive To bloat To spill Breast Sheep Tasteless Barrel Small bird Fat Grasshopper Chickenpox Intestines

2. Ch | ⵛ Chbaħ Ch'hili Chach'cha Chakwa Chalbouq Chalghoum Charka Charreg Chenti Chertella Chichma Chkara Chleka

v n v n (f) n n n (f) v a d n (f) n (f) n (f)

To see Type of wind To sit Often used when addressing children Milk container in leather Slap on the cheek Moustache Necklace To tear apart Young man Plenty Water tap Bag Slippers

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Table 1: List of Words of Amazigh Origin Word Chouliqa Chtaħ Chweri

Class Translation n (f) Rag v To dance n (p) Containers made of cladium

Notes

3. D | ⴷ D'hakk Dachra Daddech Dahdes

n n (f) v v

Darreq Dolech

v v

Exhaustion Village To help walk To walk without being able to see To conceal To walk without a particular destination

Often used when addressing children

4. Ɛ | ⵄ Ɛafya Ɛallouch Ɛatrous Ɛazri

n (f) n n a

Fire Sheep Big sheep Young man

n n n v a n n n n

Turtle Chick Cucumber Search Bald Butterfly Type of bugs Child Wasp

Possibly also from Arabic Possibly also from Neo-Punic Possibly also a loanword from the Arabic “aɛdhar” ( ‫ )أعذر‬or “ɛodhri” (‫)عذري‬, meaning virgin, or NeoPunic / Hebrew “ɛezri” (‫)עזרי‬, meaning “my help” or “my helper”. Semantic shift probably occurred after the term has been used as a common male first name, then being generalised to describe any male.

5. F | ⴼ Fakroun Fallous Faqqous Farkes Fartàs Fartattou Farzit Fazghoul Ferzezzou

6. G | ⴳ & Gh | ⵖ Gaɛmez Gaħgouħ Gaħħez Gandouz Gannouchou Garjouma Garnabbou

v n v n n n (f) a (f)

Sit Buttocks To move aside Bull Child Throat Old woman

Often used when addressing children

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Table 1: List of Words of Amazigh Origin Word Gelta Genneriye Ghazra Ghazzoul Ghonjeye Ghoufa

Class Translation n Small pond n (f) Artichoke n (f) Look n Ire n (f) Spoon n (f) Thick hair

Gitoun Gobb

n v

Gobbeɛa

Notes

Possibly also from Arabic “ghayth” (‫)غيث‬, meaning plentiful

Hut To swallow / To drink all Possibly related to Tunisian “kabb” meaning to turn the contents of a container around, which could in turn stem from Arabic “sakaba” (‫ )سكب‬meaning “to pour” n (f) Back of the head Possibly related to “gobb”

7. H | ⵀ Hafhouf Hajjèl Harda Henchir Hrissa

n a n (f) n n (f)

Valley Widow Catastrophe Farm Type of food

v v v v n

To waylay To search To tell on someone To run Cheek

d

Yes

a n (f) a n (f) n (p)

Clumsy Mouth Lefty Type of birds Old clothes

8. Ħ | ⵃ Ħander Ħarbet Ħarrech Ħarred Ħnakk

9. I | ⵉ Ih

10. J | ⵊ Jadour Jalgha Jatla Jormene Jretel

11. K | ⴽ & Kh | ⵅ Kabbech Kadroun Kalta Karkeb Karmous Korza Khammel

v n n (f) v n a v

To clutch Type of cloth Exhaustion To roll Common fig Rich To organise

Different from the Levantine Harissa pastry

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Table 1: List of Words of Amazigh Origin Word Kharbeq Khazra Kosksi Kouba Koucha Koukher Krouma

Class Translation v To celebrate / To party n (f) Look n Couscous n (f) Door Lock n (f) Bakery v To stun n (f) Neck

Notes Alternative pronunciation of “ghazra”

12. L | ⵍ Labbez Lahmèk Lawwej Lella Louza

v a v n (f) n (f)

To mix Rapacious Search Mistress / Madam Sister-in-law

Mahmech v Mallèkh n Malthouth n Marj n Merss n Memmi n Meslèn n Mogh'ghagha n (f) / Molghagha Mosràn n Mqajwel a Mred v

To confuse Shoemaker Type of food Annoyance Holding / Pressing Infant Someone's back Fontanelle

13. M | ⵎ

Often used when addressing children

Intestine Clumsy To crawl

14. N | ⵏ Nabret Naggez Najjem

v v v

Nanna Nasnes Ndah

v v v

To be ecstatic To jump To be able to do something To sleep To snoop To depart

Nzarr

v

To press

15. Q | ⵇ

Often used when addressing children May derive from the Amazigh “andaw” (ⴰⵏⴷⴰⵡ), meaning to jump; itself possibly from the Arabic “natta” (‫)نطط‬, which has the same meaning. It may also be from the Arabic “nadaha” (‫)نده‬, meaning to scream or to call upon; perhaps after having been used as an interjection in animal-powered transportation.

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Table 1: List of Words of Amazigh Origin Word

Class

Qach'chebiye n (f) Qaddid n Qallèl n Qamqoum a Qarmat / a Qarnat Qarnit n Qerdèch n Qnannou a

Translation

Notes

Type of cloth Type of food Pottery worker Excellent Thrifty Octopus Tool for wool Pampered

16. R | ⵔ Rwin Rahdèn

a a

Mixed / Diluted Guileful

n v n v n n n (f) v n

Spine To insult Forehead To clean up using water Tobacco Type of cloth Carrots To simmer Cold

n (f) n n (f) v n v n n n n (f) v v

Pythoness Tajine Pointy end To mix Young man To hit Type of birds Graupel Plate Buttocks Make fun of To seduce

17. S | ⵙ Salsoul Sakhsakh Santouɛa Sayyeq Sebsi Sefsèri Sfenneryè Smatt Sqantri / Sqontri

18. T | ⵜ Taggeza Tajin Tangoura Tanwech Tarrèss Tatta Tebbib Tebrouri Tebsi Terma Tmaqɛer Tzaɛben

Often used when addressing children

19. W | ⵡ Wechwèch

n (p) Mosquitos

Possibly also from Arabic “waswas” (‫)وسوس‬, meaning “to make an inaudible noise”; the term

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Table 1: List of Words of Amazigh Origin Word

Class

Translation

Notes “waswes” exists however in Tunisian with the same Arabic meaning.

20. Z | ⵣ Zabràt Zagh'ghem Zahmoul Zalbaħ Zantour Zaqqita Zarda Zarzoumiya Zawra Zawweli Zaza Zgougou Zoghlèl Zoghzogh Zomyati Zont

n v n v n a n n (f) n (f) n n (f) n n (p) n (p) n a

Drunkard Rapacious Body / Silhouette To deceive Vagrant Naked Feast Gecko Cover Poor Noise Type of food Frog spwan Children Sorcery Naked

3. Other Aside from the vocabulary, the Amazigh substrata in Tunisian remains very exhibited through numerous elements. In a side note, Amazigh terms continue to constitute the overwhelming majority of the toponyms and of family names7.

1. Phonology and Morphology In contrast to Arabic phonotactics, solely relying on a consonant-vowel-consonant system, Tunisian phonotactics allow for two consonants to be in an onset, particularly in the first syllable of a word, which cannot be found at all in Arabic. This feature is however found in Amazigh linguistic varieties. Additionally, most, if not all, of the words, that have made their way into Tunisian from Arabic and other foreign languages, did not do so without being modified to fit the native, i.e. 7

The suffixes “our”, “wour”, or “wer” are used to mean “son of” in Northern and Western Amazigh linguistic varieties mostly. They are the equivalent of the Kabyle “oul” and the Twareg “ag”. Family names such as “Werghelli”, “Werfelli”, or “Werteni” refer all to their respective tribes or domains.

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Amazigh, speech patterns. Among these mechanisms are the following: – The near disappearance of the sound “‫ '( ”أ‬or a), especially when in the beginning of the word. For example: “‫( ”أحمد‬Aħmad) becomes “Ħmed”, “‫( ”عائشة‬Ɛa'icha) becomes “Ɛiche” or “Ɛayche”. The long “ ‫( ”آ‬à) sound is also substituted with an “h” sometimes. Certain words however, particularly of religious context, retain the sound. – The short vowel “/æ/” (a) becomes “/ɛ/” (e): Almost every loanword that has an “a” or an “à”, whether from Arabic or any other foreign language, is changed to an “e”. This is also the case even when a Tunisian reads Classical Arabic. Examples for this are numerous, and to name a few: “‫( ”بلد‬bilad) becomes “bled”, “‫( ”شتاء‬chita') becomes “chtè”. – The morphing of “j” into “z”, particularly when there is an “s” in the same word. For example “‫( ”جنس‬jins) becoming “zins”, or “‫( ”يجس‬yajossou) becoming “yzess”. However, while it may be certain that this phonotactical mechanism is Amazigh, it may also be possible that the opposite, id est changing the “z” to a “j”, is Arabic, especially as the Arabisation of Amazigh toponymy, names, and other words reversed back the “z” to “j”. For example, the town of Zerzis, as pronounced by its inhabitants, is arabised as “‫”جرجيس‬ (Jarjis). One interesting and rather anecdotal point about the blurriness related to the phenomenon is the fact that the Tifinagh transcription of the sound, which is “ⵊ”, resembles the Phoenician letter that transcribes “z” and its Hebrew equivalent "‫"ז‬. Furthermore, in Tunisian the letter “j” is a solar letter, unlike Arabic where it is a lunar letter; the Arabic “ ‫( ”الجمل‬aljamal) becomes “ejjmall” in Tunisian. The pronunciation of the sound also differs between Arabic and Tunisian: While it corresponds to a voiced palato-alveolar affricate in Arabic, it is a voiced palato-alveolar sibilant and sometimes in between a voiced palatoalveolar sibilant and a voiced alveolar fricative, in Tunisian. This is clearly exhibited in Moroccan as well as Judeo-North African linguistic varieties where the two sounds are often

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amalgamated or substituted. – Dissimilation of some sounds with the addition of an “n”. For example, the French word “la gare” (la gar) becomes “langàr”, the French word “adresse” (adrèss) becomes “andrissa”, and the Latin word “burros” (burros) becomes “barnous”. – Often switching the order of “t” and “s” when occurring subsequently in one word. For example: “‫( ”استحسن‬istaħsana) becomes “tsaħsen”, “‫( ”استأذن‬ista'dhana), becomes tsedhen, and “‫( ”إستأنس‬ista'nasa), becomes “tsenes”. – Often switching “ch” and “s” or substituting the “ch” with an “s”. For example: “‫”شمس‬ (chams) becomes “samch”, and “‫( ”شجرة‬chajara) becomes “sojra”. – Often substituting “m” with “n”. For example “‫( ”فاطمة‬Fatima) becoming “Fatna”, or “‫”متاع‬ (matàɛ) becoming “ntaɛ”. The opposite also occurs. For example “‫( ” خمن‬khammana) becomes “khammem”. – The use of “ous” or “ouch” to make diminutive forms, similar to the suffix “ette” in French, “ino” in Italian, or “ittus” in Latin, among other. For example, the Italian “gatto” (gàtto) becoming “gattous” or “qattous”, or someone named “Mehdi” being nicknamed “Mehdouch”.

2. Grammar Amazigh languages have also influenced Tunisian in its grammar. Some examples are the following: – While conjugating any verb in the present tense with the first person singular, the verb starts with “n”. For example: “I can”, in Arabic “‫( ”أنا أستطيع‬asstattiɛ), is “najjem” in Tunisian, “I read”, in Arabic “‫( ”أنا أقرأ‬aqra'), becomes “naqra” in Tunisian, “walk”, in Arabic “‫”أمشي‬ (amchi), becomes “nemchi” in Tunisian.

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– While indicating the past passive tense, Tunisian uses the “ta” prefix; for example, “the car was sold” would become “elkarhba tbeɛet”. Arabic uses the different “ ‫( ”ففعللت‬foɛilat) structure, making the sentence “‫( ”بيعت السطيارة‬biɛat assayyarato); the “ta” prefix in however used in a variety of Semitic languages to denote reflexivity. Furthermore, the Verb-SubjectObject structure used in Arabic does not exist in Tunisian and would be substituted with a Subject-Verb-Object construction. – When denoting possession, Tunisians uses “mtaɛ”, “taɛ”, or “ntaɛ”, which is not the case in Classical Arabic. For example the “burnus of Mohammad”, would be in in Tunisian “barnouss mtaɛ Mħammed”, in Amazigh “ⴰⴱⴻⵔⵏⵓⵙ ⵏ ⵎⵓⵃⴰⵏⴷ” (abernouss n Mouħand), and in Arabic “‫( ”برنس محمد‬bornoso Moħammad), without any explicit article indicating possession. This however could be not entirely of Amazigh influence as similarly, Modern Gulf Languages have adopted new possessive articles such as “tabaɛ” or “ħag”, with which the same example would be “bornos tabaɛ Moħammad” or “bornos ħag Moħammed”. This is further questioned as similarly to Classical Arabic, the process of using an article to denote possession was not used in Biblical Hebrew, yet it is now the case in Modern Hebrew, with the article “‫( ”של‬chel), hence the same example that could have been “‫ברדס‬ ‫( ”מוחמד‬bornos Mouħamad) in Biblical Hebrew, would be “ ‫( ”ברדס של מוחמד‬bornos chel Mouħamad) in Modern Hebrew. – The process of negation in the past tense: In Arabic the process of negation in the past tense is done by simply preceding the verb conjugated in the past tense with “‫( ”ما‬ma). In Amazigh, the process of negation is done in a way similar to French, i.e. by adding one word, usually “ⵓⵔ” (our), “ⵓⵍ” (oul), or other, before the verb and another one, usually “ⴰⵏⵉ” (eni), “ⴰⵔⴰ” (ere), “ⵓⵍⴰ” (oule), or other, after the verb. Tunisian follows the same Amazigh pattern but with two Arabic particles, the one before the verb being “me” or “ma”, and the one after the verb being “ch”. The latter particle was very likely shortened from the

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Arabic “‫( ”شيء‬chay') to “chay” and then to “ch”. An example would be: The English “I did not do” becomes “me ɛmaltech” in Tunisian, and si milarly, “I did not read” becomes “me qritech”, in contrast to “I did” being “ɛmalt” and “I read” being “qrit”. – Possibly, the absence of the second-person dual pronoun “‫( ”انتما‬antoma) was motivated by its absence in Amazigh, provided that the Arabic variety, or varieties, that arrived to the country.

4. Words often Mistaken to be of Amazigh Origin It seems also of interest to note some words often mistaken to be of Amazigh etymological origin. These words have all, however, underwent a process of treatment of loanwords, that is typical of local Amazigh varieties. Many of these processes are explained in the previous section. Table 2: List of Words often Mistaken to be of Amazigh Origin Word

Class Translation

Notes

Bakkouch

a

Mute

Bakkouch could be from the Amazigh “abekkouch” meaning “naive”, however the etymology of this word could in turn be a transformation of the word “‫( ”أبكم‬abkam), of Arabic origin and having the meaning of mute, with the Amazigh diminutive transformation using the “ouch” suffix. The Tunisian words “bakma” and “bakcha” also have the same meaning.

Barcha

d

Many / Much Possibly from the Arabic “barcha'” (‫)برشاء‬, which is the feminine form of “abrach” (‫)أبرش‬, meaning plentiful or rich, and has obtained its current meaning through semantic change

Barnous

n

Type of cloth Although the barnous is a typical North African cloth, its name is very likely derived from the latin “burra” or “burrus”, meaning “big piece of wool”, according to CHAKER (2003). However, the term underwent linguistic dissimilation with the addition of “n”, which seems to be a typical Amazigh linguistic phenomenon, as already described above.

Dezz

v

To push

Possibly from the Arabic “tajawaza” (‫ )تجاوز‬after having undergone numerous morphological and semantic changes

Ħallouf

n

Boar

It is unlikely that the word “ħallouf” is of Amazigh origin. It is likely a loanword from Neo-Punic or Arabic “‫( ”هلوف‬halouf). It may also be a word of Germanic origin that was introduced with the Vandal invasion of Tunisia, since it shares two out of

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Table 2: List of Words often Mistaken to be of Amazigh Origin Word

Class Translation

Notes three letters with the English word “calf”, that is likely to be from the Germanic root “kalbam”.

Heyche

n

Animal

Possibly of Greek origin

Mɛakrech

a

Fuzzy

Possibly from the Arabic “mouɛakkar” ( ‫كر‬ ‫ )مع ط‬with the Amazigh diminutive “ouch”

Saqsa

v

Ask

Possibly from the Arabic “yastaqsi” (‫)يستقصي‬

Tgarraɛ

v

To burp

Possibly from the Arabic “qaraɛa” (‫ )قرع‬or “jaraɛa” (‫)جرع‬

Yezzi

d

Enough

Likely from the Arabic “yajzi” (‫)يجزي‬, originally meaning “to reward”, and which could have possibly been used as an interjection to mean “enough”

5. Conclusion Each component of the Tunisian language seem to have influenced a particular domain: Amazigh words seem to be generally used in the contexts of addressing children, while making exaggerations, or when describing particular names of cloth, animals, or such. Arabic influenced the religious lexicon, Turkish influenced administration and employment-related lexicon 8, and Italian, French, and nowadays English continue to provide Tunisian with its reservoir of loanwords for new technologies. Furthermore, it is perhaps not entirely incorrect to view Tunisian as the 21st century's Amazigh “great-grandson” of a pidgin language, as many prefer viewing it, yet it seems however rather naive to consider Tunisian to be derived exclusively from Arabic, in the sense that a form of Classical Arabic was widely spoken within Tunisia at some point in history and that Tunisian developed as its local vernacular variety. On the other hand, further investigation on the causes behind the sociolinguistic and anthropolinguistic reasons favouring particular words and word borrowing mechanisms to remain 8

The suffix -ji, found in Tunisian job names is of Turkish origin. Furthermore, the name of the Tunisian meal “Kafteji” might have originally referred to “Kofta Worker”, similarly to the way “Qahweji” refers to “Café Worker”, and then later gained its current meaning.

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unchanged, while others were substituted by counterparts is encouraged. This survival, from the influence of historically two of the major political forces of the region, i.e. the Romans and the Arabs, has enabled the Amazigh linguistic varieties to continue to exist through their hybrid descendants.

Acknowledgement The author would like to acknowledge the assistance of Alaa Twil for having provided related documents.

Index of Tables Table 1: List of Words of Amazigh Origin...........................................................................................4 Table 2: List of Words often Mistaken to be of Amazigh Origin.......................................................13

Bibliography CHAKER, Salem. (2003). Résistance et ouverture à l’Autre : Le berbère, une langue vivante à la croisée des échanges méditerranéens DE CALASSANTI-MOTYLINSKI, A.. (1904). Dialecte Berbère de R'edamès OUSSOUS, Mohamed. (n.d.). Lexique Animal (Français - Amazighe - Arabe) PROVOTELLE, Paul. (1911). Etude sur la Tamazir't ou Zénatia de Qalaât es-Sened (Tunisie) STUNdard. (2013). Alphabet | STUNdard. Retrieved December 1st, 2013 from https://stundard.wordpress.com/2013/01/17/alphabet/ ‫ المفردات المازيغية القديمة‬.2005 .‫ أبو زكريا يحي‬,‫اليفرني‬